Exploring Students Attitudes Towards English Homework

Exploring Students Attitudes Towards English Homework Abstract This research aims at exploring students attitudes towards English homework. There is abundant literature regarding homework, but the voice of the students is absent from most of the literature. In this study, qualitative case study approach is used to look into the perspectives of one junior form class (F.1) and one senior form class (F.4). The literature review includes four major trends in the latest homework research: 1) relationship between homework and achievement, 2) relationship between time and achievement, 3) parental involvement and 4) homework design. I conducted 45 questionnaires and 6 in-depth interviews by purposive extreme sampling. After synthesizing all the data, I analyzed them by using constant comparison method and transcript based analysis. The results of the reserach showed that most students think homework is important to their learning. But the poor design and lack of teachers constructive feedbacks discourage them to complete their English homework. In addition, it is shown that different ages and genders require different kinds of homework to meet the learning diversity. This study contributes to the current literature in terms of its latest and un iqueness. Introduction When talking about homework, it seems that everyone has an opinion concerning its worth and purpose. Interestingly enough, in discussions of homework, it quickly becomes a debate. People either with adamantly favour or strongly oppose the practice. For myself, I struggled with the English homework when I was a secondary student. I thought it was just a burden for me without any meaningful purpose. On the other hand, when I was a student teacher, I liked assigning homework to my students because I assumed homework could improve both teaching and learning. Most importantly, homework was the communication channel between student and me. Some students who seldom handed-in their homework, but they still got a good grade in the exams, vice versa. This situation perplexed me. I have ideas and doubts about homework, but never really studied the issue. Therefore, I wanted to conduct an action research study in my honour project, in the hope that I could modify it so as to fit the needs of the students. After reviewing the literature, I decided to examine the attitudes students hold towards their English homework. My general intention was to obtain evidence indicating whether I neglected some factors when blaming on students who do not complete their English homework. I perceive the homework issue is faced among many teachers. No matter which schools and what kinds of students are the teachers working with, they must face the homework completion problem. Hopefully, this research can help teachers to handle the homework issue easily in the coming future. Part 1: Literature Review: The literature review consists of articles and books from 1980 to 2007 on the history of the homework debate. The majority of the scholarly articles are from EBSCO Databases (e.g.: A+ Education, Eric and Education Research Complete). The themes discussed in the literature are relationship between doing homework and achievement, time spent on doing homework, parental involvement and homework design. 1.1 The History of Homework Debate According to Copper (2007), homework is described as tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are intended to be carried out during non-school hours (p.5). Copper explains that the use of word-intended because students may do the homework during recess, lunch time or even during subsequent classes. Homework is not new. It has a long and controversial history (Gordon 1980; Cooper 1989a-2007; Bonyun 1992; Earle 1992; Foyle 1992; Hallam 2004; Jha 2007 and so on). Among these studies, there are both pro and anti- homework groups respectively. Gill and Schlossman (2000) analyzed the views of different stakeholders: educators, teachers and parents. Different parties hold very distinct views towards the issue of homework. Up till now, there is a lack of consensus among researchers which they only agreed that homework is a complicated issue. Apart from different stakeholders views, there are many variables related in the topic of homework: environment, students ability, time and re searchers own biases. Some of the critical views are discussed in the following part. 1.2The relationship between homework and achievement When the researchers analyzed whether there is a relationship between the amount of time spent on doing homework and achievement, they mostly used one of two research designs. The first one is experimental. They typically compared two groups of students who were assigned homework and who did not receive any homework. And then, these two groups of students were given the same test to check whether homework can carry a positive influence on students academic achievement. Copper (2007) showed that students doing homework had higher unit test scores than 73 percentage of students not doing homework 1.3The relationship between the amount of time spend doing homework and achievement The second type of research examines the relationship between time spent on homework and achievement. Kohn (2006) mirrored the work of Copper (2007), they found a positive relationship between time spent doing homework and achievement. That means time spent on homework increases, achievement increases. However, Kralovec (2000) examines that the relationship between achievement and time spent on homework is negative for younger students. He suggested that homework appears to be more effective for older students than younger students. All in all, homework appears to be positively correlated with achievement, but the effect varies dramatically with grade level. According to the research conducted by Vatterott (2009), in grades 3 to 5, the correlation was zero, in grades 6 to 9, the correlation was .07; and in grades 10-12, the correlation was.25. However, 1.00 is a perfect correlation between two measures and zero means there is no correlation between the measures. 1.4Parental Involvement In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on encouraging parents to become involved in the education of their children. Most parents think the setting of homework as necessary and important (Vatterott, 2007). There are two reasons for parents wanting children in doing homework. The first reason is because homework works as the schools commitment to educational achievement and also that it gives them a platform to apply what they have learnt in the lesson. The second reason is parents who view homework as a criterion for assessing schools. Since communication between home and school is often difficult, homework takes up the role of providing a bridge between home and school. Parents can easily check what the teacher is teaching and the progress of their children based on the homework. However, we cannot interpret parents wanting their children to do well in school to mean that they want their children to have homework if the homework is not going to improve academic achievement (Jha, 2006). Some research has suggested that parental help with homework improves achievement (Hallam 2007; Chen and Stevenson 1989). Other research suggests that the findings are not conclusive or that effects are trifling (Levin el al. 1997; Vatterott 2007). This contradictory result implies that parents may provide more help for the students than they actually need with their school work. The worst situation is that tension may develop between parents and their children over their homework. Later on, it can cause frustration and disappointment and may be counter-productive to the students performance in school. 1.5 Homework Design Among most findings, there is a considerable agreement among teachers that homework is worthwhile. There are two major reasons for teachers to give students homework: instructional and non- instructional (Xu, 2005). For the instructional objective of homework, teachers use homework as a means of ensuring that students have went over and learned the curriculum in preparation for tests. The non-instructional purpose of homework is to develop student responsibility, social skills and communication between parents and teachers. Despite this, homework was seen to have a negative influence on family involvement (Van Voorhis 2003). There has been considerable interest in the feedback given to students when homework has been completed. There is general consensus that homework must be collected and marked (Van Voorhis, 2003). However, there is much less agreement about the most effective marking procedures. Marking homework is time-consuming. Most teachers assign, collect and mark the homework regularly. However, there is variation in the kind of feedback the teachers give. Feedback can vary from teachers providing students with a mark, grade, a written comment, e.g. Very good, good or seen. Giving grades seems to be effective (Xu, 2005) but the type of grading given seems to make little difference to learning outcomes. 1.6 Summary of the literature review With the support of the literature review, the definition of homework is clear to all readers in this report: tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are intended to be carried out during non-school hours (Copper 2007). The major issue surrounding the homework controversy is whether it can improve students achievement, the views of different stakeholders and the weakness of the existing research. We can see that there is a lack of students voices among the research. Part 2 Research Questions What kinds of homework do the students prefer? Do students attitudes to homework vary according to characteristics such as age-group and gender? Does homework help to instill positive attitudes and study habits? Nowadays, almost all research regarding homework is from the adults point of view. Very few of them try to put themselves into the shoes of students to look into the homework issue. Student is the core of our education; therefore, the research regarding homework is always incomplete without the voice of students. This study aims at finding students attitude on their English homework and the reasons why students do not hand in English homework. Part 3 Methodology 3.1 Design This research is an explorative qualitative case study, but also with some quantitative features. Multiple methods are used because they will provide the data I require to produce a complete piece of research. It is unwisely to solely depend on one method because it is labeled as qualitative study. The aim of this study is to explore the students attitudes to homework in order to encourage students to complete their English homework. Finally, educators and teachers may design more effective homework to help students learning better in the future. I collected data from both teachers and students by 6 in-depth interviews (Appendix E F) and 45 questionnaires (Appendix C D). The reason for using in-depth interviews is due to its adaptability and credibility of the study. On the other hand, the use of questionnaire is due to its convenience and time effectiveness (Patten, 1998). This research explored the Form 1 and Form 4 students attitude towards English homework. 3.2 Participants The setting of this research is a secondary school in Tuen Mun. Participants were one Form 1 class and one Form 4 class students and 5 English teachers. The study required exploring the attitude towards homework on two groups of students taking the English course at school. 3.2.1 Sampling For the questionnaire, all students and their English teachers in those classes were asked to participate in the questionnaire research. For the interviews, I only picked up some samples from the participants. I had in-depth interviews with 4 students and 2 teachers using purposive extreme sampling. Patton (1990) defined extreme sampling should be used when the case are rich in information because they are unusual or special in some way. (p.109) 3.3 Instrument 3.3.1 Interviews One major advantage of the interview is its adaptability. With interviews, I could follow up ideas, probe responses and explore the feelings of the respondents, which the questionnaire cannot do. I could ask follow up questions based on the response of the interviewees, such as, the tone, the facial expression and even the hesitation. According to Bell (2005), questionnaire responses have to be taken at face value, but a response in an interview can be developed and clarified (p.157) However, since interviews are time-consuming, I used group interviews instead of one to one interviews in the beginning. But I discovered that the disadvantages of group interviews overrode the advantage of one-to-one interviews. The first disadvantage is that some strong personalitys interviewees influenced and in some extent they took over the group and made it difficult for the less assertive interviewees to speak (Refers to Extract 2). In addition, one to one interview can maintain higher privacy than group interviews. After considering all the factors, I decided to redesign my interviews to individual interviews instead it is more time-consuming. Extract 2. The transcript of the interview Interviewer: Why do you not hand in the homework on time? Student A: Well, I do want to do it. But as you know, the English homework is really boring. It doesnt matter we do not do it as I can still can good results from the exam. Interviewer: We? How about students B? Do you agree with student A? Student B: amà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦yesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.probably. (Feel embarrassed) Student A: Let me tell you more. And we are very busy all the time. It is common that different subject teachers assign the homework on the same dayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Its impossible for us to finish themà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Besidesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. 3.3.2 Questionnaire Since there are only twenty students in each class, it is feasible to give out all questionnaires to the whole classes. With questionnaires, all respondents are presented with the same questions. Therefore, I could compare the responses among different groups easily. As long as, there is no interviewer coming between the respondent and the question, it is essential to design the effective question wording. Before I sent out the questionnaires, I discovered the wordings in my questionnaires were very ambiguous. Bell (2005) suggested that words which have a common meaning to you may mean something different to other people (p.138). For example, I wanted to find out how often students are able to hand in their English homework on-time. Originally, I used some very ambiguous wordings, such as, always, often, sometimes and etc (Refers to Example 3A). But after the pilot testing, I changed the options to a specific period of time. (Refers to Example 3B). Precision in wording is important s ince it enables me to compare the data later. Example 3A. BEFORE the pilot test :Question 3 in the students questionnaire Example 3B. AFTER: the pilot test: Question 3 in the students questionnaire 3.4 Procedure First of all, I obtained permission from Hong Kong Institute of Education, the school principal, the participating teachers and students to collect the data. This study lasted for 8 weeks, from 14th March 2011 to 20th May 2011. At the beginning of the study, I collected archival data in the form of their first uniform test scores and some of their English homework from the participating students, so that I can get a general picture of students completion of English homework. Since I have decided my research questions, I used the problem oriented approach to limit the amount of documents. The sources included both primary and secondary sources. According to Bell (2005), primary sources are those which came into existence in the period under research, such as, the English homework, the scores of the uniform test. Apart from the primary sources, I also collected some secondary resources. Secondary sources are interpretation of events based on primary sources (Munn, 2004), for example th e report card given by the teachers. All these documents gave me the background of the participants and reinforced the core of my research. In the second week, I gave my cousin, who is a secondary school student, to do the questionnaire as piloting the questionnaire. With the trial, I understood how long it takes recipients to complete them, to check that all questions and instructions are clear and to enable me to remove any items which do not yield usable data. There are two reasons why I chose my cousin to pilot the questionnaire. The first reason is that her background is similar to those that would form the population of my study. Therefore, her perception and understanding are similar to my respondents. The second reason is sincerity. Since she is an outsider of this research, she is willing to tell me her true feeling towards the questionnaire. I distributed the questionnaires in the lesson and asked the students to do them during the lesson at once. It makes sure that the return rate is one hundred percentage and students could ask questions when they were doing the questionnaires. After glancing through all responses from the questionnaires, I carefully picked up some extreme case from the respondents to the questionnaire. Since these respondents are rich in information and they possess the common characteristics of the groups. For example, I picked up two students: 1) one hands in ALL English homework and 2) one never hands in any English homework respectively. Therefore, I could compare the similarity and differences among these distinct groups easily. 3.5 Data Analysis First of all, all data got from document, questionnaires and interviews are only raw data. They have to be categorized and interpreted; otherwise, they are useless. After synthesizing all the data, they were analyzed by constant comparison, comparing the emerging themes from all the participants in all categories (Hatch, 2002). Next, I compared the categories yield by each of the subgroups: gender and age, to check the differences and similarities among their responses. Based on students preference, I synthesized the results by using the summary sheet. Lastly, I used the transcript-based analysis to evaluate the information from the in-depth interviews. Based on Krueger (1994), Transcript-Based analysis includes the below steps: 1) Make backup copies of the recordings 2) Transfer the recordings to transcript 3) Category the data 4) Go through the research questions 6) Develop coding categories and code the data 7) Classify the data into coding categories 8) Diagram the analysis 9) Revise data to check is there any important information missing. (p.157) 4. Findings 4.1 Background Diagram 5 shows that over 80% of students think homework is important. They agree that in ideal situation, homework can help them learn better and practice what they have learnt in the lessons. However, less than 35% of them can hand-in the English homework more than 3 times a week (Refers to diagram 6). Due to this contradictory result, the following research questions will look into the attitudes of students towards English homework deeply. Diagram 5: Is English homework important to your learning? (from the Questionnaire) Diagram 6: How often do you hand-in the English homework on-time? (From the Questionnaire) 4.2 Students preferences for different kinds of homework The findings show that students disliked homework which was about copying, boring and tedious. Students also complained that sometimes the English homework sometimes has little relationship to the work in hand, is poorly set, marked late and poor feedback from teachers. In students own words: I do not return the English homework because I dont like doing those kinds of homework, such as, newspaper cutting and writing journal. They are not related to what we are learning. It is very boring to do the same type of English homework every weekend. (From a Form 4 student) I wanted to hand-in the homework, but sometimes I just cant. Once I go back home, I cant control myself to play the computer games. In the beginning of the semester, I was still able to hand in their English on time, or at least able to hand them in one day. But later on, I discovered that my English teacher did not scold me, even I did not hand in the homework. So, Im just used to not hand in the English homework now. (From a Form 1 student) From the findings, I found out that there is a range of factors affected pupils attitudes towards doing their English homework including motivation, mood, teachers response and quality and quantity of homework. Surprisingly, more than 80% students said that they would hand in their English homework if the teachers carry out some actions if the students do not hand in the homework (Refers to Diagram 7). Diagram 7: Teachers will take some negative consequences to students who cannot hand in the English homework. Do you think it is useful to encourage you to hand in the English homework on-time? In teachers own words: Im just very busy. Its impossible for me to check whether every student has handed in their English homework. (From a male English teacher) What actions I can take? If I ask them to attend the detention class, I have to go too. And somehow, I think students should take up their own learning responsibility. (From a female teacher) Students said that they enjoyed and valued homework when it was: well-explained; had adequate deadlines; interesting and at their level. Similarly, the findings show that students dislike doing homework that neither consolidated nor contributed to their learning. However, the reality is teachers are under heavy workload. They do not have extra time to care for the homework issue. 4.3 Relationships between students characteristics and altitudes to homework Students attitudes to homework seem to vary according to background factors, such as gender and age. For example, apart from spending more time on homework, female students seems to have a better attitudes towards it than the male students 4.3.1 Gender and Age Diagram 8: Relationship between gender and time spent on English homework a week From the above table, we can conclude that female students tend to spend longer time doing their English homework than the male students. Apart from the longer time, the English teachers expressed that female students are more conscientious with regard to homework and their homework are tidy, well planned and showed evidence of effort. On the other hand, male students seem spending very few amount of time on it. They are easily distracted by other things, such as, extra-curricular activities, computer games and some gang activities. Both boys and girls believe that homework is important in helping them to do well in school, although this tendency is stronger in girls especially in the senior forms. Based on the findings from the questionnaires, male students tended to spend more time in larger groups after school, whereas girls like spending time with a single close friend, which may be working on homework together. 4.4 Homeworks influence on attitudes to study Instilling a positive attitude towards study is always claimed the major reason of assigning homework to students. Diagram 9A 9B show that older students seem to give internal reasons for doing their homework, such as, revision and keep themselves on the track to the lessons. On the other hand, junior students tended to give more external reasons for doing English homework: obeying the teachers and parents. Diagram9A Diagram 9B This is probably an indication that students are developing more self-regulated and responsible attitudes when they are grown-up. Some students, especially junior students, are forced to do homework, so it is difficult to prove whether doing homework can facilitate the acquisition of self-regulatory skills. Therefore, this is another area that could clearly benefit from further research. 4.5 Summary of the responses The result reveals that most students think that homework is important to learning. Students prefer homework that is interesting and let them feel successful. Homework like journal and newspaper cutting make students feel bored because they are tedious and they only do a lot of copying instead. (Extract from the student interview). In addition, the relationship between students characteristics and attitudes towards homework is directly related. Male students like playing outside and hanging out with friends after schools, especially for junior students. Some students indicated that they learnt better through researches, projects and other learning activities. The key point in the data shows that students change their attitudes towards when they are grown up. 5. Discussion In the following parts, future directions are given based on previous literature reviews and my research findings. And then, I will suggest some future studies so as to make the homework issue clear to everybody. 5.1 Explanation of the findings 5.1.1 Students preferences for different kinds of homework Both the literature reviews and findings show that homework is mainly for scrutiny. It is routinely given to satisfy school requirements or meet the curriculum needs. It is high time that careful consideration to its purpose and the need to align tasks with aims. The role of teachers to the students completion of English homework cannot be underestimated. Both the amount the teachers set and the types of feedback given have an impact on the motivation of the students to complete it. It is rare that schools will reward students for completing homework. They always assume that students should take up their own responsibility to finish the homework. If teachers do not give constructive feedbacks or even worse they do not mark it, then the students will have no motivation to do the homework. The data from the study suggests that 80% of the participating teachers have not received any training related to designing homework. It is essential to provide professional development for designing homework. And government should help to balance the workload of teachers, so that teachers can put more time to design high quality homework. 5.1.2 Relationships between students characteristics and attitudes to homework Almost all students agree that homework is important; however, they think the nature of homework hinder them to hand in their English homework on-time. Teachers like assigning homework, like, writing journal and newspaper cutting. All these assignment are easily set by the teachers; however, students do not see the points of learning from these authentic materials. It is suggested that homework should be tailored to be aligned to the learning aims. For example, if the aim is to promote independent learning, then the teachers should try to devise some interesting tasks. Ideally, homework can even have a bigger function if teachers can skillfully set the homework. For example, homework can even help to improve examination performance. Combinations of aims can be met over time through providing variety in homework. 5.1.3 Homeworks influence on attitudes to study Students value homework because they think it can improve their learning and future prospects. At the same time, some regard homework as an encroachment on their leisure time, especially male students. They expect that teachers can give different types of homework to different students and which have to be related to their ongoing classroom work. For example, boys should be given more group work rather than individual work. Although different students hold various attitudes towards homework, all of them hope the same attitude: we need someone to listen to our concerns. There is no doubt that students are the ones who bear the consequences of not completing homework. But, as an educator, we have the responsibility to explore the students attitude towards homework and design appropriate homework to them. 5.2 Recommendations for further study The weaknesses of this study prompt three major recommendations for further study. Firstly, this study is a small scale qualitative study due to the time and resources constraints. A larger qualitative study is needed to increase the validity. It is suggested that we set up a forum for discussion, so that students can leave the comments freely in anonymous. Secondly, I tried to relate attitude to time spend on English homework in the third research question. However, students may do the homework because their parents force them to so, rather than they sincerely want to do the English homework by themselves. Moreover, it is difficult to define when the effect of classroom teaching ends and the effect of homework begins. Besides, it is not easy to check how the prior learning influences the achievement. Homework research is especially complicated because we are checking the effect of something than happens out of our sight and out of our control (Vatterott, 2009). Therefore, the settin g of the research should extend to the home, rather than simply classroom. The third recommendation is to add socio economic factors to the study. This study mainly reveals students attitude from their own individual factors, another factors should be included to strengthen the findings.

College vs High School Essay

A major part in someone’s life is going away to college and can be a frightening time for some people. Some say that college and high school are very common; I have found them to be very different in many ways. I enjoy college more than I did high school. I have more control over my education in college. I noticed that freedom, the amount of work, and responsibilities have changed since I’ve been in college. The freedom of a high school student is unfortunately limited. The curfew of a high school student is usually set during the weekends. By law a child under the age of eighteen has to be in the house by midnight. For example, my mother would set me a curfew and if I did not obey it, I would be grounded and not be able to do anything for a couple of weeks. I believe a high school student does not have any freedom because they live with their parents’ and have to follow the guidelines that were made. A college student has a ton of freedom. Most college students do not live at home with their parents so they are able to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They have the choice to decide if they want to attend class that day or not. Unlike high school students, college students do not have classes for eight hours a day consecutively. They are able to decide what they are going to do with the rest of their time off for the day. The amount of work in high school was not as much as there is in college. For example, a high school student is tested bi-weekly. Therefore there are plenty of grades that make it easier to have a better grade in that class. I believe high school was easier and more lenient due to the fact the teachers were more personal with their students. For example if I needed help with a math assignment I could go to my teacher after school each day if I needed it. In college a student would go to their academic support center, email the teacher or ask a friend. In high school you were told what classes you had to take and only got to choose a couple classes that you wanted. In college you can choose to take any class you want as long as it doesn’t interfere with your prerequisites or the class is not full. Now that I have been able to choose the classes I have wanted I found that I am much more interested in them. In high school I would always dread going to that one math class or social studies class because the subject didn’t interest me. The hardest thing so far about college is trying to manage my time. Now that I have more freedom I also have more bills. Finding time to work, go to school, do homework/study, and trying to find time to hang out with friends has become more and more difficult in the past few months since I have started college. In high school you would go to school go home and do home work for a hour or two and leave the house for the rest of the night. If you ever needed money your parents would just hand it to you and now if you need money from your parents it can take a week to get to you. Although college has been a huge change to my life and I have had a couple rocky parts on the way I have found it to be an exciting new experience.

Financial Management and Control – Kingspan

Financial Management and Control Kingspan Assignment 6th December 2012 Contents Introduction4 1. Profitability Ratios4 1. 1Gross Profit Ratio4 1. 2Net Profit Ratio4 1. 3Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)4 2. Liquidity Ratios5 2. 1Current Ratio5 2. 2Quick Ratio/Acid Test Ratio5 3. Efficiency Ratios6 3. 1Debtors Days6 3. 2Creditors Days6 3. 3Inventory Turnover Days6 4. Gearing Ratios7 4. 1Gearing Ratio7 4. 2Debt to Equity Ratio7 4. 3Interest Cover7 5. Investment Ratios8 5. 1Earnings per Share8 5. 2Price Earnings Ratio8 5. 3Dividend Cover8 6. Sources of Finance9 6. 1Debt capital:9 6. 2Lease and Hire Purchase9 . 3Share Capital9 6. 4Creditor & Debtors10 6. 5Reducing stock levels10 7. Conclusion10 7. Appendices11 7. 1Appendix 111 7. 2Appendix 212 Introduction Below are the ratio findings based on Kingspan PLC’s annual report year ended 31st December 2010. The ratios are calculated for both 2010 and 2009. The ratios are as follows: 1. Profitability Ratios 1. 1Gross Profit Ratio 201020 09 Gross Profit333,694Ãâ€"100%=27. 96%308,913Ãâ€"100%=27. 45% Sales Revenue1,193,2151,125,523 There is a slightly higher Gross Profit in 2010. Kingspan are now holding onto . 51% more of each euro of sales then they were in 2009.This is due to the increase in sales. 1. 2Net Profit Ratio 20102009 Net Profit (before Int & Tax)67,405Ãâ€"100%=5. 65%62,659Ãâ€"100%=5. 57% Sales Revenue1,193,2151,125,523 There is a slight increase of. 08% in 2010 compared to 2009. If going by the gross profit ratio this should have been higher; this indicates that they need to manage their expenses more efficiently thus increasing their net profit. 1. 3Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) 20102009 Net Profit (before Int & Tax)67,405Ãâ€"100%=7. 65%62,659Ãâ€"100%=7. 97% Capital Employed (W1)880,616786,676 Kingspan has been less efficient in using their capital in 2010; they are down by . 2% from 2009. Although there was an increase in sales in 2010 the decrease in ROCE is due to the higher borrowings in 2 010. If in following years they continue this trend investors could start to worry and sell shares. 2. Liquidity Ratios 2. 1Current Ratio 20102009 Current Assets471,193=1. 55:1398,212=1. 31:1 Current Liabilities304,922303,529 The current ratio in 2010 shows that kingspan are managing their short term debt more efficiently than in 2009; this is due to increasing their current assets and managing to keep their currents liabilities relativity steady.They need to manage their debtors and stock better to further increase the ratio which will entice potential investors. 2. 2Quick Ratio/Acid Test Ratio 20102009 Current Assets less Closing Inventory (W2)342,158=1. 12:1287,391=0. 95:1 Current liabilities304,922 303,529 In 2009 Kingspan may have had difficulty in paying their short term creditors but they have managed to increase it in 2010. Given the ideal ratio of 1:1 they could look at investing the surplus assets for a return. ? 3. Efficiency Ratios 3. 1Debtors Days 20102009 Debtors218,04 7Ãâ€"365=66. 70Days181,071Ãâ€"365=58. 72Days Credit Sales1,193,2151,125,523Kingspan were managing their debtors better in 2009. There is an increase of 8 days in 2010; this could potentially lead to bad debt. Collecting their debt earlier will increase the liquidity of the business. They could offer discounts on early payment or offer a cash price. 3. 2Creditors Days 20102009 Creditors93,024Ãâ€"365=38. 68Days85,228Ãâ€"365=40. 42Days Credit Purchases (W3)877,735769,671 Kingspans creditors days have decreased by 2 days meaning they are paying off their debts 2 days earlier than in 2009. This shows that Kingspan are managing their debt more efficiently and may interest potential investors. 3. Inventory Turnover Days 20102009 Average Inventory (W4)119,928Ãâ€"365=50. 93Days134,291Ãâ€"365=60. 02Days Cost of Sales859,521816,610 Kingspan has managed their stock more efficiently in 2010; by doing so they have increased their cash flow and reduced their holding costs. ? 4. Gearing Ratio s 4. 1Gearing Ratio 20102009 Long Term Borrowing213,671Ãâ€"100%=24. 26%201,141Ãâ€"100%=25. 57% Total Capital (W1)880,616786,676 By decreasing the level of gearing they have decreased the level of financial risk, although they have increased their borrowing the increase in capital is greater meaning that they are using less debt to make their profit. . 2Debt to Equity Ratio 20102009 Long Term Borrowing213,671Ãâ€"100%=32. 04%201,141Ãâ€"100%=34. 35% Shareholders Funds666,945585,535 Debt to equity has decreased by almost 2% in 2010 showing that there are more shareholders funds to borrowings. This shows that Kingspan can manage to pay their debts which is important for future borrowings and investors. 4. 3Interest Cover Interest Cover 20102009 Profit before Interest & Tax67,405=5. 3562,659=4. 91 Loan Interest12,59412,750 There are higher interest rates associated with short term borrowings than there are with long term borrowings.By reducing their short term and increasing their lon g term borrowings Kingspan has reduced their finance costs in 2010. They have also increased their sales giving a better interest cover. It shows that in 2010 Kingspan would be able to pay their interest 5. 35 times compared to 4. 91 times in 2009. Bank and investors would look at this ratio to see how they cover their loans. 5. Investment Ratios 5. 1Earnings per Share 20102009 Profit after Interest and Tax48,657,000= â‚ ¬ 0. 28 47,658,000= â‚ ¬ 0. 28 Number of ordinary shares171,755,762171,503,951Earnings per share in 2010 have remained almost the same as 2009. It is displayed here rounded but 2010 has a slight increase. It shows the profitability of Kingspan and the consistency of the EPS shows security. Shareholders are receiving a slightly higher return in 2010. 5. 2Price Earnings Ratio 20102009 Price per share7. 49=â‚ ¬ 26. 956. 05 =â‚ ¬ 21. 32 Earnings per Share0. 280. 28 It is more expensive to buy Kingspan shares in 2010 than compared to 2009; this shows confiden ce in future earning power. 5. 3Dividend Cover 20102009 Profit after Int & tax & Pref Div48,657=7. 0NIL Earnings per Share6,661 Kingspan can pay their shareholders 7. 3 times from their available profits. They did not pay any dividend in 2009; this could have been a strategic move to increase cash flow. ? 6. Sources of Finance Kingspan operate a number of different finance sources, such as: 6. 1Debt capital: Kingspan have both long and short term borrowings. With short term borrowings such as overdrafts and hire purchase kingspan will pay a high interest rate on their 2009 borrowings of â‚ ¬31,863mn but they have managed to reduce that by over half to â‚ ¬14,259mn.This will reduce the financial costs. The interest rate for long term borrowings is generally a lot lower than that of short term loans; although Kingspan increased there long term borrowings in 2010 by â‚ ¬12,529mn they will be paying a lower interest rate, again saving on finance costs. By reducing their short t erm borrowings and increasing their long term borrowings in 2010, Kingspan have managed to reduce their overall finance cost to â‚ ¬156mn in 2010. The long term borrowings of â‚ ¬213,671mn have been scheduled for staggered repayments over 5 years, this ill allow kingspan to meet their liabilities when due. Interest rates for loans over â‚ ¬300,000 can be discussed with individual financial institutions. Kingspan’s interest rate for both long and short term loans will depend on their credit rating. They will have to be able to produce cash flow forecasts or provide security for the loan. 6. 2Lease and Hire Purchase This form of finance allows Kingspan to obtain the use of an asset without a large initial cost. It is beneficial as the risk remains with the owner and as technology changes they can upgrade the equipment with minimal cost.Kingspan have increased their lease/hire purchase costs by â‚ ¬7mn in 2010. 6. 3Share Capital The core funding in Kingspan is provid ed by shareholders; this increased by â‚ ¬81,410mn in 2010. Although there is risk involved and there may be a high return expected by using this form of financing there is no requirement to pay dividends even if profits exist. As Kingspan do not have preferred shareholders they did not pay out dividends in 2009 and allowed them to retain their profit and improve sales. 6. 4Creditor & DebtorsKingspan's creditors days decreased by 2 days in 2010; depending on the agreement they may have been able to receive a discount for early payment. However agreeing longer credit terms with their suppliers would allow them more flexibility with cash flow. In 2009 Kingspan were also managing their debtors days more efficiently than that of 2010. This may be due to the down turn in the economy and to make sales they could have offered longer repayment options. If needed Kingspan could renegotiate the terms or offer discounts for early payment. 6. 5Reducing stock levelsBy reducing the number of d ays stock is held will save on holding costs such as security, light, heat, warehousing and staff it will also reduce the risk of spoiling or obsolete goods. Kingspan have managed to reduce their stock turnover days to 51 days compared to 60 days the previous year. 7. Conclusion Overall Kingspan is performing better in 2010 than compared to 2009. The sources of finance are working well for the company, they have a low gearing ratio and have moved funds between long and short term borrowing taking advantage of a lower interest rate.They are managing their creditor, debtor and stock turnover days more efficiently than in 2009. They are leasing or using hire purchase to obtain assets this giving Kingspan the use of equipment without a large initial cost. Given the industry and the economic climate in 2010 Kingspan shows to be a liquid company and shows confidence in future earnings. ? 7. Appendices 7. 1Appendix 1 Workings (W1)Capital Employed20102009 Share Capital & Reserves666,945585, 535 Long Term Debt213,671201,141 882,626786,676 (W2)20102009Current Assets471,193398,212 Closing Inventory-129,035-110,821 342,158287,391 (W3) Credit Purchases20102009 Closing Stock129,035816,610 Cost of Sales859,521110,821 Opening Stock-110,821-157,760 Purchases877,735769,671 (W4)Average Inventory20102009 Opening Stock110,821157,760 Closing Stock129,035110,821 Total Stock239,856268,581 ? 2119,928134,291 ? 7. 2Appendix 2 Share prices for Kingspan Fig 1. 2009 share price as of 31/12/2009 Fig2. 2010 share price as of 31/12/2010 http://www. kingspan. com/kingspangroup/investors/share_info/share_chart/

Essay on Satan in John Miltons Paradise Lost - 2512 Words

Who is Satan? Satan’s definitions include the advocate of God, a personification of evil, the fallen angel, a spirit created by God, and also the accuser. People see Satan differently, some know of his existence, others think of him as just a myth, and there are those that just ignore him. John Miltons Paradise Lost tells of Satans banishment from Heaven and his gain of earth. He and his brigade have plotted war against God and are now doomed to billow in the fiery pits of hell. Satan is a complex character with many different qualities. God is a character who we, as Christians, know about but do not completely understand. We also do not completely understand Satan. Some may think they know Satan but when asked â€Å"Is Satan divine?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦God throws Satan and his followers into hell for their defiance. Satan shows rebellion towards God, this is the first rebellion there ever was. According to Webster’s dictionary rebellion is organized oppositi on to authority, a conflict in which one faction tries to take control from another. I think rebellion also includes disobedience. John Carrey says that in the epic â€Å"Satan concedes his own criminality, and his own responsibility for his fall. He facilitates between remorse and defiance. He confesses that his rebellion was completely unjustifiable, that he had the same freewill and power to stand as all God’s creatures, and that he therefore has nothing to accuse but heavens free love dealt equally to all†(134). Basically Satan did this to himself. We do not really understand why Satan defied God and we probably would not understand. Satan goes from the most beautiful to the ugliest because of his defiance. John Carrey speaks of Milton’s Satan saying â€Å"Satan as archangel, before his fall, is never shown by Milton, but this stage of his existence is often alluded to, as is the fact that some of his archangelic power powers remain, though we cannot be quite sure which. Hence Satan, as a fictional character, gains a hidden dimension and a ‘past’† (133). We know Satan has a past, it is just not presented by Milton. Satan once lived in a universe full of happiness, joy, and eternal glorification and was known inShow MoreRelatedThe Progression Of Satan In John Miltons Paradise Lost1319 Words   |  6 Pages The Progression of Satan Paradise Lost is an epic poem written by John Milton other uses this epic poem to depict the integral scenes, or rather, experiences that lead up to the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. In the Bible, as well as all prominent, and popular religious works; there is a clear distinction as to who the reader should be cheering for throughout their readings. 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