Factors affecting the success of localization strategy of fast food Literature review

Factors affecting the success of localization strategy of fast food companies in Asian countries - Literature review Example Integrating national economy to the global economy calls for sustainable developmental approaches through efficient use of local resources with the underlying cause of welfare to the society with environment friendly processes. According to Bruntland report  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Development that meets the  needs  of the present without compromising the  ability  of future generations to meet their own needs† is called as sustainable development (Business Dictionary.com). This paper seeks to study and analyze the issue with reference to the following questions: 1. Why localization strategy is important for fast food industry in Asian countries?   2. How to use the localization strategy for fast food industry in Asian countries?   3. What are the key factors affecting the success of localization strategy of fast food companies in Asian countries?   Localization strategy in Asian countries Asian markets are highly heterogeneous in nature, especially in the case of food industry with different ethnic groups, languages, vast cultural differences and divergent climatic conditions. The religious mix varies from region to region with a very long history. Food security and alleviation of poverty are the major concerns for the most of the Asian countries which are heavily populated compared to European or American countries. The government policies are oriented towards building a sustainable food economy. Therefore, a successful localization strategy for a sustainable growth has to be in line with the basic objectives of the State taking into account the income levels, local spending choices, nutrition and health, rural bias of the economy, urbanization process at various stages in different countries, employment generation, educational and technological developments of the regions, the use of agricultural lands, climatic conditions, efficient utilization of natural resources and its environmental impact. Business Monitor International (2011, p. 6) states â€Å" Health and hygiene scares continue to be a major concern in China’s food industry, with the government implementing crackdowns on chemical additives in food products†. Adoption of the best industrial and commercial practices by the fast food companies is essential for the desired effect in reshaping the food system and food habits in the communities. Localization efforts go beyond menus and the organization needs to integrate itself with the cultural mainstream of the host country to strike a chord with the consumers. Lee, M. et al (2011) state, â€Å"Yum’s cultural flexibility doesn’t end with the localized menu. While fast-food restaurants in the West often host kids’ birthday parties, KFCs in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang autonomous region that’s home to the Muslim Uyghur people, advertise parties for the families of boys who have just undergone the religious ritual of circumcision†.   The Asian markets hold potential for growth in future on account of growing population which provides a huge market coupled with high growth in economy over the period of time in the past which is expected to continue in future. Davies, R. (1996, p. 2) states â€Å"The interest in Asian management is primarily a recent phenomenon, facilitated by the growth in Asian markets within the global economy, and a realization in the West that Asia is both a region that will be central to any serious global business, and also a region that can offer the West much wisdom in management techniques†. The subsequent developments in the continent have justified this

Irony in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Essay -- Shirley Jackson The L

Irony in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson â€Å"The Lottery† is full of irony. Shirley Jackson most likely intended to use this amount of irony to make the over all story funny in its twisted theme. Each layer of irony used, prepared the reader to have the most dramatic reaction to the last and final blow that wrapped the whole story up. I would say the most major and obvious type of irony used here was situational irony. Jackson knew that what most peoples’ impression of the lottery is winning money or something good. She played on that and turned it into something completely opposite. Giving her story kick and uniqueness. However, there was other more minor but essential situational ironies that lead up to the finale. One of these was Tessie Hutchinson. She had the...

Philippine Traditions: The Greatest Heritage

The Philippines has vast practices, traditions, and cultures. They existed a hundred years ago or may be thousands but they are still practiced up to now. It is like a legacy which is passed on from generation to generation. Usually, it is the old folks who relate these traditions over and over again. On my Grandma’s burial, her valued possessions are also buried in her grave. I asked my Mama why they have to do that and she simply answered, â€Å"So that she can bring it with her as she leaves us†. Well, we all know that a dead person cannot do that. The truth is, those things will only decay in there but to the Filipinos, it has a great significance and we can never question that. Another Filipino heritage which is highly valued in wedding custom is the â€Å"Pamamanhikan†. It is where the would-be groom with his parents goes to the house of the would-be bride to seek the blessing of her parents. It is also in this point when both parties formally set plans for the upcoming wedding. This symbolizes honor and respect to the parents of the couples. There are also certain Filipino habits that foreigners find them overwhelming. For example, when a visitor comes in, the family serves every delicacy and every mouth-watering Filipino cuisine that they can so as to please the visitor. He’ll be attended to the most comfortable room available and all his needs are served with delight and a warm smile. No wonder, Filipinos are known for their hospitality.

Literature and Other Arts - 1033 Words

It has always been highlighten the kinship between literature and other types of art. Described, a play in drama, while read, a play is literature. Many adaptations on screen are based upon literature, mostly novels, even if, the majority of great plays were already filmed by which, it stimulated the growing process in a young individual. In prsent day, the requirements in writing a film has affected many writers in their style and structure of the novel. Most of modern fiction is written with the purpose of having â€Å"movie rights†, another account taken by most publishers. Literature assures the libretto for operas, the theme for most tone poems – even so anomalous, a form as Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra was interpreted in†¦show more content†¦Therefore, at the age of 20 he stopped his activity, and with the help of Holman Hunt and Millais founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1848). It represented his revolt against the academic principle that a young artist should start imitating the old masters,in a year of political revolutions. Rosetti’s poetry was mostly a matter of external contrivance and literary adaptation, unlike his sister, Christina Rosseti, which was altogether different; simple and unpretentious in language and versification, it seems neither cerebral nor calculated, but totally spontaneous. William Blake was â€Å"the most spiritual of artists†; he once said his life and work are a confusion of contraries: infinite patience and painstaking workmanship in the dawn of the Industrial Age: The dawning of mind – forged manacles in an age of rules, emotion in an age of reason; other – wordly presences involved in this world’s work; genius called madness. The greatness of Blake lies lies, perhaps, in his apocalyptic outlook than in his mastery, in art and verse of an extreme and moving simplicity. The lamb and The tyger are simmetry by waking a reference to the Lmab, the counterpart of the Tyger. They are the same in that they are both creations of God, tools of nature; different because the lamb represents innocence, youth, and a pleasant aspect of nature, while the tyger is powerfull, fearfull part of nature, more experienced, a deathly beastmShow MoreRelatedDifferent Historical And Cultural Barriers Affect The Way Literature And Other Forms Of Art Are Depicted930 Words   |  4 PagesDifferent historical and cultural barriers affect the way literature and other forms of art are depicted. Maggie Nelson, Azar Nafisi, and Tim O’Brien explore the effect of political and ideological contexts on various forms of art and the way they are created or viewed. In â€Å"Great to Watch,† Nelson criticizes the media for not considering the barrier that exists between those who are educated in understanding art and and those who are not because she finds that the people who are not well informedRead MoreCulture And Identity ( Rough Draf t ) Essay894 Words   |  4 Pageswriting, and without art; it’s pretty grim isn’t it? Without these essential cultural components, life would be a sad place to live in, because no other cultural aspect would survive. The most essential cultural elements are Art and Literature, because art and literature lead into the other cultural aspects. Without arts and literature, you couldn’t have the rest of the cultural elements. Culture manifested itself with the aid of art and literature, without the help of writing or art, cultural unity wouldRead MoreCultural Elements Of Art And Literature Essay767 Words   |  4 Pageswriting, and without art; it’s pretty grim isn’t it? Without these essential cultural components, life would be a sad place to live in, because no other cultural aspect would survive. The most essential cultural element is Arts and Literature, because art and literature transcend the other cultural aspects. Without arts and literature, you couldn’t have the rest of the cultural elements. Culture manifested itself with the aid of art and literature, without the help of writing or art, cultural unity wouldRead MorePeople Meet Nature By Knut Rasmussen1663 Words   |  7 Pagesis a requirement in society for art and literature to be useful. The utility of diverse art forms stems from an individual’s unique perspective which many differ from the societal conceptions and the need one has to express one’s opinions. According to dictionary.com, the definition of useful is â€Å"being of use or service; serving some purpose† (Useful). To be useful, something needs to be able to be applied. In regards to this paper, for a work of art and literature to be useful means that it needsRead MoreWhen Art Imitates Art757 Words   |  3 PagesMusic and Literature On an everyday basis the world around us offers us a great deal of information and variety, of enlightening art and the dumbing down entertainment. Many people have fallen into the trap of dismissing anything that is not considered fine art as culturally and intellectually inferior. The restrictive nature of this approach leaves us with an elitist viewpoint and a sense of supremacy. And when talking about supremacy, whether it is white, black or even cultural, it is in no wayRead MoreThe realm of arts in itself can be perceived as a paradoxical and subjective one, causing struggle1400 Words   |  6 Pages The realm of arts in itself can be perceived as a paradoxical and subjective one, causing struggle for people to come to a universal agreement on what art symbolizes and where its purpose lay. Despite this, we may draw a vague generalisation from the understanding of the majority population that art is a man-made/interpreted existent form, with purpose of communication - such as through words or paintings, to evoke some kind of mental response from an audience, meanwhile some kind of intrinsicRead MoreThe Literary Canon On The Black Arts Movement941 Words   |  4 PagesThe Literary Canon How did the Black Arts Movement change the white supremacist of the Literary Canon? Before one can go on to answer this question, students must understand exactly what a literary canon is. â€Å"Literary canon† is a term used widely to refer to a group of literary works that are considered the most important of a particular time period or place. Before the 1960’s the canon was widely referred to as the â€Å"Western Canon.† However after the Black Arts Movement several African-Americans authorsRead MoreRenaissance Time Capsule1187 Words   |  5 Pagesrequired to identify at least two examples of art, music, architecture, philosophy, and literature depicted during the periods. By doing so, I expected to identify how these examples reflected world events and cultural blueprints of their periods. The Renaissance refers to the cultural transformations witnessed in Europe between the fourteen-century and the sixteen-century (Cheremeteff, 2000). The transformations originated in Italy before spreading to the other parts of Europe. Owing to the transformationsRead MoreAnalysis Of Hunting Is Not Those Heads On The Wall By Baraka And Locke770 Words   |  4 PagesBook I: Innate Notions† really complement each other. Baraka states art can’t have thought and Locke states we don’t have innate principles. Baraka’s writing helps prove that we don’t have innate properties. Locke’s literature correlates that art can’t have thought but, it rather provokes the thought process. Baraka and Locke explore thoughts and ideas in their pieces of literature. These authors help prove each other’s theories because, Baraka says art can’t have thought while Locke says we don’tRead MoreIndividualism And Secularism In The Renaissance867 Words   |  4 Pageswith it. So, the ideas of secularism and individualism had affected the drawings literature and architecture of the renaissance by pushing the a rtists and creators away from religion and making them focus more on day to day life. The way Art was affected by these two Ideas, can be seen in most of the Paintings from this time period. Before the Renaissance in the middle ages, people were rarely painted and most art was based on religion and stories from the Bible. This was because the people before

Allegory Definition and Examples

An allegory is the rhetorical strategy of extending a metaphor through an entire narrative. Thus, its a longer description, illustration, analogy, or comparison than a simile or a metaphor would be. In an allegory, any objects, persons, and actions in the text are a part of that large metaphor and equate to meanings that lie outside the text. Allegories contain a lot of symbolism.   Key Takeaways: Allegory Allegories are extended metaphors throughout a text, making every character, scene, and symbol part of a larger whole.Symbolism is key in allegories; the stories are rich with symbols supporting the larger message.Allegories in a parable can serve as teaching tools about spiritual concepts.For an author, using the literary device of an allegory can present his or her views on a large topic or theme in a less didactic way than just spelling them out. The use of the allegorical literary form extends back to ancient times and the oral tradition, even before stories started being written down. One of the most famous allegories in English is John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress (1678), a tale of Christian salvation (the lead character is even named Christian, so theres no real mystery as to what the story is about).   The technique is also known as  inversio, permutatio, and false semblant. The words etymology comes from the Greek word  allegoria, which means, description of one thing under the image of another.  Its adjective form is  allegorical.   Allegory Examples Platos Allegory of the Cave In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato describes the difference between enlightened people and those who dont see true reality, in The Republic. He portrays the unenlightened as those chained up in a cave watching shadows, like the screen which marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the puppets, unaware that what they see in front of them isnt how the world really is. They know nothing of so many other aspects in the world, not even grass or sky. George Orwells Animal Farm George Orwells famous allegorical novel Animal Farm (that has even been portrayed as a cartoon) is on the surface about a farm, with the animals as characters. On a deeper level, the plot and characters represent the rise of the Communist Party in Russia in the early 20th century. The storys events correlate with historical events. It could also be seen as a commentary on how totalitarianism arises in a more general sense too. One problem with  allegories  is, in fact, the difficulty of determining what counts as  source  and what as  target. For instance,  Animal Farm  is a text about a farm, which may be taken as an explicit model for thinking about a more abstract, implicit target that has to do with totalitarian politics. Or is  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Animal Farm  a text about a farm which, as an explicit target, is structured by our knowledge of a prior cultural text about totalitarian politics which acts as an implicit source?...It  is precisely one of the distinguishing characteristics of allegory that the direction of the relation between the  domains  may be read in two ways. (Gerard Steen, Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage: A Methodological Analysis of Theory and Research. John Benjamins, 2007) Fables and Parables Literary forms that are related to allegory include  fables  and  parables. Fables often use animals to tell a story that teaches a lesson or make a commentary on a larger concept (such as peoples behavior). For example, in the Aesop fable The Ant  and the Grasshopper, the grasshopper learns a lesson about thinking ahead and working hard, like the busy ants whove stored up food, while the grasshopper has none come fall because he just played music all summer. The Tortoise and the Hare contains several lessons about life: Through persistence and determination, you can do things you didnt know you were capable of. You should never underestimate the  underdogs  or your opponent. Dont get overconfident in your skills or lazy—or take those skills for granted.   Parables also are teaching tools, though the characters are people. The Christian Bible is full of them in the New Testament, where Jesus uses the form to teach people about abstract spiritual concepts. For example, the story of the prodigal son can be seen as an allegory for the message that God forgives peoples sins when they turn to him.   Movies In The Wizard of Oz, the lion is an allegory of cowardice and the scarecrow for acting without thinking, for example. The Seventh Seal is an allegory about faith, doubt, and death. About Avatar, Entertainment Weekly writer  Owen Gleiberman noted,  There are obvious layers of  allegory. The Pandora woods is a lot like the Amazon rainforest (the movie stops in its tracks for a heavy ecological speech or two), and the attempt to get the Navi to cooperate carries overtones of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan (Dec. 30, 2009). In  The Lord of the Flies, the two main characters represent the conflict between civilization and savagery and asks the question through the work as to whether people are innately good or evil—what is our default as human beings? Sources David Mikics,  A New Handbook of Literary Terms. Yale University Press, 2007. Plato, Allegory of the Cave from Book Seven of The Republic. Brenda Machosky, Thinking Allegory Otherwise. Stanford University Press, 2010.

The Flaws Of State Led Humanitarianism - 1143 Words

Since the turn of the century, the world has experienced various events that have rendered millions homeless, starving or even without a country. Such events may range from merciless persecution by a ruthless dictator to a furious tsunami that leaves destruction in its wake. In such incidents, it is human nature to help those affected rebuild their lives and find comfort again. As a result, governments spend billions on foreign aid projects aimed at helping populations rebuild themselves after a tragic event. Despite the funding and resources spent on these projects, their success rate is dismal. Coyne’s book explains the flaws of state-led humanitarianism. Using case studies that range from Afghanistan to Haiti, Coyne successfully argues against state aid proving that continuing with that approach is likely to remain unsuccessful. He further demonstrates that state aid fails to fulfill its mandate because the parties involved are either too arrogant or ignorant to acknowledge fundamental flaws of state-led aid. He says that the influence of agenda driven opinions of blurs the objectives of financial assistance from the beginning. Since governments focus on what they should, rather than what they can do, the goals of the most aid-funded projects in affected nations remain unrealized. In my opinion, Coyne’s work is very convincing because it methodically shows how aid moves from a state agency to the project in question and the various parties in the middle that take awayShow MoreRelatedThe American War Of 18981372 Words   |  6 Pagesthe United States was destined to stretch from coast to coast. Individuals began to migrate west in droves, rapidly expanding the United States until they reached the Pacific. 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Such a proposal was prompted by several different groups within Britain who believed that indirect rule would be a more effective colonial system than the Crown Colony administrationRead MoreCharacter Analysis Of Uncle Vanya By Anton Chekhov1473 Words   |  6 PagesWhile Astrov may only be a temporary part of the lives of the main characters in Uncle Vanya, they definitely made an impact on his life. Astrov’s characteristics as a somewhat, relatively, young doctor who shows passion in multiple areas of humanitarianism led him to build a unique relationship with each of the characters in the play. First off, he did not have the best of relations with the Professor — he would be constantly called over for medical problems that seemed to be fixed before the doctorRead MoreMarx, Durkheim, Weber and Simmel on the Development of Capitalist Society and the Demise of Individualism3246 Words   |  13 Pagescitizen was not naturally grounded in humanitarianism or connectedness with his fellows; rather it was grounded in the division of labor and relationship to modern capitalism and the means of production. However, each saw capitalism as a system with some serious downfalls and consequences to human relationships between individuals, and societies. Karl Marx (1818-1883) lived his life when most of Europe was still agricultural and artisanal; most European states were still dominated by monarchicalRead More Use of Propaganda the U.S. War in Iraq Essay example3551 Words   |  15 Pageswas to support Germany in the war and bring help bring victory. 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Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesD421.E77 2010 909.82—dc22 2009052961 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992 Printed in the United States of America 2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1 C ONTENTS Introduction Michael Adas 1 1 World Migration in the Long Twentieth Century †¢ Jose C. Moya and Adam McKeown 9 †¢ 2 Twentieth-Century Urbanization: In Search of an Urban Paradigm forRead MoreMarketing Management 14th Edition Test Bank Kotler Test Bank173911 Words   |  696 Pagesorganization E) good Answer: A Page Ref: 6 Objective: 2 AACSB: Analytic skills Difficulty: Easy 11) Janet is very upset that she cant get tickets to the Rolling Stones concert because they are sold out. Which of the following demand states applies to Janets situation? A) nonexistent demand B) latent demand C) full demand D) unwholesome demand E) overfull demand Answer: E Page Ref: 8 Objective: 2 AACSB: Analytic skills Difficulty: Moderate 12) Sales of woollen clothing

Reading and Students with Mental Retardation Free Essays

Reading proficiency is considered a top priority in education, and a skill with myriad implications for learning and achievement in other areas. Yet in the past, literacy rarely has been emphasized for students with mental retardation. With interventions that recognize the importance of literacy for all students, students with mental retardation can build reading skills that can lead to new interests, increased competencies, and greater independence. We will write a custom essay sample on Reading and Students with Mental Retardation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Understanding the characteristics of students with mental retardation is an important step toward the development of effective instruction and appropriate assessment. This paper is intended to begin a discussion of the issues surrounding reading and students with mental retardation; it is not intended to be a comprehensive research review. The paper provides: (1) an overview of the characteristics of students with mental retardation, (2) a description of common approaches to reading instruction, and (3) assessment approaches and issues that surround the assessment of reading for students with mental retardation. The paper is one of several brief papers developed to contribute to the process of conducting research and developing accessible reading assessments for students with disabilities. Creating accessible reading assessments based on accepted definitions of reading and proficiencies of reading requires knowledge of the issues specific to each disability and how they affect reading and the assessment of reading. The information in these papers was obtained through a broad review of literature and Web sites of national agencies and organizations, along with input and feedback from professionals in the disability areas. Each paper is intended as a first step to facilitate discussions that include individuals who do not know the disability, in this case mental retardation, and those who may know the disability but have not considered the interaction of the disability with reading or the assessment of reading through statewide testing. Students with Mental Retardation More than 600,000 students 6-21 years of age in the United States received special education services for mental retardation during the 2000-2001 school year, comprising about 11% of all students with disabilities in U. S. schools (U. S. Department of Education, 2002). The causes of mental retardation in children vary widely, including fetal alcohol syndrome, genetic disorders like Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome, environmental factors like lead poisoning, or diseases such as meningitis. The American Association on Mental Retardation (2002) defines mental retardation as a â€Å"disability characterized by significant limitations bo th in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. For many years students with mental retardation were identified solely using intelligence testing. IQ levels among students labeled as mentally retarded can vary from 20-25 (profound mental retardation) to 50-75 (mild mental retardation); according to the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), 85 percent of individuals with mental retardation have mild mental retardation. It has been estimated that 28,056 K-12 English language learners (ELLs) received special education services for mental retardation in 2001-2002. Thus, approximately 7. % of school-age ELLs with disabilities were identified with mental retardation (Zehler, Fleischman, Hopstock, Pendzick, Stephenson, 2003). The challenge of learning English and having a disability adds another level of complexity to learning to read and demonstrate reading achievement (Mueller Markowitz, 2004). Similar to other special education categories, but perhaps more unexpectedly, the criteria for students to be eligible for the mental retardation label varies from state to state (Beirne-Smith, Ittenbach, Patton, 1998). The Twenty-Fourth Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) reported that poor students were 1. 5 times more likely to be referred to special education; it noted significantly lower cognitive development and lower achievement among this population than among non-poor students. The report speculated on causes from lead poisoning to parent education level, but some advocates have argued that poor students, and particularly poor minority students, have been over-identified in the mild mental retardation category and misplaced in special education classrooms (Losen, 2002). The term â€Å"mental retardation† is widely used and coded into federal law, but the term remains the subject of considerable controversy. Some advocacy groups and professional associations argue that the negative stigma of the term mental retardation could be avoided by using less loaded language. The ARC of the United States, one of the country’s largest advocacy organizations for people with mental retardation, eschews the term mental retardation in its mission statement (The ARC, 2004) in favor of â€Å"cognitive, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. In 2004, Special Olympics updated its terminology from â€Å"mental retardation† to â€Å"intellectual disabilities† (see the Language Guide under â€Å"About Us,† then â€Å"Information about Intellectual Disabilities† at www. specialolympics. org). In this paper we use the term â€Å"mental retardation† as a legal term defined by IDEA, while cognizant of this significant s hift in terminology. Characteristics of students with mental retardation vary widely. Students with mental retardation may have difficulty with expressive language, poor short-term memory, low level meta-cognition skills, and poor use of logic and organization. Some students who are labeled as mentally retarded also have motor difficulties that can affect their handwriting or their ability to hold reading material steadily (Rizopoulos Wolpert, 2004). Students with mental retardation, like all students, demonstrate wide variation in strengths, weaknesses, interests, and motivation, all of which should be reflected in each student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Traditionally, special educators have de-emphasized literacy, particularly for students with moderate to severe mental retardation, in favor of functional, social, or motor skills (Kliewer Biklen, 2001). Many people with mental retardation read below their projected capabilities, and both general and special education teacher education textbooks are marked by a scarcity of information on academic characteristics, assessment procedures, and instruction in literacy for students with mental retardation. Only recently have educators begun to recognize the value of reading and writing skills for all students, including those with severe mental retardation (Katims, 2000). Since school systems have begun to include students with moderate to severe mental retardation in assessments (IDEA, 1997, 2004) and accountability (NCLB, 2001), and thus also included in more academic instruction, these students have been achieving at much higher and more complex levels than researchers, practitioners, and even advocates expected (see Moore-Lamminen Olsen, 2005). This powerful evidence has forced educational professionals to revisit long-held assumptions about the benefits of academic instruction for all children, and is generating provocative reading research on new, rigorous approaches to reading instruction for students with mental retardation (e. g. , Reading, Writing, Math, and Science for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities, Diane Browder, PI). Instruction for Students with Mental Retardation The focus in education for students with mental retardation has shifted from an emphasis on providing services related to placement, such as disability specific classrooms or special schools, to providing individualized supports to help every student access the general curriculum in an inclusive classroom setting. American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), a lead advocate of the â€Å"supports model,† emphasized in its 2002 definition of mental retardation that the effects of mental retardation can be ameliorated with personalized supports. This shift in thinking correlates with an increased emphasis on inclusionary and mainstream education for students with mental retardation, giving these students access to a challenging and interesting general curriculum and an integrated social environment. IDEA 1997 emphasized that students with disabilities must have access to the same challenging content taught to all students; this was reiterated and strengthened in IDEA 2004. Many special education researchers and advocates argue that holding students with disabilities, including mental retardation, to the same high expectations as all students will improve learning and educational outcomes for these students (McGrew Evans, 2004). Approaches to teaching reading to students with mental retardation fall broadly into two categories. One broad category is the traditional or direct instruction approach, which teaches reading as distinct subsets of skills such as phonics and sight word recognition (Rizopoulos Wolpert, 2004). The traditional approach is based on a behaviorist model, emphasizing drill and practice of a linear set of literacy skills. The second approach is a progressive, holistic approach that teaches comprehension and critical thinking along with phonological awareness, decoding, vocabulary, and reading for enjoyment (Katims, 2000). Each of these approaches has had support with some students with mental retardation and for various purposes (Browder Xin, 1998; Cunningham, 1999; Driscoll Kemp, 1996; Hendricks, Katims, Carr, 1999; Joseph McCachran, 2003; Katims, 2000; Moni Jobling, 2000). Assistive technology and technology increasingly have become important supports for reading-related instruction and reading for students with mental retardation. For example, Erickson and Koppenhaver (1995) found that computer and light technology can give students with severe mental retardation the supports they need to build communication skills. Continued interest in the literacy outcomes of students with mental retardation and supporting research has blossomed in the past few years, and is most likely to be a productive area for the reading futures of students with mental retardation (Beukelman Mirenda, 2005; Erickson, Clendon, Abraham, Roy, Van de Karr, 2005; Sturm, Erickson, Yoder, 2003). In their review of literacy approaches for adolescents with developmental delays, Rizopoulos and Wolpert (2004) suggested that both traditional and progressive approaches to literacy instruction can be appropriate for certain students. Recent research by Diane Browder looks closely at the assumption that students with the most severe mental retardation benefit only from functional approaches to literacy. Browder and Algozzine argue more research is needed to understand how students with severe mental retardation might benefit from explicit instruction in decoding and comprehension skills (Browder Algozzine, draft). Assessment of Students with Mental Retardation Most students with mental retardation participate in the same large-scale reading assessments as all students. While not all students with mental retardation will require supports or accommodations on large-scale assessments, these students have access to the same accommodations that other students with disabilities receive. Whether a student will require extra time on tests, large print, read-aloud directions, alternative setting accommodations, or other supports to demonstrate maximum proficiency depends on the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student. The most common accommodations used for students with mental retardation include breaking tasks into smaller steps, providing read aloud directions or questions, and visual cues (such as arrows, stickers, or stop signs, highlighting of key words or verbs, or supplementing text with pictures). Other accommodations range from encouraging students to stay on task and oral directions accompanied by written directions, to noise buffers and adaptive furniture (Clapper, Morse, Lazarus, Thompson, Thurlow, 2005). Some students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in large-scale assessments even with accommodations are eligible to take alternate assessments. All alternate assessments are aligned to grade-level academic content standards, but they can be based on either grade level achievement standards or alternate achievement standards. The students who may participate in alternate assessments on grade level achievement standards may need accommodations not available on general assessments or need different formats or contexts to demonstrate grade-level proficiency (National Center on Educational Outcomes Web site, 2005). Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities can demonstrate proficiency on an alternate achievement standard. Alternate assessments should promote access to the general curriculum and reflect professional judgment of the highest achievement standard possible for each individual student. Summary The intent of this brief paper is to highlight issues surrounding reading and students with mental retardation. While not a comprehensive review, it is intended to give enough of a sense of the characteristics of the students, general instructional approaches used with them, and assessment approaches and issues to generate discussion about the possible ways in which more accessible assessments can be designed for those students who are proficient readers given their diagnosis of mental retardation. This paper is part of the background for research on accessible reading assessments conducted by the Partnership for Accessible Reading Assessments, and for discussions among collaborators on the National Accessible Reading Assessment Projects (NARAP). How to cite Reading and Students with Mental Retardation, Essays