Week 4:

Lesson 3 – Communication and Globalization

(Globalization, World Englishes,Culturally Sensitive and Bias-Free Language, Varieties of
spoken and Written Language in Multicultural Settings)

INTRODUCTION

Our is the age of globalization. We define globalization as the increasing economic,

political, and cultural integration and interdependence of diverse cultures- the worldwide
integration of humanity.Globalization requires that we pay attention to a related concept-
diversity- the recognition of difference, encompassing such factors as age, gender, race,
ethnicity, ability, religion, education, marital status, sexual orientation, and income.

Effective communication and the ability to understand cultural differences are skills that
both students and educators should have. With the rise of digital technology, territorial
boundaries between and among countries have started to gradually erode, and the need to
understand diversity and respect for differences have been emphasized.

With this, ask yourself- do you have the understanding and sensitivity you need to
interact in a global community in which other persons may look, act, and think differently
than you do? And are you ready to embrace diversity?

OBJECTIVES
At the end of the session, you will be able to:
Explain the implications of globalization on communication.
Explain the concept of World Englishes in the context of English being a global language.
Determine culturally-appropriate terms, expressions, and images (sensitivity to gender,
race, class, etc.)
Adopt cultural awareness and sensitivity in communication of ideas

ACTIVITY
Assess your personal preparedness to communicate effectively with persons of different
cultures by labeling each of the following statements as true or false.

_______ I enjoy communicating with persons unlike me as much as with persons like me.
_______ I am equally sensitive to the concerns of all groups in our multicultural society.
_______ I can tell when persons from other cultures do not understand me or are confused by
my actions.
_______ Persons of other cultures have a right to be angry at members of my culture.
_______ How I handle disagreements with persons from other cultures depends on the
situation and the culture they are from.

ANALYSIS
The greater the statements you labeled true in the recent activity, the more prepared you
are in enriching your communication arena by welcoming people from different cultures into
it.
Every day, we find ourselves in situations that require us to communicate with persons
culturally different from ourselves. Whether we are aware of it or not, culture influences
communication.

ABSTRACTION
The Cost of Cultural Ignorance

Communicators who fail to realize that persons from different cultures may not look,
think, or act as they themselves do run the risk of having those with whom they interact judge
them to be insensitive, ignorant, or culturally confused (lack understanding on cultural
differences). The culturally confused pay a high price. Cultural misunderstandings often lead
to lost opportunities and increased levels of tension between people. The following examples
demonstrate the extent to which cultural ignorance affects communication.

Showing the sole of a shoe means nothing to observers in the United States or Europe. As a
result, when visiting Saudi Arabia, the American and European delegates to a conference
thought nothing about crossing their legs and pointing their shoes toward the speaker
while listening to his presentation. The speaker, however, was horrified. In Muslim
cultures, the gesture is perceived as insulting. Similarly, while crossing your legs in the
United States indicates you are relaxed, in Korea it is a social faux pas.

John, who represented the interests of an American multinational corporation, and Yu-chen,
his Taiwanese counterpart, had difficulty establishing a working relationship. John’s
eyeblink rate increased as he became more ad more nervous, fearing that his efforts to
resolve their misunderstanding had reached an impasse. This only made things worse.
Blinking while another person talks sis considered normal to North Americans; to
Taiwanese it is considered impolite.

McDonald’s fast-food chain unintentionally offended thousands of Muslims when it printed

an excerpt from the Koran on its throwaway hamburger bags. Muslims saw this as
sacrilegious. The mistake could have been avoided if McDonald’s had displayed greater
sensitivity and awareness.

The Japanese view the business card as an extension of a person, while Americans view it as
a business formality and a convenience.. Consequently, while the Japanese handle
business cards with great care, making certain to put them in safe places, Americans are
quick to put them away and thus often end up insulting the Japanese.

Eye contact preferences also differ across cultures. American place a high value on eye-to-eye
communication and tend to distrust those who fail to look at them directly. The Japanese,
in contrast, believe eye contact over a sustained period of time shows disrespect. Among
Asian cultures, too much eye contact means disrespect and deemed intrusive. Arabs, on
the other hand, maintain direct eye contact with those they interact with prolonged period
of time.

Failing to develop insights into cultural nuances and differences can be costly.
Recognizing and responding to differences among cultures allows for more meaningful
relationships. At the same time, we need to be mindful that not everyone from a particular
culture exhibits the same characteristics and communication traits.

Defining Intercultural Communication

Whenever cultural variability influences the nature and the effects of communication,
intercultural communication is at work. Thus when we speak about intercultural
communication, we are concerning ourselves with the process of interpreting and sharing
meanings with individuals from different cultures. In actuality, intercultural communication
comprises a number of forms. Among its many variations are interracial communication
(which occurs when interactants are of different races), interethnic communication (which
occurs when the communicating parties have different ethnic origins), international
communication (which occurs between persons representing political structures), and
intracultural communication (which includes all forms of communication among members of
the same racial, ethnic, or other co-culture groups.)

Cultures and Co-Cultures

To become more adept at communicating with persons who are culturally different from
ourselves, we need to learn not only about their cultures but also about our own. A culture is
the system of knowledge, beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that are acquired,
shared and used by its members during daily living. Within a culture as a whole are co-
cultures- these are composed of members of the same general culture who differ in some
ethnic or sociological way from the parent culture. In our society, African Americans,
Hispanic Americans, Japanese Americans, the disabled, the gays and lesbians, cyberpunks,
and the elderly are just some of the co-cultures belonging to the same general culture.

Have you ever felt like an outsider? Persons who believe they belong to a marginalized
group- that is, a group whose members feel like outsiders- have a number of options to choose
from regarding how they want to interact with members of the dominant culture or even if
they want to interact with them at all. Have you or has anyone you know used any of the
following strategies?

Co-culture members who use the strategy of assimilation attempt to fit in, or join, with
members of the dominant culture. They converse about subjects that members of the
dominant group talk about, such as cars or sports, or they dress as members of the dominant
culture dress. They give up their own ways in an effort to assume the modes of behavior of
the dominant culture. In comparison, co-culture members who use the strategy of
accommodation attempt to maintain their cultural identity even while they strive to establish
relationships with members of the dominant culture. A gay or lesbian who takes his or her
partner to an occasion in which members of a dominant culture will be present, such as
company or family celebration, is using the strategy of accommodation. On the other hand,
when members of a co-culture resist interacting with members of the dominant culture, they
employ the strategy of resistance, or separation. Because these persons, such as Hassidie
Jews, prefer t interact with each other rather than have contact with persons they perceive to
be outsiders, they tend to keep it to themselves.

Culture is the lens through which we can see the world. Can you
provide an example of how your culture has influenced your view of
events?

Ethnocentrism versus Cultural Relativism

Evaluate the extent to which you display culturally ethnocentric or culturally
relativistic tendencies by labeling the following statements true or false. For each statement,
provide an example of behaviors you used when interacting with or attempting to avoid
interacting with a member of another culture. Be specific.
I would rather communicate with someone like me than with someone unlike me.
I can cooperate with people like me, but I find it difficult to cooperate with people
unlike me.
I trust those who are like me more freely than I trust those who are different from me.
I am less fearful when I am around people like me than when I am around people unlike
me.
I go out of my way to be with people like me.
I go out of my way to maintain my distance from people unlike me.
 I am much more apt to blame people unlike me for causing trouble than I am to blame
people like me.
I use my frame of reference to assess the rightness of the behaviors of people like and
unlike me.
I believe that people unlike me threaten my ability to succeed.
I believe that people unlike me should make an effort to become like me.

What do your answers and examples tell you about the extent to which you and others
practice ethnocentrism or cultural relativism? Are there some cultures different from your own
that you are more comfortable with than others? Why do you think that is so? Are you content
with your responses? Why or why not? What steps are you willing to take, if any, to minimize
the potentially negative effects of ethnocentrism?

When cultures meet, when we interact with persons whose values are different from ours
or whose behavioral norms differ from our own, we must first recognize and acknowledge our
differences. We must come to accept diversity if we are to be able to process other cultures’
influences and communicate with each other in a meaningful way. Ethnocentrism, the
tendency to see our own culture as superior to all others, s a key characteristic of failed
intercultural communication efforts. Persons who are ethnocentric experience great anxiety
when interacting with persons from different cultures. The more ethnocentric you are, the
greater your tendency is to view groups other than your own as inferior. As a result, you tend
to blame others for problems and seek to maintain your distance from them.
Cultural relativism is the opposite of ethnocentrism. When you practice cultural
relativism, instead of viewing the group to which you belong as superior to all others, you
work to try to understand the behavior of other groups on the basis of the context in which the
behavior occurs rather than from your own frame of reference.

APPLICATION

Establish/Exchange a friendly communication to people of different culture, races and

gender orientation through online, observing the principles of Communication and
Globalization. Screenshot your conversation. Put your screenshot/s here:

Your output will be graded according to the following criteria:

REMARKS SCORE
PASS 10 points Shows perfect illustration of
the application of multicultural
communication.
NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 5 points Submits the task but lacks
explanation and does not
illustrate an example in
multicultural society.
INCOMPLETE Does not submit given task.
On World Englishes, Varieties of spoken and Written Language in Multicultural
Setting

Ponder on these questions:

Can we live without communication?

In a globalized world connected by technology, how
has communication become more efficient?
But what is communication?

Communication enables us to make connections, create

meanings, and nurture understanding. This is made possible by symbols shared in a specific
culture (may be verbal or non-verbal). Through responding to these symbols, we create
connections.
*Non-verbal symbols – body language, facial expressions, tone of one’s voice

Non-verbal communication may:

assert or hide one’s identity
stress or dismiss the importance of an idea
evoke a certain emotion or feeling
demonstrate one’s attitude
reveal one’s values
allow or control participation

Remember, non-verbal symbols do not have absolute and universal meanings; always depend
on culture. For verbal symbols, we should always be mindful of language use and word
choice.

How would you answer the ff. questions from a British national?
Where might I find a torch?
How do I get my boot fixed?
What time is dinner?
Remember: Changes in language use depend on where, when,
and who uses it.

ACTIVITY

Watch the following video and answer the guide questions afterwards:

“Filipino Accent Tutorial” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BBtS1ir4tA)

Guide questions:

What Pinoy English expressions from the video are familiar to you?

2. According to him, how do we have different ways of speaking English?

Read the following article on language varieties:

Which variety of English should you speak? by Urszula Clark

Published on 22 April 2014

You are what you speak: place of origin most important identity factor

My research took place in the West Midlands region of the UK and looked at variations in the
use of English in creative spoken performance such as comedy, drama and poetry, as well as
in written texts such as letters to local newspapers, stories and poems written in dialect. The
results suggest that people are increasingly and deliberately using English in a way that
identifies them with a particular place. They do this by incorporating into their speech a set
of linguistic features drawn from a particular variety of English. In the West Midlands, for
example, people may pronounce ‘you’ as ‘yow’, use ‘Brum’ for ‘Birmingham’ and ‘cor’ for
‘cannot’ or ‘can’t’. By using features in this way, people emphasise their place of origin over
other factors such as age, gender, social class and ethnicity.

Is there a ‘correct’ variety of English?

The research highlights how dynamic, fragmented and mobile the English language has
become. At the same time, the influence of traditional gatekeepers of ‘standard’ English, such
as the BBC, is weakening.

We live in a world where English crosses national boundaries and migration brings people
together from different backgrounds and cultures. Consequently, we are probably more aware
than ever before of the different ways we draw upon language in relation to linguistic and
socio-cultural contexts.

Even though English is used around the world for the purposes of trade, travel, medicine and
so on, it is an interesting fact that the majority of the world’s population today is largely
bilingual, if not multilingual, even in nations where English is the mother tongue. In parts of
Birmingham in the UK, for example, there are primary and secondary schools where nearly
100 per cent of pupils speak English as an additional language; in many others, 40 per cent is
the norm.

The implications of this for education policy is that we can no longer speak of the
‘superiority’ of one variety of English over all others. Instead we need to recognise the roles
and functions that different varieties of English, including that of standard English, fulfil.

Which variety of English should we teach?

A common and long-held belief among many in the English teaching profession is that the
best people to teach spoken English are ‘native’ speakers of the language, especially the
teaching of pronunciation. But we know from research that linguistic variation is a
characteristic of all languages, and all varieties have their own rules and systems. Often these
leak from one variety to another. Once we accept that English comes in many varieties, such
concerns become redundant.
Successful communication is more a question of understanding, and being able to engage
successfully, in the contexts of use rather than whether one is a ‘native’ or ‘non-native’
speaker. This is as true of English taught in the UK as it is in other contexts around the world.

Source: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/which-variety-english-should-you-
speak

World Englishes/Varieties of English

In present day linguistics, the term variety is used to refer to any variant of a language
which is grounded by social, historical, spatial, or a combination of these.
(https://www.uni-due-de). World Englishes (WE) or varieties of English actually
stand for the localized varieties of English as they are used or spoken in certain areas.
In the Asian context, the concept was introduced by Braj Kachru. The famous “Three
Concentric Circles of Asian Englishes” attributed to Kachru presents the
three circles: Inner Circle with ENL (English as the Native Language); Outer Circle with
ESL (English as a Second Language); and The Expanding Circle with EFL (English as a
Foreign Language).

Kachru’s “Three Concentric

Circles of Asian Englishes”

Kachru and Nelson (2006) claim that these varieties of English are influenced by the
local language(s) in various areas of their grammars and exhibit specific phonological,
lexical, and syntactic characteristics. For example, Nigerians say ‘success for suc’cess and
Nigerians and Indians say recog’nize instead of ‘recognize. Moreover, the expanding and
outer circles
do not make a distinction between nouns and verbs compare to the inner circle such as in the
case of ‘import and im’port. With respect to lexicon, vocabulary words peculiar only
to some varieties of English in Southeast Asia can be noted as seen in the following
examples:
1. Singaporean English: actsy (show off); missy
(nurse); chop (rubber stamp); Marina kids
(youngsters who spend their leisure time at or
around Marina square, a shopping center);
graduate mothers (graduate, educated married
women) (Pakir, 1992)

2. Philippine English: deep (puristic or hard to

 understand as an attribute of language); stick
(cigarette); high blood (tense or upset); blow
out (treating someone with snack or meal);
motel (a hotel used for premarital or
extramarital affairs); manualize (to prepare
manually); studentry (student body); Amboy (a
student perceived to be too pro-American);
promdi (from the province); balikbayan box
(box where Filipinos returning from abroad put
all their shopping. (Bautista, 2017)

3. Malaysian English: antilog (a male hated by a

girl); popcorn (a loquacious person); kachang
(peanuts, easy); slambar (relax); red spot, open
shelf (girls who are popular and those who are
not) (Said and Ng, 2000)

REFERENCES

“Cultural Awareness in Globalized World” https://youtu.be/gd0aAFFjCUo-

“Cross Cultural Understanding”

https://youtu.be/XvjaIrYlkIg-

“The importance of multicultural awareness”

https://youtu.be/sg_YIqqprB4-

“The History of English in Ten Minutes” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3r9bOkYW9s)

“David Crystal—World Englishes” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_q9b9YqGRY)

“Filipino Accent Tutorial” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BBtS1ir4tA)

Africa, A.C. (2018). Purposive communication in the now. Books Atbp. Publishing Corp
Bernales, R.A., Ibones, J.S.,Inigo, M.E.R., Patubo, H.R.,Enriquez, D.M.,Roldan,
L.R.,…Cabansag, J.N.(2018). Purposive communication. Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

Uychoco, M.T. & Santos, M.L. (2018). Communication in society: Purposive communication.
Rex Bookstore.