Assessing Infants and Toddlers Essay Example for Free

Assessing Infants and Toddlers Essay Assessing infants and toddlers is commonly used to determine if children are meeting their developmental milestones or if they are showing any signs of developmental delays or disabilities. Many types of standardized tests are available for use with infants and young children; all are psychological tests, whether they measure abilities, achievements, aptitudes, interests, attitudes, values, or personality characteristics (Wortham, How Standardized Test Are Used with Infants and Young Children, 2012). There are many types of assessments and the key is using the proper one to answer the questions you need, assessment that involves observation of the child, interviews with parents and caregivers, developmental and social history, and interaction with the child using game-like materials, toys, questionnaires, and tasks (Logsdon, 2012). Teachers should be asking what methods should be used, which one should a teacher select from the children they are teaching, and how will the information be obtained? In this paper I will explore these questions and how that effects the ever fast changing pace of early childhood education. A developmental assessment is a process designed to deepen understanding of a childs competencies and resources, and of the caregiving and learning environments most likely to help a child make fullest use of his or her developmental potential, according to New Visions (Tips for Surviving Child Development Assessment, 2012). As a teacher you will consider why you should engage in assessment. For some programs it is part of their policies and procedures, for some it is state mandated, and for others it may be federally mandated. For some teachers the choice is theirs and they choose to for the best interest of the child. Through assessment the teacher can determine where the child is in development, show progress through ongoing assessment and have information to share with the child’s parents. The main reason for assessment is to pinpoint any disabilities or developmental delays, to assess the child’s school readiness, to assist the teacher in planning their curriculum and lesson plans program, to provide feedback to parents and being able to show the effectiveness of the program. The first thing is choose the type of assessment that is appropriate for the children that you engage with daily. There are two types of assessments: formal and informal assessments. With formal assessments the teacher is comparing the child against developmental norms or to other children. Informal assessments are observations that can be obtained through observation in a methodical way and is usually not compared to others. The majority of standardized tests that are in use today are designed to be administered and interpreted by trained professionals. Most programs use a combination of assessments when gathering information about the children they work with each day. The benefit of standardized tests is that the results can be compared to another child or children finding the common factors of developmental norms. A norm is an average result in a group of sample children within that age group or classroom. The second advantage is can be the ability to predict validity of the tests. Children whom do well on these assessments tend to do well in assessments as the move into the school readiness in Kindergarten. A common test used for preschoolers include the Battelle (Logsdon, 2012). There are disadvantages when using standardized test as well and one of the major ones is how the data will be interpreted that is obtained. The results from the teachers and administrators must be considered and compared to similar children in similar circumstances. The comparison is not easy to achieve, for example the cultural bias of early developmental tests. Also the predictive validity of standardized tests can be a disadvantage for their ability to forecast the future achievement in kindergarten. There are other formal test that are being explored that can measure what is developmentally appropriate within their focus and approach. Standardized tests have information regarding their validity and reliability that can give the teachers a way to evaluate if the test is appropriate and if it is being used for its intended use. The reliability information should be able to produce the same result when measuring the same thing with different groups of children. This will help the teacher to be able to determine information that will be obtained. It should be considered when using formal test that they should be used with trained professionals, although they are available for purchase openly they should not be used without training and experience. When using formal test they should be given in a controlled environment for the results to be valid. Even when the test are given properly the results can be interpreted inconsistently and the norms not valid. For example the test could be for both boys and girls but could end up being used with a majority of one or the other or compared to just one variable due to the majority of whom is taking the tests. If that was confusing to you as it was to me then can you imagine the results you will get. When using informal methods to assess children the test as more teacher derived and the tools used are usually checklist, engagement and interaction and open-ended questions. Many teachers already use anecdotal records, a strategy that records actions of the children, in which short episodes of a child’s behavior are recorded and kept for comparing change in behavior over time, in the child’s portfolio and used when meeting with parents for a conference. One of the main reasons for this method is ease of use. Anecdotes can be recorded in virtually any environment at any time throughout the day with limited materials needed. Other informal methods used in classrooms today are time sample, checklists, rating scales, interviews, and videotape or audiotape recordings. The teacher should include the following five key things when using anecdotes: frequency of the behavior, duration of the behavior, notes describing when and where the observation took place, and the date and time. Another form is the child’s portfolio which is any variety of works thought to be representative of the individual. With young children, this usually includes drawings and writings, photographs and stories dictated to an adult. A portfolio can also include information about the child contributed by teachers, and other professionals. A portfolio can be used as a springboard for reflection with children themselves, parents, or other professionals. Discussions with children around a portfolio could reflect on what the child drew (â€Å"tell me more about,†). With parents and professionals the portfolio offers a variety of information about the child, in which they can use as a springboard for discussion at parent conferences. The problem with this type of assessment it can leave the parents confused with the information that comes from it and how it related to their child. When a teacher is choosing which method to use they have to consider what purpose will it serve? The teacher should ask themselves why is this information needed, what is the purpose, and what information will be helpful for the teacher, child and parent, when and how will this information be obtained and how am I as the teacher going to ensure that the information gather is accurate and valid? Also, if this method is choose is it appropriate for the children I work with? Two things that I feel the teacher should ask themselves are: is this age and developmentally appropriate for the children I work with and is relevant to the background and daily circumstances of the child that I work with? When considering the choices you must also consider am I as the teacher able to administer this test properly. When considering this I must consider the how the test will observe a child and how will this be done without pre-formed ideas about outcome. When we are able to be objective then the teacher reports only the facts, and then interpret those facts by what is observed, rather than feelings or attitudes about the child. In today’s society more and more teachers are moving away from traditional methods of assessments and moving towards methods that are relying instead on techniques thought to be more holistic and developmentally appropriate. This could include innovative approaches that observe more on behavior that happens in natural settings and assessments that reflect the complete set of circumstances surrounding the child. While conducting an assessment the teacher should make every effort to use the information in ways that are respectful of the child. In any case the teacher must remember to pay attention to issues such as consent and always remaining confidential. Confidentiality means that it will only be discussed in professional settings, and the information will conceal identities and results are revealed only to the intended audience. Consent means that the teacher obtained the permission from the parent to observe, evaluate and assessed a child. A lot of times parents give such consent at the time of the program enrollment if they sign a form indicating that they realize such activities will be occurring. Otherwise, you should always obtain permission prior to engaging in ongoing assessment projects, even if informal measures are being used. One practice to avoid is the temptation to label children based on assessment results, such as â€Å"this child is special† or â€Å"this child is challenged.† Children placed in these categories very early on have difficulty overcoming them later. In the 21st century, assessment practices are likely to become more holistic and innovative in their approach. For example, we are beginning to hear more of the term â€Å"authentic assessment.† Authentic assessments are when the environment is taken into account surrounding the evaluation of individual children. Another term being used more today is â€Å"performance-based assessment.† Performance-based assessment is when the teacher is focusing on the daily activities and skills already being performed in the classroom setting. Family involvement in assessment, such as parent reports and observations or even them being present, has not been really considered in mainstream early childhood settings. These strategies will gain popularity in the coming years. Although assessment holds great potential to help caregivers understand the children they care for, it can be challenging to assess infants and toddlers, especially if one views assessment as a one-on-one testing interaction (Ditchtelmiller, 2012). In the past assessments have been more of what the child cannot do and today they are becoming more of what the child can do now and has accomplished. This approach to assessment will benefit the child as an individual and abilities rather than disabilities. As a teacher, such approaches will help us maintain positive attitudes concerning the child development. Besides identifying and correcting developmental problems, assessment of very young children is conducted for other purposes. One purpose is research. Researchers study young children to better understand their behavior or to measure the appropriateness of the experiences that are provided for them (Wortham, Assesment in Early Childhood Education (6th Edition), 2012). â€Å"Teachers and child-care providers want children to feel a sense of accomplishment while in their care. The more a child-care provider knows about a childs academic, social, and emotional development, the more theyre able to meet the childs needs. Teachers and child care providers may use this resource for developing strategies to track a childs progress† (Checking Childrens Progress, 2012). We know that rather the assessment is formal or informal early childhood professionals are going to perform them. Through assessment we can screen for disabilities, assess kindergarten readiness, help the teacher developing curriculum and lesson plans, evaluate the effectiveness of a program, and aide the teachers when conferencing with the parents. Both parents and teachers want to know that their child is obtaining goals, showing progress and gaining new skills and what other way to know this other than assessment. References Checking Childrens Progress. (2012, April 25). Retrieved September 26, 2012, from Head Start ECLKC: eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta- system/teachingllecd/assessment/ongoing%20assessment/edudev_art_00409_060906.html Tips for Surviving Child Development Assessment. (2012). Retrieved September 26, 2012, from Zero to Three : www.zerotothree.org/child-development/mental-health-screening- assessment/tips-for-surviving-child-development-assessment.html Ditchtelmiller, M. L. (2012). One Programs Experience. Retrieved September 27, 2012, from Infant/Toddler Assessment: www.naeyc.org/files/yc/file/200401/ditchtel.pdf Logsdon, A. (2012). Infant and Toddler Development Tests Learning Disabilities. Retrieved September 26, 2012, from Testing for Infant and Toddler Development: http://learningdisabilities.acout.com/od/intelligencetests/p/battelledevelop.html Wortham, S. (2012). Assesment in Early Childhood Education (6th Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson. Wortham, S. (2012). How Standardized Test Are Used with Infants and Young Children. Retrieved September 27, 2012, from Education.com: http://www.education.com/prints/standardized-tests-infants-children/

Facts and Innovation of Education in China Essay -- Education Chinese

Facts and Innovation of Education in China I lived in a city and had a standard high school student life as others. I got up at 7:00 in the morning and tried not to be late for the morning class which is half an hour later. Then I had 9 classes till 5:00 in the afternoon, during which I could eat my one-hour-long lunch. Even at night and on weekends, I had to deal with tons of homework and tests, or locked myself in the classroom. It sounds crazy to have only one day per week free without classes or to stay at school more than at home, but millions of Chinese students are experiencing both situations. One research reveals that nearly 7 out of 10 students in Beijing have to attend classes during winter breaks. Another says that 67% of high school students have less than 7 hours sleep per day and about 42% students have less than half an hour free time per day. Half of them have no free time at all. For most high students in China, all the hard work aims at one thing, and the thing is called the National College Entrance Examination. In fact, it’s an exam which lasts 2 or 3 days depending individually on provinces, takes place nationally and synchronously, and the final score of the exam determines which college a student may get in. Although students fill out forms indicating several colleges they would like to apply to, the fact is they merely have one chance basically, which is the first choice. And once a student fails to get in his first choice, his chances of getting into other colleges are enormously decreased because the spaces have been filled already. Mostly, the Entrance Examination is the only way a college evaluates and admits a student. And in China, a good college degree more or less guarantees a promisi... ...a crushing fairer education environment. Work Cited: Jiajie Li, â€Å"Yang Zhenning jiaoshou bijiao zhongmei jiaoyu† (Prof. Zhenning Yang compares education between China and the US), Guangming Daily, June 18, 2004. Maolin Ye, â€Å"Dui Zhongguo fazhan mingban jiaoyu de sikao† (Thoughts about developing private schools in China); available from http://edu.tom.com/1050/20031030-1455.html; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004. Chenxin Zhou, Peng Jiang, â€Å"Zhongguo shisheng pubian renwei gaozhong kecheng guoduo guonan† (Students and teachers consider high schoolwork load too much and too hard); available from http://www.wendu.com/Training/11611.html; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004. Guangcheng Liang, â€Å"Jiaoyu buneng mangmu xihua† (Do not westernize education blindly); available from http://maths.guangztr.edu.cn/kcgg/bnmmxh.htm; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004. Facts and Innovation of Education in China Essay -- Education Chinese Facts and Innovation of Education in China I lived in a city and had a standard high school student life as others. I got up at 7:00 in the morning and tried not to be late for the morning class which is half an hour later. Then I had 9 classes till 5:00 in the afternoon, during which I could eat my one-hour-long lunch. Even at night and on weekends, I had to deal with tons of homework and tests, or locked myself in the classroom. It sounds crazy to have only one day per week free without classes or to stay at school more than at home, but millions of Chinese students are experiencing both situations. One research reveals that nearly 7 out of 10 students in Beijing have to attend classes during winter breaks. Another says that 67% of high school students have less than 7 hours sleep per day and about 42% students have less than half an hour free time per day. Half of them have no free time at all. For most high students in China, all the hard work aims at one thing, and the thing is called the National College Entrance Examination. In fact, it’s an exam which lasts 2 or 3 days depending individually on provinces, takes place nationally and synchronously, and the final score of the exam determines which college a student may get in. Although students fill out forms indicating several colleges they would like to apply to, the fact is they merely have one chance basically, which is the first choice. And once a student fails to get in his first choice, his chances of getting into other colleges are enormously decreased because the spaces have been filled already. Mostly, the Entrance Examination is the only way a college evaluates and admits a student. And in China, a good college degree more or less guarantees a promisi... ...a crushing fairer education environment. Work Cited: Jiajie Li, â€Å"Yang Zhenning jiaoshou bijiao zhongmei jiaoyu† (Prof. Zhenning Yang compares education between China and the US), Guangming Daily, June 18, 2004. Maolin Ye, â€Å"Dui Zhongguo fazhan mingban jiaoyu de sikao† (Thoughts about developing private schools in China); available from http://edu.tom.com/1050/20031030-1455.html; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004. Chenxin Zhou, Peng Jiang, â€Å"Zhongguo shisheng pubian renwei gaozhong kecheng guoduo guonan† (Students and teachers consider high schoolwork load too much and too hard); available from http://www.wendu.com/Training/11611.html; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004. Guangcheng Liang, â€Å"Jiaoyu buneng mangmu xihua† (Do not westernize education blindly); available from http://maths.guangztr.edu.cn/kcgg/bnmmxh.htm; Internet; accessed December 1, 2004.

Beano?S Cafe

OMPANyCaSe Beano's Cale: n Egyptian Flavor COMPANY ~car†lO'S BACKGROUND Cafe, one of the most successful and popular cafe chains in =~ypt. has branches throughout the country, including locations in ::† ro. Alexandria, and Giza. At Beano's, customers can enjoy excele- quality coffees, soft drinks, shakes, and infusion drinks, as † as a wide variety of sandwiches, hot meals, and desserts. Beano's Cafes aim is to offer its customers a convenient, relax-9 place where they can purchase food and beverages of a high :uality at an affordable price.The cates have a distinctive layout ,,†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœd style which is achieved through a combination of contempo? ry design and warm colors that give them a pleasant atmosphere. –e cafes environment is characterized by simplicity, elegance, : eanliness, and a modern design. It is known as a place where ung people can gather and where people can enjoy an afford::0 e outing, listen to the latest musie, and use wireless Intern et. Cafe, and from other smali, local cafes. Despite these concerns in 2000, Beano's opened its first cafe in Egypt, introducing new coffee products such as cappuccino and espresso to the Arabie market.Beano's wanted to increase its market share and target a new segment-senior citizens-along wit h maintaining and/or increasing its appeal to the youth segment, which represents the majority of its customers. The senior citizens represented the higher socio-economic class; however, Beano's discovered that young clients represented up to 70 percent of their daily clients. Beano's Cafes higher management wanted to retain its satisfied clients while also increasing its share of the customer base. They therefore put together a new marketing strategy.REVISING THE MARKETING STRATEGY EY MARKET –e creators of the Beano's Cafe Group had wanted to open a -ew coffee shop in Egypt for a long time but they saw problems .. ,entering the Egyptian market. They believed that the Egyptian oopulat ion would not be keen on coffee made from unfamiliar, -ew ingredients. The Egyptian market was locally driven toward ::Jr ental cates, Turkish coffee, and shisha (water pipe); thus, 3eano's' marketing strategy was to introduce the Egyptian consurner to a new cafe experience.There was also fierce competi: on from other coffee shops, including Cilantro Cafe and Costa Beano's Cafe's management team knew through customer surveys carried out in their chains that 60 percent of their customers keep coming back because of staff friendliness, 20 percent because of the quality of the service, and 20 percent because of the overall atmosphere at Beano's Cafe. The cafs's new marketing strategy was divided into three parts: The first was 13 percent value (offering more for the same price). he second part was 17 percent quality (offering an affordable, quality cate experience, and improving the taste of the coffee), and the final part was 67 percent service (improving the face-to-face interaction with customers inside the cafe). Beano's placed the greatest emphasis on improving the level of customer service in its cafes. The company did this in a number of ways. First, management decided to speed up the serving process by allocating one minute for taking orders, seven minutes to make the order, and a final one minute 244 Part Three IDesigning a Customer-Driven Strategy and Mix modern cates were established in the Egyptian market; the focus was more on the local â€Å"kahwa† (Turkish/Arabic coffee), tea, and shisha. Beano's Cafe positioned itself as an affordable, modern cafe with a lively, entertaining environment. Beano's Cafe's targeting approach became youth oriented. The cafe was representing a new approach to coffee, selling cappuccino and java solo drinks like espresso. Thus, the segmentation approach started to focus more on the youth differentiated segmentation market approach.As mentioned, the use of a kitchen provided the company with differentiation over th e competition, however, Beano's also has a new advantage: It offers a creative art foam that is placed on top of the cappuccino. The consumer's name or birth date can be written on a cappuccino cup or any picture can be drawn with the because the mafoam. Consumers can even do it themselves chines are manually operated. This level of personalization, allowed Beano's to differentiate itself from its competitors by offering its customers what they want and exceeding their expectations.By satisfying customers' desires, Beano's sawa growth of the company and an increase in sales of its coffee products. III to give the table the bill. Therefore, the whole process took a very fast nine minutes. Beano's also improved its communication with customers by greeting them and paying attention to their needs. Beano's has an ultimate advantage that none of its competitors have-the kitchen. Having a kitchen allows Beano's to offer a larger menu selection. Customers can also ask for items not include d in the menu or can modify their chosen item.These options are not available in most cates in the region and impress consumers. Having the advantage of a kitchen allowed Beano's to discontinue using ready-made food and instead making every meal to order, thereby differentiating itself from its closest competitor, Cilantro Cafe. This enabled customers to modify their orders. It also permitted customers to create new, customized products. Beano's is now able to forecast real quantities and therefore store essential, everyday ingredients, getting rid of unnecessary stock of less in demand products. This method turned out to be very efficient in their storage management.Becausecustomer service is such a high priority in the company's new marketing strategy, the marketing department conducted a new survey designed to improve customer service. It was executed through the cafes' branch managers and administrated by a smali team from the research department. One of the most effective quest ions concerned what customers liked and disliked about Beano's Cafe. The survey revealed that customers liked the cafe's service, atmosphere, and quick response; they did not like the company allowing some private celebrations to be held, nor did they always like the type of musie played in the cafes or the furniture.Beano's bega n to consider how to react to ali of these reported dislikes from its consumers, especially as the competition was rising with both Cilantro Cate and Costa Cafe, In addition, other new cates, such as On The Run Cafe in the Mobil Petroi Station, were improving their quality and pricing to an affordable level. Despite making these advances, Beano's had weaknesses to overcome. The cafes were not located in the main, central business streets in Egypt. These untapped areas of business opportunities prevented the company from increasing its market share.Cilantro, a competing cafe, employed successful promotional tools to spread its brand image in Egypt, including high-profile commercials. Beano's could not match the level of advertising in terms of budget and instead focused more on customer relationship management (CRM) and relationship marketing (RM) To this end, Beano's introduced a customer loyalty and smart card program that enabled customers to collect points for each separate order. The customer could then redeem the points and receive free products. Beano's also targeted ali customer segments by introducing a promotional Beano's points card.Customers pay for the cards, starting at 50 to 200 LE and use them whenever they wish. The cards turned out to be very effective for customers who are entertaining friends and for family outings. Another area that Beano's needs to improve upon involves making the cate more family friendly-an area where Cilantro is excelling. Cilantro Cafe provides coloring books and crayons for children, encouraging families to spend more time in the cafes and thus increasing business from this particular market segment. OELlVERING ON CUSTOMER SERVICE As customer service featured 50 prominantly in their marketing strategy,Beano's had to ensure that once a high level of service was achieved it was also maintained. One strategy put in place aimed at achieving this was mystery shoppers, who visited different branches to monitor and evaluate the service they receive ano the quality of the cafe's products. Among other things, they note how fast and responsive the staff members are and whether the deliver on time. The mystery shopper, a regular customer chose by the branch manager, also evaluates the quality of the coffee served, the food, the environment, the speed and care of sta and the cleanliness of the facility, including the bathrooms.RESPONOING TO THE CUSTOMER As previously mentioned, market research carried out by the company indicated that customers did not like waiting in some of the Beano's Cafe chains and did not like its prices. Its response to the problems was to put more tables in the crowded location: and to reduce prices for some popular, existing products, wh E increasing prices for newly introduced products. Customers ais disliked the musie, which did not change over the course o~ the day, and at the various locations, some said the cafcs playec the â€Å"same musie for each branch in every vi sit. Manaqemec: responded by introducing new musie every couple of hours in Ci chains. To improve the brand image of Beano's, the company also OEcided to redesign the cafe's logo, making it more attractive to c 5tomers. More money is also being spent on advertising for ne and existing products. Most of the advertising appears in prin ec materials to be displayed in cate branches to motivate COnSUrT'E' purchase of the newly launched products. BEANO'S CAFE'S MARKETING MIX SEGMENTATION In the beginning, Beano's Cafe focused on appealing to the whole Egyptian market, especially young people.The first focus for the company was to create brand awareness, as people did n ot understand the word † Beano's. † So,the cafe owners added the word cafealittle modification that solved the issue. At that time, not a lot of Beano's Cafe's marketing mix begins by developing new produ _ by studying consumers' needs, and then developing and crea ~~ a strong brand. Beano's Cafe's distinctive design and pleasan c-mosphere are the first components in its unique dining experien ~ Market research indicates that the brand's most distinguishing E::ture is the company's use of the vibrant orange color for all ad E'tising.The company also stands out because it is the only local cc== Chapter 7 I Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers Smart pricing, reviewed from a consumer perspective . Updated produet lists wit h new menu offerings. 245 â€Å"†¦ :~ers desserts, which are prepared by La Poire. According to 3†³e's market research, 21 percent of customers indicated that =-:e-: was the most prominent feature of the cafe. ‘:==110'5is putting great efforts in establishing new branches : :cpping newareas, bot h local and international.The new 10=†Eas are Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada El Gouna Resorts, and, =~ationally, Paris, France. –e company advertises its existing products, but in only a few =:=5: FM radio, on the October Industria I City bridge, and in 2;azines. For the Cafe's new products, it relies only on banners nt of the chain. The focus of Beano's Cafe's advertising and _+otion is primarily on the youth segment (ages 18 to 25). The -:-::>any is collaborating with the advertising agency Adhoc, – ::n is spearheading the marketing campaign. The agency has 3~ed out market esearch and has also designed and imple-=-~ed promotions. The company also collaborates with White ::_0 o, a full-service design studio that offers creative, profes_-al graphic designs and development services in order to deliver –= oest image of the brand to customers. White Studio designed -= com pany's brochures, logos, ads, and flyers. -or its principal advertising campaign, Beano's used Nugoom – , 104. 2 FM), and Nile FM (100. 6 FM), presenting creative ads –a: would catch listeners' attention because of their humor, :-unds, and clever use of musie.The company made extensive use ::-= orint media resources, including magazines (Teen Stuff, Sayyedaty, – =oer alnugum, Laha) and newspapers (Alahram, Alahbar, Almasr :: oum, Almussauar). Ali were very effective media in building . set and usage imagery. Beano's created its advertising in a simple . ay by featuring its logo and photos of its cafes to build brand s. vareness and invite ali potential customers in for a visit. The -::'Uthful, non-intrusive ads generated a positive response from the :c'get audience and collectively helped to expand the cafe's brand age in the market.The ads also give customers an opportunity :0 receive unique offers, making them memorable and meaningz: . II. Each month, the cafe introduces a new special offer; for example, in December 2009, it offered a special on American coffee  ·. th chocolate fudge, and at the beginning of 2010, caramel â€Å"‘1acchiato with a muffin. Those offers are the unique invention of 3eano's Cafe and are not offered in other cafes in Egypt. The of†er of the month is always supported with printed brochures, oosters. nd other ads that allow customers to get familiar with tne latest promotions. .z; Better hiring and training programs to ensure a capable staff who deliver more than what is expected. Better quality coffee: People are happy to go to Beano's but respond negatively to the quality of coffee. By offering better coffee, the company will be able to compete wit h the 10cal, classie Arabicffurkish coffee shops. By offering new, modern European flavors, Beano's will also be able to compete with the international chains (such as Starbucks) entering the market.According to Beano's Cafe's previously mentioned mark et research, the main source of the information about the brand was Beano's itself, and then the information obtained from its customers. Research indicates that there is still a performance gap in advertising activities that the company should explore and take advantage of in the future. Its future marketing approaches should also concentrate on e-marketing via YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, MSN, Google, online radio, digital radio, e-mail marketing, mobile phone advertising, Yahoo online display banners, satellite TV channels, PRand sponsorship of cultural events and musical concerts. Questions for Oiscussion 1. Based on the segmentation variabies, how is Beano's Cafe now segmenting and targeting the coffee market? 2. Discuss how Beano's positioned itself in the Egyptian local market. Also explain how Beano's differentiated itself from the competition. 3. What changed first, the Beano's customer or the Beano's Cafe experience? Explain your response by discussing principles of market targeting. 4. Briefly outline a marketing campaign targeting a new segment for Beano's Cafe.Sources: Adapted fram Haddad, The Marketing Excellence Handbook, BUE British University Egypt, Dar El Fekr El Arabi Publications (2008); Kotler, P. , & Armstrong, G. (2010), Ptlnciples of Marketing, 13th edition, Pearson/Prentice Hall; Grewal & Levy (2010), Marketing, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill; William Pride, & O. C. Ferrell (2010), Marketing, Cengage Learning; Adcock, D. , Halborg, A. , & Ross, c. (2000), Marketing Princip/es and Practice, 4th edition, FT/Prentice Hall; Blythe, J. (2005) Essentia/s of Marketing, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall/FT; Brassington, F. & Pettit, 5. (2005), Princip/es of Marketing, Prentice Hall/FT; Dibb, 5, Simkin. L. , Pride, W. and Ferrell, O. C. (2001), Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, 4th edition, Houghton Mifflin. FUTURE STRATEGIES As Beano's develops and looks to the future, it has identified areas where it needs to improve to continue and build upon its succes s: o Continued development in terms of the cafes atmosphere, pricing, produet, and staff. Increased investment in the branches and the equipment to enhance the atmosphere.

Definition and Examples of Word Boundaries

In writing, word boundaries are conventionally represented by spaces between words. In speech, word boundaries are determined in various ways, as discussed below. Related Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms Assimilation and DissimilationConceptual MeaningConnected SpeechIntonationMetanalysisMondegreenMorpheme and PhonemeOronymsPausePhonetics and PhonologyPhonological WordProsodySegment and SuprasegmentalSlip of the EarSound Change Examples of Word Boundaries When I was very young, my mother scolded me for flatulating by saying, Johnny, who made an odor? I misheard her euphemism as who made a motor? For days I ran around the house amusing myself with those delicious words. (John B. Lee, Building Bicycles in the Dark: A Practical Guide on How to Write. Black Moss Press, 2001I could have sworn I heard on the news that the Chinese were producing new trombones. No, it was neutron bombs. (Doug Stone, quoted by Rosemarie Jarski in Dim Wit: The Funniest, Stupidest Things Ever Said. Ebury, 2008As far as input processing is concerned, we may also recognize slips of the ear, as when we start to hear a particular sequence and then realize that we have misperceived it in some way; e.g. perceiving the ambulance at the start of the yam balanced delicately on the top . . ..  (Michael Garman, Psycholinguistics. Cambridge University Press, 2000 Word Recognition The usual criterion for word recognition is that suggested by the linguist Leonard Bloomfield, who defined a word as a minimal free form. . . .The concept of a word as a minimal free form suggests two important things about words. First, their ability to stand on their own as isolates. This is reflected in the space which surrounds a word in its orthographical form. And secondly, their internal integrity, or cohesion, as units. If we move a word around in a sentence, whether spoken or written, we have to move the whole word or none of it--we cannot move part of a word.(Geoffrey Finch, Linguistic Terms, and Concepts. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000)[T]he great majority of English nouns begins with a stressed syllable. Listeners use this expectation about the structure of English and partition the continuous speech stream employing stressed syllables.(Z.S. Bond, Slips of the Ear. The Handbook of Speech Perception, ed. by David Pisoni and Robert Remez. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) Tests of Word Identification Potential pause: Say a sentence out loud, and ask someone to repeat it very slowly, with pauses. The pauses will tend to fall between words, and not within words. For example, the / three / little / pigs / went / to / market. . . .Indivisibility:  Say a sentence out loud, and ask someone to add extra words to it. The extra item will be added between the words and not within them. For example, the pig went to market might become the big pig once went straight to the market. . . .Phonetic boundaries:  It is sometimes possible to tell from the sound of a word where it begins or ends. In Welsh, for example, long words generally have their stress on the penultimate syllable . . .. But there are many exceptions to such rules.Semantic units:  In the sentence Dog bites vicar, there are plainly three units of meaning, and each unit corresponds to a word. But language is often not as neat as this. In I switched on the light, the has little clear meaning, and the single action of switchin g on involves two words.​(Adapted from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 3rd ed., by David Crystal. Cambridge University Press, 2010) Explicit Segmentation [E]xperiments in English have suggested that listeners segment speech at strong syllable onsets. For example, finding a real word in a spoken nonsense sequence is hard if the word is spread over two strong syllables (e.g., mint in [mÇ€ntef]) but easier if the word is spread over a strong and a following weak syllable (e.g., mint in [mÇ€ntÉ™f]; Cutler Norris, 1988).The proposed explanation for this is that listeners divide the former sequence at the onset of the second strong syllable, so that detecting the embedded word requires recombination of speech material across a segmentation point, while the latter sequence offers no such obstacles to embedded word detection as the non-initial syllable is weak and so the sequence is simply not divided.Similarly, when English speakers make slips of the ear that involve mistakes in word boundary placement, they tend most often to insert boundaries before strong syllables (e.g., hearing by loose analogy as by Luce and Allergy) or delet e boundaries before weak syllables (e.g., hearing how big is it? as how bigoted?; Cutler Butterfield, 1992).These findings prompted the proposal of the Metrical Segmentation Strategy for English (Cutler Norris, 1988; Cutler, 1990), whereby listeners are assumed to segment speech at strong syllable onsets because they operate on the assumption, justified by distributional patterns in the input, that strong syllables are highly likely to signal the onset of lexical words. . . .Explicit segmentation has the strong theoretical advantage that it offers a solution to the word boundary problem both for the adult and for the infant listener. . . .Together these strands of evidence motivate the claim that the explicit segmentation procedures used by adult listeners may in fact have their origin in the infants exploitation ofrhythmic structure to solve the initial word boundary problem.​(Anne Cutler, Prosody and the Word Boundary Problem. Signal to Syntax: Bootstrapping from Speech t o Grammar in Early Acquisition, ed. by James L. Morgan and Katherine Demuth. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1996)