CHAPTER 2

COMMUNICATION AND GLOBALIZATION

LESSON 1: PREPARING TO COMMUNICATE ACROSS CULTURES

LESSON 1: PREPARING TO COMMUNICATE ACROSS CULTURES

Pre-Assessment:

Assess your personal preparedness to communicate effectively with persons of different cultures by
labelling each of the following statements as TRUE OR FALSE.

1. I enjoy communicating with persons unlike me as much as with persons like me.

2. I am equally sensitive to the concerns of all groups in our multicultural society.

3. I can tell when persons from other cultures do not understand me or are confused by my actions.

4. I do not fear interacting with persons from minority groups any more than I fear interacting with persons
from the dominant culture.

5. Persons from other cultures have a right to be angry at members of my culture.

6. Persons from other cultures who don’t actively participate in a conversation, dialogue, or debate with
others may act that way because of their culture's rules.

7. How l handle disagreements with persons from other cultures depends on the situation and the
culture(s) they are from.

8. My culture is not superior to other cultures.

9. I am knowledgeable on how to behave with persons of different cultures.

10. I respect the communication rules of other cultures than my own.

The greater the number of statements you labelled TRUE, the more prepared you are to enrich
your communication arena by welcoming people from different cultures into it; and vice versa.
 LESSON 2: THE COST OF CULTURAL IGNORANCE

WHAT IS CULTURAL IGNORANCE?

Being unaware of the identification of a reference to what should be a well-known

cultural icon, event or activity.

EXAMPLES OF CULTURAL IGNORANCE ACROSS DIFFERENT CULTURES:

 SOLE ON SHOES
SAUDI ARABIA – it is an insult

UNITED STATES – relaxed

KOREA – social faux pas

 BLINKING EYE WHILE GIVING PUBLIC PRESENTATION

AMERICANS – it is normal

TAIWANESE – it is impolite

 SACRILEGIOUS

SAUDI ARABIA – making their flag appear in a hamburger throw away bags
 BODY ORIENTATION IN COMMUNICATING

Arabs – too intimate

Americans – personal distance

Japanese – try to hide emotion

 EYE CONTACT PREFERENCES

Americans – high value and eye contact

Japanese – in contrast to Americans

  PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT & INDIVIDUALISM

Americans – value their personal achievement

Asian – in contrast to Americans

LESSON 3: WRITING A REACTION PAPER

REACTION PAPER or response paper is an analysis and evaluation of the material presented.
It is also what you think or feel about something you’ve read or seen.

 In a reaction paper make sure to give a detailed overview of the experience and tell what
exactly was taken out of the experience

 Reaction Paper should be more than a simple summary of the material you are reacting
on.

 It should include your opinion and reaction.

 This make time on a variety of forms:

1. You may compare the work to other related material.

2. You may come up with ways to improve the work.

3. You may express what you learned.

4. You may conquer with the work or argue against the work.

5. You can even use “I” or the first person in this type of paper
Guidelines in Writing a Reaction Paper

 Pull your thoughts together.

 Come up with a thesis statement.

 Come up with a reaction you want to write down on a paper.

 Decide on your organization and format.

 Draft your reaction.

 React to the ideas presented

 Compare it to another material
 How is it similar to the other material?
 How is it different?
 Which did you enjoy more?
 What makes it more enjoyable?
 Which did you learn more from?
 Discuss specific insights or facts you have learned or gained from reading the materials
presented
 Make a judgement about the material presented and support it
 Analyze the material presented
 Tell what others might gain from the material presented