CiteULike: Tag mainstream

Weighing the Ways of the Flow: Twentieth Century Language Instruction

Cheryl Mitchell — 2008-03-03T06:05:31-00:00

The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 85, No. 1. (2001), pp. 26-38.

A traditional metaphor for changes in language teaching methodologies has been that of a pendulum swinging back or forth. However, this historical review of methodology articles in the MLJ suggests a new, more dynamic, metaphor-that of a river flowing. We examine first the major mainstream methods discussed in the Journal, showing how they came into being and what caused them, as opposed to other methods, to become so strong. Then we examine other historical and academic factors that caused the methods to divert and divide into several channels. Finally, we suggest potential areas of exploration that might lead to the development of new water sources or the diversion of the current stream into new channels. The new metaphor and historical review of MLJ methodology articles allow us to see how our work has progressed over the years and how it has not just swung like a pendulum between two opposing positions.

Truth Without Objectivity (International Library of Philosophy)

Max Kölbel — 2007-10-01T17:52:56-00:00

(02 August 2002)

Truth without Objectivity provides a critique of the mainstream view of "meaning". Kölbel examines the standard solutions to the conflict implicit in this view, demonstrating their inadequacy and developing instead his own relativist theory of truth. The mainstream view of meaning assumes that understanding a sentence's meaning implies knowledge of the conditions required for it to be true. This view is challenged by taste judgements, which have meaning, but seem to be neither true nor false.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell — 2006-10-06T02:14:28-00:00

(04 December 2006)

Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff In his #1 bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. In BLINK, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. How do we make decisions--good and bad--and why are some people so much better at it than others? That's the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between good decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus. BLINK displays all of the brilliance that has made Malcolm Gladwell's journalism so popular and his books such perennial bestsellers as it reveals how all of us can become better decision makers--in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life.

Minimum Wages and Employment (Foundations and Trends in Microeconomics)

David Neumark — 2008-05-03T15:38:07-00:00

(31 March 2007)

Minimum Wages and Employment focuses on the "new minimum wage research." This is the first comprehensive review of the literature in the past fifteen years. It includes the initial round of the new minimum wage research on the employment effects of the minimum wage, major conceptual and empirical issues that arose out of that research, recent increases in minimum wage laws, and the empirical research on the employment effects of the minimum wage in other countries. Minimum Wages and Employment provides an assessment of alternative models of the labor market. It offers general conclusions about the effects of the minimum wage on employment that are relevant to policymakers, pointing out in what context and for which workers the minimum wage will have consequences. Finally, by presenting a comprehensive review of the more recent minimum wage literature, the authors explain the range of results in the literature, identify sources of differences in these results, and determine what conclusions can be drawn from the literature.