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This study aims at exploring the issue of "globality" in global coursebooks as manifested in investing features of connectedness, avoiding inappropriacy, and preserving inclusivity. To do this exploration, two research methods, content analysis and the questionnaire, were adopted. The content of an example of global coursebooks, Headway Intermediate (H/I), in addition to the perception of 251 of its users at Institute Bourguiba for Living Languages (IBLV) were investigated. The results obtained revealed that "globality," in terms of connectedness, inappropriacy, and inclusivity is partial in H/I as learners' perceptions of it do not map with the content in the coursebook. This study raises questions about the suitability of global coursebooks to globally diverse learners and reveals the necessity of taking measures in the direction of localizing the content of English as a foreign language (EFL) coursebooks.
- globality
- global coursebook
- inappropriacy
- connectedness
- inclusivity
- glocalization of ELT materials
This work will explore the extent to which an example of global coursebooks (i.e., coursebooks produced to be disseminated around the world) are "global" in terms of being globally inclusive, globally sensitive to the issue of inappropriacy, and globally investing in what connects people worldwide. This study will also explore the way learners using Headway Intermediate (H/I; Soars & Soars, 2003) perceive its global content. Such an attempt helps English language teaching (ELT) practitioners rethink about how the identity of the language learner shape and is shaped by the materials used and especially the coursebook.
As outlined hereinbefore, themes mentioned in previous research will be explored such as "inclusivity," "inappropriacy" (Gray, 2002), and "connectedness" (Chang, 2003). To do so, this study will review the issues of globalization and language teaching especially as manifested in connectedness, the question of representation and the implications of inclusivity, and the issue of inappropriacy and the problematic facts related to it.
It is secret to no one that the spread of English language in the world has resulted in the promotion of an already important industry for Anglophone countries and specifically Britain (Howatt, 1984; Melliti, 2012), which is ELT (Crystal, 2003; Derbel, 2004; Graddol, 2000; Gray, 2002). Apart from the exportation of English language practitioners (Pennycook, 1994; Phillipson, 1992) to Outer and especially Expanding Circles (Kachru, 1985), Britain benefited from the exportation of English textbooks (Graddol, 2000; Gray, 2002). Being used in many teaching situations around the globe, English language textbooks have been called "global" (Graddol, 2000; Gray, 2002). Global coursebooks are characterized by their global use (Canagarajah, 1999; Graddol, 2000; Gray, 2002). Accordingly, they are worth investigating in terms of content as well as learners' perception of their content. Analyzing the content of coursebooks, research studies could focus on the linguistic and cultural content (Michael, 1993). In addition, investigating learners' perception of global coursebooks, the results of a questionnaire can be corroborated.
Globality in Global Coursebooks
What is meant by the term globality is the end state of the process of the globalization of a particular item (Schafer, 2007). Hence, the "globality" of ELT coursebooks is the end state of the globalization of these teaching materials not only in terms of themes but also in terms of distribution most of the time with a superficial consideration for the identity of particular learners. With reference to the "globality" that is said to be characterizing global coursebooks in terms of content (Gray, 2002; Riches, 1999) and use (Graddol, 2000; Phillipson, 1992), it is important to investigate the applicability of the generalized cultural content in these teaching materials (Gray, 2002; Kilickaya, 2004). Generalized cultural content is related to coursebook writers' attempt to invest in general topics that take into consideration including and being sensitive to international audiences, which results in the sanitization of content (Gray, 2002). Investigating the suitability of content for world audiences is important because globalization, which is defined as the mutual social exchange of influence between remote events and ideologies (Derbel, 2007; Giddens, 1990), affects coursebooks' production and use (Gray, 2002). Investigating this suitability is what is meant by exploring the "globality" of the global coursebook.
This study is conducted in the 21st century, where one hears a lot about globalization, which is "a fashionable term" (p. 1) according to Block and Cameron (2002) and a theme that dominates contemporary discourse and affects the teaching profession according to Derbel (2007) including the production and dissemination of ELT textbooks. In fact, globalization, being a force that is continuously shaping and reshaping human relationships and products (Giddens, 1990), affects ELT in different ways (Derbel, 2007). Kubota (2002), for example, describes the way globalization frames ELT in Japan representing the discourse of "Kokusaika" (i.e., internationalization) characterizing teaching, contributing, thus, in the promotion of the "interconnectedness" marking ELT (Derbel, 2007). The discourse of "Kokusaika" (Kubota, 2002) could be seen as an attempt toward the end state of globalization, which is "globality." For the Japanese, the discourse of "Kokusaika" meant the use of a global medium, which is English, to transmit Japanese culture to the world (Kubota, 2002).
In addition, Cameron (2002) stresses the fact that globalization influences ELT through framing the kind of communication used by global users, which is most of the time related to the dominant's varieties and modes of communication. Accordingly, Kramsch and Thorne (2002), defining communication as information exchange, highlight the fact that this kind of communication is manifested in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories, methods, and tasks. Such methods and tasks, according to Block (2002) are not sufficient to cater for the globally diverse aspects of English language learning. What is meant by this is that modes of communication are not the same all over the world while SLA theories assume they are so (Block, 2002). It is for this reason that coursebooks writers are to cater for the cultural identity of the learners to be a vehicle of learning not a cause of learner resistance. Globalization influences also the materials used in ELT (Block & Cameron, 2002). For instance, Gray (2002) attests that this influence is manifested in the claims of "globality" that the publishers of global coursebooks pretend to maximize profit. He suggests that, concerning the relationship between globalization and ELT materials, the future will be for diversity of these materials, not homogeneity. This prediction entails that the global coursebook will more and more tend to be glocalized by producing coursebooks that meet the needs of local users while preserving their connection with the world (Gray, 2002).
In this context, the notion of connectedness manifested in what the publishers that Gray (2002) interviewed call constructing bridges between what is local and what is global, is noticeable in the idea of "glocalisation, [being] a neologism which attempts to capture something of the complexity inherent in globalisation by conflating the terms global and local" (p. 166, italics in original). What Gray (2002) means by this suggestion is the inclusion of local topics, aspirations, and concerns in the content of coursebooks to motivate the users and avoid possible resistance. One might add that such possible resistance does not only concern the learners but also the teachers, as clarified by Canagarajah (1999) and Gray (2002), respectively. While Canagarajah (1999) argues that resistance can be manifested in learners' distortion of their coursebooks, Gray (2002) provides evidence that some teachers are not satisfied with the kind of content that global coursebooks communicate. Different ELT theorists have considered coursebooks of paramount importance (Hutchinson & Torres, 1994; Tomlinson, 2001), while others have warned that coursebooks are not suitable (Allwright, 1982; Rinvolucri, 1999). Whether a coursebook is "good" or "bad" depends on the angle from which one looks at it and the kind of content existing in the coursebook. Hence, what is important is that evaluating coursebooks is a necessity (Case, Ndura, & Righettini, 2005). For example, Nunan (1991) claims that the evaluation of coursebooks is the final stage in its production. For this reason, this study explores the cultural content in an attempt to contribute to the literature on the issues related to the extent to which global coursebooks can be said to have a real "globality" in themes and in representation (Azimova & Johnston, 2012).
In fact, coursebooks have been subject to various kinds of examination. Ellis (1997) differentiates between "predictive evaluation" and "retrospective evaluation." While predictive evaluation concerns the decision of choosing the suitable material, retrospective evaluation focuses on materials that are already in use. Rea-Dickens (1994) adds to this distinction the description of the postuse evaluation. She distinguishes between preuse evaluation, in-use evaluation, and postuse evaluation. Nunan (1991) enumerates the different perspectives and angles from which commercial coursebooks could be evaluated. He adopts the six perspectives for evaluating materials that Littlejohn and Windeatt (1989) mention:
The general or subject knowledge contained in the materials.
Views on the nature and acquisition of knowledge.
Views on the nature of language learning.
Role relations implicit in materials.
Opportunities for the development of cognitive abilities.
The value and attitudes inherent in the materials (quoted in Nunan, 1991, p. 209).
Nunan (1991) comments that such a scheme is modest in the sense of being more realizable than calls for inviting teachers to "adopt a critical stance towards the materials' aims, appropriateness, and utility" (p. 209), as proposed by Breen and Candlin (1987). Litz (n.d.) asserts that recent research studies on coursebook evaluation are documented to focus on many issues such as "textbook design and practicality, methodological validity, the role of textbooks in innovation, the authenticity of materials in terms of their representation of language, and the appropriateness of gender representation, subject matter, and cultural components" (p. 2). As stated by Nunan, "[e]valuating and selecting commercial materials is not an easy task" (p. 209). It is so because many decisions need to be taken concerning these two operations like "[matching] the materials with the goals and objectives of the program, and [ensuring] that they are consistent with [teachers'] beliefs about the nature of language and learning, as well as with . . . learners' attitudes, beliefs and preferences" (Nunan, 1991, p. 209, italics added). Therefore, it is essential to evaluate teaching materials and particularly coursebooks to forecast, measure, or evaluate their suitability for learners around the globe. Numerous studies have focused on the evaluation of the cultural content in global coursebooks such as the investigation of stereotyping and gender representation starting from the 1970s (Gray, 2002; Hartman & Judd, 1978; Mineshima, 2008; Porreca, 1984).
Examples of inappropriate, or politically incorrect, cultural terms and topics are found in Gray (2002) who calls them PARSNIPs (an acronym referring, respectively, to politics, alcohol, religion, sex, narcotics, isms, and pork). The assumption behind the avoidance of these topics is that they are inappropriate for many cultures. In fact, culturally unacceptable issues vary across the world and what is perceived to be taboo or problematic in one culture may be normal, in the sense of being accepted, in other cultures (Alptekin, 1993). Interviewing the publishers of H/I (Soars & Soars, 1996), Gray (2002) finds that other examples of inappropriate issues that are to be avoided in ELT global coursebooks include "anarchy, Aids, Israel and six pointed stars, genetic engineering, terrorism, and violence" (p. 159). Gray (2002) detects a tendency that some of the above-mentioned inappropriate topics are avoided through the investigation of the content of a coursebook as well as through the guidelines imposed by publishers. The guidelines consisted in every topic that the publishers perceived as upsetting and controversial for their potential global users such as political and ethical matters.
For seemingly cultural reasons publishers impose on ELT coursebook writers a list of topics and issues to be avoided (Gray, 2002; Viney, 2000). This claim is attested by Viney (2000) who himself is a coursebook writer. In a reply to an article written by Rinvolucri (1999), in which he strongly criticized ELT coursebooks, Viney (2000) contends that publishers provide coursebook authors with guidelines to be followed. One of the guidelines in the Heinemann Guide for Authors (1991) dealing with inappropriacy is quoted in Viney (2000).
Due to the sensitivity of some of the markets for which we produce books, we have to be very careful about the topics which we cover. Obviously when producing books for the UK and Northern European markets most subjects are acceptable, but in more conservative and religious markets there are various things we must be careful with. The list below should be used as a guideline but please do discuss any topics you feel strongly about using with your editor. (para. 29)
Viney (2000) states that the list "includes abuse, aids, narcotics, terrorism, disputed borders, sex, rape, religion, pornography" (para. 30). The concurrence of this list in ELT coursebooks could show the accentuation of "globality," by focusing on controversial and problematic issues. For the publishers and coursebook authors, the more inappropriate topics are avoided in a textbook, the more it is likely to be considered "global" (Bronner, 2002). However, trying to cater for a world audience and at the same time avoiding offending a world audience could result in what Gray (2002) calls "sanitisation of content" (p. 166) that aims at making the coursebook politically correct (Gray, 2002). Dendrinos (1992) explores this issue too and concluded similarly that sanitization of content based primarily on trivialization of topics and opting instead for advertising and comedy is an observable characteristic of ELT global coursebooks.
Hence, it can be argued the cultural diversity of the world represents a challenge to the mono-ethnic mono-cultural content issues peculiar to the target language culture invested in coursebooks. This issue will be explored in the following subsection that concerns the necessity, and at the same time the possible cultural inappropriacy of investing target language culture in global coursebooks. In his investigation of H/I (Soars & Soars, 1996), Gray (2002) detects a tendency to include people and situations from around the world. As he put it, "[a] modern coursebook like New Headway/Intermediate (1996), while still a very British book, is much less exclusively located in Britain" (p. 157, italics in original). This means that, in general, the book writers attempted to be inclusive in the sense of showing awareness of the need to include images from the entire world in global coursebooks, not only British ones. Thus, integrating images and situations from around the globe gives the coursebook a global outlook.
Using a checklist that focused on representation of women, age, and social class, Arikan (2005) investigates the visual materials representing people in H/I (Soars & Soars, 2003) and Think ahead to First Certificate (Naunton, 1993) and concludes that
the majority of the visual materials in these coursebooks represent the middle class social strata composed of the middle aged individuals in a way that the numbers of both genders represented seem to be similar. However, the critical study of the discursive practices making up these images unearth [sic] the fact that there are many imbalances in such representations. (p. 35)
Arikan (2005) claims that there are two kinds of representation in the investigated coursebooks; apparent inclusivity and hidden (or subtle) imbalance. To illustrate this point, Arikan provided data concerning the social classes of the human images in H/I (Soars & Soars, 2003) using the content analysis method. He found that the "middle" class is the class represented in 84.44% of the total number of human images in the coursebook. Such visibility of the middle class was at the expense of representing other classes such as the "lower" class, mentioned only in 2.2% of the images. As for the lower classes, Arikan (2005) claims that they are "represented through individuals from the third world except for those who are eccentric individuals living in the U.S. or the U.K" (p. 37). An example of what Arikan identified as an eccentric individual from the West is the portrait of a young man on page 83 funnily pretending to be a Hollywood star, which is the only picture of a lower-class individual not belonging to "the third world."
It could be stated, then, that the inclusion of some groups of society in the coursebook Arikan (2005) investigated is misleading, as while minorities were represented (manifested in the inclusion of third-world people), they are represented in an inappropriate manner (only lower-class people). This is, in fact what is meant by subtle imbalance. Another illustration of what Arikan calls subtle imbalance in the representation of minorities concerns the representation of women. Arikan claims also that the number of female humans in the images of H/I (Soars & Soars, 2003) and Think Ahead to First Certificate (Naunton, 1993) represents only 29.80% of the total 302 images, which shows underrepresentation of women (Arikan, 2005).
Therefore, Gray's (2002) assertion that "the most cursory look at a selection of modern global coursebooks produced in the UK shows that [misrepresentation of women] is no longer the case" (p. 157) seems to be incorrect. Actually, Gray does not provide evidence to illustrate his claim. Based on the findings of Arikan (2005), a possible refinement of Gray's statement is that misrepresentation of minorities seems to have moved from being clearly visible to being subtly hidden (Arikan, 2005, p. 36).
In addition, Mineshima (2008) analyzes the content of a Japanese ELT coursebook Birdland Oral Communication I (Yoshida et al., 2007) for evidence as to the issue of gender representation. She used qualitative and quantitative analyses of the representation of language and pictures in the textbook and found that
. . . there seems to be ample evidence to suggest that the textbook examined in this study exhibits fairly egalitarian representations of the two genders. It has succeeded in maintaining a generally well-balanced proportion of females to males in text and pictures, and in describing both genders in a variety of personalities and interests, emphasizing multiformity of individuals regardless of their gender. (p. 16)
For Mineshima (2008) coursebook writers are successful in being inclusive as far as the issue of gender is concerned. However, what is interesting to note is that this claimed balance may be counter to prevailing cultural values. This could mean that besides teaching the language, coursebook writers may end up also promoting cultural values that are different from those of "native" Japanese. This could raise the issue of cultural imperialism, especially for critical readers and learners, viewing that two native speakers were among the authors of the coursebook investigated by Mineshima (2008).
As far as being culturally inclusive in English as a foreign language (EFL) materials, Renner (1997) comments that modern ELT coursebooks reflect rather than ignore native cultures. He claims that "books now produced for the international markets include a variety of realia taken from native and non-native speaking countries reflecting diversity of the native culture" (p. 2). This quote shows that publishers are sensitive to representing various images from around the world in modern coursebooks. However, it remains unclear how and to what extent different local cultures are represented in coursebooks produced in the Inner Circle (Kachru, 1985).
In conclusion, it could be said that the global coursebook is subject to diverse forces influencing its content (LaBelle, 2010). Coursebook writers need not only to concentrate on the linguistic content, but also to compromise the cultural content. The exploration of the literature on global coursebooks showed that publishers are compelled to make compromises mainly between three principles of investing in connectedness, avoiding inappropriacy, and preserving inclusivity. First, regardless of the success in doing so, coursebook writers try to pay attention to what connects people all over the globe while designing the content. Such search for common ground results in "sanitisation of content" (Gray, 2002, p. 166). Second, coursebook writers may strive, to a certain extent, to avoid what is culturally inappropriate in the coursebooks that they intend to sell internationally. Their attempt to produce a coursebook that is "appropriate" for the world, however, is bound by the need to represent "authentic" aspects of target language culture that may contain inappropriate items for world users. Third, publishers and coursebook writers attempt to be inclusive in the sense of representing people, cultures, and images from the entire world. A major problem for this attempt is establishing a compromise between inclusivity and "authenticity."
Hence, because of the importance of the cross-culture in the global, "appropriate" compromising occupies center position. Without this quality, it seems, real "globality" will be impossible to achieve. It is interesting, then, to explore the extent to which an example of global coursebooks is actually reflective of these principles and the perception of learners as to this reflection in an attempt to explore the real "globality" of H/I (Soars & Soars, 2003).
This study is composed of two phases. In Phase I, the coursebook Headway Intermediate (H/I; Soars & Soars, 2003) was analyzed and its content was discussed in terms of its treatment of the principles of preserving inclusivity, avoiding inappropriacy, and investing in connectedness. In light of the findings of the content analysis concerning these themes, a questionnaire was distributed among 251 learners at Institute Bourguiba for Living Languages (IBLV) Tunis, in Phase II. Figure 1 clarifies the research process.
Phase I: Content Analysis
The coursebook was examined carefully for evidence of "globality." The words and pictures in the units were considered and critically interpreted to track the viability of the principles of inclusivity, inappropriacy (Gray, 2002), and connectedness (Chang, 2003; Tomlinson, 1998). "Critical" here means attempting to uncover the possible overt and hidden implications (Fairclough, 1989) behind the choices made by coursebook writers. This means that each time the researcher found a term or a picture that was related, based on previous literature and the researcher's analysis, to the themes explored in the coursebook, it was documented and interpreted.
To explore the extent to which the writers of the coursebook are inclusive of minorities, the numbers, the roles, and the topics related to women, men, Whites, Blacks, and other diverse characters were reported. Similarly, to explore the extent to which the writers of the coursebook are sensitive to the issue of inappropriacy, the following examples of issues are investigated: sex (overt mention), narcotics, isms, pork, anarchy, AIDS, Israel and six-pointed stars, racism, genetic engineering, terrorism, politics, violence, alcohol, out of marriage relationships (i.e., relations with someone other than ones' spouse such as cohabitation, dating, boy/girlfriend), glorifying some dangers in some countries, religion, ideological icons, and revealing clothes. Likewise, to explore the extent to which the writers are investing in what connects people around the world, leisure activities, the issue of language, and global locations are explored. The researcher considered only the instances of representation where the depiction of the variables was clear. For example, instances like the following were not reported when exploring inclusivity of women: "I've got two brothers and a sister" (Soars & Soars, 2003, p. 6).
Phase II: The Questionnaire
The questionnaire used is composed of two main sections. The first section of the questionnaire is general in the sense of gathering background data about the participants' gender, educational level, employment, and the kind of English they need. The second section is composed of seven questions targeting what is and what should be mentioned in the coursebook in terms of language varieties, themes, and closeness of the materials to participants' context and expectations. These questions cover learners' perceptions of the themes of connectedness, inappropriacy, and inclusivity (see appendix).
The target population of this study is 251 third-year adult learners of English, studying at IBLV Tunis. The participants were chosen because they used the coursebook explored, H/I, during the school year. Their familiarity with the coursebook could be valuable not only for exploring the issues related to the notion of "global coursebook," but also for measuring the appropriateness of this kind of coursebook for them. What follows is a description of the target population as indicated from the results of the first section of the questionnaire reserved for background information.
Table 1 summarizes the background information of the participants.
The table reveals that 54% of the participants are women, while 46% are men. As far as the educational level of the respondents is concerned, 32% of them claimed that they are maîtrise (M) holders in comparison with 26% with licenses (L) and 20% with baccalaureate (B) degrees. The other (O) degrees that the participants claimed they hold are MA, PhD, and engineering diplomas.
Needless to mention that 42% of the respondents claimed they have a job, while 58% do not. The jobs that the learners claimed they occupy are tourist guides (9 learners), flight attendants (10), doctors (15), bank officers (7), accountants (7), receptionists (4), lawyers (5), teachers (14), university teachers (6), researchers (5), nurses (4), operators in call center (6), engineers (11), and journalists (2). Among those who affirmed having a job, 83% said that they need English in their occupations, while 17% said they do not.
After preparing the final draft of the questionnaire, 251 copies were produced and distributed by the researcher and three of his MA colleagues. The researchers collected data using two ways depending on the situation. Some participants were given copies of the questionnaires that they answered by themselves at the end of the class sessions. Others were questioned directly by the researcher in the lobbies of IBLV when the participants were entering, leaving, or having a break. The answers of the participants were written directly by the researcher on the questionnaire papers. Sometimes the researcher felt the need to paraphrase or translate certain words into Tunisian Arabic for the respondents, but this happened only on two or three occasions.
The administrative staff at IBLV and its annexes were very cooperative except for some teachers who were rushing to finish their courses and refused to assist with questionnaire administration. Besides, some learners were reluctant to answer the questions and when the researcher witnessed their lack of motivation, they were thanked and their questionnaires omitted. In addition, 22 questionnaires were missing data to reach the final number (251 participants) and therefore, fresh questionnaires were distributed another day to make up the count.
Survey data were analyzed manually by the researcher through creating four sets of tables each representing 50 questionnaires in addition to a fifth set representing 26 questionnaires and a sixth set representing 25 questionnaires. In each set of questionnaires, the answers specific to each question were counted and checked carefully if there was a mismatch between the numbers and the total number of each set. This procedure resulted in the production of six sets of tables. The six sets of tables were gathered in one set representing the total number of participants, which is 251 respondents. These tables were, then, transformed into graphs using Microsoft Excel software.
The results of the study are discussed in the following sections.
Results and Discussion of Content Analysis
The Limits of Inclusivity in Representation
The attempt of writers to be inclusive was found to be partial. Women were mentioned 128 times (compared with 149 for men) and shown in diverse situations (including 11 stereotypical ones) but the problem lies in the authenticity of the image the writers drew for women at the global level. This means that the coursebook primarily foregrounds Western women in Western situations. In fact, such situations hardly depict non-Westerners, which might strengthen some claims of ethnocentricity in the content of global coursebooks.
Racial bias was found to be characterizing the representation of different races in terms of numbers, role, as well as topics. Such bias favored Whites over the other groups (such as Blacks, Asians, Arabs, Muslims, and Native Americans). The publishers of global coursebooks seem to be enjoying a kind of freedom in representing Men in the content. Such freedom is absent, nonetheless, with Blacks or Asians who are not depicted as thieves and alcoholic so as to possibly evade charges of racism. Nevertheless, racial bias is revealed in the limited numbers and kinds of the roles and topics assigned for non-White minorities. This failure could be explained by the diversity of the global audiences, which shows the impracticality of perfect representation of globally diverse people. Based on the results found in this study, it could be said that it is unfeasible to preserve the principle of global inclusivity of various minorities in ELT global coursebooks, which shows that the notion of "global" is vague and unrealizable in a world characterized by different and sometimes conflicting identities.
The Global Coursebook and Cultural Inappropriacy
Controversial topics avoided
The following issues are not mentioned in H/I: sex, narcotics, anarchy, Israel and six-pointed stars, racism, genetic engineering, terrorism, isms, and pork. Due to the controversial nature of the topics mentioned earlier, publishers seem to have chosen to avoid them in H/I. Discussing these controversial issues in an ELT global coursebook could represent a source of motivation and of developing argumentation skills (Thornbury, 2002). For the kind of learners who might look at the teaching of English as an imperialistic act, certainly, argumentation skills could be developed using other topics. However, the problem is that if local audiences accept discussing these controversial topics, then, avoiding them is a nonsuitable decision. It is for this reason that localizing teaching materials seems to be the best choice for it helps meeting the needs of specific learners and identities.
Controversial topics treated with caution
Three issues are treated with caution in H/I, which are politics (mentioned only twice and in general instances), violence (only domestic), and AIDS (once). Not to lose markets, publishers prefer not to talk too much about these themes despite the fact that avoiding them prevents the coursebook from being an instrument of change and raising awareness in learners from different parts of the world.
Controversial topics mentioned
There are five controversial topics mentioned: alcoholic beverages (represented because it is part of target culture), revealing clothes (shown in 8 out of 12 units) and out of marriage relationships like dating (Unit 1) and cohabitation (Units 2, 3, 6, 9, and 11), dealing with some dangers in particular countries (Unit 4), religion, and celebrating specific ideological icons (Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, etc.). Through the content analysis it was possible to demonstrate that the writers of H/I showed only partial concern for avoiding "inappropriate" global issues. In fact, the state of "globality" may be unattainable, given the huge and contradicting amount of controversies that the writers need to consider.
The Global Coursebook and Global Connectedness
Leisure activities. Ninety-seven different leisure activities were mentioned in H/I
The most mentioned topic among leisure activities is travel (43 times in 12 units). This could be explained by publishers' attempt to talk about standardized hobbies and safe topics, but what is remarkable also is absence of mention of problems of visa and segregation suffered by non-Western travelers in Western ports. Another topic mentioned also is sport which is stated 22 times in the 12 units. It is also another safe topic to be invested by coursebook writers, but the kinds of sport used (Golf, skiing, etc.) are not available worldwide. Using leisure activities as a connectedness aspect seems to be a cosmetic change that embodies, whether consciously or unconsciously, ethnocentric orientations.
The language issue
Standard English and British everyday English dominate H/I. There were only two instances of referring to another slightly different variety, which is American English (Units 3 and 4). This fact demonstrates a shortfall despite the need for a unified code. Neglect of New Englishes could deprive learners from the opportunity to benefit from intercultural information. Using New Englishes also helps in interacting with Asians and avoiding potential accusations of ethnocentricity.
Global connectivity
The settings in H/I are predominantly Western as 47% of the locations refer to Europe, 28% to America, and 4% to Australia. Such a dominance of Western locations could legitimate drawing the conclusion that H/I is ethnocentric as it promotes the dominance of the West and pays partial consideration to the rest of the globe (only 3% for Africa), which deprives the global coursebook from being really global. What is interesting concerning global connectivity is the relative importance of the mention of Asian countries (18%), which may be to show awareness of the spread of English across nonnative contexts. It could be also a compensation for the linguistic, numerical, and functional underrepresentation of Asians in the coursebook.
To explore the perception of the users of H/I as to the issues related to the "globality" of the coursebook, the researcher resorted to another research method, which is the questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire will be presented and discussed in the following sections.
Results and Discussion of the Questionnaire
Learners' Perception of Connectedness
Learners' perception of topics
Forty percent of the respondents replied that they preferred international topics in comparison with only 12% who reported that they preferred purely American and British topics, which shows discomfort with "ethnocentric" content in global coursebooks.
Surprisingly, almost one fourth (22%) of the participants chose the alternative "Specific to Tunisia," which reflects the desire of an important number of learners to learn using content derived from their local settings. In light of this finding and as the content analysis showed that H/I is predominantly European in terms of content, it could be deduced that it does not include the type of content that 62% of the respondents would like to have. Needless to mention that the glocal content is preferred by more than one fourth of the learners.
Learners' perception of language varieties
Fifty-five percent of the participants in this study claimed that the coursebook used to teach English should contain international English and not British English only (15%) or American English (2%).
This finding goes in parallel with the results that concerned the topics discussed in the previous section in the sense of showing learners' tendency toward internationalization or "globality." The same finding contradicts what exists in H/I, which was found to contain only two instances of American English and no instance of Asian varieties. Learners' preference of international English reveals that they are aware that they need a global language that goes beyond the purely British or solely American varieties. The content analysis of H/I did not show any instance of using Asian Englishes. Such a finding is another instance of the mismatch between the preferences of new generations of local users, explored in the questionnaire, and global coursebook's standardized and globally compromised content, as shown in the content analysis. It seems that considering and investing the different identities of the learners have minor importance compared with imposing an assumedly global model.
Perception of the coursebook's connectedness potential
The percentage of chatting and corresponding electronically (44%) shows the important position that the Internet for communication holds in the lives of the respondents.
Indeed, the respondents reported that the coursebook is helpful in preparing them to be part of a global community through English, whatever the variety used is. As for its "connecting" value, the coursebook is only appreciated because it allows the users to acquire communication skills. For this reason, it seems important to enrich the use of the coursebook with tasks and activities that invest new phenomena and technology in the classroom such as computers, Facebook, and Twitter.
Learners' Perception of Inappropriacy
Sixty-two percent of the respondents agree when it comes to mentioning inappropriate issues (23% of them strongly), while 38% disagree (20% of them strongly).
Such finding suggests that it is useless to avoid some topics for inappropriacy reasons for the target population investigated. However, there are some topics considered inappropriate by the learners. This could be explained by the fact that Tunisian students accept talking about what coursebook publishers consider taboo in global coursebooks. This may be explained by the openness characterizing Tunisian society, but one wonders about the situation today viewing the sociopolitical change that started in 2011.
Appropriate issues for learners
The participants expressed that they had no objection to mentioning AIDS (82%), alcohol (62%), anarchy (68%), divorce (80%), genetic engineering (80%), narcotics (61%), politics (62%), pork (66%), racism (84%), religion (61%), stereotypes (80%), and violence (60%), which shows that they do not see these topics as inappropriate. Considering the results of content analysis, the publishers are (coincidentally) successful only concerning mentioning the issues of alcoholic beverages and divorce, as the rest of the issues identified as "appropriate" by the Tunisian respondents are either totally or partially avoided in the content of H/I.
Inappropriate issues for learners
The respondents identified three themes as inappropriate, which are: Israel and six-pointed stars (74% disagreed about mentioning them), out of marriage relationships (62%), and terrorism (53%). This suggests that there is a limit to learners' tolerance concerning what they perceive as inappropriate. Concerning "inappropriacy," the publishers were found to be successful only with handling 4 out of the 15 explored themes. Their advice to coursebook writers to avoid alcohol, divorce, Israel and six-pointed stars, and terrorism as "inappropriate" was justified judging from the results obtained in this study. However, such a low score reveals the controversy of designing global material, as the compromise that the publishers made is found to be not matching the positions taken by the particular learners investigated in this study.
Learners' Perception of Inclusivity
Cultural inclusivity
Learners identified two types of cultures: dominant cultures and poorly represented cultures.
Dominant cultures
Learners are aware of the fact that H/I presents predominantly British culture (70% of the respondents scored it "High"), youth culture (81%), international culture (72%), and American culture (70%). Therefore, it could be said that what the respondents identified as highly included cultures are only Western cultures despite the fact that they see international culture as included. This perception shows how visible these aspects of "global culture" in the content and could reveal that learners do not distinguish between Western and international cultures due to globalization, which is based on blurring of boundaries (Giddens, 1990; Phillipson, 1992). The content analysis in addition to previous literature on the issue detected the dominance of Western culture in global coursebooks.
Poorly represented cultures
The respondents identified Asian cultures (67%) and North African culture (92%) as poorly represented in H/I. The findings may provide evidence for Said's (1978) theory about the representation of low cultures by the West. Considering his claims about the ideological and imperialistic motives behind representing the Orient in a pejorative way in the writings of the West, it could be said that the low representation of Asian and North African cultures in H/I may not be innocent. This strengthens the claim that the identity of the Tunisian learner is not properly reflected in H/I.
The inclusivity of learners' individual lives
The results indicate that 44% of the participants reported that the closeness of the content of H/I to their situations in terms of hopes, daily life, jobs, problems, concerns, and leisure activities is medium, while only 38% said it is high and 18% said it is low. Therefore, the highest rate is for learners who perceive the coursebook to be only moderately inclusive of their lives, which is the result of designing one coursebook for the entire world. Such a finding coincides with the literature on this issue, as it is claimed that global coursebooks are characterized by sanitization of content for commercial reasons (Gray, 2002; Renner, 1997; Toms, 2004) and neglect of local identities.
Viewing the nonsuitability characterizing the content of H/I as an example of global coursebooks, it seems important for the administration to take at least one of the following measures:
1. Produce locally designed coursebooks.
Designing local coursebooks (i.e., investing features of local cultures of users) to be used in teaching English in Tunisia even in the private sector could help overcome the weaknesses of global ones documented in this study. Local coursebooks could be more relevant to local learners in terms of recognizing local connectedness needs, avoiding only local inappropriate issues, and being inclusive primarily of local communities for more effective learning. Such measure could be promoted by establishing various research units in the English language departments focusing on conducting studies on coursebooks evaluation and design in the direction of recognizing the importance of localization of materials.
2. Recommending coursebooks specifically designed for local learners from global coursebooks' major publishers.
Such measure could provide the learners with glocal coursebooks that are tailored specifically for particular learners. This glocalization process is valuable for meeting the expectations of the learners, which permits effective learning to take place.
As far as the recommendations for the teachers are concerned, it seems important for them to be aware of the controversy characterizing the issue of global coursebooks. Until the realization of the previously recommended administrative measures, teachers and teacher educators are suggested to take the following procedures.
1. Promoting teacher autonomy.
What is meant by this is avoiding teachers' "slavery" to coursebooks. As the results of this study revealed, chatting and corresponding electronically is perceived to be highly valued by the respondents, which presents an important opportunity to avoid the limitations of coursebooks and to be as close as possible to learners' preferred learning topics and styles. What is meant by this is that teachers are invited to exploit any new productive opportunity to help learners learn "better" by avoiding the fossilization of topics and activities in coursebooks. Teachers can invest new phenomena, especially technological ones such as Facebook and Twitter, as a vehicle for effective learning in addition to coursebooks.
2. Training teachers to adapt coursebooks materials.
As the publishers of global coursebooks might not have a clear idea about what is appropriate content and what is not in the Tunisian context, teachers may adapt the content on the basis of their knowledge of their learners and their shared cultural values. This could help them make the content as relevant and motivating as possible to the local learners.
To sum up, teachers and coursebook writers are suggested to (g)localize coursebooks to provide learners with what they need and what they can deal with. As a phase prior to the realization of this procedure, teachers and trainers are recommended to promote teacher autonomy and to resort to appropriation techniques.
Learners' expectations as far as connectedness and inappropriacy are concerned were found to be partially handled by the publishers. In fact, the topics and the language varieties used in H/I are found to be different from those stated by the participants. This is actually not a very surprising finding as literature on this issue detected the generalization characterizing the content of global coursebooks (Gray, 2002). The most important value of H/I according to the respondents was in communication skills that they report to need while surfing the Internet.
In addition, this study documented match between H/I and the claims of the participants as far as inappropriacy is concerned only in 4 out of 15 issues, which means only in 26.6% of the cases. Accordingly, it is surprising that the participants expressed tolerance as to mentioning some supposedly "inappropriate" issues like racism, alcohol, politics, and pork, which provides evidence that avoiding mentioning them is not necessary as far as the Tunisian users investigated in this study are concerned.
Besides, the participants were found to be aware of the partiality characterizing the inclusiveness of the coursebook in terms of culture and the closeness of the content to learners' situations. In fact, this study provides evidence that it is hardly expected from a global coursebook like H/I to be inclusive of diverse local cultures and daily lives of all the peoples of the globe.
Putting into consideration all of these findings, it could be said that the notion of "the global coursebook" is a commercial expression that does not necessarily mean coursebooks' reflection of global interests and use of global contexts in the content. The implementation of the principles of investing in connectedness, avoiding inappropriacy, and preserving inclusivity were found to be hardly practical in H/I as a supposedly "global" coursebook. It is hoped that these findings will motivate coursebook publishers to move in the direction of publishing "glocal" content to achieve true "global" characteristics.
Questionnaire for Learners
University of Manouba
English department
Research project: MA Thesis
Researcher: Author
Questionnaire for Learners
Section 1:
1.1. Gender: ☐Female ☐Male
1.2. Educational level:
☐Baccalaureate ☐Maîtrise ☐License ☐Other:
1.3. Do you have a job? ☐Yes ☐No
1.3.1. If yes, what is your occupation ……………
1.3.2. If yes, do you need English in your occupation? ☐Yes ☐No
1.4. What kind of English do you think you will need in the future?
☐General English ☐English for Tourism Other:…………
☐Business English ☐Scientific English
Section 2:
2.1. Do you think that in terms of content an English textbook should include themes which are (you may tick more than one alternative)
☐Specific to Tunisia
☐International and Tunisian
☐British and American only
2.2. Do you think Headway Intermediate (H/I) should include (you may tick more than one alternative)
☐American English only ☐Asian Englishes
☐British English only ☐International English
2.3. To what extent does H/I include features of the following cultures according to the following scale?
Circle number where applicable. 00 = Lowest
05 = Highest
2.4. To what extent do you find in Headway parallels with your own situation?
2.5. Should these topics be mentioned in the coursebook? Please tick as applicable to Headway.
2.6. Do you think the topics dealt with in H/I are specific to (you may tick more than one alternative)
☐America ☐Britain ☐The world
☐The Arab world ☐North African ☐Europe
2.7. Do you think the materials in H/I prepare you to
☐Communicate with other Tunisia professionals
☐Understand media in English
☐Correspond electronically
☐Negotiate with international partners
☐Read scientific research articles
☐Read travel book
☐Translate legal documents
Article Notes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.
- © The Author(s) 2013
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).
Author Biography
Mimoun Melliti is an assistant professor of English at the Military Academy, Tunisia. He has published two books titled Globality in Global Coursebooks and The Perceived Value of English: The Case of Tunisian University Students. His main interests are English Language teaching (ELT) materials, globalization and language teaching, and genre analysis.


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Manager in determined mood, says Amavi.
Details of Elland Road clash.
Leeds legend gives his views.
We go behind-the-scenes with our owner as he enjoys the win over Cardiff City. This feature contains reaction pre and post game as well as an interview with Dr Tony.
Manager Steve Bruce speaks to the press ahead of Villa's away clash with Leeds United.
Extended highlights of Villa's victory over Cardiff City at Villa Park.
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League Cup last eight progression

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Owl Art
how to draw an owl - Google zoeken
by Starla Michelle i have always loved owls
Zentangle Patterns: #Zentangle Patterns
owl study 1 More
f181135a1e8ea2fbf298bebeb3d942d4.jpg 482×621 pixels
Incredible Double-Exposure Animal Portraits :: there are entire worlds inside of every creature. Demonstrated quite literally by this photo. There are literally places in all of these creatures.
Mr. Owl Art Print http://society6.com/product/Mr-Owl-DHg_Print#1=45
Gallery.ru / Панно "Сова Снежная", 30*40 см. - Картины - enehi
Decorative Owl - designed by Jane Crowther for Bug Art greeting cards. Embossed with gold and silver foil.
by Gustav Klimt


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We stayed here for 11 nights for our honeymoon in February and all we can see is WOW!!! Everything from check in in our room with welcome congratulations cake and drinks to the food, drinks, pools and view was amazing.
We were on the all inclusive option which meant we only had to pay for alcohol when we checked out which is def recommended. We ate in all three restaurants - Rhu, Saffron and Sands and could not find fault with any of them. The staff were friendly and were happy to chat and joke with us about the rain in the evenings especially Leni and Yusufi doing a fantastic job with the umbrellas.
On our second week wedding anniversary we booked in for a couples Malay Urut massage and a private beach BBQ which was an amazing way to celebrate. The food was cooked to perfection by Safura and don't think we'll be able to replicate it now we're back home.
The hotel put on complimentary trips to the Mangrove and we tried kayaking and windsurfing. We also hired a car through the hotel for RM250 to explore the island which we found easy, as they drive on the same side as us and the roads are quiet. Would def recommend the cable car and waterfalls.
All in all an amazing honeymoon which has given us memories we will treasure forever. Hopefully we'll return in the future for a wedding anniversary x
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Tanjung Rhu Resort, nestled in the shade of casuarinas over 2.5km white sandy beach, is one of Asia's finest boutique resort renowned for its scenic views, impeccable service and gourmet fine dining. This is a place for romance, privacy and tranquility. The 136 luxurious suites Tanjung Rhu lies at the northern tip of the Langkawi island of Malaysia. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com, Hotels.com, Priceline, Agoda, Ctrip TA, Asiatravel.com Holdings, HotelTravel.com, Expedia and Travelocity.ca so you can book your Tanjung Rhu Resort reservations with confidence. We help millions of travellers each month to find the perfect hotel for both holiday and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers.
- Also Known As:
- Tanjung Rhu Hotel Langkawi


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Note: Sample below may appear distorted but all corresponding word document files contain proper formattingExcerpt from Essay:
Multicultural Marketing
Marketing to a multicultural audience -- Starbucks and McDonald's
All businesses today must be multicultural to some extent (Makgosa 2012). The Internet has opened up new portals to multicultural, multinational consumer audiences. More foreign nationals in developing nations aspire to imitate the American, consumerist life they see portrayed in the modern media. America itself is growing increasingly diverse, which demands a more carefully-segmented approach to marketing. However, this creates a problem for global businesses such as Starbucks and McDonald's. On one hand, the core foundation of their business is based upon marketing a particular type of lifestyle, a lifestyle grounded in an image rooted in Americana (or in the case of Starbucks, a very American vision of a European cafe). The core problem of today's multicultural marketing is that changes must be made to address an increasingly diverse audience: an audience which demands more than mere tokenism or a few visual representations of diversity in a commercial. Minority populations do not necessarily see themselves as 'minorities' at all, and also may have complex relationships to their cultures, as they embrace global, American, and local identities simultaneously.
Market segmentation is obviously not a new concept for businesses, even in the case of relatively large companies with a fairly generic outreach such as fast food companies. It has also been observed that there are many different forms of multiculturalism, including those which honor diversity and the specific economic needs and life habits of consumers vs. ones which attempt to hold on to brand identity while still infusing diversity into marketing campaigns (Burton 2002). This paper will explore two companies that have adopted the latter strategy: both McDonald's domestically and Starbucks internationally have embraced multiculturalism but have also made a commitment to holding fast to certain brand identity concepts. Multiculturalism and differentiation is achieved through different emphasis rather than a ground-up rebuilding of the brand. This is the new multicultural marketing -- one which is fluid as well as segmented.
Diversification of the American marketplace: McDonald's multicultural strategy
Marketers must always have an eye upon the youth market because this is where market growth is occurring and these customers have the potential to have long brand relationships. In the United States, such market growth is increasingly non-Caucasian. In fact, 80% of population growth is nonwhite, predominantly because of the growth of the Hispanic, African-American and Asian populations. Hispanics alone make up 54% of contemporary total population growth and are having more children per couple, a coveted portion of the fast food market, as manifested by the popularity of 'Happy Meals' and other children's meals (Palacios 2011). This indicates that marketing to Hispanics is far from a 'niche' market -- the Hispanic market is increasingly synonymous with the American mainstream.
A company with a general marketing outreach must diversify its marketing strategy in recognition of a new reality. For companies with a very broad demographic appeal like McDonald's, there is no single target market, merely a series of 'versions' of that market. McDonald's embodies what could be called a "hybridization, or co-adaptation of cultures, meaning a compromise between the local, the national, the ethnic, etc. And the universalism of consumer culture" (Krzysztofek 2000).
Even before the current 'flat' world and globalized marketplace, McDonald's frequently featured non-white actors to promote its products (Krzysztofek 2000). This can be seen in this vintage McDonald's advertisement from the 1970s:
[Image credit: Prism]
Most firms, when marketing to non-whites, have traditionally adopted a 'general' strategy primarily focused upon Caucasians, and then modified this strategy to make it more ethnic, often with the help of another advertising firm. McDonald's multicultural marketing is an outgrowth of its core strategy and it is increasingly stylizing itself as a multicultural company. It puts just as much money into ads targeting Hispanic or African-Americans themes as ads featuring a more general audience image (Helm 2010). In its generic focus groups for new products, McDonald's uses a disproportionate number of nonwhites compared to other organizations and, in fact, the company's marketers are often asked to market a new product as if the majority population was nonwhite (Helm 2010). In short, McDonald's does not modify its product for what was previously considered the mainstream -- it views the current diverse market as the mainstream.
This has reaped substantial dividends for the company -- even as McDonald's has become less symbolically central and more demonized in an era where health concerns are predominant in marketing food, specific and more price-conscious elements of the loyal fast food marketplace have cleaved to McDonald's, particularly high-volume users infatuated with the dollar menu (Helm 2010). Thus, McDonald's marketing is segmented, yet also cleverly designed to captivate individuals more inclined to make frequent use of the restaurant on a regular basis who tend to be of particular ethnic origins. In an industry where high-volume sales are important, this is a must. Also, given that young people are vastly more apt to consume fast food than older consumers and the minority demographic skews youthful, a multicultural marketing strategy likewise behooves McDonald's (Paeratakul 2003: 1332). This is keeping with McDonald's values of cheap, fast, fatty, sweet convenience foods with an aura of child-focused family fun, but with a savvy multicultural eye upon a desirable and loyal demographic.
Of course, because of this (extremely effective) multicultural strategy, McDonald's has drawn the ire of many critics, who stress that McDonald's is unfairly targeting lower-income customers when many of its higher-income customers have been trying to shop more healthfully. However, from a marketing standpoint, McDonald's approach has made the company relevant again after it began to lose market share with the negative publicity generated by the anti-fast food documentary Supersize Me. 37% of the adults and 42% of the children report eating fast food on a regular basis, and McDonald's advertising campaign is strategically designed to capitalize upon a very desirable segment coveted by its brand rivals (Paeratakul 2003: 1332). The idea that McDonald's embodies a rainbow of diversity and honors the lifestyle of African and Hispanic-Americans has enabled it to stand out and withstand charges that it is homogenized in terms of its product culture.
International expansion and creating a multicultural brand: Starbucks
The need to have a multicultural marketing strategy while still holding fast to one's brand image is embodied by another stalwart American food brand, that of Starbucks. Once, expensive coffee was considered a relatively niche, boutique item confined to urban locations -- Starbucks made it part of the United States mainstream. All stores have a distinct character even while selling the Starbucks brand and manifesting certain styles and flavors that make it uniquely Starbucks. There is greater diversity between stores than more traditional fast food companies like McDonald's. Starbucks has been called a 'hegemonic brandscape' -- a brand that is symbolic of American cultural homogeneity and dominance like McDonalds on one hand, yet also of broad, overreaching scope in terms of its adaptability not only to local dining tastes but also dining habits. (Thompson, C. Arsel 2004: 631).
However, interestingly enough, unlike McDonald's, multicultural specificity is less in evident in Starbucks' American incarnation as it is in its relationships abroad. Starbucks has always made a point of partnering with local entities, which have a greater knowledge of how to do business in terms of dealing with local regulatory agencies, and, most importantly, the culture of consumption of the region. Partnering with local entities can help navigate the difficult marketing terrain of a new nation (Johnson & Tellis n.d.). However, finding the right balance between holding to the Starbucks brand and diversifying that brand enough to suit local tastes has been a challenge. Starbucks manifests many of the problems in the new multicultural marketing of the 21st century.
Starbucks' decided to enter Japan first when it expanded to the Far East because the Japanese market was known to embrace novelty, Americana, and yet be relatively similar in its consumerist values to the United States. It partnered with a Japanese company and over time and trial and error, changed many of its product offerings (Bentros 2011). After its first flush of success, demand declined as can be seen in the following graphic:
Image credit: What Japan Thinks.
However, this changed with the introduction of a new menu that included more teas and green tea version of its Frappuccino. However, other aspects of Japanese life worked well for Starbucks' brand concept. Tokyo living quarters are extremely compact, so more people use cafes as a 'home away from home' than they do in the United States. Store layouts were reconfigured to allow for more physical space to allow dining. Since customers were also more inclined to order meal-like foods at cafes and the Japanese, like most Asian nations, have a less sweet palate than the United States, more facilities had to be added to allow for cooking (Starbucks to open landmark 1,000th store in Japan, 2013, JDP). However, this is in keeping with Starbucks self-conception of itself as a brand -- Starbucks stores are meant…[continue]
"Multicultural Marketing To A Multicultural Audience --" (2013, July 28) Retrieved December 2, 2016, from http://www.paperdue.com/essay/multicultural-marketing-to-a-97446
"Multicultural Marketing To A Multicultural Audience --" 28 July 2013. Web.2 December. 2016. <http://www.paperdue.com/essay/multicultural-marketing-to-a-97446>
"Multicultural Marketing To A Multicultural Audience --", 28 July 2013, Accessed.2 December. 2016, http://www.paperdue.com/essay/multicultural-marketing-to-a-97446


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Diagnostic Imaging
At VCA Sacramento Veterinary Referral Center, we utilize state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment in the assessment and treatment of our patients. Our facility includes a complement of advanced tools providing superior imagery such as:
- Ultrasonography
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Each of these instruments may be used by any one of our departments to perform diagnostic testing that helps our doctors quickly assess and, consequently, develop the best treatment plan for our patients.
Meet our Radiologists
Services Offered in Diagnostic Imaging
- Thoracic ultrasonography / thoracocentesis
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- Ultrasonography
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- CT scan (brain, bullae, skull, spine)
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Steve Novak
Steven Michael Novak is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association. He is listed as 6'10", 235 lbs. He played college basketball in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at Marquette University. Novak splits time at both small forward and power forward. He was born in Libertyville, Illinois. He was the NBA regular season leader in three point percentage during the 20...... more on Wikipedia
Steve Novak is ranked on...
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The greatest athletes of all time: a list of the most dominant, iconic athletes to ever play sports. This list gathers sports stars from across every professional league, as well as amateur athletes who may have never competed professionally, in one overall list. Though it may be challenging to compare performance in a variety of different competitive a...
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Super 8 Glenville hotels are listed below. Search for cheap and discount Super 8 hotel prices in Glenville, WV for your family, individual or group travels. We list the best Super 8 Glenville venues so you can review the Glenville Super 8 hotel list below to find the perfect place.
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Ramli John
Hacker turned Lean Startup advocate, startup mentor and professional speaker. University of Waterloo Comp Sci with Ivey MBA.
Hacker turned Lean Startup advocate, startup mentor and professional speaker. University of Waterloo Comp Sci with Ivey MBA.
Primary Skillsets
- Business Development
- Product
- Back End Engineering
Vouches Received
Vouches Given
They're my school Founder, Un-Lease.com. Previously MBA Candidate ('13) Ivey School of Business, and Account Manager, Ricoh Canada.
Had the opportunity to work with Ramli in the past and he's a great asset to any team. Excellent blogger & speaker who knows how to attract ...
We worked together at FamilyTales
Ramli has great energy for what he's passionate about and is hungry to win. He's a hard worker, a true hustler, and will do anything to make ...
They're my friends
Able to empathize with the customer and super outgoing. He's a hustler.
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Ramli has experience bringing ideas to fruition on both the business and technical aspects of development. I believe he would be a great fit ...
They're my school Previously VP of Business Development @ BNOTIONS, Business Development Manager @ Pivotal Labs, Product and Sales Guy
Lean stat up expert. Knows how to programs. Extremely knowledgable in technology and consumer habits. Very organised and has gone down the s ...
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Ramli is already a great entrepreneur. He's focused and determined, yet inquisitive. Ramli's very well equipped and capable, but humble en ...
We worked together at FamilyTales
With experiences in computer science and programming, Ramli demonstrates strong expertise in web app and mobile development. Technical skill ...
We worked together
Ramli's drive to succeed makes him a great entrepreneur. He is highly motivated and takes time to help others.
They're my friends
Ramli is one of those individuals who are relentless in their pursuit of an idea. His work and writings around the application of lean start ...
Jonathan Goldberg
They're my mentor
I see great entrepreneurs are visionaries who are doers. Jonathan is both. Without any previous knowledge of social media, he was able to pu ...
Jonathan Goldberg
They're my friends
Jonathan is an excellent entrepreneur who always puts his clients' first.
Rob Mackenzie
We worked together
He's had experience before. Previously, he started his own College Painter Pro franchise business. He did that during college. I've also wor ...
Hafiz Vellani
They're my school Previously VP of Business Development @ BNOTIONS, Business Development Manager @ Pivotal Labs, Product and Sales Guy
Hafiz is a true hustler. He can sell ice to eskimos. I'm sure of it. He also has a very strong technology and business background in diverse ...


text: Air Conditioning Bill Too High? Should've Moved Into A Building Like ThisRosa Golijan11/03/09 10:50pmFiled to: ArchitectureChrome hotelHotelSanjay puriConceptDesign23EditPromoteShare to KinjaToggle Conversation toolsGo to permalink Apparently the oddly arranged 600 mm diameter circular windows on this building are not a hidden message from aliens, but instead a clever way to create ambiance indoors while saving up to 25% on air conditioning costs. Advertisement Those opaque windows combined with the concrete "fins" on the side of the building act as a heat barrier and reduce cooling costs dramatically. I just don't know if the savings are worth the mockery for living in a chunk of Swiss cheese, even if it's a pretty chunk of Swiss cheese. [WAN]Gear from Kinja DealsCharging Gear Buying Guide: QuickCharge, USB-C, Qi, and MoreThe OXO On Is The Coffee Maker You Should BuySaturday's Best Deals: Amazon Ray-Ban Sale, Smart Thermostat, $5 Off All BooksReply23 repliesLeave a reply


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The stock of Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) is a huge mover today! The stock increased 4.85% or $0.64 during the last trading session, hitting $13.84. About 12.67M shares traded hands or 17.53% up from the average. Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) has risen 106.90% since February 26, 2016 and is uptrending. It has outperformed by 96.47% the S&P500.
The move comes after 6 months positive chart setup for the $6.72B company. It was reported on Sep, 30 by Barchart.com. We have $16.88 PT which if reached, will make NYSE:SWN worth $1.48 billion more.
Analysts await Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) to report earnings on October, 27. They expect $0.10 EPS, up 900.00% or $0.09 from last year's $0.01 per share. SWN's profit will be $48.55M for 34.60 P/E if the $0.10 EPS becomes a reality. After $-0.09 actual EPS reported by Southwestern Energy Company for the previous quarter, Wall Street now forecasts -211.11% EPS growth.
Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) Ratings Coverage
Out of 20 analysts covering Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN), 5 rate it a "Buy", 5 "Sell", while 10 "Hold". This means 25% are positive. Southwestern Energy Company has been the topic of 56 analyst reports since July 21, 2015 according to StockzIntelligence Inc. Citigroup maintained it with "Neutral" rating and $8 target price in Thursday, April 7 report. The rating was reinitiated by GMP Securities with "Hold" on Wednesday, September 28. The firm has "Market Perform" rating given on Monday, April 25 by Cowen & Co. The stock has "Outperform" rating given by Cowen & Co on Tuesday, July 21. The stock of Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) earned "Neutral" rating by Credit Suisse on Tuesday, September 8. RBC Capital Markets maintained the shares of SWN in a report on Wednesday, June 15 with "Sector Perform" rating. The stock of Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) earned "Neutral" rating by JP Morgan on Friday, July 22. On Tuesday, December 15 the stock rating was upgraded by JP Morgan to "Overweight". The company was initiated on Thursday, August 27 by Wells Fargo. Citigroup maintained Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) on Monday, September 14 with "Neutral" rating.
According to Zacks Investment Research, "Southwestern Energy Company is an energy company primarily focused on natural gas. They are involved in the following business segments: Exploration and Production – Engaged in natural gas and oil exploration, development and production. This represents their primary business; Natural Gas Distribution – Engaged in the gathering, distribution and transmission of natural gas; Marketing and Transportation – Provides marketing and transportation services in their core areas of operation and owns a 25% interest in the NOARK Pipeline System, Limited Partnership."
Insitutional Activity: The institutional sentiment increased to 1.22 in 2016 Q2. Its up 0.31, from 0.91 in 2016Q1. The ratio is positive, as 56 funds sold all Southwestern Energy Company shares owned while 113 reduced positions. 91 funds bought stakes while 116 increased positions. They now own 467.85 million shares or 8.35% more from 431.79 million shares in 2016Q1.
Energ Opportunities Capital Ltd owns 223,214 shares or 0.85% of their US portfolio. Moreover, Ubs Oconnor Limited Liability Corporation has 0% invested in Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) for 1.45M shares. The Florida-based State Board Of Administration Of Florida Retirement System has invested 0.02% in Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN). Checchi Cap Advisers Limited Company last reported 0.01% of its portfolio in the stock. Vertex One Asset last reported 100,000 shares in the company. Parkwood Ltd holds 0.54% or 247,444 shares in its portfolio. Carroll Finance holds 0.03% of its portfolio in Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) for 12,750 shares. Moore Management L P holds 0.57% or 1.15 million shares in its portfolio. Senator Inv Limited Partnership last reported 1.41% of its portfolio in the stock. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Communication Ltd reported 14,900 shares or 0% of all its holdings. Everpoint Asset Management Ltd Co, a Connecticut-based fund reported 175,000 shares. Northern Trust, a Illinois-based fund reported 4.24 million shares. Chevy Chase Tru Hldgs, a Maryland-based fund reported 404,836 shares. Zacks Mngmt last reported 0.02% of its portfolio in the stock. Pacad, a British Columbia – Canada-based fund reported 147,618 shares.
Insider Transactions: Since September 20, 2016, the stock had 0 insider purchases, and 1 sale for $172,085 net activity. On Tuesday, September 20 KERLEY GREGORY D sold $172,085 worth of the stock or 12,000 shares.
Another recent and important Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) news was published by Nasdaq.com which published an article titled: "Commit To Buy Southwestern Energy Company At $8, Earn 11.1% Using Options" on September 20, 2016.
SWN Company Profile
Southwestern Energy Company, incorporated on February 24, 2006, is an independent energy firm engaged in natural gas and oil exploration, development and production. The Firm operates through two divisions: Exploration and Production (E&P) and Midstream Services. The Company's activities are principally focused on the development of unconventional natural gas reservoirs located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Arkansas.
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January 5, 2009
WACHOVIA BANK, AS CUSTODIAN FOR PHOENIX FUNDING, INC., PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,v.ALBERT MONDUL, JR.; MRS. ALBERT MONDUL, JR., WIFE OF ALBERT MONDUL, JR.; FRED BENNETT, JR., HIS HEIRS, DEVISEES AND PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVES AND HIS, HERS, THEIR OR ANY OF THEIR SUCCESSORS IN RIGHT, TITLE AND INTEREST; HOSPITAL & DOCTORS SERVICE BUREAU; DIV-TRIV, L.L.C.; OVERLOOK HOSPITAL; AND THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, DEFENDANTS.CHERRYSTONE BAY, L.L.C., APPELLANT.
On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Essex County, F-8467-06.
Argued December 15, 2008
Before Judges Lisa and Reisner.
In this tax foreclosure case, Cherrystone Bay, L.L.C. appeals from a trial court order dated July 16, 2007, denying its motion to intervene and granting Phoenix Funding, Inc.'s motion to bar redemption as well as imposing a constructive trust on the property at issue. Relying on Malinowski v. Jacobs, 189 N.J. 345 (2007), Judge Klein issued an oral opinion on June 29, 2007, concluding that without having first filed a motion to intervene in the foreclosure action, Cherrystone could not lawfully purchase the property and redeem it from foreclosure. We agree and affirm.
These are the most pertinent facts. Phoenix Funding, a company that invests in tax sale certificates "primarily for the opportunity to acquire fee title" to the underlying real estate, purchased a tax sale certificate on 79-81 Chelsea Avenue, Newark. The property was owned by Albert Mondul, Jr. When the certificate was not redeemed, Phoenix filed a tax sale foreclosure complaint on May 12, 2006.
On May 15, 2006, Cherrystone, a company in the business of "buying distressed properties . . . and then selling them for profit," bought the property from Mondul for $85,000. The sale required Mondul to pay off all outstanding liens on the property, leaving him with a net profit of approximately $36,000. According to a certification from Cherrystone's president Michael Bonner: "Cherrystone became aware of plaintiff's [Phoenix's] foreclosure against the property through searching the public records and documents. Plaintiff was represented in the foreclosure by Robert A. DelVecchio, Esq."
Therefore, Cherrystone was well aware that Phoenix had an interest in the property and was pursuing foreclosure.*fn1 Instead of moving to intervene in the foreclosure action, Cherrystone closed on the property and sought to redeem the tax lien in the name of "Fred Bennett, Jr." However, payment was made via a check drawn on the trust account of Cherrystone's attorney, Darren D. Pinto.
Phoenix learned of the attempted redemption and, recognizing Pinto as an attorney who regularly represented Cherrystone, investigated the transaction and then filed a motion to bar Cherrystone from redeeming the property.
Cherrystone filed a cross-motion to intervene in the taX foreclosure action, affirm the redemption and discharge the tax lien. The trial judge initially entered an order providing for discovery on the issue of the property's value, aimed at determining whether Cherrystone had purchased the property for nominal value. See N.J.S.A. 54:5-89.1. However, at the parties' request, the trial judge stayed her decision of the motions until the Supreme Court decided three pertinent taX foreclosure cases, all involving Cherrystone: Simon v. Cronecker, 189 N.J. 304 (2007); Simon v. Rando, 189 N.J. 339 (2007); and Malinowski v. Jacobs, 189 N.J. 345 (2007). She also stayed her decision until the Court denied Cherrystone's motion for reconsideration.
In Simon v. Cronecker, the Court addressed the long- simmering feud between tax certificate purchasers such as Phoenix and third parties such as Cherrystone, and held that for the benefit of the distressed property owners, a third party may redeem a tax sale certificate in foreclosure. However, the Court held that a third-party investor seeking to redeem must intervene in the tax foreclosure action before buying the foreclosed property.
These cases illustrate that competition in the marketplace can yield considerable social good. Here, in pursuing their self-interests to maximize profits, the tax sale certificate holders and third-party investor also produce important societal benefits--the certificate holder puts property back on the tax rolls and the third-party investor helps a property owner salvage a piece of his equity. We do not read the Tax Sale Law, N.J.S.A. 54:5-1 to -137, to discourage commercial competition that is likely to benefit a financially-strapped property owner, and we will not interfere with salutary market forces for the purpose of impoverishing him.
In balancing the conflicting interests in these cases, we now hold that the Tax Sale Law does not prohibit a third-party investor from redeeming a tax sale certificate after the filing of a foreclosure action, provided that the investor timely intervenes in the action and pays the property owner more than nominal consideration for the property. However, because the third-party investor here did not intervene in the foreclosure actions before arranging for redemption of the tax certificates, the investor will not be permitted to profit from the transactions. To protect defendants' interests, we impose constructive trusts, allowing plaintiffs to succeed in the third-party investor's place. For those reasons, we reverse the judgment of the trial court.
[Cronecker, supra, 189 N.J. at 310-11.]
The Court also clearly indicated its intent to forestall any creative efforts to circumvent its ruling:
By forbidding an interested investor, who is not a party to the foreclosure action from "indirectly" seeking redemption, we intend to interdict the myriad machinations that a creative mind might devise to elude the Tax Sale Law. For example, a third-party investor who does not intervene in the action, but who enters into a contract to purchase the subject property, fronts the funds necessary to redeem a tax certificate, and schedules the closing for after the redemption date violates N.J.S.A. 54:5-89.1. Because the investor upon entering into a contractual arrangement has an equitable interest in the property, he must intervene in the foreclosure action to allow a judicial determination that more than nominal consideration was paid for the property.
[Id. at 336.]
Since Cherrystone did not follow the required procedure, the Court held that Cherrystone's rights to the property would be placed in a constructive trust for the benefit of the tax lienholder:
Because it did not seek to become a party to the actions before arranging for the redemption of the tax certificates . . . , Cherrystone will not be permitted to benefit from the purchase of the Ross and Smyth properties. But neither will we permit the property owners to suffer as a result of Cherrystone's procedural defaults. Accordingly, we conclude that the appropriate remedy is to impose constructive trusts on Cherrystone's rights under its contracts with the property owners. The certificate holders will be allowed to succeed to Cherrystone's rights, after reimbursing Cherrystone for any monies expended redeeming the tax certificates and for the purchase price of the properties. In the event the certificate holders decline to do so, the constructive trusts will be vacated and the contractual rights will revert back to Cherrystone.
[Id. at 338.]
In Simon v. Rando, the Court addressed a variation on the Cronecker scenario, in which Cherrystone obtained standing to redeem tax liens held by Simon, by purchasing prior tax sale certificates instead of entering into a contract of sale for the property with the landowner. Id. at 341-42. The Court affirmed our 2005 decision that Cherrystone was required to intervene in Simon's tax foreclosure suit before seeking to redeem Simon's tax sale certificates. Rando, supra, 189 N.J. at 342-43, aff'g 374 N.J. Super. 147, 158 (App. Div. 2005).
Finally, in Malinowski v. Jacobs, the Court held that Cronecker and Rando did not announce a new rule of law, but rather applied well-established law, and therefore "must be given retroactive effect." Malinowski, supra, 189 N.J. at 351. Rejecting Cherrystone's argument that the Cronecker and Rando holdings were contrary to "the purported customs of some practitioners," the Court pointedly observed that "[a] statute is no less clear merely because those who should abide by its dicates decide to disregard them." Id. at 353.
Properly concluding that she was bound by these three cases, the trial judge in this case denied Cherrystone's motion to intervene and imposed a constructive trust on the property in favor of Phoenix. Because Cherrystone's owner, Bonner, had mortgaged the property to secure a loan, the judge required him to pay off the mortgage and transfer the property to Phoenix.
On this appeal, Cherrystone contends that it complied with a procedure similar to that required by General Equity judges in prior cases, and that it "substantially complied" with the procedures required by Cronecker. It is not clear on this record that either of those arguments was presented to the trial court, but in any event we conclude that they are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion. R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(E). The trial judge was bound to follow the Supreme Court's clear direction in Cronecker, Rando and Malinowski, and so are we. Moreover, Cherrystone knew or should have known at least since our 2005 decision in Rando, supra, that it had to move to intervene in the foreclosure action before attempting to redeem the tax sale certificate.
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