Global Communication and Cultural Awareness

• Module Unit 2 discusses local and global communication in multicultural settings including varieties and registers of spoken and written language.
• It also covers evaluating messages and images reflecting different cultures.

Objectives

• Determining culturally appropriate terms, expressions, and images is a goal.
• Critically evaluating multimodal texts helps enhance receptive skills like listening, reading, and viewing.
• An additional aim is adopting cultural and intercultural awareness and sensitivity in communication.

Global Communication

• Global communication involves sending a message from one person or group to another anywhere in the world.
• Benefits of global communication include opening up business opportunities not available locally.
• Newer markets for selling products/services and access to global resources are becoming available.

Culture

• Culture acts as a "lens" through which individuals view the world.
• Culture shapes a person's values and identity.
• Culture is formed through race, ethnicity, gender, class, religion, and country.

Patterns of Cultural Differences

• Differences appear in communication styles, attitudes toward conflicts, and decision-making approaches.

Cross-Cultural vs. Intercultural Communication

• Cross-cultural communication compares interactions among people from different cultures.

Non-Verbal Communication Cultural Differences

• Eye contact: In some cultures, avoiding eye contact shows respect, while others see it as important for conveying equality.
• Touch: acceptable physical contact differs; touching a child's head is inappropriate in Asia, the left hand is considered unclean in the Middle East, and rules vary regarding contact between genders.
• Gestures: The "OK" sign means different things in different countries, it means "money” in Japan, or "zero/nothing” in Argentia, Belgia, France and Portugal.
• Physical space requirements vary based on population density and cultural context.
• Facial expressions: Winking has diverse interpretations depending on the culture.
• Posture: Slouching is disrespectful in Taiwan.
• Hands on hips may signify power/pride in America, but anger/challenge in Argentina.
• Showing the bottom of the shoe is considered rude in Arab countries.

Paralanguage

• Paralanguage refers to factors of speech such as accent, pitch range, volume, and articulation.
• Silence is considered a type of paralanguage, viewed differently across cultures.

Intercultural Communication

• Intercultural communication relates to interactions among people from different cultures.
• Difficulties in communication are caused by differences in cultures and values.

High-Context vs. Low-Context

• High-context communication leaves much unspecified (Mediterranean, Slav, Central European, Latin American, African, Arab, Asian, American-Indian).
• Low-context communication expects messages to be explicit (German and English-speaking countries).

Sequential vs. Synchronic Cultures

• Sequential cultures (North America, English, German, Swedish, Dutch) focus on one agenda item at a time and view time as a linear commodity.
• Synchronic cultures (South America, Southern Europe, Asia) view time as a constant flow to be experienced in the moment.

Affective vs. Neutral

• Affective cultures readily show emotions, neutral cultures keep feelings controlled and subdued.

Islamic Cross-Cultural Hybridization

• A fusion or melting of cultures together.
• Arabic satellite television station 4shbab refers to itself as “Islamʼs own MTV”.
• The world's first Islamic heroes created by Kuwaiti psychologist “NAIF AL-MUTAWA" called "The 99" were created to save Islam from intolerance, all in a child friendly face format and is compared to comic book heroes.

Varieties of English

• World Englishes (WE) refers to localized variations of English in different areas.
• The concept was introduced by Braj Kachru in the Asian context.
• Three Concentric Circles of Asian Englishes: inner circle with ENL (English as a native language) countries, outer circle with ESL (English as a second language) countries, and expanding circle with EFL (English as a foreign language) countries.
• Examples of English Varieties in Southeast Asia: Singapore English, Philippine English, and Malaysian English.

English Varieties within a Speech Community

• Acrolect is closest to the standard variety.
• Basilect digresses significantly and is closest to pidgin.
• Mesolect is the middle variety between acrolect and basilect.
• Edulects are variations resulting from education and social class.

Language Registers

• Language register is defined by its use in a social situation.
• Register refers to a kind of language whose forms are of definable social situation, regardless of the status of the participants.
• Genre is associated with a particular field or profession and are specific communicative events.
• Style refers to the degree of formality.