Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Obesity rates are soaring throughout the United States. â€Å"Today, two thirds of American adults are obese or overweight†(Brink and Querna 620). This quote is explaining how obesity has become a concern for many people in our culture. The obesity rate among Americans has gotten worse over the years. The topic of weight is very prevalent among people in today’s society. Everywhere you look you see people of different weights and appearances. Obesity affects Americans of all ages, sexes, and racial/ethnic groups. This essay is targeting all Americans but talks mostly about the children and teenagers. Obesity can cause serious medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Of the four essays in the â€Å"What (and How) should we eat† this essay’s argument has all three rhetorical appeals and pathos being the strongest in my opinion. The Essay establishes credibility by explaining some examples of relevance to the issue under debate. Like when Brinks and Querna say, â€Å"It’s everywhere†. Tank up your car, and you walk past soft pretzels with cheese sauce†. â€Å"Grab a cup of coffee, and you see doughnuts, danishes, and cookies the size of hubcaps†. Stop at Staples for an ink cartridge, and you confront candy bars at the register†. Stroll past the receptionist’s desk at the office, and find somebody’s leftover Christmas cookies, Valentine’s Day candy, Easter Peeps, birthday cake, or vacation saltwater taffy†(620). This is a very true statement because everywhere you look; there is an increase in high calorie sweets on the counters of any store. Americans believe that Obesity is becoming a serious issue here in the United States because a lot of his arguments are very true. This goes back to Americans believing that something should change or else there is going to be big health risk in their life. The essay uses pathos because it is incorporating fear into the target audience when it says â€Å"What’s worse, they project that the rise in obesity rates among children and teens could knock off as many as five years from today’s average of 77 years as overweight people in that generation  grow up and die prematurely. Diseases associated with obesity, such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and some cancers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Brinks and Querna 620). This will cause the target audience to think twice about eating a high calorie meal because dying young scares a lot of people. This is a good strategy to know about obesity because fear is one of the strongest emotions for every human being. Eliciting fear into Americans will make them think twice about eating unhealthy. The essay also establishes logos because it has an abundant of statistics everywhere. One Example of this is â€Å"the early 1980s, food production came to an average of 3,300 calories a day available to every person. Then farm policy changed, and farmers no longer plowed food under or slaughtered animals to be entitled to subsidies. Today, America produces enough food to allow every man, woman, and child 3,900 calories a day†( Brinks and Querna 621). This quote is explaining how we have the opportunity to eat a lot more than we used to and is one of the reasons why people are turning obese. These Statistics are precise because there has been an increase in the amount of food we can eat. The essay also establishes authority because it quotes some high status professors. One example is â€Å" ‘Food is never just the physical product itself, it’s invested with national meanings, associated with comfort and nostalgia. There are class associations. Food can be elegant or cultured’ † (Stephanie Hartman 621). She is a professor who teaches a course at the University of America in Washington D.C. call ed â€Å"Food and Media†. There are many other quotes that the authors use in his essay. Since they are of high status, the target audience feels that they must trust what they are saying since they teach in those fields. It does have some bias though because evidently you can ignore the food and choose not to eat it. But the authors talk about how hard it is to say no to food when it says, â€Å"Riddled with anxiety, we take our meals with equal parts pleasure and guilt. We might say an internal no a dozen times a day, then give in to the Krispy Kreme near the bus†¨stop on the way home†( Brinks and Querna 622). Bringing awareness to the issue is the first step in creating a solution to the problem. This essay effectively employs Aristotle’s three main rhetorical strategies to gain the assurance of Americans that obesity is becoming a serious issue here in the United States. He specifically uses a strong use of logos to convince the target audience about this growing issue. Susan Brinks and Elizabeth Quernas  expertise of ethos, logos, and pathos have successfully informed Americans about Obesity.

Managerial Decision Making in the Aerospace Industry Case Study

As in many other industries, the IT has changed the way of performing management process. For example, the cost management process went from hand-written and mainframe computers to sophisticated software applications that help reducing the workload, headcount, and expedite the job completion. Also, this helps improving the outcome quality and increase productivity. The managerial accounting process in the aerospace industries follows a certain steps.The success of each of the steps depends heavily on the previous step, any break of inefficiency of one or more of the steps will collapse the whole process. Organizations have to chose between operating a commercial-of-the-shelf software of invest in designing a special software. The companies that chose to operate the commercial software will be able to use it in for operations such as cost estimating, analysis, and proposal pricing.While the special designed software allows more specific operations, it requires a substantial investment to create and operate. Accurate estimation is critical for the financial success and it allows the organization to successfully propose price decision, source of investment. The Department of Defense requires contractor to have an â€Å"acceptable† estimating system. There are different estimate methods such as round table, comparison, detailed, and parametric. A combination of the four methods could be used based of the needs and timing.The pricing proposal step is one of the complexes and demanding functions that requires an analysis for alternative program plans and schedule, prospective cash flow and return on investment, satisfy internal management views, and respond to the costumers’ expectations. The project cost has been depending on applications that were designed internally to help account manager to analyze the cost. After that, some companies created software that targeted the aerospace industry to help them with project scheduling and earned value.The con tinuous change of requirement made by DOD forces the aerospace industry to accommodate the new demands and there was more application software available. The constant change of requirements and imposing new regulations by the government and implementation of the advanced software applications have greatly improved the productivity of the cost analysis managers and reduce the workload on the contractors. This resulted in having more effective cost analysis staff that performs better in satisfying the requirements in less time and cost, and provides an more accurate information.

International Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 3

International Management - Essay Example The brand was launched by the company Jahwa in the year 1998 and since then Herborist has experienced significant growth. Herborist has achieved $ 8.2 million of revenues in the year 2004 which led to a huge amount of profitability for the brand. The brand already has its existence in numerous European countries including Poland, Spain, and Italy with 80% growth in sales annually. The entry modes for organizations into foreign markets are considered to be of two types such as non equity and equity modes. Non equity modes of entry comprise contractual agreements and export. The equity modes of entry are considered to include wholly owned subsidiaries and joint venture. The best way for the brand Herborist to get access to foreign markets such as Thailand is to enter into joint ventures with other reputed organizations that focus on personal care products in the market of Thailand. This will provide the brand Herborist with immediate access to the market of Thailand. Since the brand is already recognized on a global platform to provide quality personal care products, it will be easy for the brand Herborist to form a joint venture with another reputed personal care company operating in the country of Thailand. It could consider forming a joint venture with Sephora group in this regard. The brand will enjoy numerous benefits by entering into a joint venture with the Sephora group such as gaining access directly to local markets, reduction of political and marketing risk, overcoming the restrictions of host government in an efficient manner, and sharing the risk of failure. As the brand has already established a partnership with Sephora group in France, it will play an important role in their working efficiently in a combined manner in Thailand. There are also certain disadvantages in this regard such as problem of transfer pricing, problem of adjusting to different cultures may lead to different

Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology - Essay Example The extensive shoreline in Greece, which comprises of gulfs such as the one of Corinth and Thessalonica, which extends towards the sea, provides a connection as a means of communication with the adjacent areas. This also has enabled the interior provinces of the Balkans to contribute to the cultural facilities in the Mediterranean (Smith & Anthon 990). The sea also posed as a source of concern on security matters. The seaborne right of entry from the north, west, and south through the Black sea instilled Greece, Peloponnese prone to attack, and disarticulation (Larned & Reilly 1010). The Greece position on the Mediterranean Sea played a momentous role in modifying the climatic conditions thus making its population practice terrace agriculture. The sea also provided a secure environment for trading, making it a rich hub for trading grapes and olives (Larned & Reilly 1010). The presence of the mountains played a significant role in Greek mythology. The myths in the ancient served to unveil how the world was formed and manipulated. The Greeks believed that the primary gods made of Twelve Gods, or dodekatheon resided in mount Olympus (Smith & Anthon 990). Smith, William & Anthon, Charles. .A new classical dictionary of Greek and Roman biography, mythology, and geography: Partly based upon the Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. Chicago, CA: Chicago University Press, 1850, 976-1030.

The Portrayal of Brazil In The U.S. News Media Thesis

The Portrayal of Brazil In The U.S. News Media - Thesis Example This sresearch study will focus on the leading print news media in the United States - The New York Times and Washington Post. This is a valuable topic as it attracts the foreign affairs, policies and global issues between the United States and Brazil in the international platform. This is the main reason for choosing this subject matter as a research topic.From the report it is clear that  Brazil has seen two consecutive two-term Presidents: Fernando Henrique Cardoso and his successor Luis Inà ¡cio Lula da Silva. These two administrations were paramount in strengthening the Brazilian economy and in bringing about a consolidation of a strong democracy. They impacted the way this â€Å"BRIC country†   is perceived everywhere in the world, and especially in the U.S.  In recent news publication, BBC has quoted that Brazil is the biggest democratic country and economic giant and is South America’s most significant country. The mutual knowledge between U.S. and Brazil is increasingly important, given Brazil’s recent insertion into the international system and the fact that Brazil is a more active international player than most other countries of its economic stature.  In the Post-Cold War period, Brazil has begun to think of itself, and to some extent to behave, as a regional and global power. The U.S. is beginning to take account of the fact that for the first time another country in the American continent has serious aspirations to become both a regional power – in South America, perhaps even in Latin America, a region in which the United States has been the undisputed leader for more than a century –as well as a global power.... Role of Brazil in the World’s Economy Brazil has seen two consecutive two-term Presidents: Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995 to 2002) and his successor Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (2003 to 2010). These two administrations were paramount in strengthening the Brazilian economy and in bringing about a consolidation of a strong democracy. They impacted the way this â€Å"BRIC country† (grouping acronym that refers to the related economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, coined by Goldman Sachs in 2003) is perceived everywhere in the world, and especially in the U.S. Little is known about how the US news media portrays Brazil’s image (Sotero, 2007, p. 1). There is a lack of research and analysis on how both countries perceive and portray each other. For instance, as stated by Sotero (2007) in one of his studies, â€Å"historically, the United States has been disproportionately more relevant for Brazil than Brazil has been for the United States† (-p. 3). This a symmetry of interests, true for most countries in the world vis-a-vis the United States, lead one to conclude that U.S. scholars and intellectuals have not followed Brazil’s growth over the last two decades. In recent news publication, BBC has quoted that Brazil is the biggest democratic country and economic giant and is South America’s most significant country (BBC, 2010). The mutual knowledge between U.S. and Brazil is increasingly important, given Brazil’s recent insertion into the international system and the fact that Brazil is a more active international player than most other countries of its economic stature. According to Brazilianist Andrew Hurrell, beginning with Fernando Henrique Cardoso and quickening with Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, the perception has grown that Brazil has finally assumed its

Ethical dilemma about the same sex marriage Research Paper - 1

Ethical dilemma about the same sex marriage - Research Paper Example Two people belonging to the same sex getting marriage do not cause any sort of harm to the society. Society that does not give the permission to the gay people to get married is not saving the people from any harm but is causing the renunciation of basic human rights which hence is unethical. Both these concepts are considered to be the conditions of ethics. However, a society denying the rights of gay people to get married is unethical. It is a fact that gay marriages do affect the purity of the cultural concepts, the religious scholars, the sanctity regarding the natural human intimacy, etc. Some of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish extremists think that it is against their faith for the people belonging to same sex to have lustful and loving feelings for one another. The Christian extremist going back to the bible may quote that Our Creator finds it unacceptable to go against the law of nature. The book of Genesis states that God has created a man for a woman and a woman for a man and it cannot be other way around. Most of the faiths also agree to the fact that the primary purpose of marriage is reproduction, which however cannot take place naturally in the same sex marriages (Benson, 2013). There are some of the religious scholars that do support the gay marriages by stating that God condemns such marriages only when it is based on lust not love. Some of the supporters of gay marriages also say that the story of creation present in the religious books is more symbolic than real. In the modern world there are a large group of people which think that marriage is more about love and understanding than starting a new family, so therefore they do not considered gay marriage an unethical issue (Cline, 2013). There are people who do not belong to any faith yet they consider gay marriages being unethical because they feel that it is wrong for the people belonging to the same sex to be in any kind of relationship. This is because

Review of Hart's Atheist Delusions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review of Hart's Atheist Delusions - Essay Example Therefore, this paper is a review of Hart’s Atheist Delusions, whereby each section of the book will be reviewed. The book gives an outline concerning the transformation of Christianity during the ancient world through ways that have been forgotten such as liberalization from fatalism, presenting substantial dignity on human beings, challenging the features of cruelty in pagan society and elevation of charity above the qualities. Hart also establishes an argument concerning the term â€Å"Age of Reason,† which is considered the initiation of authority to be a cultural value. Moreover, the thesis in this book is concise, whereby it explores the misrepresentation of Christianity history during the New Atheists and the positive effect on the world’s culture. The first section of the book entails an assessment of the new â€Å"gospel of unbelief† and supporters, which is preceded by a question rose on the central principles implying that the world has facilita ted modernity. The book seeks to establish whether the world can be a better place thought the modernist doctrine, absolute human autonomy, which is embraced by a substantial stability. The next section of the book entails a direct challenge to the modernity through a rewrite of the Christianity history, and an assessment of the cultural struggle between the rivalry from the pagans and growing Christianity faith. The book raises concern in exposed modern myths, which represent Christianity as forces of intolerance, fallacy, irrationalism and cruelty. On the other hand, there is an opposite representation of the paganism, whereby it is attributed to love, peace and fostering coexistence through an attitude of the minority. In the contrary, the pagans have a culture attributed to anti-intellectuals, corruption and oppression. However, despite this dissolute environment, Christianity has managed to uphold their optimism, liberation and anti-elitist, which is preached though their value s of honorable integrity, thereby generating cultural conditions that foster flourishing of philosophy and science in a long period. In fact, Hart claims that Christianity takes credit for the greatest benefits enjoyed in the world today. In the third section of the book, the case established to lose the line of argumentation, whereby the information presented becomes incoherent throughout the development of six chapters. Nevertheless, the chapters sought to establish a case based on the modern conception on humanity through a positive invention of Christianity. Therefore, these offers illustration of the way culture have abandoned Christianity leading to desertion of humanity. The argument in this book becomes problematic in numerous dimensions, such as the difficulty involved in the process of deriving a discussion in the exact line of argumentation and the precision of each idea leading to the conclusion. Moreover, the last chapter of the third section depicts the Christianity do ctrine in relation to the principle of manifestation, which is an elevation of human conception concerning the level of divinity. Moreover, the claim in this section seems to turn on the doubtful interpretation of the incarnation, which surpasses the ecumenical creeds of the church, instead of a precision and argumentation offered by Hart. In fact, his argument appears to be insightful than a reader can understand, and if that is the case, there is obscurity created by oblique prose. In the last two chapters,

Rationalism vs. Empiricism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Rationalism vs. Empiricism - Essay Example . Contrary to empiricists, rationalists embrace deduction. This means being able to prove something by relying on certainty and not reason. For instance, Descartes relied on deductive reasoning as a way of proving God’s existence. Conversely, empiricism denotes a belief in the sense perception as the source of knowledge. For example, John Locke explained this belief by dividing sense perception into two parts that include simple and complex ideas. The simple ideas emerge from only on perception. This may include for example, perception of color or size. On the other hand, complex ideas are derived by combining the simple ideas (Alexander 58). Further, another belief that separates empiricism from rationalism involves the acquisition of ideas through experience. In essence, ideas according to empiricists, are not acquired through an innate process. Empiricism does not embrace innate ideas in the sense that, knowledge varies. For instance, a child’s mind is a tabula rasa, but learns from experience. In essence, if they possess the knowledge, they should use it from the start. According to Lock, simple ideas emanate from experience, and those ideas are combined to form complex ideas. In addition, empiricism contrary to rationalism endorse a belief in induction. This is the belief that only a few phenomenon are proven conclusively. For example, people identify things through their sense perception. However, most perceptions cannot be concluded to agree with the objects being perceived (Alexander 65).

CONFLICT RESOLUTION Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

CONFLICT RESOLUTION - Term Paper Example Where people stay, conflicts are bound to take place. As human beings, it is vital to find ways of solving conflicts so as to live in harmony. The art and ability to accommodate one another is equally important therefore it is wise to take it as a burden to resolve conflict in an amicable way without resorting to war. From past experience and historical perspective, diplomacy reigns where war has always failed. It is therefore important to analyze conflict from a personal experience with regard to what takes place in the work place. It is also very important to figure out what would be the dangers of letting anger take control of people in the work or social places and the repercussions it might have on their career (Hodgson, 2000). Conflicts in work places are as common as they are in other social places. Having that background knowledge it is therefore important to find ways of handling situations of conflict that may arise in our surrounding. It is also important to realize that m any a times conflicts normally arise as a result of conflicting concerns of individuals, who may want to suit their own interest at the expense of others. Conflicts in work places arise because of a number of reasons. If such issues are not addressed in time, they cause a threat to the organization. An example of what might cause conflict is the feeling that some workers are given special treatment than others. Yet some workers may also engage in conflict because they are sidelined. This occurs when a single worker or a group of workers find it difficult to associate with fellow workers because of their background, their weakness or even their manner of handling situations. For example in my case, I have experienced a scenario at work place when fellow workers ganged up against me. Reason being, I had a weakness in the manner in which I handled lazy people. Instead of being rational, I acted ruthlessly towards them. As a result, I was sidelined by my workmates. The situation got wor se. I was hated by everyone in the organization. My sight could not be condoned by anyone; this deteriorated my performance. I was almost giving up my job when finally the manager came to our intervention. The situation has improved since I now get along with everyone. My situation may not be different from what might be going on in other places of work. Appreciating others is vital since no achievement in the work place can be realized when workers are not united. We must learn to work with others and accept others, putting it in mind that we cannot have the same qualities. Since conflicts are mandatory in places of work, it is important to look at ways of coming up with solutions to solve such occurrences whenever they happen. There are as many solutions to as many social problems as possible. The only challenge that has always been is that there is no strategy that is near perfect for solving conflicts (Palagi et al., 2004). There are five strategies that can be used in conflict resolution in case of conflict in any working places or anywhere else. The strategies include accommodating, compromising, avoiding, and problem solving. All these strategies are important tools that those who are holding managerial positions in the work places should try to adopt when faced with the challenge of trying to solve disputes in places of work. Conflicts in places of work should be viewed as natural occurrences that arise out of discontentment and frustrations and thus before using

Biological Perspective Essay Example for Free

Biological Perspective Essay One client I worked with had very low levels of assertiveness and because of this was often treated very badly by friends, family and work colleagues. This led to her becoming really rather depressed, which meant that she tended to avoid interactions with other people whenever possible, lowering further still her confidence and her ability to deal with social situations. She was becoming increasingly withdrawn. Whilst the counselling helped her to understand how she was contributing towards her own distress by having so low an opinion of herself, the antidepressants helped her to feel well enough to start to re-engage with people and to put into practice some of the ideas and life skills she was learning in therapy. By the time the medication was slowly stopped after her depression had lifted, she had firmly established new patterns of behaviour and relationships. She was easily able to continue this new and more useful way of being, therefore removing the need for further medication. Back to Top The Disadvantages of Antidepressants Many people I know would say that when you are profoundly depressed, there are no disadvantages to taking something that makes you feel better. Certainly I know many clients whose lives have been transformed by taking the right antidepressant, prescribed by their doctor or psychiatrist. Having said that, no medication is without its problems. With antidepressants, the main problems are firstly, finding the right antidepressant and secondly, side-effects. Antidepressants seem to help about half of the people who take them and different antidepressants work better with some people than others. The process of matching the right medication to the person is far from a precise science and one psychiatrist I know will admit that it often comes down to luck and guesswork. Having said that, the choice of antidepressant is usually informed by the exact nature of the symptoms experienced.

Background And Rationale Of The Study English Language Essay

Background And Rationale Of The Study English Language Essay Language assessment is an instrument for language teachers to identify the students strengths and weaknesses in language learning, to place the student into a program and to measure the use of English in four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). The assessment can be done by such methods as tests, interviews, or observations. For language teachers, the tests provide evidence of the results of learning and instruction, and hence feedback on the effectiveness of the teaching program (Bachman Palmer, 1996, p. 8). The test results enable the students to develop their performance in language learning effectively. In addition, it is very important to select the most suitable language tests which respond to the specific goals of teaching. Language teachers should also understand the functions and the characteristics of the language tests thoroughly. Many practitioners and researchers in language testing (Bachman Palmer, 1996; Brown, 1996; Hughes, 2003; McNamara, 2000) categorize four kinds of language tests based on the test purposes and functions as follows: (1) Proficiency Tests are designed to measure general language skills, including speaking, listening, reading and writing. In addition, proficiency tests generally help teachers to set up entrance and exit standards for a curriculum (Brown, 1996, p. 9). For instance, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are currently used by many universities where English language proficiency is required. (2) Achievement Tests are aimed at the degree of learning or how much progress the students have made (McNamara, 2000). So achievement tests are directly relevant to the goals of learning and instruction. These tests can be given in the middle or at the end of the program (Hughes, 2003; McNamara, 2000). (3) Diagnostic Tests are established to analyze the students strengths and weaknesses in the learning process (Brown, 1996; Hughes, 2003). These tests are conducted at the beginning of the program (Brown, 1996). (4) Placement Tests are focused on screening the students to see whether they can study in a program and grouping the students in the same level of language proficiency (Hughes, 2003). Hence, the results of these tests will enable the teachers to accurately place the students entering any institution or program (Bachman Palmer, 1996). In addition to a clear understanding of the functions and the characteristics of language tests, language teachers have to understand the construction of those tests. There are two approaches which have an influence on test construction: the discrete-point approach and the integrative approach (Hughes, 2003). For the discrete-point approach, language teachers view each language component separately, measuring one language skill at a time, such as testing grammar or vocabulary (Brown, 1996; McNamara, 2000). In language testing, discrete-point tests emphasize language form rather than language use (McNamara, 2000). However, the discrete-point test results focusing on a single language component are inadequate to determine the students language proficiency (Jitendra Rohena-Diaz, 1996). As a consequence, Oller (1979) suggests that teachers should construct language tests using the integrative approach instead. In the integrative approach, the language teachers view language as a whole, emphasizing both productive and receptive skills (Brown, 1996; Hughes, 2003; McNamara, 2000). Integrative tests, such as cloze, dictation, writing an essay, and interview, can measure several skills simultaneously (Brown, 1996; Hughes, 2003). Moreover, integrative tests are suitable for assessing language proficiency and communicative skills (Brown, 1996; McNamara, 2000). McNamara (2000) contends that integrative tests take a lot of time to construct and score, as shown in Table 1. However, cloze tests are reported to be less time consuming, easier to score, and more reliable in measuring students English language proficiency (Oller, 1979). The cloze test was initiated by Taylor (1953, cited in Oller Conrad, 1971). Originally, there were two kinds of cloze tests: a rational cloze and a random cloze (see Example 1). The former refers to the deletion of specific types of words in a selected passage, such as prepositions or articles. The latter deals with a consistent deletion of every nth word, such as every fifth or seventh word. The students task is to fill in the deleted part in the cloze passage. Cloze tests can measure grammatical structure, written expression and vocabulary as well as reading comprehension (Steinman, 2002). In addition, some studies (Aitken, 1977; Oller Conrad, 1971; Oller, 1979; Stubbs Tucker, 1974) indicate that the cloze test is an effective instrument which is reliable and valid to measure English language proficiency. But the different deletion rates have an effect on the validity and the measurement of the cloze test (Alderson, 1979, 1980, 1983, 2000). Klein-Braley (1997) adds that the dele tion rates used in cloze tests require long passages. If a cloze test with the deletion of every fifth word provides 50 items, the text length should be at least 250 words (Oller, 1979). This problem has led to the development a new form of the cloze test which is called the C-Test. The C-Test, one of the new cloze tests, was constructed by Raatz and Klein-Braley (1981) in order to see if it could be more effective than the original cloze tests in measuring the students English language proficiency. The construction of the C-Test is based on the same principle as that of the cloze test; however, only the second half of every second word is deleted as can be seen in Example 2. In the C-Test, if the deleted word contains an even number of letters, the second half of this word will be deleted, such as exper i e n c e (10 letters). For a word with an odd number of letters, its larger part must be deleted, such as th e r e (5 letters). Moreover, many research studies indicate that the C-Test is more effective and more reliable than the original cloze (Connelly, 1997; DÃ ¶rnyei Katona, 1992; Klein-Braley, 1985, 1997), and yet, DÃ ¶rnyei and Katona (1992) report that the C-Test is too difficult for non-native students studying a target language such as English. As a result, Thongsa-nga (1998) adopted the original C-Test to make it suitable for Thai students studying English as a foreign language. Imitating the C-Test construction, Thongsa-nga (1998) proposed the New C-Test (the NC-Test) by deleting the second half of every third word in order to provide more clues for the non-native test takers, as can be seen in Example 2. According to the investigation of Thongsa-nga (1998), the NC-Test is employed as a proficiency test for non-native students at a secondary school level. The findings reveal that the NC-Test is reliable to assess the English language proficiency of these Thai Mathayomsuksa Six students. As far as this researcher has been able to establish, there has been no research investigating the use of the NC-Test for non-native university students in Thailand. So the present study is designed to examine the similarities and the differences in using the C-Test and the NC-Test in measuring the English language proficiency of first-yea r Thai undergraduate students. Another form of the cloze test, the Modified C-Test (the MC-Test), also known as the X-Test, was invented by Boonsathorn in 1987 (cited in Boonsathorn, 1990, p. 46). For the MC-Test, the first half of every second word is deleted (see Example 3). In the MC-Test, if the total number letters of the deleted word is an even number, the first half of this word will be deleted, such as d i s a gree (8 letters). For a word with an odd number of letters, its larger part will be deleted, such as o t h er. According to Boonsathorn (1987), the first half deletion in the MC-Test compares with the C-Test. His study reports that the MC-Test is more difficult and discriminates better than the C-Test. Some research findings show that the MC-Test has high reliability and validity and can be used with advanced students (KÃ ¶berl Sigott, 1996; Prapphal, 1994; Sigott KÃ ¶berl, 1993; Wonghiransombat, 1998). So the MC-Test should be further investigated to see its strengths and weaknesses in assessing English language skills. The MC-Test can be an alternative type for a better assessment of the English language proficiency of Thai undergraduate students, although the study of Sigott and KÃ ¶berl (1993) claims that the MC-Test is more difficult for non-native speakers. Wonghiransombat (1998) then proposed the New Modified C-Test (the NMC-Test) in order to make the original MC-Test appropriate for non-native students (p. 23). The construction of the NMC-Test is based on the same principle as the MC-Test; however, the first half of every third word is deleted to provide more clues as shown in Example 3. In addition, Wonghiransombat (1998) reports that the NMC-Test with the third starting point, or the third-word deletion, is easier and has better discrimination than the original MC-Test. Her study, the only research done in Thailand to examine the use of the MC-Test and the NMC-Test at the postgraduate level, also shows that the NMC-Test can be utilized to measure English language proficiency of Thai postgraduate students. Therefore, the present study is also aimed at examining the similarities and the differences in using the original MC-Test and the NMC-Test in measuring English language proficiency of the Thai undergraduate students. In addition to the construction of new language tests, language teachers should further investigate the students test-taking strategies in order to validate the language test and to examine what language abilities the test can measure (Cohen, 1994, 1998). Test-taking strategies can be defined as the processes that the test takers make use of in order to produce acceptable answers to questions and tasks, as well as the perceptions that they have about these questions and tasks before, during, and after responding to them (Cohen, 1998, p. 216). For instance, some students read an entire cloze passage before filling in the missing parts (Cohen, 1998). Moreover, the perceptions of language tests and test-taking strategies of the students with high- or low-language-ability are different (Cohen, 1984; Sasaki, 2000; Yamashita, 2003). As far as the present researcher has been able to determine, there has been no investigation in Thailand on cloze test-taking strategies. Therefore, cloze comp letion processes are also included in this study to examine the strategies used in taking the C-Test, the MC-Test, the NC-Test, and the NMC-Test for non-native undergraduate students. In conclusion, this research is aimed at comparing the new cloze formats (the NMC-Test and the NC-Test) with the older cloze formats (the MC-Test and the C-Test) and to examine the similarities and the differences in these four tests for Thai undergraduate students. Also, this study focuses on examining what test-taking strategies or procedures the students use while responding to the different types of cloze tests. 1.2 Purpose of the Study The present study aims to investigate the differences in the four types of the cloze tests by comparing the use of the MC-Test with that of NMC-Test, and the use of the C-Test with that of the NC-Test. In order to understand the cloze test-taking strategies, the study is also designed to find out to what extent undergraduate students use seven test-taking strategies while answering the different types of cloze tests. The strategies are based on the latest categorization of Sasaki (2000). The new cloze tests including the C-Test, the NC-Test, the MC-Test, and the NMC-Test were taken by first-year science students at Mahidol University in the first semester of academic year 2003. Therefore, the research questions are posed as follows: Does the NMC-Test yield different results from the original MC-Test in measuring students language proficiency? Does the NC-Test yield different results from the original C-Test in measuring students language proficiency? Does using every third-word deletion of the NMC-Test and the NC-Test affect the discrimination power of the test? What test-taking strategies do the first-year undergraduate students in the Faculty of Science at Mahidol University use while taking the C-Test, the MC-Test, the NMC-Test, and the NC-Test? 1.3 Significance of the Study This study is designed to compare the new cloze formats, including the original C-Test with the NC-Test, and the original MC-Test with the NMC-Test. The results of this study may provide an alternative way for language teachers to measure the English language proficiency of Thai undergraduate students learning EFL. Test-taking strategies are also studied to enable the language teachers to understand how effectively the students respond to the new types of cloze passage. 1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study (1) The study is limited to first year science students at Mahidol University in the first semester of the academic year 2003. The results cannot be generalized to other students, at other university levels, and in other areas. (2) The study focuses on first-year science students with high- and low-language-ability based on the English Entrance Examination scores, which were reported by the coordinator of the science program. (3) Only exact word scoring is employed in this study. (4) It is assumed that all of the first-year science students have had some background knowledge of English up to Mathayomsuksa Six. 1.5 Definitions of Terms Cloze test refers to a test in which the entire words are rationally or randomly deleted and the student is asked to fill in the missing words (Boonsathorn, 1990, 2000; Wonghiransombat, 1998). C-Test is a test in which the second part or the second half of every second word is deleted and the students task is to fill in the deleted parts (Boonsathorn, 1990; Klein-Braley, 1985). New C-Test (NC-Test) is a test in which the second part or the second half of every third word is deleted and the student is required to fill in the missing parts (Thongsa-nga, 1998). New Modified C-Test (NMC-Test) is a test in which the first part or the first half of every third word is deleted and the students task is to fill in the missing parts (Wonghiransombat, 1998). Modified C-Test (MC-Test) is a test in which the first part or the first half of every second word is deleted and the student is required to fill in the deleted parts (Boonsathorn, 1990, 2000; Wonghiransombat, 1998). Readability refers to how easily written materials can be read and understood. Readability depends on many factors, including (a) the average length of sentences in a passage, (b) the number of new words a passage contains, and (c) the grammatical complexity of the language used. Procedures used for measuring readability are known as readability formulae (Richards, Platt, Platt, 1993, p. 306). Test-taking strategies are the processes that the test takers make use of in order to produce acceptable answers to questions and tasks, as well as the perceptions that they have about these questions and tasks before, during, and after responding to the test (Cohen, 1998, p. 216).