Cognition and Metacognition: Understanding the Second Language Learner from Various Perspectives

This paper has been situated within the framework of the interface shared by cognition and metacognition. While conventional classroom instruction aims at maximizing the learner’s cognitive skills, this paper argues that if the metacognitive skills go neglected, still higher order potentials remain unnoticed and untapped. Instead of addressing language skills in isolation, the paper proposes to integrate higher order cognitive skills and skills of still higher order such as metacognitive skills, which are rarely taken into serious consideration while planning second language curricula

Digital Entrepreneurship in China: Insight into Online Business Start-up Among Chinese University Students Based On Entrepreneurial Intention

This paper investigates the entrepreneurial intention of Chinese university students to provide insight into digital entrepreneurship. An online survey of 305 university students in Beijing was the basis for the data used to test a logistic regression model of the variables underpinning entrepreneurial intention. Factors determining whether Chinese students intend to engage in digital entrepreneurship were “family business”, “perceived motivations” (especially “Self-achievement”), and “perceived barriers” (especially “Lack of experience”). These are a subset of the antecedent factors influencing entrepreneurship more broadly. The nature of digital entrepreneurship may negate some of the factors, especially culture, that serve as barriers to entrepreneurship in the Chinese context. Although this study is limited by its quantitative methodology and focus on Chinese students attending a single university in Beijing, it contributes to knowledge regarding student engagement with digital entrepreneurship

Employee Awareness Towards Career Planning and Preparedness to Combat Career Challenges

An individual’s career is susceptible to numerous uncertainties as a result of which career graphs and career plans are adversely affected. Career Plans are made keeping in mind one’s strengths, talents, competencies, and interest areas and aim at achieving a Career Goal. Career Path helps in progressing in the direction of achievement of the set Career Goal. During an individual’s work life, there are career obstacles and challenges that crop up owing to internal and external exigencies. Uncertainties at work can fall into four categories which if left unattended can pose a threat to one’s survival at workplace. The most difficult to handle and face would be Environmental Uncertainties which could be related to internal as well as external factors. The COVID 19 pandemic is one such external environment uncertainty which has upset the career plans and career graphs of many employees. Every individual must carve out a Career Management Strategy to ward off career challenges. Employers also have a primary role in managing the career plans of its people. This study examines the awareness level of employees towards planning their career and understand their preparedness to combat career challenges

The Covid-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: Reinforcing National Identity and the Challenges to Religious Facets

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was accompanied by a fierce race in scientific and academic publications from various disciplines. However, the social and humanities fields were scant in their output. The value of protecting the country (Saudi Arabia) through the campaign, #Weareallresponsible, which necessitated staying home for the safety of others and the discomfort experienced by those who witnessed the social distancing between the ranks of the worshippers in mosques while shushing: “set the rows in order, stand shoulder to shoulder, close the gaps”, calls for research within the context of identity upon crises to revisit several social and religious taboos. Moreover, the “safe social distancing,” which was imposed at the start of the pandemic (March 2020) for a total of five months (August 2020),1 enables researchers to examine the phenomenon after the storm subsided—so to speak—and to look through the perspective of an observer rather than a participant. This work examined two questions: 1) How did the Covid-19 pandemic reinforce Saudi national identity? (2) At the same time, how did it challenge the religious identity facets? This paper tried to answer these questions by employing a qualitative approach through analysing a number of tweets and their interactions (between March and July 2020) on two Twitter accounts: a) the Saudi Ministry of Health @SaudiMOH; and b) the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs @Saudi_Moia. The results can be summarised as follows: The Saudi Ministries of Health and Islamic Affairs employed the national and religious identity facets by reinforcing the first and facing the challenges of the latter through a discourse that focused on social responsibility, heroism and duty and the concept of national health security, all to raise the level of commitment to precautionary measures during the pandemic of Covid-19. The encounters with religious identity appeared in avoiding shaking hands, disapproving of the social distance between worshippers and wearing a face mask

An Evaluative Study of Dropouts in Primary and Upper Primary Schools in Coimbatore

The use of education to achieve development goals is well recognized. This study is a comprehensive cessation study among primary and secondary school students in Coimbatore district. The researcher decided to study the factors involved in the suspension of the main phase. It is necessary to investigate the number of primary school dropouts and the reasons for primary and secondary school dropouts. This secondary data were analyzed with the dropouts from Coimbatore for the last five years, from 2018–2022

Perception and Response of Salaried Professionals towards Telemarketing of Financial Products

Marketers adopt many channels to reach out to their potential customers. Out of these various channels, Telemarketing is one of the most common channels used for marketing of products and services. Telemarketing in a traditional set up is usually done with the help of telemarketers; the modern telemarketing involves use of automated telephone calls, which is also referred to as interactive voice recorders. Telemarketing is an effective strategy to connect with existing customers and can also be used to target and attract potential customers. Telemarketing as a tool can also be helpful in collecting information about customer preference and disseminating valuable information related to products and services. Telemarketing is a popular marketing channel for financial products, but it can be difficult to generate leads and convert them into customers. This is especially true for salaried professionals in Bengaluru, who are often bombarded with telemarketing calls. This study investigates the perception and response towards telemarketing of financial products in Bengaluru. The study focuses on 110 salaried professionals, as they represent a large and important target market for financial institutions. The respondents have expressed discomfort as they receive telemarketing calls during working hours. They do not feel that telemarketing can help in building strong customer relationships. However, the respondents have responded positively to telemarketing calls and invested in financial products

Gender Inequality in John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”

The difference between male and female is very real and strongly rooted in human nature and physiology. In the olden days, people were not treated equally on the basis of their gender which was considered a social issue. Some differences in genetics, psychology, or social culture may cause this treatment. Even in the current politics when we come across the globe lead, women are the one who suffers loss when we compare to men. Gender inequality leads a major role in women including education, life, expectancy, personality, interest, family, occupation, and health. In many areas, they have shown that gender perceives things differently like education and political allegiance. Different cultures have different ways of dealing with gender inequality, which also has an impact on non-binary people

A Manifestation of Women Writings in the Context of Maya Angelou’s Selected Works

This study explores the stigmatization of the female body and women in American literature, highlighting how contemporary women's writing challenges traditional gender norms. In many literary works, women are often portrayed as passive, objectified, and devoid of agency. The aim of this study is to re-establish the importance and role of women in literature for the betterment of society. To achieve this, Maya Angelou's work, specifically Still I Rise, has been selected as a case study. Angelou's influential writing sheds light on women's experiences and the impact of trauma on their bodies. Through her work, Angelou challenges the conventional portrayal of women in literature and emphasizes the significance of self-love and resilience in the face of adversity. Employing a qualitative approach, the study conducts content analysis to examine the themes and imagery in Angelou's work. The findings will be discussed in relation to the traditional concept of women in literature and how contemporary women's writing defies these notions. Ultimately, by highlighting women's experiences and the impact of trauma on their bodies, this study endeavours to challenge traditional gender norms and foster a more inclusive and equitable society

Articulating the Abject: Horror as a Subversive Tool in the Poems of Aleena’s Silk Root

Dalit women's bodies are often regarded as the site of disgust, impurity, and oppression. Dalit women are abjected into an inflexible position and their differentiated bodies are perpetually marked as the other. Dalit women's bodies are stripped of moral claims and had been treated as sexual slaves, which indicates the heightening of their abjection, as a major mode of social exclusion. Aleena's characters in her poetry collection Silk Root are mostly ghosts, demons, vampires, mentally ill etc. Just as these figures are alienated and excluded by the dominant social structure, so are the Dalits. Julia Kristeva’s theory of ‘abjection’ is useful in our understanding of the deplorable state of Dalit women. Dalit women’s subjectivity is tossed into a space of abjection which ratifies a two-fold existence of fear and desire. Just as the subject rejects the abject, the society reject the Dalits that threatens its stability. Dark skin, Dalit identity and female sexuality constitutes the abjectification of Dalit women

Mapping the Male Ego: A Comparative Study of Estaban Trueba in The House of the Spirits and Pedro Musquiz in Like Water for Chocolate

Being subjects of the higher order of life that extends beyond primitive means of sustenance, humans are designed to accustom themselves to the dynamic interrelations in society. Social interactions mould everyday life and are also instrumental in forming perceptions about the world. People are required to perform in multiple ways, and this gets them located in various subject positions. “Gender” and its implications as a social construct are of primary concern in this regard. Refined and reinterpreted over time, gender positively incorporates the possibilities for myriad levels of understanding associated with its practice. However, it is when people choose to selectively misconstrue gender roles that it becomes a problematic subject, thereby affecting the healthy existence of the male-female dichotomy in both personal and social spaces. Cultural conditioning and parental rearing are among the major factors that lead to the establishment of essentialist gender roles. Beginning with its base on the Freudian Psychoanalytic theory of male development, “masculinity” has come to be analysed from different standpoints by psychologists and literary theorists alike. In this paper, my attempt is to map the characteristics that outline the “masculinity” and “male ego” of the characters Esteban Trueba from The House of the Spirits and Pedro Musquiz from Like Water for Chocolate. Both the novels, though predominantly female-oriented, provide ample instances to explore the psyche of these not-so-minor male characters