Russia In Central Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Russia In Central Asia - Essay Example e themselves under the tag of â€Å"Central Asia† and rejected their traditional Soviet designation â€Å"Srednieia Aziia I Kazakhstan† (i.e., â€Å"Middle Asia and Kazakhstan†) (Rosset and Svarin 245). The declaration was the first step of these states towards establishing own identity and reduce the Soviet influence. However, economics and politics have been strongly interwoven in the rich historical relationship between Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan) and Russia, which couldn’t separated so easily (Rosset and Svarin 245-247). The current active political involvement of Russia in Central Asia is based on various political and economical interests. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Current Russia’s role in Central Asian region, historical background, political structure, issues, and Russian policies towards Central Asia. Russia’s political interests in Central Asia over the last 20 years can be distinguished into three basic periods. During the initial period, i.e. from the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991 to the mid-1990s, Russia had neither any interest in Central Asian region nor any foreign policy to deal with the Central Asian states. The negligence towards Central Asia was economical, political, cultural, and even ideological (Oliphant 3). The second period, from the mid-1990s to the late 1990s, witnessed a change in Russia’s approach and was highly influenced by the Primakov’s principle to reestablish Russia’s influence in the former Soviet states (Oliphant 3). This policy was partially successful. The third period can be categorized from the beginning of Putin administration in 2000 till the present, focusing on the Russia’s active engagement in Central Asia (Oliphant 3). Russia’s growing involvement in the region has political, security, and economi c dimensions. Massive numbers of Russian armed forces were presented in the Central Asia during the early 1990s. All newly created Central

Language Proficiency Assessments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Language Proficiency Assessments - Essay Example Two frameworks influence language proficiency assessment processes including planning curriculum, assessment, and instruction. The main elements of the system include English language proficiency standards, language domains, grade level clusters, and language proficiency level. The Language Proficiency Standards reflects the dimensions of acquiring second language anticipated from English language learners in grade levels K-12. Among the five English Language Proficiency Standards, each standard is set to deal with particular contexts namely social and instructional settings, mathematics, social studies and science (Blagojevich, Ruiz & Dunn, 2004). Each individual proficiency standard includes four-language domains namely listening, reading, speaking, and writing. In listening, people should process, interpret, and evaluate spoken language in various situations. In speaking, students should engage in oral communication while reading ensures processing, interpretation and evaluation of written language (Blagojevich, Ruiz & Dunn, 2004). Finally, writing ensures students engage in written communication in various situations. The third element, The Language Proficiency Levels and Performance Definitions, outlines the progression in language development in the acquisition of English as an additional language through five a five-stage process including entering, beginning, developing, expanding, and bridging (Blagojevich, Ruiz & Dunn, 2004). These processes synthesize model performance indicators in each language proficiency level. Finally, the final elements, Model Performance Indicators are measurable indices of the language domains targeting the age and developmental levels of English Language Learners (Blagojevich, Ruiz & Dunn, 2004). These are examples drawn from experiences in other language proficiency assessments and used to augment other systems to improve language proficiency. According to the checklist, assessment problems may emerge in