Macro-Environmental Analysis Essay Example

Macro-Environmental Analysis Paper An organisations marketing environment can be defined as the actors and forces external to the marketing management function of the firm that impinge on the marketing managements ability to develop and maintain successful transactions with its customers (Kotler, 1997). In order to fully analyse Marss marketing strategy, it is important to look at its marketing environment first, which is made up of a micro-environment and a macro-environment. According to Kotler (1984), the macro-environment consists of the larger societal forces that affect micro-environment (internal). The micro-environment, on the other hand, consists of the forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve its stakeholders (external). Macro-Environmental Analysis Macro-environment, in Marss case, refers to the whole European ice cream market, since it is beyond the immediate environment but can nevertheless affect Mars as a company. European Ice Cream Market We will write a custom essay sample on Macro-Environmental Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Macro-Environmental Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Macro-Environmental Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Capital requirement in advertising and branding is extremely high in the ice cream market. The spending is responsible for developing brands and generating effect on consumers decision-making process. For the premium ice cream where Mars has positioned itself, launching heavyweight advertising is of more importance, in an effort to create particular brand imagery by convincing consumers of its quality. In the ice cream market, the power of buyers and suppliers has been seen less strong as in other markets, because of the lack of concentration of its buyers and suppliers. Instead, buyers of ice cream has spread widely across all ages, although children are always the primary consumers. The threat of substitution may take forms of product-for-product substitution or substitution of need by a new product or service (Johnson Scholes, 1997). Ice cream, as a fulfilment of needs such as light hunger, refreshment, indulgence, fun sharing and thirst quenching, might be substituted by biscuits, chocolates, crisps, or some traditional snacks in some European countries. In competitive terms, there are two leading companies who dominate most shares in the European market, Unilever, headquartered in the UK and Netherlands, and Nestle, a Switzerland-based company. It indicates the unbalance of competitors. The attractiveness of industry is particularly high when the market growth rate is high (Johnson Scholes, 1997). Even up to the year 2000, the market was predicted to grow at around 5% per annum, especially in the super premium market where the growth rate is over 15%. This is unusual in mature European food markets. The high level of grow rate intensify the competition among various market players. It might also attract potential entrants, which, on the other hand, result to an even more intensive rivalry. However, rivalry can be alleviated to some extents through differentiation strategy. According to Naylor (1999), differentiation refers to the added value in which strategic business unit expects its customers to appreciate. The extra value offered by the company must also be valued by customers more than the extra cost it takes to provide it. In the ice cream market, the offerings of premium and super premium ones are regarded as kinds of differentiation. In this way, some companies will aim to gain market share by focusing on premier or super premium segment whereas the rest will fight for economy ice cream segment, thereby reducing the intensity of competition within the market. Finally, if the exist barrier is high enough, it can increase the competition as well. It is especially a concern of family firms, such as Mars. They tend to not leave the marketplace if this is the only business that they are in (Finlay, 2000). By taking all this factors listed above into account, the opportunity and threat for Mars can be categorised below. Opportunity After looking at the market in the general way, it is time to relate it to Mars company. Europe is relatively a stable environment, which provides a secure market for business, in terms of political factors. As its market share is spread evenly across Europe, Mars benefits a lot from the trading agreements, including EEC, EC, EEA, as they further lower the tariff and create customs union (Brooks Weatherston, 2000). Therefore, the prices of Mars Ice Cream tend to uniform all around the Europe. The expected increase in personal disposable income over a couple of years will also help Mars as consumers will have the necessary funds to realise their desires, and be more likely to go for high quality and more expensive products. The rise in personal disposable income helps the fast expand of Marss premium ice cream market, and indicates that this segmentation will still be beneficial to Mars in the future. As a recent trend, the traditional family meal time has now been challenged. It is largely due to peoples busy working lives. Therefore, it becomes common to find different family members eating different foods at different times. As an easy-to-prepare and ready-to-eat dessert, ice cream has obviously attracted a large number of consumers. Ice cream can be taken back to home and served in flexible portions (take home) or rather consumed immediately (impulse). Deseasonalisation has considered being a tendency in recent years. It implies the less dependency on the hot weather, which, in some European countries, last for quite a short time. Marss Ice Cream has been sold all over the Europe, thus producing deseasonalised items is of more importance on companys agenda. The production of the ice cream is subject to the use of advanced technology in areas like prevention of fat accumulation and coarse texture, sweetness, or drawing temperatures. It, in some ways, raises the threshold of entering ice cream industry, thereby protecting the existing companies, including Mars, from a too fierce rivalry competition. Continued innovation is also a key issue here. Unlike a stapler or cigarette, ice cream is the kind of product which needs continued refreshment and constant innovation in its taste, flavour, texture or ingredients in order to maintain consumer interest and encourage sales and repurchasing. The ability to conduct it relates to the technology as well, which re-invigorate the product portfolio. This kind of requirement has put Mars onto an advantage position since the company has been well-known for its ability of innovation. Threat The biggest threat refers to the counter-offensive defence strategy (Kotler Singh, 1981) employed by Unilever against Mars, since Unilver has effectively prevented Mars from accessing its freezer cabinets. It is done by supplying smaller outlets with free freezer cabinets, which are exclusive to other brands, thus increasing and enhancing its retail outlets. Since macro actors are more difficult to manage and control, a proactive action is required in order to survive in the market. Overall, the European ice cream market is a stable, growing, but highly competitive environment. Stale always indicates that the low level of changeability, higher level of predictability and visibility. Therefore, a prescriptive strategy can take place. Micro-Environmental Analysis Micro-environment is the internal factors that impinge directly on Mars. Mars Ice Cream Mars is highly profitable in confectionery and prepared petfood areas, acting like the market leader in these two categories. However, since the growth rates of these two industries are not high enough, its confectionery and petfood can be regarded as cash cows. The profit generated by its cash cows is actually used to support its question mark, namely Mars Ice Cream (see Figure 1). According to Mars, the ice cream has not generated significant profit since its launch in late 1980s. Mars Ice Cream, enjoying only 5% to 10% market share in Europe, demonstrates an ambiguous future in this growing ice cream market. In this scenario, the company should decide whether to continuously fund it in order to increase market share, or withdraw it from the marketplace as it erodes the companys profit. Therefore, It is said that Mars Ice Cream is a question mark. However, in its product portfolio, no star or dog has been observed. It might imply the unbalance of its current product offering. Strength Probably the major strength Mars has demonstrated for years is its innovation ability. It refers to what Lynch (1998) calls as distinctive strategic element relevant to competing in the marketplace. However, during the early 1990s, this strategy was borrowed by Nestle, a major competitor of Mars. For that reason, the advantage of being able to innovate is a competitive advantage of Mars instead of a core competence. By adopting Porters (1985) model for generic strategies, Mars concentration on a segment of the market is categorised as differentiation (see Figure 2). One of Marss strategies was to price the ice cream at a premium level, which proves to be highly successful. By doing so, Mars has implemented a flanking attack by concentrating distinct market segments that are not adequately served by Unilever and Nestle (Kotler, 1997).

Rhetorical Analysis Sample Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Sample EssaySome of the same principles as in course work can be applied to a rhetorical analysis sample essay PDF. As you go through a course, you will learn how to organize your thoughts and communicate them in a persuasive way. As you do this with your essay, you will learn the principles that are used in each grade level and the specific syllabus content that will apply to you.In addition to learning the correct argument structure, you will learn the specific structures for each grade level in an analysis of a rhetorical analysis sample essay PDF. As you read through your own essay you will read through the lines of each paragraph as well as the article. You will use this material to help organize your thoughts.As you read through your essay, you will begin to see patterns and find connections. Your first sentence will serve as the introduction to your paper and you will use this opening paragraph to connect your first two paragraphs. As you read, you will not ice your thought being expressed in one sentence or a few sentences. Later in the essay, you will change your topic or your opinion to reflect the change you have made in your writing skills.As you complete the essay, you will be in a good chance to revise the writing skills you already have or develop new ones. You will not realize this until you are reviewing your essay later. If you plan on using your essay in class, you may want to discuss it with your instructor before you submit it. This will help to ensure that you follow the syllabus, structure, style and design of the assignment and your own personal style.In addition to working to improve your essay, you may want to find other materials online to help with your assignment. There are many online resources that offer sample essays. These include such things as a response to a topical essay, a response to a debate or a response to a speech. These may be used in your essay when you complete it and you will not find them requir ed but they will help you make the most of your essay.One of the easiest ways to learn how to write a rhetorical analysis sample essay PDF is to use a website that offers you more than one essay to choose from. The more you use these resources, the more you will be able to see patterns and learn to use the various structures. Once you have used the site in a number of essays, you will be well on your way to using a good essay for school.Reading the essay at home is not a bad idea either. By reading the passage as you go through your work you will be better able to see what the rules are and apply them to your own skills.

My Life Growing Up

My Life Growing Up Free Online Research Papers This is all about me growing up in my early years, school years and how I have made different career choices in my life. I also talk about my family, my life now and most importantly my future. This is all about me growing up in my early years, school years and how I have made different career choices in my life. I also talk about my family, my life now and most importantly my future. The Early Years While growing up, I don’t remember too much of my early years. All I can remember is that my mother passed away when I was around four or maybe five years old. I didn’t know my father, but heard of him sometimes. I have one blood sister that I know of, but don’t really know anything about her. However, I can say that I was adopted into a big family that raised and took care of me. Growing up with my new family, I learned how to cook, plant vegetables, clean and take care of myself. My sister on the other hand, was living with another family at that time. Although, I can’t remember a lot about my early years, but I do know me and my family always went fishing, hunting, picking peas on the farm and always celebrating something. Ever Easter, my parents would throw a cabaret, which I enjoyed the most, because people from everywhere would put on their best Sunday outfit just to win one of the contests that they had their. Christmas was a blessing, because everything I wanted I always got until I started snooping around and learned there was no Santa clause, and then it started getting boring. On the other hand, every holiday with my new family was great. ? The Early Years in School When I moved here from Michigan, high school was one of the most exciting and at the same time the most boring periods of my life. During my four years at Patterson Co-Op, I learned things but nothing of what I learned would be more confusing than my college course classes. During my freshman year of high school, I had just moved here from Michigan to Ohio. I had no friends and I was starting high school in about a month. As the days got closer to the start of the school year, I found some people to hang around with in the building I was living in however; they were going to a different school than me. The first day of school I was actually excited to go. I learned how to catch my first bus. When I arrive to school I nearly hit the floor, cause it reminded me a little of my old school in Michigan. I settled into this new atmosphere after a while and found out that it wasn’t so hard after all. As the year progressed I became more and more comfortable with the people and environment around me. Then here comes sophomore year. Sophomore year, I took up machine trades. There were only me and one other girl in this class which we became friends. Everyone always called us some tomboys, because we were the only girls who took this course up, which made it very weird for us. As the year was going we were the best in our division. We were in every skill trade competition you can name, made tools and even made the fellows mad. I still have all my awards up till this day. In my junior year, many new and interesting things happened. I made more friends, played basketball and even tried out for the cheerleading team while still taking up machine trades. Although, I never made the cheerleading team, but I can say I did join ROTC at the school. This was the best time ever, going to military balls, dances and even booth camp during the summer in Nashville, Tennessee. Senior year suppose to be the best year of high school. While getting ready for senior trips, dances, prep rallies and most of all graduation, well for me it was not so good. Last day, I just knew I had passed the profiecy test. When the scores came out I fell to the floor and started crying cause I had missed it by three points. However, I did get my diploma that summer year. I just could not walk across the stage and receive it like I always dreamed of. Upon graduation from Patterson Co-Op, I plan to acquire a logistics management position in industry. I was hoping to work in an environment in which I can help a company achieve its goals, as well as an environment that will provide me with personnel growth and development. With my educational background, machine trades/JROTC, cooperative work experience, and the desire to learn, I was capable of handling the challenges that the work force would bring. However, being fresh out of high school I didn’t accomplish this dream right off the back. I’ve work at many restaurants and also attended some college. During college, my career choice was to become a police officer. I was doing great until I became with child and my instructors’ told me I had to withdraw from the classes because pregnant women were not allowed to go through their training. Coming to the point of my current career choice has been a long road. My idea of what a career is or should be has changed with circumstances and age. After years of trying I fondly landed a decent job in the manufacturing world. My Family Me and my family love to go on short trips. One trip I took the kids on was to Kansas City. Our children ranging from ten – five loved when we drove through St. Louis and passing the football stadium. Even though, it was a long drive (which I was told 6 hours) we had fun all the way there. My son and his dad went to check out the Chiefs stadium while we girls went on a shopping spree as usual. My family is a sport fans all the way especially loving the Cleveland Browns. I try to keep them very business with cheerleading, soccer, football and even base ball, although they hate the last one. However, I love them all more and more every day. My Life Now When I look at a picture of myself, I realized how much I’ve grown and changed, not only physically, but also mentally as a person in the last fifteen years. Remember the phrase â€Å"If I knew what I know now, things would be differently.† We’ll that phrase means a lot to me, but the only thing is, I would not change anything, just make it even better. Our lives know is going to school and getting an education while taking care of my family. My Future However, after so many years of working in the manualfacture world then being put out. I decide to change my life around and do something total different. Know that I am currently back into school after ten years I am taking up cooking classes, something I’ve never thought I would be doing, but it was time for something different and new. Right know I cannot predict my future especially with the economy the way it is. I’m just going to take it one day at a time and see what the future will bring me and hopefully it will be good. ? Research Papers on My Life Growing UpStandardized TestingPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyHip-Hop is ArtThe Spring and AutumnHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UsePETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductGenetic Engineering

STRATEGY EVALUATION AND REVISION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

STRATEGY EVALUATION AND REVISION - Essay Example Like all other aspects of life, sport has also been subject to certain modifications time and again. In modern times, sport has been subject to tremendous competition and rivalry. Sport England has come up with number of strategies to develop the community sport in England. The prime objective of the Sport England is to have a set of talented professionals by 2012 London Olympics. For this purpose various strategies like tapping young talents, recruiting expert coaches, maximising the number of volunteers, integrating the club framework are being adopted. Sport England has partnership with NGBs, Youth Sport Trust, local authorities. The analysis of the strategies of Sport England reveals that the steps are quite outstanding and has created a general interest among the mass for the development of community sport. The importance and relevance of sport in human life has long been understood and accepted. The best of the minds and talents, irrespective of their working spheres have acknowledged this fact. As the famous scientist Benjamin Franklin observed, â€Å"Games lubricate the body and the mind†, the relevance of sport can be related to the spectrum of daily or day-to-day life. In simple words, sport can be defined as an activity where the participating and competitive forces apply their physical and mental abilities to win over the competitor within a periphery of declared regulations. Though in United Kingdoms, the activity is known as ‘Sport,’ in United States, it is popularly called ‘Sports’. Today, sporting teams and their related activities with highly professional partners make an industry. Generally, we refer it as the sporting industry or fraternity.

An Introduction to STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLES OF THE GENERAL Essay

An Introduction to STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND THE ROLES OF THE GENERAL MANAGER - Essay Example Strategic management takes account of the strengths and weaknesses of the organizations and prepares itself best in competitive arena by minimizing weaknesses and maximizing strengths. The human resource of the company is structured and inspired to achieve the objectives of the company. The role of the General Manager is that of a leader of human resources who guides and allocates the usage of other resources. Thus the role of the General Manager assumes critical importance in implementing the company’s objectives across various functional departments, and integrating the workforce to achieve the stated goals of the company by reining wayward behaviour and ‘self-direction’ to ‘shared beliefs’. This is achieved through development of communication channels, smooth flow of information across company’s structures, conflict resolution, and provision of creative latitude and development of a sound organizational culture. The General Manager keeps th e Board and the CEO informed about the progress and performance of the company. He/she is the vital link in vertical and horizontal communication amongst company’s stakeholders. Due to its strategic importance, sometimes the job of General Manager becomes extremely stressful. We are dedicated to development of innovative Information Technology solutions. Our products meet the customer expectations and provide quality products that give maximum value for money. We are committed to create ever higher levels of customer satisfaction in order to have a sustained competitive advantage in the market. We achieve this by putting in our best efforts in a creative environment; where our work is a pleasurable activity that gives us a tremendous sense of fulfilment. We are a well-knitted team of exemplary and dignified individuals. Meeting ever higher levels of customer satisfaction: The road to perfection is an unending journey. Our customers seek better and better and products. We focus on innovation and quality to

Investigate how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industry Essay Example for Free

Investigate how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industry Essay Executive Summary Within this report it outlines how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. It will go into great detail about the chosen event and how this particular event impacted these industries, with topics such as what an event is, the chosen event in detail, and how this event impacted these industries. Table of Contents I. Methodology II. Introduction III. Findings IV. Conclusion V. References VI. Appendices VII. Bibliography Methodology After already establishing the basis of the theoretical view of this report, it is now required to reflect on how the evidence will be composed to support the theory and research within this report. There are a number of ways in which this research will be collected. Firstly it will be important to establish what an actual event is as well as definitions of the terms hospitality, travel and tourism. This can be done through secondary sources such as books e. g. Allen, O’Toole et al 2011, websites and newspapers. The chosen event will then show how it has impacted the hospitality, travel and tourism industries in Belfast as well as how the Northern Ireland Tourism Board had this planned as part of Northern Ireland’s preparation of making Northern Ireland a huge tourist destination. Introduction The subject matter of this report is too educate how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industries, looking a single event in particular, so that the impacts are more in a personal tone rather than generalising to looking into events as a whole. Definitions will be given of what an event, hospitality, travel and tourism actually are. Topics will include information on the chosen event that will be discussed in greater detail, Belfast as a tourist destination, important impacts on the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. Benefits of a major event within a city. How a major event can impact on a city or destination improvements, and a brief incite into Northern Ireland’s Tourist Board’s plan for Northern Ireland to become a huge and popular tourist destination in the future. Investigate how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industry. For this report I have chosen to research and ‘Investigate how a major event can influence the hospitality, travel and tourism industry. ’ The event in which I aim on investigating is the opening if the Titanic Signature Building. This report will explain in detail how the opening of the Titanic Signature Building influenced the hospitality, travel and tourism industries. Within this report you will be introduced to the main question of this report. Topics will include talking about the building itself, its visitor numbers, Belfast as a tourism destination, the impacts the building had on Belfast’s hospitality, travel tourism industry. â€Å"The hospitality and tourism industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry with 700 million international travellers per year around the world,† said Zainal (2012) in his book, ‘Current Issues in Hospitality and Tourism: Research and Innovations. ’ According to the oxford dictionary the exact definitions of what an event, hospitality and tourism actually are. â€Å"An event is described as a thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance, a planned public or social occasion. † â€Å"Hospitality is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors or strangers. † And the definition of tourism is the â€Å"temporary movement of people to destinations outside their normal places of work and residence, the activity undertaken during the stay in those destinations, and the facilities created to cater for their needs. † According to Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) the Northern Ireland vision is, ‘To create the new Northern Ireland experience and get it on everyone’s destination wish list. ’ As the well-known slogan for Northern Ireland 2012 was that â€Å"Northern Ireland 2012 is our time, our place† This means that NITB have stated that they think Northern Ireland is a rising tourist destination. And that Northern Ireland is trying to offer a unique way to be involved and to celebrate. And we as a city need to take our story to a wider audience. So as part of this transaction to take ‘our story’ to a wider audience, the Titanic signature building project started. Shone and Parry (2010) said that â€Å"for a town or city wishing to become a tourist destination, elements such as attractions, accommodation, transport, infrastructure and facilities must be present. † Belfast has been in the middle of this process over the past few years, and especially as 2012 was meant to be ‘our time, our place’ Belfast certainly lived up to this. And a huge part was the titanic signature building. The Titanic Signature building is the world’s largest Titanic visitor attraction 400,000 visitors were expected to visit the building per annum 900,000 per annum footfall through the building. Within the first 6 months, 500,000 people had already visited Titanic Belfast. â€Å"One of the most important impacts is the tourism revenue generated by an event. In addition to their spending at the event, external visitors are likely to spend on travel, accommodation, and goods and services in the host city. Titanic Belfast was part of NITB’s plan to attract visitors to Belfast and Northern Ireland with a consequent increase in revenue, which will generate jobs and income. Based on projected visitor numbers its one off the most expensive buildings of its kind in Europe. It cost ? 77million to construct, with most of the funding (? 60million) coming from the public’s wallet. Mike Smith, the chief executive of the building said that, â€Å"We think the building is good value for money. † The opening of the Titanic Belfast produced instant employment benefits as it was estimated that 200 people would be needed to work in the building. The projected increase in visitor numbers, from within the UK and Ireland as well as internationally, will lead to a corresponding demand for local hotels and services, therefore generating job opportunities in the construction and hospitality sectors. Allen, O’Toole et al 2011, talked about how a major event has potential to bring ‘new money’ into Belfast from outside visitors. â€Å"The role event tourism is required to play in a destination’s tourism development efforts will vary according to the overall tourism strategy that is being pursued. † (Allen, O’Toole et al 2011) Belfast is now a popular short-break destination and one of Europes top visitor destinations. In 2006, Belfast had 6. 8 million tourists compared to 2011 when we had 7. 86 million tourists. There was quite a number if impacts the opening of Titanic Belfast had on tourism on not only Belfast but Northern Ireland as a whole. The Titanic Signature building is located only 5 minutes from the city centre, so therefore this increasingly popular tourism attraction is not difficult to travel to, there are buses to the Titanic Quarter every 10-15 minutes from the City Centre. It is also within walking distance. The city centre is always crowded with tourist companies who are there to promote tours of the city, these tours run every day and very frequently, they seem to be every popular and since the opening of the Titanic Signature Building, a new tour opened up that was solely about the Titanic alone and it’s attractions. â€Å"Events add to the range of experiences a destination can offer, and this then adds to its capacity to attract and hold visitors for longer periods of time. † (Getz and Wicks 1994) Since the opening of the Titanic Building, this saw Belfasts biggest jump in hotel occupancy in March 2012 in nearly a decade and a 12% year on year hike in revenues. Then in April saw the year on year occupancy in Belfasts leading hotels increase by 25%, the average is usually are 15% over April 2011. Belfast’s PWC partner Stephen Curragh said, â€Å"Overall, 2012 has been a successful year for Belfast hotels thus far, but it is off a very low base and will require sustained visitor numbers to bring Belfast back to pre-downturn levels of profitability. † Allen, O’Toole et al (2011) said that events can also provide a significant spur to both public and private investment in a destination. Large scale events can play in destination renewal and in the later development of a destination’s attractiveness and capacity as a tourist destination. NITB have identified excellent events and business tourism as two of their winning themes with the potential to deliver competitive advantages for Northern Ireland as part of their tourism Strategic Framework for Action 2004-2007. NITB said, â€Å"Note for the Excellent Events theme, research confirms that events are an effective tool for changing perceptions and attracting visitors. † Opportunity 2012 2013 2014 2015 Total Additional Visitors 150,00 333,000 200,000 150,000 833,00 Additional Revenue ?24 million ?52 million ?34 million ?30 million ?140 million Created Jobs 612 1,326 867 765 3,570 This table, which can be found on NITB’s 2012 guide, shows NITB’s goal for the future, which is to increase tourism spend to ? 1 million by 2020 and to increase visitor numbers to 4. 5 million by 2020 It shows NITB’s plan in more detail. In 2013 their plan is at its peak by expecting to have 333,000 additional visitors into Northern Ireland which will then create 52 million additional revenue and will generate 1,326 extra jobs in Northern Ireland. Events can affect the hospitality, travel ; tourism industries in many ways. In Belfast due to the opening of the titanic building we have shown you that there has been quite a high incline in Belfast as a tourist destination. Overall we found that the Titanic Building has had an positive impact on hospitality and tourism in Belfast. â€Å"2012 is about changing global perceptions and trying to get tourists to come to Northern Ireland,† Arlene Foster.

Grammar and Writing in the Classroom Essay -- Education, Teaching, Eng

In the article entitled â€Å"How to Teach Grammar, Analytical Thinking, and Writing†, Lynn Sams (2003) voiced and suggested methods on how grammar and writing should be taught in the classroom. This article was published in the English Journal by the National Council of Teachers of English. Sams based her research on her 16 years of experience as a high school teacher and the instructional approaches she used with her sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade classes. Sams refers to grammar as â€Å"the relationship between structure and meaning† (57). The information in this article demonstrates processes of analyzing the structure of sentences and suggests students cannot completely understand writing without first understanding the basic concepts of grammar. Sams explained that both traditional and in-context approaches to teach grammar are unsuccessful because â€Å"they treat grammar as something that exists apart from and outside of the writing process itself† (57). When referring to grammar and writing, Sams suggests â€Å"to study one is to study the other† (57). Sams explained that she first emphasized the process of drafting and revising. Sams’s instruction included the students working together and sharing their ideas and feedback during the drafting process. However, Sams realized that this process would not be successful without first teaching the students how to revise. Sams then based the instruction on the concept that the students needed to organize their work in a reasonable order that can be understood by others. Sams explained that to organize ideas, the students needed to be able to understand â€Å"how their ideas relate to one another† and how to separate â€Å"main ideas and supporting de tails† (58). However, to separate main ideas from... ...Grammar Alive (2003) discuss the use of sentence diagrams to provide students with visual displays of the material. According to the authors of Grammar Alive, â€Å"many students do indeed find the diagrams helpful in seeing the relationships among sentence elements† (75). The use of questioning strategies in this process can ensure that students learn the content and can encourage critical thinking. Teachers should provide interesting and challenging questions designed to engage students thinking. Creating a classroom environment in which thinking and analyzing are valued is important to the success of all students. This process is definitely a process I would use in my classroom to improve the students’ understanding of grammar and writing. With improvement of grammar and writing, the students’ written work will improve and evolve to a more professional level.