КУРС СОВРЕМЕННОГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНО-ОРИНТИРОВАННОГО

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ АВТОНОМНОЕ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ «КРЫМСКИЙ ФЕДЕРАЛЬНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ ИМЕНИ В. И. ВЕРНАДСКОГО» К.А. Мележик КУРС СОВРЕМЕННОГО ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНО-ОРИНТИРОВАННОГО АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА: УРОВНИ С-1/С-2 УЧЕБНИК для обучающихся по основным профессиональным образовательным программам магистратуры Симферополь 2021 Рекомендовано к печати учебно-методическим советом Института филологии (структурное подразделение) ФГАОУ ВО «Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского» от «17» июня 2021 г., протокол № 3. Рекомендовано к печати учебно-методическим советом ФГАОУ ВО «Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского» от «17» июня 2021 г., протокол № 11. Печатается по решению Ученого совета ФГАОУ ВО «Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского» от «02» июля 2021 г., протокол № 12. Рецензенты: Петренко А.Д., д. филол. наук, профессор (ФГАОУ ВО «Крымский федеральный университет имени В. И. Вернадского») Бухаров В.М., д. филол. наук, профессор (ФГБОУ ВО «Нижегородский государственный лингвистический университет имени Н. А. Добролюбова») Мележик К.А. Сomprehending and analyzing domain-oriented texts. Курс современного профессионально-ориентированного английского языка: уровни С-1/С-2. Учебник на английском языке. — Симферополь, 2021. — 16 п.л. Учебник предназначен будущим специалистам различных направлений для развития умений и навыков междисциплинарной англоязычной коммуникации в актуальных областях, представляющих не только специальный, но и общенаучный, социально-культурный интерес. Это усовершенствованный курс предметноориентированного английского языка (ПОАЯ), как для аудиторного усвоения под руководством преподавателя, так и для самостоятельного анализа и обработки специальной литературы. Учебник построен из 20 уроков, содержащих общенаучные тексты междисциплинарной тематики, сопутствующие им упражнения и задания по развитию навыков интенсивного и экстенсивного чтения, структурно-логического и лингвокультурного анализа, реферирования, аннотирования и презентации. Каждый из 20 уроков включает текст для интенсивного чтения с преподавателем, текст для самостоятельного экстенсивного чтения, инструкции по обработке текста и контрольные задания. Тексты распределены по семи блокам междисциплинарной тематики: 1. Транснациональный английский язык как инструмент глобализации; 2. Межкультурная коммуникативная компетенция; 3. Глобализация системы образования; 4. Средства массовой коммуникации; 5. Международные экономические отношения; 6. Социальное, биологическое и экологическое многообразие мира; 7. Международный туризм. В каждом уроке предусмотрено выполнение двух аннотаций, рефератов или презентаций. Учебник завершается грамматическим Приложением, предусматривающим прагматический обзор морфосинтаксических трудностей, с которыми сталкиваются будущие специалисты в устной и письменной общенаучной и профессиональной коммуникации. В учебнике содержатся рекомендации по работе с научной литературой, обработке и поиску научной информации, реферированию и аннотированию. В каждом из уроков имеются задания по закреплению материала и упражнения для развития коммуникативных умений и навыков. Учебник рассчитан на 40-80 часов занятий с преподавателем и 80-160 часов самостоятельной работы. © К.А. Мележик 2021 KARINA MELEZHIK COMPREHENDING AND ANALYZING DOMAIN-ORIENTED TEXTS English for interdisciplinary studies A manual for undergraduate and postgraduate university students ПОЯСНИТЕЛЬНАЯ ЗАПИСКА Цели и задачи совершенствования английского языка (АЯ) на заключительном, этапе университетского курса совпадают с целями и задачами междисциплинарной подготовки и профессионального становления специалиста, т.е. АЯ постигается как форма, в которую облекается специальное знание, в соответствии с условиями межнационального общения. В основу учебника положен междисциплинарный подход, который учитывает многообразие современного мира, включая диверсификацию вариантов транснационального АЯ или «английских языков мира», многообразие форматов межкультурной коммуникации, глобализацию образования, многоплановость социально-экономических отношений, международный туризм, биологическое и экологическое разнообразие, взаимодействие направлений научных исследований. Принцип междисциплинарности реализуется в переходе от стереотипов традиционного анализа текста к контентноязыковому интегрированному изучению АЯ (Content and Language Integrated Learning – CLIL) в предметноориентированном коммуникативном контексте, т. е. содержание учебника интегрируется в предметную сферу последующей общенаучной и межкультурной коммуникации. В поисках общей платформы, на которой можно объединить различные подходы к изучению деловой, организационной и профессиональной коммуникации на АЯ, мы обращаемся к принятому в когнитивной лингвистике понятию домена, который представляет собой сферу (интересов), поле (деятельности), область (знаний) – а domain is a particular field of thought, activity, or interest, especially one over which someone has control, influence, or rights [Computer Desktop Encyclopedia]. Фактически, тот АЯ, о котором идет речь, это язык, ориентированный на определенные предметные области. Он предназначен для выполнения функций, связанных с обменом любой информацией: в бизнесе, по месту работы, в организационной и профессиональной сфере, в коммуникации, отражающей предметные области социально-культурного разнообразия современного общества. Для обозначения контактного АЯ межнациональной коммуникации, отражающей любые специализированные домены социально-культурного разнообразия современного общества, мы используем номинацию «предметно-ориентированный английский язык (ПОАЯ)», domain-oriented English (DOE). ПОАЯ/DOE осуществляет функцию контактного языка, обеспечивающего потребности межнациональной и межкультурной коммуникации, т.е. служит универсальным языком-посредником для людей, разделяющих интересы в какой-либо предметной сфере, но не имеющих общности родного языка и национальной культуры. Структура коммуникации на ПОАЯ/DOE соответствует а) открытому институциональному уровню межорганизационного взаимодействия, и б) уровню интеграции транснациональной организации в локальных гражданских сообществах С учетом многообразия вариантов АЯ, студенты должны не только владеть языком на достаточно высоком уровне – С1/С2 Международной классификации языковой компетенции, но и иметь представление о диапазоне его функционирования, что обусловливает необходимость изучения специфики коммуникативных контекстов, предусматривающих его постоянное использование. Предлагаемый учебный комплекс состоит из 20 уроков, содержащих по два общенаучных текста междисциплинарной тематики, сопутствующие им упражнения и задания по развитию навыков интенсивного и экстенсивного чтения, структурно-логического и лингво-культурного анализа, реферирования, аннотирования и презентации. Каждый из 20 уроков включает текст для интенсивного чтения с преподавателем, текст для самостоятельного экстенсивного чтения, инструкции по обработке текста и контрольные задания. Тексты распределены по семи блокам междисциплинарной тематики: 1. Транснациональный английский язык как инструмент глобализации; 2. Межкультурная коммуникативная компетенция; 3. Глобализация системы образования; 4. Средства массовой коммуникации; 5. Международные экономические отношения; 6. Социальное, биологическое и экологическое многообразие мира; 7. Международный туризм. В каждом уроке предусмотрено выполнение аннотаций, рефератов или презентаций. В первой части каждого урока совершенствуются навыки просмотрового, ознакомительного и изучающего чтения, которые требуют различной полноты и точности понимания текста. Задания и упражнения, развивающие навыки интенсивного чтения, направлены на ознакомление с тематикой, отраслевой отнесенностью и основными информационными узлами текста и предполагают умение на основе извлеченной информации кратко охарактеризовать текст с точки зрения поставленной проблемы. Полученные умения и навыки должны быть реализованы в процессе самостоятельного экстенсивного чтения профильных текстов, которые студент может найти во второй части каждого урока, где предлагаются более расширенные тексты, ознакомительное чтение которых характеризуется умением проследить развитие темы и общую линию аргументации автора, понять, в целом, 4/5 специальной информации, чтобы составить реферат, резюме или презентацию содержания. Предусмотрено логически и методически обоснованное введение специального материала, результатом которого должно стать свободное, зрелое чтение и последующее использование информации в профессиональной практике. Это обеспечивается последовательным формированием умений вычленять опорные смысловые блоки текста, определять структурно-семантическое ядро, выделять основные мысли и факты, находить логические связи, исключать избыточную информацию, группировать и объединять выделенные положения по принципу общности, а также формированием навыка языковой интуиции и прогнозирования поступающей информации. Учебник содержит оригинальные тексты, отобранные из числа публикуемых в свободном доступе Интернета англоязычных научных изданий, которые не налагают ограничения авторского права. Тексты модифицированы и сокращены, но без какого-либо упрощения АЯ. Именно поэтому во второй части каждого урока предлагается самостоятельно работать с текстами в области межкультурной, транснациональной и междисциплинарной коммуникации, представляя индивидуальные отчеты преподавателю. Обучение различным видам языковой компетенции на основе интенсивного и экстенсивного чтения осуществляется в их совокупности и взаимосвязи, с учетом содержательной специфики текста. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION UNIT 1. CULTURAL AWARENESS IN INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 1-1. CULTURAL AWARENESS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING Text 1-2. CONCENTRIC CIRCLES MODEL OF WORLD ENGLISHES IN WORLD CONTEXT UNIT 2. LANGUAGE AS A PART OF A COMPLEX TOTALITY OF CULTURE PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 2-1. INTER-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING RELATIONS BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Text 2-2. LANGUAGE AS A PART OF A COMPLEX TOTALITY OF CULTURE UNIT 3 APPROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 3-1. APPROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A NEW APPROACH TO A THEORY OF CULTURE Text 3-2. A THEORY OF CULTURE AND INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING UNIT 4. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE NEW NORM PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 4-1. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE NEW NORM PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE ISSUE OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY Text 4-2. INVESTING IN CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE UNIT 5. CROSS-CULTURAL ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF EDUCATION PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING TEXT 5-1. INTERNATIONALIZATION OF UNIVERSITIES PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING TRANSNATIONAL ENGLISH Text 5-2. TRANSNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEACHER LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT UNIT 6. HOW TO TEACH MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 6-1. HOW TO TEACH MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING MULTICULTURALISM FOR EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY BEYOND CULTURAL IDENTITY Text 6-2. WHAT MAKES A SCHOOL MULTICULTURAL? UNIT 7. LANGUAGE AND DIVERSITY PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 7-1. LANGUAGE AND SUPERDIVERSITY PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING SUPER-DIVERSITY — THE NEW CONDITION OF TRANSNATIONALISM Text 7-2. SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF SUPER-DIVERSITY UNIT 8. BASICS OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 8-1. SOCIOLINGUISTICS VERSUS CORE LINGUISTICS PART 2. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING SOCIOLINGUISTICS – THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE USE ON SOCIETY Text 8-2. VARIATIONIST CONTROVERSIES IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS UNIT 9. HOW TO BE AN ETHICAL NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 9-1. ETHICAL CODE OF JOURNALISM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING OBLIGATIONS OF THE TIMES STAFF MEMBER Text 9-2. ETHICAL CODE OF JOURNALISM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. UNIT 10. CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 1-11. CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A NATURAL WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE WHEN A SUBJECT IS TAUGHT IN THAT LANGUAGE Text 10-2. CLIL TEACHERS’ TARGET LANGUAGE COMPETENCE UNIT 11. THE USE OF ENGLISH IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 11-1. USING ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: A EUROPEAN CASE STUDY PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE USE OF DOE FOR THE WORKPLACE Text. 11-2. ENGLISH FOR THE WORKPLACE: SHARING THOUGHTS WITH TEACHERS AND TRAINERS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH AND ESP UNIT 12. A NEGATIVE GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 12-1. A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING UNCERTAINTY IN GLOBAL ECONOMY, POLICY AND HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES Text 12-2. Evolution of the pandemic is a key factor shaping the economic outlook UNIT 13. BIODIVERSITY AS THE FOUNDATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 13-1. THE LINK BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE CURRENT TRENDS IN BIODIVERSITY Text 13-2. A CONTINUING LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY UNIT 14. BIODIVERSITY IS THE SUM OF ALL LIFE ON EARTH PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 14-1. WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY AND WHERE IS IT FOUND? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF BIODIVERSITY AND URBANIZATION Text 14-2 EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION ON BIODIVERSITY UNIT 15. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO 21ST CENTURY BIOLOGY Text 15-1. 21ST CENTURY BIOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR THE 21ST CENTURY Text 15-2. A NEW BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY UNIT 16. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 16-1. THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING INTERCONNECTION OF MIGRATION AND TOURISM Text 16-2. MIGRATION AND TOURISM FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH UNIT 17. THE COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY BUSINESS PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 17-1. DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS IN TOURISM PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING COMPETITIVENESS IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY Text 17-2. COMPETITIVENESS OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN THE REGIONAL MARKET UNIT 18. MANAGING HOSPITALITY BUSINESS PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 18-1. HOTEL MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS Part 1. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING FEES FOR MANAGING HOSPITALITY BUSINESS Text 18-2. HOTEL MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS. Part 2. UNIT 19. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AS A SCIENCE PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 19-1. INTERDISCIPLINARY CHARACTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AS A SCIENCE PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FOR URBAN AND RURAL AREAS Text 19-2. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN AS A PROFESSION AND SCIENCE UNIT 20. PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR BUILDING PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 20-1. WHAT IS PUBLIC SPEAKING? AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING PUBLIC SPEAKING AS COMMUNICATION PRACTICE Text 20-2. PUBLIC SPEAKING IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS GRAMMAR SUPPLEMENT INTRODUCTION This Manual is a guide to the graduate instruction in interdisciplinary Domain-Oriented English (DOE). Step-by-step procedures are outlined for assessing students’ needs, setting achievable goals, and selecting appropriate materials and activities for the learners. Out of the four language skills the Manual describes three – reading, writing, and speaking, and provides suggestions for employing these skills in the transnational and intercultural communication. Being a graduate university student the learner has had a four-year long previous experience learning English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL), and your first question on receiving your current assignment to learn DOE may be: "How is ESP different from ESL?" How is DOE different from English as a Second Language, or general English? The major difference between DOE and ESL lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. DOE students are adults who already have familiarity with English and are learning the language in order to communicate using a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. A DOE program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required. As a matter of fact, DOE is part of a shift from traditional concentration on teaching grammar and language structures to an emphasis on language in a multidisciplinary context. DOE covers subjects ranging from World Englishes or sociolinguistics to tourism and business management. For students specializing in multidisciplinary skills the field of professional activity covers all kinds of transnational communication ranging from intercultural ESL to hospitality in international tourism and business servicing. The DOE focus means that English is not taught as a subject divorced from the students' future jobs; instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners. Consequently, ESL and DOE diverge not only in the nature of the learner, but also in the goals of instruction. In fact, as a general rule, while in ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in DOE it is a needs analysis that determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the syllabus is designed accordingly. EFL/ESL and DOE differ is in the emphasis on the skills to be activated. Whereas in EFL/ESL all four language skills; listening, reading, speaking, and writing, are stressed equally, in DOE a needs assessment determines which language skills are most needed by the students, and the program is focused accordingly. A DOE program might, for example, emphasize the development of reading skills in students who are preparing for graduate work as business analysts and translators in international business; or it might promote the development of spoken skills in students who are studying English in order to become tourist guides. The students' interest in their prospective subject-matter fields, in turn, enhances their ability to acquire English. The DOE class takes the meaningful context and shows students how the same information is expressed in English. The teacher can exploit the students' knowledge of the subject matter in helping them master English deeper and faster. The graduate students approach the final period of their study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them. This means that they are able to use what they learn in the DOE classroom right away in their work and studies. The DOE approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their interest in their professional field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts. DOE assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content for the teaching of relevant skills. What is the role of the learner and what is the task s/he faces? The graduate students attend the DOE class with a specific interest for learning, subject matter knowledge, and wellbuilt learning strategies, because it is powerful tool for creating opportunities in their professional activities or further studies. The more learners pay attention to the meaning of the language they read and analyze, the more they are successful; and on the contrary, the more they have to focus on the linguistic input or isolated language structures, the less they are motivated to attend their classes. The DOE graduate students are particularly well disposed to focus on meaning in authentic contexts and on the particular ways in which the language is used in functions that they will need to perform in their fields of research or jobs. Graduate students are generally aware of the purposes for which they will need to use English. Having already oriented their education toward a specific field, they see their English training as complementing this orientation. They have to work harder than they have used to before, but the learning skills they have already developed in using their English make the language learning abilities in the DOE classroom potentially immense. They will be expanding vocabulary, becoming more fluent in their fields, and adjusting their linguistic behavior to new situations or new roles. To summarize, students bring to DOE the focus for learning, subject matter knowledge, new learning strategies. They can exploit these innate competencies in learning English because DOE combines purpose, persistence, motivation, context-relevant skills. The teacher’s role in the DOE classroom is to organize programs, set goals and objectives, establish a positive learning environment, evaluate students' progress. Assessing students’ needs and skills What language skills will the students need to develop in order to perform these tasks? Will the receptive skills of reading and listening be most important, or the productive skills of writing and speaking – or some other combination? The Common European Framework (CEF) describes what a learner can do at six specific levels: Basic User (A1 and A2); Independent User (B1 and B2); Proficient User (C1 and C2). These levels match general concepts of basic, intermediate, and advanced and are often referred to as the Global Scale. The Global Scale is not language-specific. In other words, it can be used with virtually any language and can be used to compare achievement and learning across languages. For example, an A2 in Spanish is the same as an A2 in Japanese or English. The Global Scale also helps teachers, academic coordinators, and course book writers to decide on curriculum and syllabus content and to choose appropriate course books, etc. The Global Scale is based on a set of statements that describe what a learner can do. The “can do” statements are always positive: they describe what a learner is able to do, not what a learner cannot do or does wrong. This helps all learners, even those at the lowest levels, see that learning has value and that they can attain language goals. Common Reference Levels - The Global Scale Basic A1 • Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. • Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things s/he has. • Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. Basic A2 • Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). • Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. • Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need. Independent B1 • Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. • Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken. • Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. • Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Independent B2 • Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization. • Can interact with a degree of fl uency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. • Can produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options. Proficient C1 • Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning. • Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. • Can use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. • Can produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. Proficient C2 • Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. • Can summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. • Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations. A detailed description of Level C1 and Level C2 is given below because these are the ones graduate students are expected to have closely approached. Consequently, the ESP classroom students are recommended to start by finding where they are and identify personal objectives to be achieved with the help of this Manual. Listening Reading Speaking Spoken Interaction Speaking Spoken Production Writing C1 I can understand extended speech even when it is not clearly structured and when relationships are only implied and not signaled explicitly. I can understand television programs and films without too much effort. I can understand long and complex factual and literary texts, appreciating distinctions of style. I can understand specialized articles and longer technical instructions, even when they do not relate to my field. I can express myself fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. I can use language flexibly and effectively for social and professional purposes. I can formulate ideas and opinions with precision and relate my contribution skillfully to those of other speakers. I can present clear, detailed descriptions of complex subjects integrating subthemes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion. I can express myself in clear, well-structured text, expressing points of view at some length. I can write about complex subjects in a letter, an essay or a report, underlining what I consider to be the salient issues. I can select a style appropriate to the reader in mind. C2 I have no difficulty in understanding any kind of spoken language, whether live or broadcast, even when delivered at fast native speed, provided. I have some time to get familiar with the accent. I can read with ease virtually all forms of the written language, including abstract, structurally or linguistically complex texts such as manuals, specialized articles and literary works. I can take part effortlessly in any conversation or discussion and have a good familiarity with idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms. I can express myself fluently and convey finer shades of meaning precisely. If I do have a problem I can backtrack and restructure around the difficulty so smoothly that other people are hardly aware of it. I can present a clear, smoothly flowing description or argument in a style appropriate to the context and with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points. I can write clear, smoothly flowing text in an appropriate style. I can write complex letters, reports or articles which present a case with an effective logical structure which helps the recipient to notice and remember significant points. I can write summaries and reviews of professional or literary works. Students should receive practice in reading for different purposes, such as finding main ideas, finding specific information, or discovering the author's point of view. Students should have a clear idea of the purpose of their reading before they begin. Background information is very helpful in understanding texts. Students need advance guidelines for approaching each assignment. Knowing the purpose of the assignment will help students get the most from their reading effort. From the title, for instance, they can be asked to predict what the text is about. It is also helpful to give students some questions to think about as they read. The way they approach the reading task will depend on the purpose for which they are reading. Students are often asked by their Russian teachers to write a referat. The term referat is mostly used in Russian educational context to nominate a research, which has been done by students and is presented in class or handed in to the teacher, either on paper or online. Referat is a German word referring to a student's assignment to prepare a report and give a presentation. It is often used in English among Russian exchange students studying at a foreign university for lack of a better word. E.g.: How did your referat go? I didn't get to give my referat, because we didn't have time for me to give it. The professor just totally forgot about my referat, so I'll have to do it next week. And I stayed up all night working on my referat! Depending on the exact nature of the assignment the corresponding terms in English may be: an abstract, an essay, a précis, a presentation, a project, a report, a summary. Abstract is a brief summary of a research paper, which gives an overview of the paper, focusing on its main points and defining for the reader the outlines of the subject under study. Abstract must be an independent meaningful text, easy to read (explicit, unambiguous formulation, short sentences) and understandable to the wide audience. Abstract communicates the objective of research, the research problem, methods of research, results and their originality, and areas of application. Important facts, relationships and numerical data are also provided. Abstract ends, in a separate line, with keywords (5-10 words) which identify the subject areas discussed in the research. Essay is a free form development of thought on an independently selected or given topic. Important components are creative thinking and author’s personal reflections; it is not compulsory to prove statements. The required length of an essay is recommended by the instructor, the most common length being 5−7 pages. The essay format depends on the problem task and requirements made by the instructor. Précis (pronounced "preh-see"): is a type of summary or abridgment where you summarize a piece of text, its main ideas and arguments, in particular, to provide insight into its author’s content. While writing a précis you have to exactly and succinctly account for the key aspects of the text. If you write a successful précis, it is a good indication that you've read that text closely and that you understand its major points. It is an excellent way to show that you've closely read a text. A précis should consist of four brief but direct sentences (components). The first identifies who wrote the text, where and when it was published, and what its topic and field are. The second explores how the text is developed and organized. The third explains why the author wrote this, her/his purpose or intended effect. The fourth and final sentence/passage describes who the intended or assumed audience of this text is. Presentation is a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing an examination board or a class meeting. It can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking engagements’ such as making a speech or getting a point across in conference. A presentation requires you to get a message across to the listeners and will often contain a 'persuasive' element. It may, for example, be a talk about your reading for a graduate or candidate exam. You should know exactly what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it. Summary is a quick or short review of a bigger text, presenting the substance of a body of material in a condensed form; concise. A summarizing abstract or a condensed presentation mentions main points or a general idea of the text under study in a brief form. To write a good summary it is important to thoroughly understand the material you are working with. Here are some preliminary steps in writing a summary: 1. Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings. If there are no subheadings, try to divide the text into sections. Try to determine what type of text you are dealing with. This can help you identify important information. 2. Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes. 3. In your own words, write down the main points of each section. 4. Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor detail. 5. Go through the process again, making changes as appropriate. UNIT 1. CULTURAL AWARENESS IN INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts Reading is the primary channel through which students will progress in English at the final stage of the DOE course. The reading program provides instruction in the skills required at various levels of intensive reading, along with plenty of intensive and continual practice. Timelimited intensive reading depends primarily on the knowledge of vocabulary and subject matter, and secondarily on the knowledge of grammatical structure and familiarity with the ways by which authors organize texts in English. Vocabulary development in interdisciplinary links is a vital aspect necessary for graduate students who have already mastered quite a lot of domainoriented English in their respective fields. However, they will have to expand it for further study. Vocabulary should be learned only in context, never in word lists to be memorized with dictionary definitions. Two types of skills are needed in time-limited intensive reading: simple identification skills (decoding of the contents), and complex cognitive skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and predicting. The reading program should work on two levels to develop both types of skills. In order to do this, two types of reading tasks are incorporated in the Manual: intensive and extensive. Part 1 of every unit is designed for intensive reading (analyzing, synthesizing, and predicting) in the classroom through close analysis of shorter passages, and can be used to develop vocabulary, grammar skills, and comprehension. Part 2 of every unit is designed for extensive reading (identification or decoding skills necessary for building independently a condensed presentation of the text) by way of faster individual reading of longer passages to develop understanding of the authors' organizational strategies, to improve reading speed, and to focus on the gist of the text. Grammar Supplement is targeted at grammar problems the students may encounter while developing their comprehension and cognitive skills necessary for defining the subject matter of the texts and the way the information is organized. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 1-1. CULTURAL AWARENESS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH (Abridged after G. D. G. Bravo’s Cultural awareness for intercultural communication in teaching English as an international language. Lo nuevo en Monografias.com, 2018) 1. With today’s increasing globalization of social and economic activities, people’s understanding of English learning has been further enhanced. Today, people’s understanding of the language is no longer limited to the narrow concept “communication tool”. Language is an inseparable part of culture; it is the carrier of culture. Language reflects the characteristics of a nation; it contains not only the nation’s historical and cultural background, but also the nation’s views on life, lifestyle and mode of thinking. To learn a foreign language, you have to master the knowledge, skills and also have to understand the language which reflected the foreign culture, so as to overcome cultural barriers, communicate with foreigners decently and effectively and have both emotional and cross-cultural communication. The changing status of English in the world as a world lingua franca has resulted in the shift of its position from a foreign or second language to a medium for international communication. English language learning has become very popular from primary schools to colleges and universities in Russia. No doubt, the objective of English language teaching and learning as an international language has much in common with intercultural communication. Thus, it should be oriented towards the promotion of intercultural competence as an important and inseparable part of the whole process, because the primary function of any language is instrumental for interaction and communication. English language learners are required to be ready to converse fluently in all kinds of academic, professional and everyday contexts. Therefore, understanding of the relationship between linguistic competence and intercultural communication competence is important for improving students’ intercultural communication skills. 2. Nowadays, professionals have more possibilities of interchanging knowledge, research projects. They work together due to the increase of International collaboration and it has become necessary to develop a communicative competence among professionals since there are mobility options to foster international collaboration. As professionals need to be more competent due to globalization increasing demands, not only a higher level of knowledge of a language, but also intercultural competence is necessary. Professionals need to know the language of business and research but also need to be aware of the cultural background of the interacting foreign partners. Globalization brings about these new challenges. The intercultural element is a cornerstone for these kinds of interactions with foreign cultures and that is why it is quite important to take into account the differences and similarities of the target culture to be more efficient when it comes to doing business and/or research with them. Professionals of different branches of science and tourists in general from different countries are continually traveling abroad to share their science and culture with local people. These interactions are mostly in English, but the foreign visitors are mostly non-native English speakers because they can also use English as a foreign language just like us (English-speaking Germans, Japanese, Russians, etc.). Since English as an International Language has become the lingua franca of the world today and most of the users of this language are non-native speakers from neither the United Kingdom nor the United States nor any other English-speaking country. Communicative language teaching in Asia, Africa, Europe has been doing a successful work to improve the four essential skills such as writing, speaking, listening and reading at all educational levels. Although culture is a significant part for the teaching of English, it is always important to remember that an 'intercultural dimension' in language teaching is a key component to develop learners as intercultural speakers or mediators who are able to engage with complex and multiple identities. To avoid the stereotyping which accompanies perceiving someone through a single identity, teachers should teach international English along with intercultural awareness as part of the process. Therefore, an interesting question arises: What could be the importance of cultural awareness for intercultural communication in teaching English as an international language? Actually, the implicit task of the teacher is to value the importance of cultural awareness for intercultural communication in teaching English as an international language. The evolution and current status of the English language since its origin accounts for the importance of learning English as an international language. To enhance global communication will be a point to analyze the importance of cultural awareness in teaching international English 3. The history of the English language started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. The Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany to bring their languages to Britain. These languages in Britain developed into Old English, then into Middle English, into Modern English and so on. From around 1600, the English colonization of North America resulted in the creation of a distinct American variety of English. Some expressions that the British call "Americanisms" are in fact original British expressions that were preserved in the colonies while lost for a time in Britain. Spanish also had an influence on American English (and subsequently British English). French words (through Louisiana) and West African words (through the slave trade) also influenced American English (and so, to an extent, British English). English has experienced a rich development over the years up to the point that it is not only used as a native language but also as an official or foreign language all over the world. Of the 4,000 to 5,000 living languages, English is by far the most widely used. As a mother tongue, it ranks second only to Chinese, which is effectively six mutually unintelligible dialects little used outside China. On the other hand, the 300 million native speakers of English are to be found in every continent, and an equally widely distributed body of second language speakers, who use English for their day-to-day needs, totals over 500 million. Finally, if we add those areas where decisions affecting life and welfare are made and announced in English, we cover one-sixth of the world's population. Barriers of race, color and creed are no hindrance to the continuing spread of the use of English. Besides being a major vehicle of debate at the United Nations, and the language of communication for the European Union, it is the official language of international aviation, and unofficially is the first language of international sports and the pop scene. More than 60 per cent of the world's radio programs are broadcast in English and it is also the language of 70 per cent of the world's mail. From its position 400 years ago as a dialect, little known beyond the southern counties of England, English has grown to its present status as the major world language. Today, it is true that American English is particularly influential, due to the USA's dominance of cinema, television, popular music, trade and technology (including the Internet). But there are also many other varieties of English around the world, including for example Australian English, New Zealand English, Canadian English, South African English, Indian English and Caribbean English. English is not the prerogative or possession" of the English nation. Acknowledging this must – as a corollary – involve our questioning the propriety of claiming that the English of one area is more "correct" than the English of another. Certainly, we must realize that there is no single "correct" English, and no single standard of correctness. Then, the expression "world Englishes" is capable of a range of meanings and interpretations. In the first sense, perhaps, the term functions as an umbrella label referring to a wide range of differing approaches to the description and analysis of English(es) worldwide. Some scholars, for example, favor a discussion of "world English" in the singular, and also employ terms such as "global English" and "international English," while others adopt the same terms in their plural forms. Indeed, in recent years, a plethora of terminology has come into use, including: English as an international (auxiliary) language, global English(es), international English(es), localized varieties of English, new varieties of English, non-native varieties of English, second-language varieties of English, world English(es), new Englishes, alongside such more traditional terms as ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). 4. English as an International Language has become the lingua franca of the world today. An essential factor of this widespread use of English is the fact that, as it was said before, most of the users of the English language today are not native speakers from either the United Kingdom or the United States or any naïve English-speaking country. For better or worse, English has "traveled" to many parts of the world and has been used to serve various purposes. This phenomenon has created positive interactions as well as tensions between global and local forces and has had serious linguistic, ideological, sociocultural, political and pedagogical implications. As English rapidly develops more complex relationships within and between communities of speakers around the world, the dialogue addressing its role as a global language needs to continue to expand. English is the product of a world econocultural system and is the preferred medium of the international communities of business, science, culture and intellectual life. Therefore, the demand for English has rapidly escalated among adult learners including immigrants to Englishspeaking countries, business people involved in the global economy, and those who just want to travel as tourists. In many countries, large-scale English Language Teaching programs for adult learners have been established in the community and workplace as a result of the globalization of the workforce, the perceived need to increase economic competitiveness, and a move towards life-long learning. We should teach English as an international language (EIL). The cultural content for teaching materials in EIL can be target culture materials (e.g., American, British, Australian, etc. scenes), local culture materials, or international culture materials (e.g., international tourism and social contact). 5. English as an international language has also started to develop a close affinity with research in the area of intercultural communication. English is widely used for intercultural communication at the global level today. It is becoming increasingly recognized that "intercultural competence" needs to be viewed as a core element of "proficiency" in English when it is used for international communication. It is true that despite the need for some culture, users of English as an international language do not need to internalize the cultural norms of the original native-English speaking countries in order to effectively utilize the language. Since English as an international language does not necessarily "belong" to any country what teachers do need to recognize is the need to broaden their students' horizon beyond the purely linguistic aspects. It can be done not only by placing greater weight on the cultural background of the target language (TL) countries, but also by trying to raise some kind of intercultural awareness and bringing about Intercultural Communicative Competence. This comprehensive competence integrates the cognitive (knowledge of languages and cultures), the pragmatic (the competence to perform speech acts) and the attitudinal domains (open-mindedness and tolerance, as in political education) within EFL learning. Therefore, teachers need to develop some sort of intercultural dimension in the classroom. 6. When two people talk to each other, they do not just speak to the other to exchange information, they also see the other as an individual and as someone who belongs to a specific social group, for example a 'worker' and an 'employer' or a 'teacher' and a 'pupil'. This has an influence on what they say, how they say it, what response they expect and how they interpret the response. In other words, when people are talking to each other their social identities are unavoidably part of the social interaction between them. In language teaching, the concept of communicative competence takes this into account by emphasizing that language learners’ need to acquire not just grammatical competence but also the knowledge of what is 'appropriate' language. Now, 'intercultural dimension' in language teaching aims to develop learners as intercultural speakers or mediators who are able to engage with complexity and multiple identities and to avoid the stereotyping which accompanies perceiving someone through a single identity. It is based on perceiving the interlocutor as an individual whose qualities are to be discovered, rather than as a representative of an externally ascribed identity. Intercultural communication is communication on the basis of respect for individuals and equality of human rights as the democratic basis for social interaction. 7. Intercultural awareness in language learning is often talked about as though it were a 'fifth skill' - the ability to be aware of cultural relativity following reading, writing, listening and speaking. Language itself is defined by a culture. We cannot be competent in the language if we do not also understand the culture that has shaped and informed it. We cannot learn a second language if we do not have an awareness of that culture, and how that culture relates to our own first language/first culture. It is not only therefore essential to have cultural awareness, but also intercultural awareness. Then, it is necessary to review these key elements and their relevance to accomplish the purposes of this paper: Intercultural communication: common, necessary part of people’s personal and professional lives.  Intercultural competence: ability to become effective and appropriate in interacting, the sensitivity to cultural diversity.  Cultural awareness: an important role to overcome difficulties to ensure smooth communication with people from different backgrounds.  Intercultural communication competence: ability to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors to elicit a desired response in a specific environment.  OVERVIEW QUESTIONS: THE FIELD OF RESEARCH, THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE MAIN TOPIC, AND THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE TEXT Instruction: After almost every text, the first question you should ask is an overview question about the field of research, the subject matter, the main topic and/or the main purpose of the text. Overview questions lead you to identify the most important concepts and ideas in the text. You can employ two ways of answering the field of research and subject matter questions: matching headings with paragraphs or sections, and identifying which sections relate to certain topics. You should use the skill of surveying the text for both types of questions, but because the strategies are slightly different for each question type, we will look at them separately. 1. Matching headings with paragraphs  Step 1. Survey the whole text.  Step 2. Survey each paragraph to identify the topic. The words of the topic sentence might be found in a paragraph. Survey the paragraph to make sure.  Step 3. Choose the correct wording of the research field from the text. Match the given 7 headings with the 7 paragraphs of the text: Intercultural awareness in communication competence Origins, evolution and current status of English The language is no longer a plain “communication tool” The intercultural dimension' in language teaching Implications of learning English as an International Language Cultural awareness in teaching international English International English for intercultural communicative competence 2. Identifying where to find information  Step 1. Survey the text  Step 2. Read the questions and statements to identify the field of research, the topic, and the purpose, underline the key words in the question, read one question or statement at a time. a/ The implication of the text is what the author has in mind when s/he is writing it. Which one of the sentences given below most closely renders the main idea of the text? 1. Intercultural interactions have become very frequent in various fields of action. As the intercultural element is a key factor for these kinds of interactions, it is quite important to take into account the differences and similarities of the target culture to be more efficient when it comes interacting with them. 2. Our foreign contacts are not only native English speakers. Therefore, all of them have different cultural backgrounds. 3. The aim of the paper is to value the importance of cultural awareness for intercultural communication in teaching English as an international language. 4. We are able to analyze the relevance of cultural awareness for international English teaching and learning through the analysis of the evolution and current status of the English language since its origins. 5. The importance of learning English as an international language is in enhancing global communication and cultural awareness of international English. b/ The topic is the subject area the author chooses to bring her/his idea to the reader. Identify the main topic of the text. 1. Complex international, economic, technological and cultural changes that account for the leading position of English as the international language. 2. The text deals with the origins, evolution and current status of the English language in the world. 3. The future of languages in the world is discussed. 4. The text defines the importance of learning English as an international language to enhance global communication. 5. The role of cultural awareness in teaching international English is analyzed. c/ The purpose of the text is what the author wants the reader to believe in. Does the writer want you to believe that: 1. The expression "world Englishes" is capable of a range of meanings and interpretations? 2. The intercultural element is a cornerstone for international communication in English? 3. English is the product of a world econocultural system and the preferred medium of the international communities of business, science and culture? 4. To learn a foreign language, you not only have to master the knowledge and skills but also the ways and means helping to overcome cultural barriers? 5. The relative importance of the world’s languages depends on the fields they are used in? Note: When there is not a single, readily identified subject matter, main topic questions may be asked. These ask you what this or that passage is generally "about." Sample Questions  What is the main topic of the passage?  What does the passage mainly discuss?  What is the passage primarily concerned with? Main purpose questions ask why the author wrote a passage. The answer choices for these questions usually begin with infinitives. Sample Questions • What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? • What is the author's main purpose in the passage? • What is the main point of this passage? • Why did the author write the passage? Sample Answer Choices To define_____ To relate_____ To discuss_____ To propose_____ To illustrate_____ To support the idea that_____ To distinguish between _____and______ To compare ____and_____ Main detail questions ask about the most significant information of the passage. To answer such question, you should point out a line or two in the text. Sample Questions  What idea is emphasized in the passage?  In what line is the most significant information given? Caution: The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main concept, subject matter, or purpose of the passage. In fact, the correct answers for these questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passages. Distractors for this type of question have one of the errors: They are too specific. They are too general. They are incorrect according to the passage. They are irrelevant (unrelated) to the main idea of the passage. E.g.: What information is emphasized in the third passage? (A) English is the language of international communication; (B) Cultural awareness is typical for speakers of all languages; (C) More than 60 per cent of the world's radio programs are broadcast in English; (D) Barriers of race, color and creed are no hindrance to the continuing spread of the use of English. Distractor (A) is too general. Distractor (B) is incorrect according to the passage. Distractor (D) is too specific. Answer (D) is correct. Note: If you're not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage. You can usually infer the main concept, the subject matter, the main topic, or the main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraphs that make up the passage and the relationship between them. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING WORLD ENGLISHES IN WORLD CONTEXTS Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Extensive reading of Domain-Oriented English texts is emphasized in this manual as a way of developing the graduates’ competence in domain-oriented communication embracing interdisciplinary topics. It implies independent study of the texts discussing vital issues of professional and general interest. A plausible definition of extensive reading as a competence acquiring procedure is based on: (1) abridged presentations of longer texts; (2) general understanding of the research field; (3) the learner’s intention of gaining specific experience and acquiring special information from the text. (4) Extensive reading is individualized, with students being offered a choice of interdisciplinary texts they would want to read; (5) the texts may or may not be discussed in class. Text 1-2. CONCENTRIC CIRCLES MODEL OF WORLD ENGLISHES IN WORLD CONTEXTS (Abridged after Braj B. Kachru’s World Englishes in World Contexts // A companion to the history of the English language / edited by H. Momma and M. Matto. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008). 1. The 3 phases of the English language expansion The concept “World Englishes,” and the spread of the English language as a global phenomenon, is better contextualized if the diasporic locations of the language are related to the colonial expansion of the British empire. The first phase of diaspora was initiated with the Act of Union that annexed Wales to England in 1535. The result was that speaking English became essential for success in Wales. In 1603 – just 68 years after Wales – Scottish monarchy lost its independence. The march of the Empire continued into Ireland – yet another non-English speaking region. In 1707 the state of Great Britain was established, and the English language further expanded its territory – it was no longer only the language of England. The second phase of diaspora implanted the language across the continents: on the one side in North America including Canada, on the other side in Australia and New Zealand. It was during the third phase, the glorious period, when the sun never set on the British Empire, and now never sets on the English language. The English-speaking people came into direct contact with structurally, and culturally, unrelated languages, e.g., African, East Asian, and South Asian. These distinctly different contexts of linguistic ecology opened up, theoretically and methodologically, challenging research areas in language contact and convergence and multilingual interactions. 2. Issues of the norms and standards of English In later years, when English became a part of the educational systems in these far flung colonies, the linguistic, cultural, and ideational challenges raised issues about the norms, standards, and content of the methodology and models for the teaching and learning of English. A variety of conceptual frameworks have been suggested for characterization of the unprecedented cross-cultural global spread of the English language. These issues continue to be discussed, debated, and constructed in various ideological and theoretical frameworks with increasing vehemence and aggressiveness. One such framework, Braj Kachru’s Concentric Circles model, presents a schema for historical, educational, political, social, and literary contextualization of the English language with reference to its gradual – and unprecedented – expansion with the ascendancy of the post-colonial period. This representation of the spread of English is not in terms of any hierarchical priority, or any preferential ranking. The Inner Circle is inner with reference to the origin and spread of the language. It includes the majority of English as Language 1 users (e.g., in Britain, USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand). The Outer is outer with reference to geographical expansion of the language – the historical stages in the initiatives to locate the English language beyond the traditional English-speaking Britain; the motivations, strategies, and agencies involved in the spread of English; the methodologies involved in the acquisition of the language; and the depth in terms of social penetration of the English language to expand its functional range in various domains, including those of administration, education, political discourses, literary creativity, and media. The Outer Circle includes the Anglophone colonized countries in, for example, South and East Asia, and Africa (India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore). The Expanding Circle has a different historical narrative with reference to acquisition of English than the Outer Circle. The constituents of this Circle, e.g., China, Europe (inc. Germany, Russia), Iran, Iraq, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Thailand, provide yet another story of history and acquisition of English. This representation of the spread of English is not in terms of any hierarchical priority, or any preferential ranking. Outer circle (Institutional varieties in India, Nigeria, Singapore, etc.) Inner circle (National varieties in the US, Great Britain, Australia, etc.) Extending circle (Practical varieties in Japan, Russia, Malaysia, etc.) What happened to diasporic Englishes is not different from what has happened to other such diasporic languages in other parts of the world: Francophone varieties of French, Swahili varieties in parts of Africa, Spanish in Latin America, and languages such as Arabic in different Arab states. In the case of English, the colonized territories of the Empire had their distinct geographies, their traditional – and longstanding – social, cultural, religious, and administrative realities. There were also long and rich oral and literary traditions. The English language may not necessarily have been their “native” language, as language specialists define it. However, as time passed, in many Outer Circle regions English acquired “functional nativeness” in terms of its social penetration, and expanded its “range” in terms of local domains of function. The Englishspeaking regions in each Circle are indeed dynamic and not static – or unchanging. In historical terms, then, the Inner Circle comprises not only its own L1 speakers but also “functional native” English speakers of the Expanding Circle (e.g. China, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand), the Outer Circle (e.g. India, Singapore, Philippines). This Concentric Circles model represents the democratization of attitudes to English everywhere in the globe. 3. World Englishes As these regional styles and registers evolved and developed, the linguistic creativity in a variety of functional contexts gradually manifested itself in, what is termed, acculturation and nativization (indigenization) of World Englishes. The medium of a transplanted imperial language was hybridized in the local – African, Asian, European, and Latin American – sociocultural, ideological, and discoursal contexts. The language acquired yet other meaning systems and ways of representing them. It is through these linguistic processes that the Africanization, Europization, and Asianization of the English language began. The same regular linguistic processes had earlier worked in the case of the Americanization of American English, or Englishes in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The conceptual terms, “nativization” and “acculturation,” refer to the changes a language – or its varieties – undergo at one or more linguistic levels, e.g., phonetic, lexical, syntactic, stylistic, and discoursal. The range of speech communities of Englishes includes, for example, monolinguals, bidialectals, bilinguals, and multilinguals. In many regions of the English-using world, the traditional dichotomies of native vs. non-native or L1 and L2 users are not necessarily applicable or insightful. An unparalleled feature of World Englishes is that among the languages of wider communication, Englishes comprise more users who have acquired a variety of language as an L2, L3 or L-nth language in their language repertoires. It is evident that the two major Englishusing countries in the world are India and China, both in the Outer and Expanding Circles of English. We see that ongoing process are active in East and South Asia, Europe, several parts of Africa, and other regions. The debate still continues about methodological questions and more pragmatic issues concerning intelligibility in the varieties of Englishes and cross-cultural communication among the various users. Who determines the models and standards for varieties of world Englishes? An answer to this question has been debated, discussed, and vehemently argued not only with reference to Outer and Expanding Circles: there is a long history of debates for an appropriate model(s) for Inner Circle countries. What is standard English? American linguist Leonard Bloomfield provides an insightful answer: Children who are born into homes of privilege, in the way of wealth, tradition, or education, become native speakers of what is popularly known as “good” English or standard English. Less fortunate children become native speakers of “bad” or “vulgar” or nonstandard English. The speech communities of world Englishes have traditionally been divided thus: those who are considered privileged – norm-providing – native speakers, primarily from the Inner Circle; those Anglophone countries who use institutionalized varieties of English in their local sociolinguistic contexts in, for example, Africa and Asia, are considered non-native speakers – speakers from the Outer Circle; and those who have assigned restricted roles to English in their educational and administrative policies and have no extended history of the use of English, comprise the Expanding Circle (e.g., China, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, Russia, Thailand). The Expanding Circle has traditionally been dependent on external “educated” models, primarily from the Inner Circle. 4. The 4 myths of World Englishes The question of models and standards ultimately is a social, and attitudinal, question. The reality of World Englishes is that of pluracentricism, multiculturalism, and multicanonicity – that of hybridity and fusion. The mythology, however, continues to emphasize the following four myths which may be characterized as follows: 1. The interlocutor myth that most of the interaction in Englishes takes place between L1 speakers and L2 speakers of the language. In the real world of Englishes, the language is a medium of communication among and between those who use it as an additional language: Singaporeans with Indians, Japanese with Chinese and Taiwanese, Germans with Pakistanis and Nigerians. The interlocutors cover a large spectrum of cultures, nationalities, mix of languages, regions, and identities. The medium of communication – spoken and/or written – is from a wide varieties of World Englishes. 2. The monoculture myth that English represents primarily – if not essentially – the Anglo-Saxon traditions and dominant ideologies of the Inner Circle. In the real world of Englishes, the medium is used to impart local and native religions, cultural and social traditions – Asian, African, and Latin American. There is abundant evidence of this in nativized, culturespecific acculturation in creative writing, media, popular social culture, and discourses. 3. The mode-dependence myth that the exocentric models (of the Inner Circle), in spoken or written mediums, have become codes of communication in Anglophone Asian, European, and African countries. In the real world of African, European, and Asian communicative contexts, it is the endocentric (local/regional) varieties that have currency. In spite of language policing in favor of exocentric models of English, the prevalent varieties are those of endocentric Englishes. This conflict about the choice between localized and external models has resulted in much discussed linguistic schizophrenia. 4. The myth that the impending linguistic disasters of canonical standards of the English language are inevitable if variations and linguistic diversification and creativity are not curtailed. In the real world of Englishes, it is through the processes of acculturation and innovations that, contextually and culturally, Asian, European, and African identities of World Englishes have been constructed, thus enriching the Englishes. It is well demonstrated now that bilinguals’ creativity has resulted in a variety of linguistic processes and cultural transference that include, for example, stylistic, lexical, and discoursal innovations. The hybridization, blending, and fusion of languages, and “mixing” of subvarieties of an institutionalized variety of English, is effectively used in, for example, Singlish in Singapore English, Bazaar or Babu varieties in South Asian Englishes, and pidgins in Nigerian English. The medium of English is appropriately adapted and localized to the contexts of local interactions and discourses. The institutionalized varieties have acquired the “right” by demonstrating the relationship between discourse structure and thought patterns, and by their distinct architecture of language. 5. Relevant perspectives of the ownership of World Englishes There is now increasing realization that the identities and multiple functions of World Englishes are better conceptualized if the traditional “owners” and “ownership” of English – and its linguistic and cultural norms of creativity – are viewed from contextually relevant perspectives. Those perspectives entail a shift in theoretical, methodological, and socio-cultural constructs of the language and its users. In its varied functions, across cultures and languages, the current profile of the English language includes the following characteristics: 1. The models for creativity in the language are provided by multi-norms of literary and oral styles and strategies. 2. The processes of nativization and acculturation in Asian, European, African, and other varieties are determined by distinctly different linguistic contexts and cultures, and “contexts of situation.” 3. The interaction in the language is not necessary between two or more monolingual “speakers-hearers,” but often includes two or more multilingual users of the language. 4. The bilingual’s or multilingual’s creativity and linguistic strategies are not identical to the interactional strategies of two monolinguals. 5. Bilinguals’ creativity is not merely the interaction and mixing of two or more languages, but also a fusion of multiple cultural, aesthetic, social, and literary backgrounds. In other words, the readers and hearers who are not part of the speech-fellowship of the variety of English, who do not share, or recreate, the “meaning system,” have to familiarize themselves with linguistic processes and discoursal strategies. What we find inhibiting, limiting, unintelligible, or non-English in one variety of World Englishes may actually be the result of linguistically, culturally, and contextually appropriate use of the language. communication. The sociolinguistically complex sites of English-using African, Asian and European societies are no more exotic side-shows, but important sites of contact, negotiation, and linguistic creativity. Instruction: After almost every text, the first question you should ask is an overview question about the research field, the subject matter, or the main purpose of the text. These questions ask you to identify most important points in the text, the essence or topic of a passage. Sample Question What is the research field of the text? Choose the right answer. (A) The movement of people as the main reason for language spread and linguistic consequences. (B) the Anglo-Saxon traditions and dominant ideologies in the real world of Englishes. (C) The traditional dichotomies of native vs. non-native or L1 and L2 users, (D) The theory of language spread as a global phenomenon. Sample Question What is the subject matter and main topic of the passage? Choose the right answer. (A) Lack of English in some countries. (B) Need for face-to-face international communication and a growing role for global English. (C) The reality of of hybridity and fusion of World Englishes. (D) The impact of globalization on languages. Main purpose questions ask why the author wrote a passage. The answer choices for these questions usually begin with infinitives. Sample Questions  What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?  What is the author's main purpose in the passage?  What is the main point of this passage?  Why did the author write the passage? Sample Answer Choices To define_____ To relate_____ To discuss_____ To propose_____ To illustrate_____ To support the idea that_____ To distinguish between _____and______ To compare ____and_____ Main detail questions ask about the most significant information of the passage. To answer such a question, you should point out a line or two in the text. Sample Questions What news is emphasized in the passage? In what lines is the most significant information given? Caution: Don't answer the initial overview question about a passage until you have answered the other questions. The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage. The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passages. Now you are well prepared to write a one-page summary of the text. Write a "stand-alone" summary to show the teacher that you have read and understood the text. How to produce a summary: 1.Read the article to be summarized and be sure you understand it. 2.Outline the article. Note the major points. 3.Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article. 4.Always use paraphrase when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from the original be sure it is a very important phrase that cannot be paraphrased. In this case put "quotation marks" around the phrase. 5.Target your first draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original. The features of a summary: 1.Start your summary with a clear identification of the type of work, title, author, and main point in the present tense. Example: In the article "…" the author, B. Kachru, explains his opinion about different types of Englishes. 2.Check with your outline and your original to make sure you have covered the important points. 3.Never put any of your own ideas, opinions, or interpretations into the summary. This means you have to be very careful of your word choice. 4. Periodically remind your reader that this is a summary by using phrases such as the article claims, the author suggests, etc. 4.Write a complete bibliographic citation at the beginning of your summary. A complete bibliographic citation includes as a minimum, the title of the work, the author, the source. UNIT 2. LANGUAGE AS A PART OF A COMPLEX TOTALITY OF CULTURE Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts Patterns of organization of DOE texts. These include the following: Description: Descriptions include physical descriptions of persons, places, or objects, or descriptions of processes, such as step-by-step explanations of how something is done or directions for doing something. Comparison and Contrast: In this pattern the main idea is developed through comparison and contrast with other things. Often examples are used to illustrate. Definitions and descriptions are often included in this pattern. Other patterns of organization of texts include: Analysis: In this pattern, a topic is broken down into causes, effects, reasons, methods, purposes, or other categories that support the main idea. Analogy: In this pattern the main idea is implied by the use of analogy. This organizing principle is often used to make complex concepts easier to understand by relating them to better known ones. Definition: The purpose of a text in this pattern is to define, explain, or clarify the meaning of something. It may involve analysis, comparison or contrast, description, or even analogy. Students become adept at recognizing implied and explicit definitions. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 2-1. INTER-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (After J. W. Foncha’s Investigating the Role of Language in the Identity Construction of Scholars: Coming to Terms with Inter-Cultural Communicative Competence. By J. W. Foncha, S. Sivasubramaniam, J. Adamson and R. Nunn. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016). 1. Introduction Life in the twenty-first century globalized world brings people into contact with others from different cultures who use different languages. Through these contacts, the need for interaction forces them to find different ways of understanding one another and to generate knowledge. For them to achieve this objective, they need a strong medium. L2 and Foreign language education has been developed to unravel such challenges posed to competence in intercultural communication, with the emphasis placed on how to communicate with a different “other”. Foreign and second language teaching and learning (a social practice) is to eradicate linguistic and cultural barriers. In this case, it is not only necessary to promote competence through linguistic capital (language), but more importantly, to raise intercultural awareness. For these issues to develop and consolidate intercultural communicative competence, language practitioners need to deviate from the rationalist reductionist approaches to language teaching and learning in favour of an ecological or a constructivist perspective which views language learning as a social practice. In view of this, whatever language the participants may use for communication does not matter. What really matters is that they need to switch to any given language as the situation may demand. In upholding a constructivist perspective, the engagement and participation in a social practice increases competence in the target language and helps the participants to develop in terms of emotional maturity. 2. Qualitative research methodology, revolving around an ethnographic design, helps understand the outcomes and the fluidity of interactions among a diverse community of speakers. Such an understanding can only be deduced from the perspectives of the role-players through their engagements and participation in activities and events in and out of the classroom. The four principal tools must be used for data collection: interviews, questionnaires, naturally occurring data and participant observation. The interviews have to be both formal and informal and as with the questionnaires, they should be open-ended. This open-ended Investigating the Role of Language in the Identity Construction of Scholars nature is due to the interaction it provides between the researcher and the researched, the awareness-raising of diversity, and a need to understand otherness. The findings from the study should affirm that the participants gain competence in intercultural communication through the different levels of interaction that are used to enhance participation, engagement and involvement. In view of this, the participants benefit from provisional understanding, tentative interpretations and the affective environment. Furthermore, it can be said that interaction provides them with the rationale to challenge, develop and explore ideas and meanings for communication. Holistically, the study attests to the importance and centrality of participation and engagement in a target language. An important aim is to motivate the participants to understand that there is no unique centralized understanding of notions such as correctness in meaning and proficiency in a language. Our understanding of the world is multicentric. 3. A central question of our time is: how as educators we can assist in supporting our students to become more fully aware of the need to be not simply competent in communication but interculturally competent in communication. Many people in the world today are experiencing an era characterized if not by enforced migration of populations, then by increasingly dynamic population mobility. It is consequently a time where previously held assumptions about the substance of individual and group identities, and about the social and political semiotics that shape them, seem inadequate. Languages and cultures are at the heart of what has been termed this superdiversity. In contemporary superdiverse societies the question of language poses a particularly difficult challenge. The new cultural realities raise new questions, empirical and normative alike: in such circumstances, how may linguistic and cultural identities be defined? A key component of language and culture is characterized by what Mikhail Bakhtin (1981) calls centripetal and centrifugal tendencies. Centripetal forces push towards unitary systems and political and cultural centralization; centrifugal forces are anti-canonical and push against centripetal forces and towards variety and diversity. One or another of these tendencies has been present in the history of education in all cultures. The future is likely to see similar tensions and oppositions between centrifugal and centripetal forces; and tendencies towards globalization allow some to suggest that culture is becoming increasingly uniform. Central to this and to the practices is the need for greater intercultural awareness on the part of teachers, curriculum planners, teacher educators and, of course, their students. 4. In an era characterized by globalization, travel and internet technology, intercultural communicative competence has become a ‘must’. Today in many parts of the world, many people go about their (often difficult) daily lives with little awareness of a growing need for a different perspective on interpersonal and intercultural interactions. Failure in communication is indicative of peoples’ inability to understand and interpret the world around them. The need for intercultural communicative competence is a lived reality at a time when multiple codes form an integrated repertoire for diaspora members as they shuttle between communities. The learning of a foreign or an additional language is not simply mastering an object of academic study. Languages are learnt as a means of communication and interaction. Communication in its deep conceptualization is never used out of context, and because culture is a part of context, communication is never neutral or culture-free. Thus, it is increasingly recognized that language learning and learning about communication with other cultures cannot realistically be separated. We therefore start with the fundamental belief that learners of English as a foreign or second language need to become interculturally aware of both their own and other cultures. The participants of this awareness are more than just sojourners in that they are solely dependent on the institution where they are learning the “hows” and “whats” of communication in ‘another’ language (English). There might be claims that they can come into contact with other cultures through other subjects such as anthropology, history or science. But it can be stated that language learning is inextricably tied up with the experience of otherness, as it requires the participants concerned to engage with both familiar and unfamiliar experience through the medium of another language. The target language learning has a central aim of enabling learners to use that language to interact with people for whom it is their preferred and natural medium of experience, as well as a means of coping with the world. We should add that this goes well beyond the traditional notions of ‘native speaker’ or mono-cultural ‘speech community’. 5. Engagement in the target language in a multicultural community takes place when it is perceived as an expansion and an exploration of a learner’s sense of self, rather than as a threat to identity or an imposition of unwelcome cultural practices. As day-to-day situations and contexts change, some components of cultural identity become more or less salient. Even when day-to-day conditions change, other components of cultural identity remain central, important and relevant to a person’s core identity. Cultural identity evolves slowly over an extended period of time. Though no one changes their ‘native’ language, many come to use new dialects or languages in daily life. All these types of changes can affect people’s cultural identity and therefore require role-players to gain certain skills and abilities to become interculturally competent in communication. People adapt when they cross cultural boundaries, especially when they relocate on a long-term basis as immigrants or refugees. The process of learning about the new culture (acculturation) is balanced by unlearning of the old culture (deculturation). During acculturation or deculturation, the original cultural identity begins to lose its distinctiveness and rigidity while an expanded and more flexible definition of self emerges. 6. In our new century, there are many regular but less permanent ways of crossing borders that require a permanent ability to adapt to unpredictable situations. The participants in this study find it difficult to make sense of new experiences in a context where English is a lingua franca within their own country. Our analysis of the participants’ attempts to interpret the world around them identifies the following barriers to intercultural learning:  A system of engagement and participation (teaching and learning) that seeks only to pass exams as its primary goal.  Denial of space and initiative for thinking, emotional engagement and interaction in the target language.  Socialization into a process of participation that rewards “correct English” instead of meaning making, expressive use of language and exploratory thinking.  A normative orientation to engagement and participation which ignores the perceptions of the participants in this context. 7. The analysis signals the presence of a way of thinking which views language learning from a rationalist-reductionist stance. People tend to be seen as “nothing but competitors, successes or failures, winners or losers”, a mind-set which acts as a demotivating factor in engagement and participation in activities and also impairs understanding of the world around them. In addition, it explains that when students participate in events and activities simply to pass exams and graduate, it is unlikely that they will appreciate the value of the target language or gain a deep understanding of other cultures around them. It is also likely that such a situation can lead the role-players to view language as a mechanical acquisition of communication skills, rather than as a means of understanding otherness. Consequently, foreign/first additional language learning fails to transcend its literal meaning for want of a meaning that emphasizes its educational and social nature. In this regard, these participants can become casualties of a cultural ignorance and categorical stupidity crucial to the silencing of all potentially critical voices. Based on this argument, these kinds of instrumental language skills do not cultivate intercultural communicative competence. On the contrary, the acquisition of language skills points to a lack of capacity to understand how their world is affected by their interaction and participation, and in turn how their engagement and involvement affect their world. In this respect, the participants should not be seen as interculturally competent even if they are fluent in the target language. Intercultural incompetence has far-reaching implications. It not only threatens the economic status of a society but also constitutes an injustice which can prevent the participants from making decisions for themselves or from participating in the process of educational and social change. Accordingly, the poverty of participation and the culture of ignorance it creates urgently need to be addressed in institutions of higher learning and at workplaces. 8. Conclusion A concept of communicative competence which encourages engagement and involvement is crucial. This entails educating people about the dialectical relationships between themselves and the world on the one hand, and language and change on the other. This study searches for ways to help learners to participate, understand and transform their own experiences, and also importantly, to redefine their relationship with their society. As a result, these participants will then be better equipped to process knowledge beyond their immediate experience (through improved intercultural communicative competence) and to view engagement and involvement as acts of empowerment. The social and cultural issues we have raised provide the background to our research agenda. We are aware of the need to translate these points into specific educational proposals, practices and goals. It is an ambitious attempt to respond to these urgent and critical challenges. OVERVIEW QUESTIONS: FIELD OF RESEARCH, MAIN TOPIC, MAIN PURPOSE, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE TEXT Instruction: Patterns of organization of DOE texts are commonly aimed at helping students get the most from their reading. Patterns of organization comprise definition of the task, description of the field, step-by-step explanation, directions, comparison and contrast, analysis and analogy. The main idea is implied by the use of analogy to make the complex concept of communicative competence easier to understand. Keep in mind that definitions and descriptions are often counterposed in compared and contrasted pairs to develop the main idea. Analysis will help break down the subject matter of the text into causes, effects, reasons, methods, purposes, or other categories that support the main idea. The purpose of the definition is to exactify, explain, or clarify the meaning of the central concept. It may involve analysis, comparison or contrast, description, or even analogy. Students become adept at recognizing implied and explicit definitions. Students are asked 1) to match headings and 2-7 paragraphs; 2) to identify a definition of the intercultural communicative competence; 3) to make a conscious effort to point out description, step-by-step explanation, directions, comparison and contrast, analysis, analogy, and definition in the text as they read. 1. Matching headings with paragraphs    Step 1. Survey the whole text. Step 2. Look over the 6 headings given in the table. Step 3. Skim each paragraph to identify the topic. Match the given 6 headings with the 6 paragraphs of the text: Threat of viewing language as a mechanical acquisition of communication skills Cultural identity Barriers to intercultural learning Languages and cultures at the heart of superdiversity Principles of research methodology Intercultural communicative competence as a ‘must’ 2. Identifying where to find information  Step 1. Survey introductory and concluding paragraphs and identify the core ideas of the passage.  Step 2. Skim the rest of the passage to make sure.  Step 3. Scan the text to find the correct wording of its main idea, the topic, and the purpose, write out the key words from each paragraph.  Step 4. Skim the text for examples of descriptions, step-by-step explanations, directions, comparisons and contrasts, analyses, analogies, and definitions. a/ The main idea is what the author has in mind when s/he is writing a text. Which one of the sentences given below most closely renders the main idea of the text? 1. Foreign and second language teaching and learning is to eradicate linguistic and cultural barriers. 2. L2 learners should be motivated to understand that there are no unique centralized notions of correctness in meaning and proficiency in a language. 3. L2 learners should become fully aware of the need to be not simply competent in communication but interculturally competent in communication. 4. Intercultural incompetence threatens the economic status of a society. 5. Exploration of a learner’s sense of self through the medium of another language is tied up with the experience of otherness. b/ The topic is the subject area the author chooses to bring her/his idea to the reader. Identify the main topic of the text. 1. Intercultural competence communication. 2. Equal intercultural communicative rights for all English language users. 3. Educating people about the relationships between themselves. 4. Ways of crossing borders through the ability to adapt to unpredictable situations. 5. A normative orientation in intercultural awareness. c/ The purpose of the text is what the author wants the reader to believe in. Does the writer want you to believe that: 1. Speakers of English as L2 are not merely learners striving to conform to nativespeaker norms but primarily users of the language? 2. Non-native speakers largely outnumber native speakers? 3. Failure in communication is indicative of peoples’ inability to understand and interpret the world around them? 4. Languages and cultures are at the heart of what has been termed the superdiversity.? 5. English is a ‘contact language’ for people of different first languages for whom it is the chosen means of communication? 3. Reciting and reviewing the text.  Step 1. Basing on the above formulated main idea, main topic, and main purpose of the text take 2-3 minutes to recite it.  Step 2. Select 3 key words out each paragraph making it 27 key words for the whole text.  Step 3. Limit the number of selected key words down to 10. 4. Identifying patterns of text organization. Identify description, step-by-step explanation, comparison and contrast, analysis and definition in the following statements about International English: 1. International English (IE) is not bad or deficient English – it is just different in form from native speaker English and serves different functions. It does not in principle lack the potential to be effective for all the communicative purposes it is appropriated for. It can occur in any kind of intercultural communication ranging from the most rudimentary utterances to highly elaborate arguments. 2. IE is essentially a ‘contact language’ for people of different first languages for whom English is the chosen means of communication, including native speakers of English when they engage in intercultural communication. However, IE is emphatically not the English as a property of its native speakers but is democratized and universalized in the process of being appropriated for international use. 3. IE is individually shaped by its users. It is a variable intercultural adaptation based on English. IE does not represent a restricted language resource. It can potentially take any form from simplified to complex – and can potentially fulfill any function – from a basic interaction to the most elaborate argument. It is 'non-territorial' in the sense that it could take place everywhere, in any constellation. It potentially integrates all speakers of English who use it in an intercultural mode. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING RELATIONS BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Below is an article from the Online Encyclopedia Britannica where it is argued that society and language are mutually indispensable. Language can have developed only in a social setting, however this may have been structured, and human society in any form even remotely resembling what is known today or is recorded in history could be maintained only among people utilizing and understanding a language in common use. Text 2-2. LANGUAGE AS A PART OF A COMPLEX TOTALITY OF CULTURE (Abridged after Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com /Languageand-culture) Anthropologists speak of the relations between language and culture. It is indeed more in accordance with reality to consider language as a part of culture. Culture is here being used, as it is throughout this article, in the anthropological sense, to refer to all aspects of human life insofar as they are determined or conditioned by membership in a society. The fact that people eat or drink is not in itself cultural; it is a biological necessity for the preservation of life. That they eat particular foods and refrain from eating other substances, though they may be perfectly edible and nourishing, and that they eat and drink at particular times of day and in certain places are matters of culture, something “acquired by man as a member of society,” according to the classic definition of culture by the English anthropologist Sir Edward Burnett Tylor. As thus defined and envisaged, culture covers a very wide area of human life and behavior, and language is manifestly a part, probably the most important part, of it. Although the faculty of language acquisition and language use is innate and inherited, and there is legitimate debate over the extent of this innateness, every individual’s language is “acquired by man as a member of society,” along with and at the same time as other aspects of that society’s culture in which people are brought up. Transmission of language and culture Language is transmitted culturally; that is, it is learned. To a lesser extent it is taught, when parents, for example, deliberately encourage their children to talk and to respond to talk, correct their mistakes, and enlarge their vocabulary. But it must be emphasized that children very largely acquire their first language by “grammar construction” from exposure to a random collection of utterances that they encounter. What is classed as language teaching in school either relates to second-language acquisition or, insofar as it concerns the pupils’ first language, is in the main directed at reading and writing, the study of literature, formal grammar, and alleged standards of correctness, which may not be those of all the pupils’ regional or social dialects. All of what goes under the title of language teaching at school presupposes and relies on the prior knowledge of a first language in its basic vocabulary and essential structure, acquired before school age. If language is transmitted as part of culture, it is no less true that culture as a whole is transmitted very largely through language, insofar as it is explicitly taught. The fact that humankind has a history in the sense that animals do not is entirely the result of language. So far as researchers can tell, animals learn through spontaneous imitation or through imitation taught by other animals. This does not exclude the performance of quite complex and substantial pieces of cooperative physical work, such as a beaver’s dam or an ant’s nest, nor does it preclude the intricate social organization of some species, such as bees. But it does mean that changes in organization and work will be the gradual result of mutation cumulatively reinforced by survival value; those groups whose behaviour altered in any way that increased their security from predators or from famine would survive in greater numbers than others. This would be an extremely slow process, comparable to the evolution of the different species themselves. There is no reason to believe that animal behavior has materially altered during the period available for the study of human history—say, the last 5,000 years or so—except, of course, when human intervention by domestication or other forms of interference has itself brought about such alterations. Nor do members of the same species differ markedly in behavior over widely scattered areas, again apart from differences resulting from human interference. Bird songs are reported to differ somewhat from place to place within species, but there is little other evidence for areal divergence. In contrast to this unity of animal behavior, human cultures are as divergent as are human languages over the world, and they can and do change all the time, sometimes with great rapidity, as among the industrialized countries of the 21st century. The processes of linguistic change and its consequences will be treated below. Here, cultural change in general and its relation to language will be considered. By far the greatest part of learned behavior, which is what culture involves, is transmitted by vocal instruction, not by imitation. Some imitation is clearly involved, especially in infancy, in the learning process, but proportionately this is hardly significant. Through the use of language, any skills, techniques, products, modes of social control, and so on can be explained, and the end results of anyone’s inventiveness can be made available to anyone else with the intellectual ability to grasp what is being said. Spoken language alone would thus vastly extend the amount of usable information in any human community and speed up the acquisition of new skills and the adaptation of techniques to changed circumstances or new environments. With the invention and diffusion of writing, this process widened immediately, and the relative permanence of writing made the diffusion of information still easier. Printing and the increase in literacy only further intensified this process. Modern techniques for broadcast or almost instantaneous transmission of communication all over the globe, together with the tools for rapidly translating between the languages of the world, have made it possible for usable knowledge of all sorts to be made accessible to people almost anywhere in the world. This accounts for the great rapidity of scientific, technological, political, and social change in the contemporary world. All of this, whether ultimately for the good or ill of humankind, must be attributed to the dominant role of language in the transmission of culture. The part played by variations within a language in differentiating social and occupational groups in a society has already been referred to above. In language transmission this tends to be self-perpetuating unless deliberately interfered with. Children are in general brought up within the social group to which their parents and immediate family circle belong, and they learn the dialect and communication styles of that group along with the rest of the subculture and behavioral traits and attitudes that are characteristic of it. This is a largely unconscious and involuntary process of acculturation. (Note: Acculturation is the processes of change in artifacts, customs, and beliefs that result from the contact of two or more cultures. The term is also used to refer to the results of such changes. Two major types of acculturation, incorporation and directed change, may be distinguished on the basis of the conditions under which cultural contact and change take place.) The importance of the linguistic manifestations of social status and of social hierarchies is not lost on aspirants for personal advancement in stratified societies. The deliberate cultivation of an appropriate dialect, in its lexical, grammatical, and phonological features, has been the self-imposed task of many persons wishing “to better themselves” and the butt of unkind ridicule on the part of persons already feeling themselves secure in their social status or unwilling to attempt any change in it. Much of the comedy in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (first performed in 1913, with subsequent film adaptations) turns on Eliza Doolittle’s need to unlearn her native Cockney if she is to rise in the social scale. Culturally and subculturally determined taboos play a part in all this, and persons desirous of moving up or down in the social scale have to learn what words to use and what words to avoid if they are to be accepted and to “belong” in their new position. The same considerations apply to changing one’s language as to changing one’s dialect. Language changing is harder for the individual and is generally a rarer occurrence, but it is likely to be widespread in any mass immigration movement. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the eagerness with which immigrants and the children of immigrants from continental Europe living in the United States learned and insisted on speaking English is an illustration of their realization that English was the linguistic badge of full membership in their new homeland at the time when the country was proud to consider itself the melting pot in which people of diverse linguistic and cultural origins would become citizens of a unified community. A reverse movement, typically by third-generation immigrants, manifests a concern to be in contact again with the ancestral language. The same sort of self-perpetuation, in the absence of deliberate rejection, operates in the special languages of sports and games and of trades and professions (these are in the main concerned with special vocabularies). Game learners, apprentices, and professional students learn the locutions together with the rest of the game or the job. The specific words and phrases occur in the teaching process and are observed in use, and novices are only too eager to display an easy competence with such phraseology as a mark of their full membership of the group. Languages and variations within languages play both a unifying and a diversifying role in human society as a whole. Language is a part of culture, but culture is a complex totality containing many different features, and the boundaries between cultural features are not clearcut, nor do they all coincide. Physical barriers such as oceans, high mountains, and wide rivers constitute impediments to human intercourse and to culture contacts, though modern technology in the fields of travel and communications makes such geographical factors of less and less account. More potent for much of the 20th century were political restrictions on the movement of people and of ideas, such as divided western Europe from formerly communist eastern Europe; the frontiers between these two political blocs represented much more of a cultural dividing line than any other European frontiers. The distribution of the various components of cultures differs, and the distribution of languages may differ from that of nonlinguistic cultural features. This results from the varying ease and rapidity with which changes may be acquired or enforced and from the historical circumstances responsible for these changes. From the end of World War II until 1990, for example, the division between East and West Germany represented a major political and cultural split in an area of relative linguistic unity. It is significant that differences of vocabulary and usage were noticeable on each side of that division, overlying earlier differences attributed to regional dialects. Second-language learning (Note: Second language learning is a conscious process where the learning of another language other than the First Language (L1) takes place. Often confused with bilingualism and multilingualism, the process has to take place after the first language(s) has already been acquired. Having said that, Second language learning could also refer to the third, fourth, or fifth (so on and so forth) language the learner is currently learning.) Language, no less than other aspects of human behavior, is subject to purposive interference. When people with different languages need to communicate, various expedients are open to them, the most obvious being second-language learning and teaching. This takes time, effort, and organization, and, when more than two languages are involved, the time and effort are that much greater. Other expedients may also be applied. Ad hoc pidgins for the restricted purposes of trade and administration are mentioned above. Tacit or deliberate agreements have been reached whereby one language is chosen for international purposes when users of several different languages are involved. In the Roman Empire, broadly, the western half used Latin as a lingua franca, and the eastern half used Greek. In western Europe during the Middle Ages, Latin continued as the international language of educated people, and Latin was the second language taught in schools. Later the cultural, diplomatic, and military reputation of France made French the language of European diplomacy. This use of French as the language of international relations persisted until the 20th century. At important conferences among representatives of different nations, it is usually agreed which languages shall be officially recognized for registering the decisions reached, and the provisions of treaties are interpreted in the light of texts in a limited number of languages, those of the major participants. After World War II the dominant use of English in science and technology and in international commerce led to the recognition of that language as the major international language in the world of practical affairs, with more and more countries making English the first foreign language to be taught and thus producing a vast expansion of English-language-teaching programs all over the world. Those whose native language is English do not sufficiently realize the amount of effort, by teacher and learner alike, that is put into the acquisition of a working knowledge of English by educated first speakers of other languages. . Nationalistic influences on language Deliberate interference with the natural course of linguistic changes and the distribution of languages is not confined to the facilitating of international intercourse and cooperation. Language as a cohesive force for nation-states and for linguistic groups within nation-states has for long been manipulated for political ends. Multilingual states can exist and prosper; Switzerland is a good example. But linguistic rivalry and strife can be disruptive. Language riots have occurred in Belgium between French and Flemish speakers and in parts of India between rival vernacular communities. A language can become or be made a focus of loyalty for a minority community that thinks itself suppressed, persecuted, or subjected to discrimination. The French language in Canada in the mid-20th century is an example. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Irish Gaelic, or Irish, came to symbolize Irish patriotism and Irish independence from Great Britain, and Irish became Ireland’s first official language at that country’s independence. Government documents are published in Irish and English (the country’s second official language), and Irish is taught in state schools, though it remains under the significant international pressures exerted by English that are described above. A language may be a target for attack or suppression if the authorities associate it with what they consider a disaffected or rebellious group or a culturally inferior one. There have been periods when American Indian children were forbidden to speak a language other than English at school and when pupils were not allowed to speak Welsh in British state schools in Wales. Both these prohibitions have been abandoned. After the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, Basque speakers were discouraged from using their language in public as a consequence of the strong support given by the Basques to the republican forces. Interestingly, on the other side of the Franco-Spanish frontier, French Basques were positively encouraged to keep their language in use, if only as an object of touristic interest and consequent economic benefit to the area. Bilingualism The learning of a second and of any subsequently acquired language is quite a separate matter. Except for one form of bilingualism, it is a deliberate activity undertaken when one has already nearly or fully acquired the basic structure and vocabulary of one’s first language. Of course, many people never do master significantly more than their own first language. It is only in encountering a second language that one realizes how complex language is and how much effort must be devoted to subsequent acquisition. It has been said that the principal obstacle to learning a language is knowing one already, and common experience suggests that the faculty of grammar construction exhibited in childhood is one that is gradually lost as childhood recedes. Whereas most people master their native language with unconscious ease, individuals vary in their ability to learn additional languages, just as they vary in other intellectual activities. Situational motivation, however, appears to be by far the strongest influence on the speed and apparent ease of this learning. The greatest difficulty is experienced by those who learn because they are told to or are expected to, without supporting reasons that they can justify. Given a motive other than external compulsion or expectation, the task is achieved much more easily (this, of course, is an observation in no way confined to language learning). In Welsh schools, for instance, it has been found that English children make slower progress in Welsh when their only apparent reason for learning Welsh is that there are Welsh classes. Welsh children, on the other hand, make rapid progress in English, the language of most further education, the newspapers, most television and radio, most of the better-paid jobs, and any job outside Welshspeaking areas. Similar differences in motivation have accounted for the excellent standard of English, French, and German acquired by educated persons in the Scandinavian countries and in the Netherlands, small countries whose languages, being spoken by relatively few foreigners, are of little use in international communication. This attainment may be compared with the much poorer showing in second-language acquisition among comparably educated persons in England and the United States, who have for long been able to rely on foreigners accommodating to their ignorance by speaking and understanding English. It is sometimes held that children brought up bilingually in places in which two languages are regularly in use are slower in schoolwork than comparable monolingual children, as a greater amount of mental effort has to be expended in the mastery of two languages. This has by no means been proved, and indeed there is evidence to the contrary. Moreover, because much of a child’s language acquisition takes place in infancy and in the preschool years, it does not represent an effort in the way that consciously learning a language in school does, and, indeed, it probably occupies a separate part of the child’s mental equipment. The question of speed of general learning by bilinguals and monolinguals must be left open. It is quite a separate matter from the job of learning, by teaching at home or in school, to read and write in two languages; this undoubtedly is more of a labor than the acquisition of monolingual literacy. Two types of bilingualism have been distinguished, according to whether the two languages were acquired from the simultaneous experience of the use of both in the same circumstances and settings or from exposure to each language used in different settings (an example of the latter is the experience of English children living in India during the period of British ascendancy there, learning English from their parents and an Indian language from their nurses and family servants). However acquired, bilingualism leads to mutual interference between the two languages; extensive bilingualism within a community is sometimes held partly responsible for linguistic change. Interference may take place in pronunciation, in grammar, and in the meanings of words. Bilinguals often speak their two languages each with “an accent”; i.e., they carry into each certain pronunciation features from the other. Instruction: As an experienced graduate student you know that language is much more than the external expression and communication of internal thoughts formulated independently of their verbalization. You can demonstrate the inadequacy and inappropriateness of such a view of language, paying attention to the ways in which your native language is intimately and in all sorts of details related to the rest of your life in your community as well as in smaller groups within that community. Keep this universal fact in mind while reading and discussing the text. You should begin by asking and answering overview questions about the research field, the subject matter, or the main purpose of the text. These questions ask you to identify most important points in the text, the essence or topic of a passage. Sample Question What is the research field of the text? Choose the right answer. (A) The movement of people as the main reason for language spread and linguistic consequences. (B) Language as a part of a complex totality of culture. (C) The traditional dichotomies of native vs. non-native or L1 and L2 users. (D) The theory of language spread as a global phenomenon. Sample Question What is the subject matter and main topic of the passage? Choose the right answer. (A) Lack of English in some countries. (B) Need for face-to-face international communication and a growing role for global English. (C) The reality of hybridity and fusion of World Englishes. (D) The impact of globalization on languages. Main purpose questions ask why the author wrote a passage. The answer choices for these questions usually begin with infinitives. Sample Questions • What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? • What is the author's main purpose in the passage? • What is the main point of this passage? • Why did the author write the passage? Sample Answer Choices To define_____ To relate_____ To discuss_____ To propose_____ To illustrate_____ To support the idea that_____ To distinguish between _____and______ To compare ____and_____ Main detail questions ask about the most significant information of the passage. To answer such a question, you should point out a line or two in the text. Sample Questions What news is emphasized in the passage? In what line is the most significant information given? If you're not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage. You can usually infer the main idea, main topic, or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraphs that make up the passage and the relationship between them. Caution: Don't answer the initial overview question about a passage until you have answered the other questions. The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage. The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passages. Now you are well prepared to write a half-page abstract of the text. Abstract is a brief summary of a research paper, which gives an overview of the paper, focusing on its main points and defining for the reader the outlines of the subject under study. Abstract must be an independent meaningful text, easy to read (explicit, unambiguous formulation, short sentences) and understandable to the wide audience. Abstract communicates the objective of research, the research problem, methods of research, results and their originality, and areas of application. Important facts, relationships and numerical data are also provided. Abstract ends, in a separate line, with keywords (5-10 words) which identify the subject areas discussed in the research. How to produce an abstract: 1. An abstract is usually around 150–300 words, but there’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check the requirements of the university. 2.Outline the article. Note the research problem and objectives. 3. The overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s). 4. The basic design of the study. 5. Major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis. 6. A brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions. 7. Keywords (5-10 words) which identify the subject areas discussed in the research. UNIT 3. APPROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts Successful intercultural communication is a matter of highest importance if variable national, social and cultural communities are to benefit by their interaction. This text combines both theoretical and practical issues associated with intercultural communication which can be first understood and then acted upon. This broad-based, highly engaging discussion includes a balance of the classic ideas that laid the groundwork for this field, as well as those that investigate the field's latest research. Material is presented in context, which allows students to read, understand and then apply the concepts to their lives to ensure that they are effective, culturally aware communicators. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 3-1. APPROACHES TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION (After Intercultural Communication: A Reader by Larry A. Samovar, Richard E. Porter, Edwin R. McDaniel. Cengage Learning, 2014) 1. Social interaction. Although the ability to communicate effectively has long been an important aspect of any social interaction between people from different cultures, within the past decades it has become overly essential. The power structure of the international community moved from a bipolar (United States and the Soviet Union) to a unipolar (United States) world. Now, the movement is rapidly toward a multipolar international arrangement. Responsible world leaders are working toward greater cooperation on all fronts – economic, political, and military. The policy of engaging different nations, even when their aims appear diverse, demonstrates this trend toward increased international integration and cross-cultural interaction. Movement to a more global, interconnected community has been abetted by dramatic technological changes, such as digital communication advances that permit the uninterrupted transfer of large amounts of data across national borders and breakthroughs in transportation that facilitate the rapid, economical movement of people and goods over vast distances. These events, often referred to collectively as “globalization,” have brought about unprecedented levels of interaction among people from different national, ethnic, and religious cultural backgrounds. Media originating in one country are generally available throughout the world. Multinational and transnational organizations, replete with multicultural workforces, are now commonplace. An increasing number of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are engaged in emergency relief, humanitarian assistance, and charitable service work around the globe. World tourism, once available only to the wealthy, is a growth industry, with package tours to international destinations tailored to almost any budget. Nations with declining birthrates and aging populations are recruiting health care workers from abroad. Immigration, international marriage, and intercountry adoptions have added to cultural diversity. For example, for the tenyear period 1999–2010, U.S. State Department statistics report that over 178,000 children from other nations were adopted by U.S. families (“Total Adoptions,” 2010). Broadly speaking, globalization has brought about the realization that modern societies must learn to cooperate to prevent their mutual self-destruction. There is a growing perception that employment of force may result in near-term solutions but will ultimately create problems that are more complex. Increased concern over the planet’s ecological degradation resulting from climate change and pollution has raised awareness of the need for international cooperation on a scale previously unseen. There is also a recognition of the need to engage in global cooperative efforts on a number of other issues — nuclear arms, terrorism, over-population, world poverty, and escalating competition for natural resources. Closer to home, the United States is faced with such culturally related domestic concerns as immigration, an aging population, growth of minority groups, and ideological divisions. Solutions, either whole or partial, to these circumstances will require increased intercultural understanding. Before moving further into the study of culture and communication, we need to specify our approach to intercultural communication and recognize that other people investigate quite different perspectives. For example, some scholars who examine mass media are concerned with international broadcasting, worldwide freedom of expression, the premise of Western domination of media information, and the use of electronic technologies for instantaneous worldwide communication. Other groups study international communication with an emphasis on communication between national governments—the communication of diplomacy, economic assistance, disaster relief, and even political propaganda. Still others are interested in the communication needed to conduct business on a global basis. As tides of immigrants and refugees continue to arrive in the United States and other developed nations, we will be confronted with increased cultural diversity. If we are to continue to assert that cultural diversity is a valuable, desirable asset and embrace the concept of a global village, we must quickly learn to accept the advantages and difficulties of multiculturalism and the need for effective intercultural communication. 2. Looking Back One of the most noticeable changes over the past two generations is just how international the world has become. As a result of media and transportation advances, you now have access to a wide variety of products and services from abroad. Depending on your location, U.S. cable TV companies now offer channels in Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Hindi, Punjabi, Spanish, Russian, and many other languages. For example, DISH TV has available more than 170 international channels in 28 different languages. A visit to your local supermarket will reveal a variety of ethnic foods, many imported from other parts of the world. In urban areas, small ethnic food stores have become the norm. For instance, in La Jolla, California, a small Iranian market sells a selection of fresh feta cheeses imported from France, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Greece, as well as delicious pistachios from Iran. Globalization has brought profound changes to the commercial sector, including the creation of numerous transnational corporations whose reach influences markets around the world. For example, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver, and others, employs over one million workers in more than 110 countries. In earlier years, international corporate managers came to the United States to launch their careers, but now it is common to see U.S. managers heading to foreign locations. For instance, 24 percent of the graduates from MIT’s prestigious Sloan School of Management took positions abroad. Among U.S. employers, workplace diversity is a continuing source of concern, and training courses designed to make employees aware of cultural differences and varied communication behaviors have become routine. Residence abroad has also increased “because the globalization of industry and education tramples national borders,” and among the developed nations, the foreign-born population exceeds 8 percent on average. This international movement also includes students in higher education. Current estimates are that over three million students are studying in a country other than their own, and some 672,000 foreign students are attending U.S. universities. Contemporary U.S. demographics probably represent the most easily noticeable change relating to cross-cultural issues. Quite simply, the United States has become much more multicultural over the past fifty years. A glance around your classroom will probably reveal a mix of people from different ethnicities, nationalities, age groups. Most of these classmates will be U.S. born, but some may be from other countries. This is because people born outside the United States constitute 13 percent of the total population, the largest percentage among the developed nations. And lest you think all immigrants work in low- wage, dirty jobs, 47 percent of scientists and engineers in America with PhDs are foreign born. Immigrants in the United States often group themselves together in urban areas, where they retain their language and culture, unlike their predecessors in the early twentieth century who were expected, and indeed often forced, to assimilate to the dominant U.S. culture. A particularly vivid example of contemporary U.S. cultural diversity was the 2010 census website, which could be accessed in over fifty languages. According to multiple reports, minorities will represent the collective majority by 2050, and 19 percent of the total population will be foreign born. This demographic shift is expected to produce considerable social change as members of minority ethnicities continue to replace the white majority in political, commercial, and educational positions of power. In the commercial sector, changes are already occurring. In states such as New Mexico and California, where Hispanics constitute over 30 percent of the population, Spanish-language media programs are common, and several large U.S. retailers, including Walmart, have opened stores in Texas and Arizona specifically catering to the Hispanic market. According to a Walmart press release, the new stores “feature a layout and product assortment designed to make it more relevant to local Hispanic customers”. This is an excellent example of how culture influences our lives. We are comfortable with the things we know and are drawn to them, but we are often uncomfortable with things we do not know and frequently avoid them. 3. Food for Thought A review of various websites containing information about the opening of the Walmart Supermercado stores revealed instances of vitriolic comments, with calls for people living in the United States to learn English and adopt the U.S. culture. Think about the following: Have you ever traveled abroad? Did you see any U.S. fast food outlets such as those listed below? Starbucks in Berlin, Pizza Hut in Beijing, Denny’s in Tokyo, Taco Bell in Bangalore, Burger King in London, KFC in Paris, Wendy’s in Mexico City. How did you feel? How do you think the local residents might have reacted when those restaurants were opened in their home country? Why? This contemporary mixing of people from varied nationalities and ethnic groups, brought about by immigration, global business connections, the ease of international travel, Internet social networking sites, and increased societal acceptance is also dramatically increasing the number of international interpersonal relationships. In Europe, international marriages (also referred to as interracial marriage, biracial marriage, cross-cultural marriage, intercultural marriage, interethnic marriage, and intermarriage) are growing in number (Pulsipher & Pulsipher, 2008), no doubt abetted by the European Union’s emphasis on cultural diversity. A recent report indicates that in the United States “7 percent of America’s 59 million married couples in 2005 were interracial, compared to less than 2 percent in 1970” (Crary, 2007). These cross-cultural unions are expected to increase, and such couples will encounter a host of challenges, both within society and between themselves. Cultural issues such as identity, gender roles, religious traditions, language, communication behaviors, conflict styles, child-rearing practices, family acceptance, and many, many more, including some as mundane as food choices, will have to be managed. The issues of the future we have mapped out in this section represent only a portion of the cultural challenges you will need to confront in the increasingly globalized social order. Others problem areas requiring intercultural skills include the following: Religious fundamentalism will continue to present inflexible opinions on a variety of U.S. domestic subjects—gay rights, same-sex marriage, pro-life/pro-choice, etc.—which can lead to violent confrontation. International fundamentalism remains the motivation for many terrorists and underlies the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Aging populations coupled with declining birthrates will create a shortage of indigenous workers in many developed nations, requiring a still greater influx of immigrants. These new, younger arrivals will be needed to fill vacant jobs and to contribute to the tax base supporting national social welfare programs. We began with a discussion of how globalization has harnessed the forces of contemporary geopolitics, technology, economics, immigration, and media to produce an evershrinking world community, making interaction among people from different cultures more and more common and necessary. We end with a reflection on the requirement and urgency for greater tolerance of cultural differences generated by this new multipolar world order. The world’s population, as well as U.S. domestic demographics, continues to move toward a pluralistic, multicultural society at a quickstep pace. The social forces behind this movement will not easily or soon subside. The resulting cultural mixing requires that we, both individually and as a society, become more tolerant of the varied beliefs, worldviews, values, and behaviors of people from other cultures. Acceptance or tolerance may not be appropriate in every situation, nor is universal, unquestioning acquiescence to every difference advocated. We do, however, have to be willing to “live and let live” on a broader scale. That we do not yet seem able or prepared to do this is demonstrated by ongoing international and domestic struggles. The international community is beleaguered with sectarian violence arising from ideological, cultural, and ethnic differences. As we write this chapter, conflict between religious factions in Iraq appears to be resurging. In the Darfur region of Sudan, people continue to be killed and driven from their homes as a result of cultural and racial differences. The longstanding Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains unresolved, and there is little promise of a solution in the near future. The dispute between India and Pakistan continues over who should control the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir in the Himalayas. The conflict between the Russian government and separatist movements in the Caucasus continues to ebb and flow. The indigenous Uygur ethnic minority in western China continues to exhibit animosity toward government policies favoring immigration into the region by other Chinese ethnic groups, especially the Han. Drought, famine, a burgeoning population, and ineffective governmental control continue to exacerbate ethnic and religious violence throughout the Horn of Africa. Maoist insurgents in eastern India, claiming that the government exploits poor rural peasants, have escalated their violence. The global war on terrorism, a product of variant ideological and cultural perspectives, continues with little prospect of a final solution. Disagreement over what constitutes human rights remains a source of tension among many nations. Intolerance of differences is also a continuing issue within the United States, where we are divided over a seeming multitude of culturally based issues, many of which fall along a conservative vs. Liberal ideological divide. The demands of coping with the diverse customs, values, views, and behaviors inherent in a multicultural society are producing increased levels of personal frustration, social stress, and often violence. Instruction: Above are three meaningfully tied paragraphs of greater length than those in the previous texts. They contain general information in the field of global changes producing impact on American society. This text abounds in facts and names which may sound vaguely familiar but as a would-be multidisciplinary professional in cross-cultural communication you are advised to take your time and clear out for yourself the connotations behind these facts and names. Tone questions ask you to determine the author's feelings about the topic by the language that he or she uses in writing the passage. Attitude questions are similar to tone questions. Again, you must understand the author's opinion. The language that the author uses will tell you what his or her position is. Your task is to understand the texts and determine the authors’ feelings about the topics. Sample Tone Questions • What tone does the author take in writing this text? • How could the tone of this text best be described as? Sample Answer Choices The following adjectives indicate if the author's feelings are positive, negative, or neutral • Positive • Humorous • Worried • Favorable • Negative • Outraged • Optimistic • Critical • Neutral • Amused • Unfavorable • Objective • Pleased • Angry • Impersonal • Respectful • Defiant If you read the italicized sentences in paragraph 3, would the tone of this paragraph most likely be positive or negative? Choose the right descriptors from the list above. Note: The italicized words in paragraph 3 indicate a negative attitude. Words like ‘The international community is beleaguered’, ‘animosity, conflict, dispute’ and similar words can "reverse" the tone of the passage. Attitude questions are similar to tone questions. Again, you must understand the author's opinion. The language that the author uses will tell you what his or her position is. Sample Attitude Questions What is the authors’ attitude toward the fact that globalization has brought about the realization that modern societies must learn to cooperate to prevent their mutual self-destruction? If you read the italicized phrases in paragraph 3, would the author’s attitude most likely be positive or negative? Choose the right descriptors from the list above. Organization questions ask about the overall structure of a passage or about the organization of a paragraph. A Sample Question Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage? Answer Choices A general concept is defined, and examples are given. Several generalizations are presented, from which a conclusion is drawn. The author presents the advantages and disadvantages of ... The author presents a system of classification for ... Persuasive language is used to argue against ... The author describes ... The author presents a brief account of ... The author compares … and ... Questions about previous or following paragraphs ask you to assume how the passages are organized, what would be the topic of the text. To find the order of the passages, look for clues in the first lines. To find the topic of the text, look in the first and last lines. Sample Questions  What topic would the text most likely begin with?  What does the second paragraph most probably discuss?  Can it be inferred from the text which paragraph most likely sums up the author’s attitude towards the topic? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A NEW APPROACH TO A THEORY OF CULTURE Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Dr. Bernard Saint-Jacques is Linguistics Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia. His research of the last years has been about Intercultural understanding and communication. This essay discusses the impact of globalization on the study of culture and intercultural communication. Japan is selected as a case study to illustrate how culture is being transformed by the shrinking global community. The concept of identity and how it has been altered by globalization is also discussed in the essay. Professor Saint-Jacques sees people in modern society as “living at the same time within particular cultural settings on the one hand, and between different cultural environments on the other one,” which produces multiple identities. In the second part of his essay, Professor Saint-Jacques proposes an approach to teaching intercultural communication (ICC) in the globalized society. His method involves viewing culture as “ways of thinking, beliefs, and values,” and a greater incorporation of language into the teaching of ICC. This essay is intended to show you that there are many ways of viewing culture, but also that your views should not become static. Culture and communication are influenced by societal changes, and these changes need to be acknowledged, both in theory development and in classroom instructional methods. Text 3-2. A THEORY OF CULTURE AND INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING (After Bernard Saint-Jacques’ Intercultural Communication in a Globalized World // Intercultural Communication: A Reader. L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter, E. R. McDaniel. 2014) 1. Introduction Intercultural communication is based on intercultural understanding. Intercultural understanding cannot be realized without an objective and up-to-date understanding of the notion of culture. Globalization, however, has changed the notion of culture. Culture can no longer be described as the property of a single nation. Globalization has changed the concept of culture. Globalization stands for the overlapping of global and local factors (Robertson, 1997). Human beings are living at the same time within particular settings on the one hand, and between different cultural environments on the other one. This is nothing new. One lives between one’s home in a family, on the one side, and also is situated in the daily life world – going to school, working in one’s professional life, on the other. This has been happening for thousands of years. In a culturally globalized world, between-situations are becoming essential for any understanding of culture. There were three stages in globalization. The first one was political, the founding of the United Nations in 1945. The second one was the economic globalization, the spread of free-market capitalism in virtually every country of the world since 1980. The third one is … cultural globalization, which has an essential function for the efficient working of the political and economic globalizations of the world. In fact, the economic and political globalizations have given rise to the problematic triangle “identity–culture– communication” in international relations (Wolton, 2005). As the technology for worldwide transmission of information continues to progress, attempts by some countries to restrict this transmission are becoming more and more ineffective (McPhail, 1989). The debates on globalization have focused on economic and political issues, but the powerful impact of globalization on culture has not been sufficiently analyzed and researched. Globalization provides a good opportunity to reflect on the efficiency of the tools which the intercultural enterprise so far has developed to promote intercultural understanding (Kalscheuer, 2002). Thomas’s (1996) definition of culture as a system that is valid for all members of a society or nation, as well as Hall’s (1984) and Hofstede’s (1980, 1991, 1997) “cultural dimensions”, fixed sets of polar attributes (collectivism vs. individualism, monochronic vs. polychronic, high power distance vs. low power distance, high context culture vs. low context culture, etc. …) obtained with questionnaires to very small groups of participants of a given society, are not any more adapted to research in intercultural understanding. Cultures are not homogeneous and stable entities. Recent cultural theory takes into account the increasing mixture of cultures and people within each culture, and emphasizes the hybrid nature of culture (Bhabba, 1994, Pieterse, 1994, Shweder & Sullivan, 1990). Welsh (1999) stresses the reciprocal influences of cultures. 2. Three Decades Have Passed It is essential to recall that three decades have passed since Hofstede proposed his cultural dimensions and his classification of countries. During that time, there were many reviews of Hofstede’s work expressing several important caveats in dimensionalizing cultural values. A large number of questions remains as to how exactly these concepts work in real-life relationships. These concepts suffer from the same weakness as the concepts of culture in that they are too readily used to explain everything that occurs in a society (Kim, Triandis, Kagitcibasi, Choi, 1994). Concerning individualism versus collectivism, the multidimensional nature of these concepts has been frequently discussed. We can be both individualistic in some situations and collectivistic in others (Kim et al., 1996). In a recent paper, Chirkov, Linch, and Niwa (2005), examining the problems in the measurements of cultural dimensions and orientations, raised three basic questions: (1) “The operationalization of individualism/collectivism assumes a high degree of cultural homogeneity of the surveyed countries across geographical regions and across different life domains. This assumption however is far from reality, especially in multiethnic countries”. (2) Moreover, this operationalization of cultural dimensions ignores the fact that different cultural values and practices may be internalized by people to different degrees, thus demonstrating high interpersonal variation in their endorsement (D’Andrade, 1992). (3) Measuring culture-related constructs to average individuals’ scores on, for example, an individualism–collectivism self-report scale, across samples taken from different countries is wrong. “This does not make sense because culture is not an attribute of a person, nor is it the main value of some aggregate of individuals”. Further, quoting Fisk (2002), Chirkov et. al. (2005) conclude that “taking the mean of a group of individual scores does not make such variables into measurements of culture”. Moreover, the expressed cultural values of many intercultural surveys and questionnaires are not necessarily the same as behaviors. The sample and the participants used in intercultural surveys have often been criticized as not representative of the culture of a given country being studied. In many cases, the participants were college or university students, and sometimes surveyed outside of their country of origin, without taking into account the cultural influence of the country in which they had been international students for some years. Visser, Krosnick and Lavrakas (2000) have emphasized the non-probability and the nonrepresentative sample of participants in most cross-cultural studies. These authors warned social and cross-cultural psychologists that “social psychological research attempting to generalize from a college student sample to a nation looks silly and damages the apparent credibility of our enterprise”. In Goodwin’s book Personal Relationships across Cultures (1999), one can find interesting discussions of Hofstede’s classification. In the introduction, Goodwin writes: “I will try to demonstrate how many of our cherished views of other cultures are becoming less relevant and less accurate – If, indeed, they were ever accurate at all” (1999). What is also striking is that data from a reexamination of Hofstede’s country classifications, conducted twenty-five years after the original research, suggests “significant shifts in value classifications in some countries” (Fernandez, et. al., 1997). In an interview in Canada published in the InterCultures Magazine, Oct. 2006, when asked, “Between the time that you were first analyzing the data and now, has your definition of culture changed at all?” Hofstede answered: No, not really. Of course, you have to realize that culture is a construct. When I have intelligent students in my class, I tell them: “One thing we have to agree on: culture does not exist.” Culture is a concept that we made up which helps us understand a complex world, but it is not something tangible like a table or a human being. What it is depends on the way in which we define it. So, let’s not squabble with each other because we define culture slightly differently; that’s fine. From this interview, it is quite clear that Hofstede’s “cultural dimensions” are not at all the rigid and universal fixed sets of polar attributes that several scholars are still using in their intercultural research. Three Basic Facts for a Theory of Culture and Intercultural Understanding. Any theory of culture in this globalized world must address the following three basic facts: (1) Cultural Predestination! (2) Individual Values, and (3) A Set of Dynamic Processes of Generation and Transformation. Some aspects of these facts are not new and have been discussed by scholars in the past; these basic facts, however, have often been disregarded by those doing research in intercultural communication, resulting in very dubious affirmations about the nature of various cultures and people living in these cultures. The pragmatic integration of these three facts in intercultural research represents the essential basis for the new approach to a theory of culture proposed in this paper. 3. Cultural Predestination! Cultural comparisons should avoid overstressing differences because it leads to overemphasizing the features of a given culture, as if it were a unique attribute. It is quite clear that in the past, in order to make comparisons more striking, people have been tempted to exaggerate differences, leading to a focus on a given country’s distinctive features at the expense of those characteristics it shares with other societies. Yamazaki (2000) writes: “Human beings seem to like to give themselves a sense of security by forming simplistic notions about the culture of other countries.” Stereotypes are then often created. It is essential to research distinctive features in the light of features which are common to other cultures. To put it in Yamazaki’s words: “Commonalities are essential if comparisons are to be made” (Yamazaki, 2000). Cultures are not predestined to have some immutable distinctive characteristics. Yamazaki uses the expression “cultural predestination” (2000) and Demorgon (2005) emphasizes the same idea: “The absolute distinctiveness of cultures is a problematic notion.” The reason for this is quite simple: cultures influence each other and often there is a process of fusion. How can one attribute at a given moment distinctive features to a culture which is in perpetual development and change? This point will be developed to a greater extent in the section dealing with the dynamism of cultures. 4. Individual Values A nation or an ethnic group cannot be considered as a single unit. Nations are not culturally homogeneous. Within the same nation, social classes, age, gender, education, religious affiliations and several other factors constitute the self-awareness and self-consciousness which become the markers of cultural identity, subcultures within a national culture. There are, within a nation, regional cultures, cultures of towns and villages, small group cultures, and family cultures which form cultural units. Renan’s 1882 famous definition of nation, “L’essence d’une nation est que tous les individus aient beaucoup de choses en commun” [The essence of a nation is that the individuals of this nation have many things in common] has to be extended to the various groups which constitute cultural units in a nation. The members of these groups also have many things in common. Nations are not culturally homogeneous. Individuals within a given nation are not always identical and their cultural behavior might be different. Several studies, for instance, Kim (2005), and Kim, Hunter, Miyara, Horvath, Bresnahan and Yoon (1996) have emphasized this point. Very often, individual values rather than cultural values will be better predictors of behavior (Leung, 1989, Leung & Bond, 1989, Triandis, 1988). It is quite evident in the modern world that culture-level generalizations or national-culture generalizations are no longer adequate for intercultural research. It is sufficient to consider the vast number of countries in the world which are multicultural and multilingual and where there is considerable immigration. Canada, where you have English-Canadians and French-Canadians, First Nations, and another 35 percent of the population which is neither from British nor French origin but coming from forty different countries, is only one example. It is also the case for the United States, all countries of the European Union, South American countries, most Asian and African countries. Here, one cannot resist quoting some passages of a very recent article by James B. Waldram (2009): “Anthropologists began to appreciate the artificial nature of their notion of ‘cultures’ as distinct, bounded units harboring culturally identical citizens…. We began to appreciate ‘culture’ as a live experience of individuals in their local, social worlds”. In addition, he adds: “Cross-cultural psychology has retained the broad generalizations and essentializations rejected by anthropology, to continue to assign research participants to groups as if there were no significant intra-cultural variability, and then engage in primarily quantitative comparisons”. It is now more than evident that serious cultural research cannot apply anymore the absolute and general dimensions of individualism versus collectivism, high-context versus lowcontext and other similar dimensions to most countries in the world. 5. Culture Is a Set of Dynamic Processes of Generation and Transformation The third fact which must be considered in intercultural research is that culture is not static, it is a dynamic process. In his recent book, Demorgon (2005) insists that cultures are not static phenomena; they change constantly and are indefinitely renewable. Yamazaki makes the same point: “Culture is by no means a fixed entity, but a set of dynamic processes of generation and transformation” (Yamazaki, 2000). To affirm the singularity of culture is questionable, insists Demorgon (2005), how indeed can one label a culture as unique and coherent when it is in constant development? Different cultures influence each other, occasionally fusing. It is necessary therefore to direct attention from narrowly defined culture theory and seek not for the attributes present in specific cultures, but for the fundamental principles that precede and give rise to all cultures. These pre-cultural principles are subliminally present in every culture. According to Yamazaki, cultural fusion, therefore, is not a matter of one culture assimilating features of another but something in the other culture stimulating the full flowering of aspects already present in the first. One of these pre-cultural principles is individuation. The tendency toward individuation represents the drive to preserve individual units of life. This principle is antecedent to culture. The concept of individuation relates to the modern notion of individualism but precedes it (Yamazaki, 2000). Following several authors, Waldram (2009) argues that the concept of acculturation has outlived whatever usefulness it may have had, and that scholars should focus on the process of enculturation, or culture learning. For Waldram, culture learning is “the process of learning to be cultural in a given real world context” (Waldram, 2009). He concludes that a new paradigm for culture is needed: “one that is theoretically and conceptually driven, rather than methodologically driven”…. This, of course, represents quite a shift in thinking from the classic emphases on contact involving “autonomous cultural systems” (Waldram, 2009). Moreover, it has to be strongly emphasized that globalization is not a factor of homogenization but of diversity. In a recent paper, Bhawuk (2008) writes: “Creating new knowledge using concepts and ideas from indigenous cultures will help increase the diversity of theories and models which may be necessary for the global village…. Quality cross-cultural research demands that models and theories that question the contemporary values, beliefs, and models be welcomed…. Globalization is not about homogeneity but about diversity…. It is hoped that researchers will contribute to the differentiation of knowledge base rather than force homogeneity for defending monocultural theories.” (To be continued) Instruction: Professor Saint-Jacques’ essay offers a new, seemingly paradoxical approach to a theory of culture, based upon a survey of views of culturologists who direct attention from narrowly defined culture theory. It is necessary that the student identify different theoretical approaches to get a general idea of how views may vary in the field of academic research. When surveying each paragraph of the text you mostly rely on circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from the direct observation of a fact. If, for example, globalization is claimed to be leading not to homogeneity but to diversity, then there is circumstantial evidence that researchers will contribute to the differentiation of knowledge base rather than force homogeneity for defending monocultural theories. Write a one-page summary of the text. Overview questions ask you to determine the author’s attitude to a specific item, the main topic of a passage, the author's main point, the primary purpose of a passage, the organization of a passage, etc. Before answering a variety of overview questions about short passages, read the passages and mark possible answer choices. Sample Questions  How does the author disprove the idea of individualism versus collectivism?  Which of the following statements would the author most likely support? (1) “The operationalization of individualism/collectivism assumes a high degree of cultural homogeneity of the surveyed countries across geographical regions and across different life domains. (2) The operationalization of cultural dimensions ignores the fact that different cultural values and practices may be internalized by people to different degrees, thus demonstrating high interpersonal variation in their endorsement. (3) Measuring culture-related constructs to average individuals’ scores on an individualism–collectivism self-report scale, across samples taken from different countries is wrong.  The author would be LEAST likely to agree with which of the following statements? A. Culture can be described as the property of a single nation. B. Hofstede’s “cultural dimensions” are all the rigid and universal fixed sets of polar attributes that several scholars are still using in their intercultural research. C. Anthropologists began to appreciate the artificial nature of their notion of ‘cultures’ as distinct, bounded units harboring culturally identical citizens.  Find out most characteristic lines that best summarize the author's attitude.  What is the author's main point in the passage?  What is the main topic of this passage?  What is the main idea of the passage?  What does the passage mainly discuss?  Why did the author write this passage? Sample Answer Choices This author's main purpose in writing is to ... The passage mainly concerns ... The main idea of this passage is that .... The primary purpose of this passage is to ... The passage primarily deals with ... The passage mainly discusses ... The main topic of this passage is ... The passage primarily deals with ... The tone of the passage could best be described as (A) objective; (B) optimistic; (C) angry; (D) humorous. Point out samples of contrast in the first pragraph. How do they predetermine the ongoing narration? Caution: Don't answer the initial overview question about a passage until you have answered the other questions. The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage. The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passages. Now you are well prepared to write a one-page summary of the text. Write a "stand-alone" summary to show a teacher that you have read and understood the text. How to produce a summary: 1.Read the article to be summarized and be sure you understand it. 2.Outline the article. Note the major points. 3.Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article. 4.Always use paraphrase when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from the original be sure it is a very important phrase that cannot be paraphrased. In this case put "quotation marks" around the phrase. 5.Target your first draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original. The features of a summary: 1.Start your summary with a clear identification of the type of work, title, author, and main point in the present tense. Example: In the article "…" Professor Saint-Jacques offers a paradoxical approach to a theory of culture, based upon a survey of views of culturologists who direct attention from narrowly defined culture theory. 2.Check with your outline and your original to make sure you have covered the important points. 3.Never put any of your own ideas, opinions, or interpretations into the summary. This means you have to be very careful of your word choice. 4. Periodically remind your reader that this is a summary by using phrases such as the article claims, the author suggests, etc. 4.Write a complete bibliographic citation at the beginning of your summary. A complete bibliographic citation includes as a minimum, the title of the work, the author, the source. UNIT 4. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE NEW NORM Guidelines for reading texts on cross-cultural communication Teaching culture in the DOE reading classes should not be separated from teaching text organization and language content, and consequently, DOE text intensive reading should also include understanding skills of the cross-cultural communication. Success in intercultural communication depends greatly on operational expertise. This text emphasizes the importance of learning target culture and understanding cultural differences, which will benefit and facilitate cross-cultural communication under diverse circumstances. Thereby, this issue is relevant to DOEL reading classes focusing on the improvement of both students’ language and cultural skills. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 4-1. CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE NEW NORM (After LeBaron, Michelle. "Cross-Cultural Communication." Beyond Intractability. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder.) “We didn't all come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat." – Bernard Baruch, American financier and statesman. It's no secret that today's workplace is rapidly becoming vast, as the business environment expands to include various geographic locations and span numerous cultures. What can be difficult, however, is understanding how to communicate effectively with individuals who speak another language, or who rely on different means to reach a common goal. 1. The Internet and modern technology have opened up new marketplaces that allow us to promote our businesses to new geographic locations and cultures. And given that it can now be as easy to work with people remotely as it is to work face-to-face, cross-cultural communication is increasingly the new norm. After all, if communication is electronic, it's as easy to work with someone in another country as it is to work with someone in the next town. And why limit yourself to working with people within convenient driving distance when, just as conveniently, you can work with the most knowledgeable people in the entire world? For those of us who are native English-speakers, it is fortunate that English seems to be the language that people use if they want to reach the widest possible audience. However, even for native English speakers, cross-cultural communication can be an issue: Just witness the mutual incomprehension that can sometimes arise between people from different Englishspeaking countries. In this new world, good cross-cultural communication is a must. 2. Given different cultural contexts, this brings new communication challenges to the workplace. Even when employees located in different locations or offices speak the same language (for instance, correspondences between English-speakers in the U.S. and English-speakers in the UK), there are some cultural differences that should be considered in an effort to optimize communications between the two parties. In such cases, an effective communication strategy begins with the understanding that the sender of the message and the receiver of the message are from different cultures and backgrounds. Of course, this introduces a certain amount of uncertainty, making communications even more complex. Without getting into cultures and sub-cultures it is perhaps most important for people to realize that a basic understanding of cultural diversity is the key to effective cross-cultural communications. Without necessarily studying individual cultures and languages in detail, we must all learn how to better communicate with individuals and groups whose first language, or language of choice, does not match our own. 3. However, some learning the basics about culture and at least something about the language of communication in different countries is important. This is necessary even for the basic level of understanding required to engage in appropriate greetings and physical contact, which can be a tricky area inter-culturally. For instance, kissing a business associate is not considered an appropriate business practice in the U.S., but in Paris, one peck on each cheek is an acceptable greeting. And, the firm handshake that is widely accepted in the U.S. is not recognized in all other cultures. While many companies now offer training in the different cultures where the company conducts business, it is important that employees communicating across cultures practice patience and work to increase their knowledge and understanding of these cultures. This requires the ability to see that a person's own behaviors and reactions are oftentimes culturally driven and that while they may not match our own, they are culturally appropriate. If a leader or manager of a team that is working across cultures or incorporates individuals who speak different languages, practice different religions, or are members of a society that requires a new understanding, he or she needs to work to convey this. Consider any special needs the individuals on your team may have. For instance, they may observe different holidays, or even have different hours of operation. Be mindful of time zone differences and work to keep everyone involved aware and respectful of such differences. Generally speaking, patience, courtesy and a bit of curiosity go a long way. And, if you are unsure of any differences that may exist, simply ask team members. Again, this may best be done in a one-on-one setting so that no one feels "put on the spot" or self-conscious, perhaps even embarrassed, about discussing their own needs or differences or needs. 4. Next, cultivate and demand understanding and tolerance. In doing this, a little education will usually do the trick. Explain to team members that the part of the team that works out of the Australia office, for example, will be working in a different time zone, so electronic communications and/or return phone calls will experience a delay. And members of the India office will also observe different holidays (such as Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday, observed on October 2). Most people will appreciate the information and will work hard to understand different needs and different means used to reach common goals. However, when this is not the case, lead by example and make it clear that you expect to be followed down a path of open-mindedness, acceptance and tolerance. Tip: Tolerance is essential. However, you need to maintain standards of acceptable behavior. The following "rules of thumb" seem universal:  Team members should contribute to and not hinder the team's mission or harm the delivery to the team's customer.  Team members should not damage the cohesion of the team or prevent it from becoming more effective.  Team members should not unnecessarily harm the interests of other team members. Other factors (such as national law) are obviously important. When dealing with people in a different culture, courtesy and goodwill can also go a long way in ensuring successful communication. Again, this should be insisted on. If your starting point in solving problems is to assume why communication has failed, you'll find that many problems are quickly resolved. 5. When you communicate, keep in mind that even though English is considered the international language of business, it is a mistake to assume that every businessperson speaks good English. In fact, only about half of the 800 million people who speak English learned it as a first language. And, those who speak it as a second language are often more limited than native speakers. When you communicate cross-culturally, make particular efforts to keeping your communication clear, simple and unambiguous. And (sadly) avoid humor until you know that the person you're communicating with "gets it" and isn't offended by it. Humor is notoriously culture-specific: Many things that pass for humor in one culture can be seen as grossly offensive in another. 6. Finally, if language barriers present themselves, it may be in every one's best interest to employ a reliable, experienced translator. Because English is not the first language of many international business people, their use of the language may be peppered with culture-specific or non-standard English phrases, which can hamper the communication process. Again, having a translator on hand (even if just during the initial phases of work) may be the best solution here. The translator can help everyone involved to recognize cultural and communication differences and ensure that all parties, regardless of geographic location and background, come together and stay together through successful project completion. UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT ORGANIZATION: SUBHEADINGS, KEY WORDS, REFERENTS, LINKING WORDS Instruction: While in class, you do not have time to read every word carefully. Remember that your starting task is not to understand all of the text. It is often only necessary to read a small part of the text carefully to find some specific information. In most well-written English texts, every paragraph deals with a specific aspect of a topic. The first sentence of a paragraph usually tells the reader what the rest of the paragraph is about so when you are trying to identify the main idea of a paragraph, you should read the first sentence carefully. Then, keeping the idea of the first sentence in mind, you should quickly check the rest of the paragraph, picking up only some of the words. This is skim reading or skimming. Using this technique you will have a general idea of what the writer is saying about the topic. Surveying the text tells you about the topic or subject of the text. It may also tell you something about how the text is organized (subheadings are especially useful). Surveying may also tell you something about the writer's purpose—whether the intention is to give instructions, to compare, to give information, and so on. Step 1 – Survey the text Surveying has already been discussed several times in this book. Can you remember what to look at when you survey? A list of headings can give you some useful information to help you quickly understand what each part of the text will be about. Step 2 – Skim read each paragraph Every paragraph deals with a specific aspect of a topic. The first sentence of a paragraph will most probably tell the you what the rest of the paragraph is about so when you are trying to identify the main idea of a paragraph, you should read the first sentence carefully. Using this technique you will have a general idea of what the writer is saying in each paragraph. Step 3 – Determine which heading is the best match for each of the paragraphs marked by the numbers. (Note that you are trying to identify topics only.) This will help you know where (in which paragraph or section) to scan later for the answer to a question. If the text has a lot of subheadings, it is much easier to identify text organization. And Get Help if You Need It Collaborative Efforts – a Must! Demand Tolerance Developing Awareness of Individual Cultures Keep it Simple Understanding Cultural Diversity Of course, when you skim-read a text you cannot get as much information from the text as when you read it all carefully, but by skimming you can quickly get enough information to help you get context clues. Remember that efficient use of time is one of the most important skills. You will have to adjust the speed of your skimming according to how easy the text is for you to understand. If a paragraph does not have a first sentence which gives the topic of the paragraph clearly, you have to skim more carefully. But don't forget that you should not read every word – reading every word will waste too much time. To remind: the best way to find details quickly is to use scanning. Scanning is searching for key words or synonyms by looking quickly through the text. For example, you scan when you look for a word in a dictionary. You do not read every word as you search for the word(s) you want. Scanning paragraphs for key words The best way to find key words is to use scanning by looking quickly through the text. Your eyes move across and down through the text without reading it in your normal way. Also, another source which tells you how to find key words is the subject or the source of the text. Look at the text CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION – THE NEW NORM. This title can help you understand that key words must concern any kinds of norms or be connected with norms. E.g.: in paragraph 1 it is possible to point out the following key words: cross-cultural communication, norm, to work, distance. Task: Find 4-5 key words in each paragraph Follow the three-step strategy to make finding the answer easier. Step 1 – Survey the text: Look at any parts of the text that stand out: the title, section headings or subheadings, any words in special print (bold, italics, CAPITALS or underlined). Step 2 – Make sure you know what you are looking for: scan for key words or synonyms by looking over the text, do not read every word. Step 3 – Select 5-10 key words for the whole text: Reference words Reference words are nouns (called the referents), pronouns or some expressions referred to. The correct reference is NOT always the noun that is closest to the pronoun in the passage. The correct choices are usually other nouns that appear in the passage. If you are unable to decide immediately which referent is correct, substitute the possible choices for the word that is being asked about. E.g.: Structurally, the word combination the cohesion of the team should be the referent for the pronoun it in the following sentence: Team members should not damage the cohesion of the team or prevent it from becoming more effective. However the author makes a logical mistake because of the two nouns the cohesion can be damaged but the team can be prevented from becoming more effective. Task: What is the referent for the following italicized phrase? In the sentence: However, some learning the basics about culture and at least something about the language of communication in different countries is important. What is important? learning (the basics and something) is important or something (about the language) is important? Linking Words Knowing the meaning and the purpose of linking words in sentences can be very useful for academic reading. For example, in the following passage there are two linking words: Because English is not the first language of many international business people, their use of the language may be peppered with culture-specific or non-standard English phrases, which can hamper the communication process. Both Because and which give: consequence – which, between clauses, and reason – Because, between sentences. The more common linking words can be divided into six main groups according to their purpose. 1. Showing sequence, e.g., finally, firstly, secondly, then, next, after this. Finally, if language barriers present themselves, it may be in every one's best interest to employ a reliable, experienced translator. 2. Giving additional information, e.g., as well, even, in addition, also, besides this, as well as, and. Be mindful of time zone differences and work to keep everyone involved aware and respectful of such differences. 3. Giving examples, e.g., for example, such as, for instance, be illustrated by. For instance, they may observe different holidays, or even have different hours of operation. 4. Giving reasons or causes, e.g., the cause, be the result of, because of this, due to this, be caused by this, because, result from. Because English is not the first language of many international business people ... 5. Showing contrast, e.g., but, however, though, although, while, despite, even though, whereas, on the other hand. … We didn't all come over on the same ship, but we're all in the same boat. Note: Even though the above linking words may be in one group, in sentences, they are often used in different ways. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE ISSUE OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Successful intercultural communication is a matter of highest importance if variable national, social and cultural communities are to benefit by their interaction. This text combines both theoretical and practical issues associated with intercultural communication which can be first understood and then acted upon. This broad-based, highly engaging discussion includes a balance of the classic ideas that laid the groundwork for this field, as well as those that investigate the field's latest research. Material is presented in context, which allows students to read, understand and then apply the concepts to their lives to ensure that they are effective, culturally aware communicators. Text 4-2. INVESTING IN CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE (After UNESCO World Report, May 2020) Cultural diversity has emerged as a key concern at the turn of a new century. Some predict that globalization and the liberalization of the goods and services market will lead to cultural standardization, reinforcing existing imbalances between cultures. Others claim that the end of the bipolar world of the Cold War and the eclipse of political ideologies will result in new religious, cultural and even ethnic fault lines, preluding a possible “clash of civilizations”. Scientists warn of the threats to the Earth’s environment posed by human activity, drawing parallels between the erosion of biodiversity and the disappearance of traditional modes of life as a result of a scarcity of resources and the spread of modern lifestyles. “Diversity” is becoming a rallying call among those who denounce persistent socio-economic inequalities in developed societies. Cultural diversity is similarly posing a challenge to the principles of international cooperation: it is invoked by some to contest universally recognized human rights, while others — like UNESCO — hold firmly to the view that full and unqualified recognition of cultural diversity strengthens the universality of human rights and ensures their effective exercise. Yet the meanings attached to this catch-all term are as varied as they are shifting. Some see cultural diversity as inherently positive, insofar as it points to a sharing of the wealth embodied in each of the world’s cultures and, accordingly, to the links uniting us all in processes of exchange and dialogue. For others, cultural differences are what cause us to lose sight of our common humanity and are therefore at the root of numerous conflicts. This second diagnosis is today all the more plausible since globalization has increased the points of interaction and friction between cultures, giving rise to identity-linked tensions, withdrawals and claims, particularly of a religious nature, which can become potential sources of dispute. Underlying the intuition that all these phenomena are in practice linked and relate, each in its own way, to a particular understanding of cultural diversity, the essential challenge would be to propose a coherent vision of cultural diversity so as to clarify how, far from being a threat, it can become beneficial to the actions of the international community. This is the essential purpose of the present report. Thus, the World Report does not seek to provide ready-made solutions to the problems liable to confront decision-makers. Rather, it aims to underline the complexity of these problems, which cannot be solved by political will alone, but call for better understanding of the underlying phenomena and greater international cooperation, particularly through the exchange of good practices and the adoption of common guidelines. Cultural diversity is above all a fact: there exists a wide range of distinct cultures, even if the contours delimiting a particular culture prove more difficult to establish than might at first sight appear. Moreover, awareness of this diversity has today become relatively commonplace, being facilitated by the globalization of exchanges and the greater receptiveness of societies to one another. While this greater awareness in no way guarantees the preservation of cultural diversity, it has helped to give the topic greater visibility. Cultural diversity has moreover become a major social concern, linked to the growing variety of social codes within and between societies. It is therefore a very real challenge to attempt to persuade the different centres of civilization to coexist peacefully. As conceived by UNESCO — a conception remote from those ideological constructions that predict a ‘clash of civilizations’ — civilization is to be understood as ‘work in progress’, as the accommodation of each of the world’s cultures, on the basis of equality, in an ongoing universal project. These considerations argue in favor of a new approach to cultural diversity — one that takes account of its dynamic nature and the challenges of identity associated with the permanence of cultural change. This necessarily entails changes to UNESCO’s role in this context. For, whereas the Organization’s longstanding concern has been with the conservation and safeguarding of endangered cultural sites, practices and expressions, it must now also learn to sustain cultural change in order to help individuals and groups to manage diversity more effectively — for this ultimately is the major challenge: managing cultural diversity. The challenge inherent in cultural diversity is not posed simply at the international level (between nation-states) or at the infra-national level (within increasingly multicultural societies); it also concerns us as individuals through those multiple identities whereby we learn to be receptive to difference while remaining ourselves. Thus, cultural diversity has important political implications: it prescribes the aim of freeing of stereotypes and prejudices in order to accept others with their differences and complexities. In this way, it becomes possible to rediscover our common humanity through our very diversity. Cultural diversity thereby becomes a resource, benefitting cultural intellectual and scientific cooperation for development and the culture of peace. The four key areas of cultural diversity are languages, education, communication and cultural content. In each of these areas, cultural diversity can be promoted and nurtured, for its own sake and for the benefit of the corresponding sectoral policies. Of course, virtually all activities can have an impact on cultural diversity, and vice versa. However, the fields in question are particularly relevant in the sense that cultural diversity both depends on and significantly influences their evolution. Languages doubtless constitute the most immediate manifestation of cultural diversity. Today they are facing new challenges and steps must be taken both to revitalize endangered languages and promote receptiveness to others through a command of several languages — mother tongue, national language and an international language — and through the development of translation capacity. These considerations argue in favor of a new approach to cultural diversity — one that takes account of its dynamic nature and the challenges of identity associated with the permanence of cultural change and development of unity in diversity. Diversity can no longer be seen as being at odds with or opposed to the universally shared principles on which our common humanity is based. Cultural diversity accordingly becomes a key instrument for the effective exercise of universal human rights and for the renewal of strategies aimed at strengthening social cohesion through the development of new and more participatory forms of governance. In the field of education, we must seek to strike a balance between the requirements of education for all and the integration of cultural diversity in educational strategies through the diversification of educational contents and methods, and a new emphasis on the development of intercultural competencies conducive to dialogue. More generally, there is a need to promote practices involving out-of-school learning and value transmission, notably in the informal sector and through the arts, as developed by societies worldwide. Concerning communication and cultural content, the focus is on the importance of overcoming certain obstacles that, by hampering the free circulation of ideas by word and image, can impair our responses to cultural diversity. Persistent stereotypes and major disparities in the capacity to produce cultural contents are a particular concern and call for greater efforts to promote media literacy and information skills, particularly through the information and communication technologies (ICTs). Cultural diversity can help to renew the international community’s approaches to a series of problems that have existed since the founding of the United Nations: development on the one hand, and peace-building on the other, in particular the promotion of universally recognized human rights. It is well known that effective development policies must take account of the different cultural settings in which they are to be deployed. Cultural diversity can be instrumental in the empowerment of communities, populations and groups. It can be the linchpin of innovative strategies for protecting the environment and combating poverty and inequality. Globalization is often seen as a unidirectional and unidimensional process, driven by a Western-dominated global market economy and tending to standardize, streamline and transnationalize in ways inimical to cultural diversity. The focus is on the threat posed to local cultural products and practices by globalized consumer goods and services — on how television and video productions are tending to eclipse traditional forms of entertainment, how pop and rock music are drowning out indigenous music, or how convenience food is blunting the appetite for local cuisine. Some forms of cultural diversity are clearly more vulnerable than others. Most local communities worldwide have been exposed to some extent to the images and consumer practices typical of this Western paradigm, which has now impacted on almost all countries, irrespective of culture, religion, social system and political regime. The adoption of many of its facets is closely linked to rapidly expanding urban living, which now involves some 50 percent of the world’s population. Cultural erosion has accordingly become an issue of increasing concern since numerous modes of life are being lost and many cultural forms and expressions are disappearing. There is a widespread sense that globalization is leading to pervasive cultural homogenization, not to say hegemonization by stealth. There can be no doubt that the development of transnational markets, linked to the rise of consumerism promoted by skillful advertising, is impacting significantly on local cultures, which are finding it difficult to compete in an increasingly global marketplace. In this context, the tendency of enterprises to delocalize to the developing world as part of the liberalization of world trade is creating new consumer patterns in which the juxtaposition of contrasting lifestyles can serve to accelerate cultural change that may be neither welcome nor desirable. Linguistic homogenization typically accompanied the creation of nation-states in the wake of decolonization and, more recently, the collapse of the Soviet Union and its affiliated satellites. Nation-states can constitutionally defi ne the status of languages spoken in their territory and decide on the spheres in which they are to be used. With more than 1 billion (first and second language) speakers, English is undeniably the most widespread language of communication. It is the official or main language in almost 60 countries (nearly one-third of the Member States of the United Nations), is present in another 75 countries, and is also the matrix language of more than 40 creole and pidgin languages. English has been described as ‘the only shared medium across the vast Asian region’, home to the world’s largest population, and remains the dominant language across cultural industries, the Internet and media, as well as in diplomacy. Two billion people — one-third of the world’s population — could be learning English by 2010–2015, with as many as 3 billion people, or half the world’s population, speaking the language in the near future (Graddol, 2006), leading to the oft-stated conclusion that the world has already adopted a de facto international auxiliary language. This trend is further confi rmed by translation statistics, with most translations being from English as source language and comparatively little of the work published around the world in other languages being translated into English — somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of total books published in the US and the UK. One need to look no further than cyberspace to note the preponderance of a handful of the most widespread written languages, which is having detrimental impacts on the representation of other languages and on the viability of non-written languages. While it has foregrounded the expanding role of English, the effects of globalization on languages are nonetheless multidirectional, making it hard it to predict the impact of the expansion of English on multilingualism. While English appears to occupy a unique position as a convenient vehicular code across the world in tandem with the rise of information and communication technologies (ICTs), further technological innovation promises to make electronically mediated communication better able to support character-based languages (without romanization or alphabetization) and oral-based communication (through voice recognition, for example) in the future. It may also be that the widespread use of English will be limited to specific purposes, such as transactions and functional communication Instruction: As an experienced graduate student you know that language is much more than the external expression and communication of internal thoughts formulated independently of their verbalization. You can demonstrate the inadequacy and inappropriateness of such a view of language, paying attention to the ways in which your native language is intimately and in all sorts of details related to the rest of your life in your community as well as in smaller groups within that community. Keep this universal fact in mind while reading and discussing the text. You should begin by asking and answering overview questions about the research field, the subject matter, or the main purpose of the text. These questions ask you to identify most important points in the text, the essence or topic of a passage. Sample Question What is the research field of the text? Choose the right answer. (A) The movement of people as the main reason for English language spread. (B) The major challenge of managing cultural diversity. (C) The stereotypes and disparities in production of cultural contents. (D) Western-dominated global market economy is a threat to local cultural products. Sample Question What is the subject matter and main topic of the passage? Choose the right answer. (A) Cultural diversity of the international community. (B) Globalization means interaction between cultures. (C) The importance of overcoming cultural obstacles. (D) The impact of globalization on culture. Main purpose questions ask why the author wrote a passage. The answer choices for these questions usually begin with infinitives. Sample Questions • What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? • What is the author's main purpose in the passage? • What is the main point of this passage? • Why did the author write the passage? Sample Answer Choices To define_____ To relate_____ To discuss_____ To propose_____ To illustrate_____ To support the idea that_____ To distinguish between _____and______ To compare ____and_____ Main detail questions ask about the most significant information of the passage. To answer such a question, you should point out a line or two in the text. Sample Questions What news is emphasized in the passage? In what line is the most significant information given? If you're not sure of the answer for one of these questions, go back and quickly scan the passage. You can usually infer the main idea, main topic, or main purpose of the entire passage from an understanding of the main ideas of the paragraphs that make up the passage and the relationship between them. Caution: Don't answer the initial overview question about a passage until you have answered the other questions. The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage. The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passages. Now you are well prepared to write a half-page abstract of the text. Abstract is a brief summary of a research paper, which gives an overview of the paper, focusing on its main points and defining for the reader the outlines of the subject under study. Abstract must be an independent meaningful text, easy to read (explicit, unambiguous formulation, short sentences) and understandable to the wide audience. Abstract communicates the objective of research, the research problem, methods of research, results and their originality, and areas of application. Important facts, relationships and numerical data are also provided. Abstract ends, in a separate line, with keywords (5-10 words) which identify the subject areas discussed in the research. How to produce an abstract: 1. An abstract is usually around 150–300 words, but there’s often a strict word limit, so make sure to check the requirements of the university. 2.Outline the article. Note the research problem and objectives. 3. The overall purpose of the study and the research problem(s). 4. The basic design of the study. 5. Major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis. 6. A brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions. 7. Keywords (5-10 words) which identify the subject areas discussed in the research. UNIT 5. CROSS-CULTURAL ENGLISH AS THE MEDIUM OF EDUCATION Guidelines for cross-cultural English teaching and learning In recent years, several developments in the practice of teaching and learning English have started to take new directions in global universities. The European ‘language portfolio’, for example, attempts to record a student’s experience and achievement in non-traditional ways. The Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR) which attempts to provide a uniform approach to attainment levels across all languages, employs the concept of ‘can do’ statements rather than focusing on aspects of failure. Such developments illustrate the way that English teaching practices are evolving to meet new social, political and economic expectations and they significantly depart from the traditional university models. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 5-1. Internationalization of Universities (After D. Fink-Hafner, T. Dagen. Impact of Globalization on Internationalization of Universities // Teorija in Praksa. Ljubljana, 2019) 1. The globalization of universities The ranking of the world’s universities provided each year by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute has become a standard international reference: one glance shows a domination by American and other English-speaking universities. In fact, around two-thirds of the world’s top 100 universities are in English-speaking countries. This is one reason why English is used increasingly as the medium of education in universities across the world. If an institution wishes to become a center of international excellence, it needs both to attract teachers and researchers from around the world, and to encourage international students to enroll on its courses, enriching the university’s prestige, revenue, and intellectual climate. A recent commentary in The Economist observed: The top universities are citizens of an international academic marketplace with one global academic currency, one global labor force and, increasingly, one global language, English. They are also increasingly citizens of a global economy, sending their best graduates to work for multinational companies. The creation of global universities was spearheaded by the Americans; now everybody else is trying to get in on the act. (The Economist, 8 September 2005) A recent study of academic mobility to and from the UK found that ‘the very great majority of movement takes place amongst junior postdoctoral staff, and this is entirely positive for this country’. Academics, like many other professionals, desire to gain international experience early in their careers. English as the global academic language facilitates the international mobility of young researchers. 2. Higher education One of the most important drivers of global English has been the globalization of higher education. Universities have been traditionally national institutions – even local ones. Now universities compete at a global level. The changing nature and role of higher education is putting pressure on the rest of the education system. Universities play a key role in developing knowledge economies; international surveys of the attractiveness of a country as an outsourcing destination routinely assess the quality and number of local graduates. For example, India produces 2.5 million university graduates each year, only a quarter are ‘suitable’ for employment by multinationals or their Indian outsourcing partners. Within 5 years, India may find itself short of 150,000 IT (Information technology) engineers and 350,000 BPO workers. The chief handicaps are weak spoken-English skills, especially among graduates of non-elite schools, and the uneven quality of college curricula and faculty. Such shortages lead to high staff turnover, and escalating wage costs, which erode India’s competitive advantage. It is not only India which is concerned about maintaining the supply of well-trained graduates. Though China produces an estimated 3.1 million graduates from its colleges, less than 10 percent of Chinese job candidates, on average, would be suitable for work in a foreign company. The chief handicaps are weak spoken-English skills, especially among graduates of non-elite schools, and the uneven quality of college curricula and faculty. 3. International student mobility Over half the world’s international students are taught in English. More countries are establishing English-medium courses. There is no complete source of comparable data on international student mobility, but the trends are clear. Between 2 and 3 million students each year travel to another country to study, mostly to only a few destinations. The USA and the UK together account for over a third of all international students in the world. The ‘major Englishspeaking destination countries’ (MESDCs) together account for around 46%. MESDCs attract so many students because their universities dominate the international league tables; English-speaking countries have the most entrepreneurial universities, who seek income by marketing their courses to overseas students; and English itself is seen as a key educational investment. 4. New competitors The MESDCs face three new kinds of competition. First, in some key source countries, there has been rapid expansion of universities, coupled with educational reform, which has improved quality. The numbers of students wishing to study abroad thus slow, or decrease, even whilst participation rates increase. Second, as such countries improve their education systems and economies, they reposition themselves as net exporters of higher education, poaching international students from neighboring countries who might otherwise have travelled to MESDCs. China is likely to become a net exporter of higher education, receiving many students from Korea and Japan, and now marketing itself to Thailand and India. Such trends are likely to increase the number of international students studying in languages other than English. Third, more countries, both in Europe and Asia, are attracting international students by offering courses taught through the medium of English. Singapore and Malaysia are establishing themselves as ‘education hubs’ whilst a survey of Chinese students by consultants i-graduate discovered that they were increasingly attracted to courses offered by EU countries such as Germany. 5. Transnational education At the end of the 1990s, there was huge optimism in how the internet could transform education. There was also an appreciation of the way higher education was rapidly globalizing and how English-speaking universities dominated the new global league tables. Virtual universities became the flavor of the day. Within only 4 years, the global adventure was over. Nearly all the ventures collapsed or were folded quietly back into parent organizations. These ventures failed mainly because they were established by people who did not properly understand the business. They overestimated the economies of scale they would achieve through eLearning, failing to listen to experienced voices that warned that good-quality online distance education may be actually more expensive than face-to-face education. The success of eLearning depends less on gee-whizz technology and more on how human relationships are managed; less on marketing hype, and more on learning how traditional pedagogical values can be adapted in the new context. 6. Foreign campuses and joint ventures American, Australian and British universities now compete for international students in their home countries. The UK’s University of Nottingham, for example, opened two Asian campuses: Nottingham Malaysia and Nottingham Ningbo in China (a joint venture with Zhejiang Wanli University). By such ventures, numbers of transnational students studying for UK degrees are expected to overtake international students coming to Britain for study. The new overseas campuses are likely to attract students from elsewhere in the region, thus helping to provide an international intellectual environment. Although such transnational enterprises look as if they will be successful in educational terms, it is still difficult to understand whether they are, on balance, in the long-term strategic interests of the English-speaking countries. Higher education has rapidly globalized, creating a divide between global elite institutions and those which mainly serve local students. Global institutions in non-English-speaking countries are using English medium courses to attract international students and teachers. However, there may also be a trend (for example in Germany) to restrict this to lower levels and to require international students to ‘come up to speed’ in the national language. The growth in international student mobility is likely to be slower than anticipated, with MESDCs receiving a declining market share. As countries improve tertiary provision, local and regional options are becoming available, which may be cheaper and culturally more attractive. Attempts to create global eUniversities have largely failed, though eLearning is proving to be a successful component in ‘blended learning’ offered by traditional institutions as well as in secondary education. The fastest growth for UK universities now appears to be in transnational students studying for a UK degree in branch campuses or joint ventures established in Asian countries. The long-term strategic and economic benefits of this for the UK are still unknown. Countries which have, in the past, provided major sources of international students, such as Malaysia and China, are sending fewer students overseas and repositioning themselves as net exporters of higher education. Higher education has rapidly globalized, creating a divide between global elite institutions and those which mainly serve local students. Global institutions in non-English-speaking countries are using English medium courses to attract international students and teachers. However, there may also be a trend (for example in Germany) to restrict this to lower levels and to require international students to ‘come up to speed’ in the national language. Attempts to create global eUniversities have largely failed, though eLearning is proving to be a successful component in ‘blended learning’ offered by traditional institutions as well as in secondary education. 7. Learning English There is no single way of teaching English, no single way of learning it, no single motive for doing so, no single syllabus or textbook, no single way of assessing proficiency and, indeed, no single variety of English which provides the target of learning. It is tempting, but unhelpful, to say there are as many combinations of these as there are learners and teachers. The proliferation of acronyms in ELT reflects this diversity of models. By a ‘model’ I do not mean a particular variety of English – such as US or British – though selection of a particular variety may play a role. By a ‘model’ of English I mean a complex framework, which includes issues of methodology and variety, but goes beyond these to include other dimensions of the context and practice of learning English. It is becoming clear that these issues are not easily separable. The appropriateness of content clearly depends on such things as the age of the learner and whether English is to be used primarily as a language of international communication or for survival communication with native speakers, perhaps whilst on holiday in the UK or some other English-speaking country. There are many stakeholders involved in the teaching and learning process, each of whom may have a different view. Learners, their families, teachers, governments, employers, textbook publishers, examination providers – all now possess an interest in the English language business. There is, of course, a great deal of debate, often lively, about the best methods and approaches for teaching English. But much of this debate is cast within only two models: the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) and the teaching of English as a second language (ESL). 8. The EFL tradition EFL, as we know it today, is a largely 19thcentury creation, though drawing on centuries of experience in teaching the classical languages. EFL tends to highlight the importance of learning about the culture and society of native speakers; it stresses the centrality of methodology in discussions of effective learning; and emphasizes the importance of emulating native speaker language behavior. EFL approaches, like all foreign languages teaching, positions the learner as an outsider, as a foreigner; one who struggles to attain acceptance by the target community. There is an extraordinary diversity in the ways in which English is taught and learned around the world, but some clear orthodoxies have arisen. ‘English as a Foreign Language’ has been a dominant one in the second half of the 20th century, but it seems to be giving way to a new orthodoxy, more suited to the realities of global English The target language is always someone else’s mother tongue. The learner is constructed as a linguistic tourist – allowed to visit, but without rights of residence and required always to respect the superior authority of native speakers. When measured against the standard of a native speaker, few EFL learners will be perfect. Within traditional EFL methodology there is an inbuilt ideological positioning of the student as outsider and failure – however proficient they become. Although EFL has become technologized, and has been transformed over the years by communicative methods, these have led only to a modest improvement in attainment by learners. In those countries where passing English exams has been made a condition of promotion or graduation, it has often led to considerable stress and resentment by learners, rather than significantly enhanced levels of proficiency. 9. English as a second language In contrast to EFL, one of the defining features of teaching English as a second language is that it recognizes the role of English in the society in which it is taught. In ESL countries, children usually learn some English informally before they enter school, so that the role of the classroom is often to extend their knowledge of the language. Where there exists a local, vernacular variety of English, a major role of the classroom is teaching learners a more formal and standard variety. The ecology of English in such countries is a multilingual one where English is associated with particular domains, functions and social elites. A related characteristic of ESL societies is code switching: speakers will often switch between English and other languages, even within a single sentence. ESL in such contexts must also address issues of identity and bilingualism. Some learners – even in the USA and the UK – will not be quite as immersed in an English-speaking world as might be imagined. Many live in ethnic communities in which many of the necessities of daily life can be conducted within the community language. Where ESL is taught to immigrants entering English-speaking countries it is not surprising that a key component in the curriculum is often ‘citizenship’: ensuring that learners are aware of the rights and obligations as permanent residents in English speaking countries. Citizenship rarely figured in the traditional EFL curriculum. 10. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has emerged as a significant curriculum trend in Europe. Similar approaches are now used, under different names, in many other countries. CLIL is an approach to bilingual education in which both curriculum content – such as Science or Geography – and English are taught together. It differs from simple English-medium education in that the learner is not necessarily expected to have the English proficiency required to cope with the subject before beginning study. Hence, it is a means of teaching curriculum subjects through the medium of a language still being learned, providing the necessary language support alongside the subject specialism. CLIL can also be regarded the other way around – as a means of teaching English through study of a specialist content. CLIL arose from curriculum innovations in Finland, in the mid-1990s, and it has been adopted in many European countries, mostly in connection with English. There is no orthodoxy as to how, exactly, CLIL should be implemented and diverse practices have evolved. CLIL is compatible with the idea of JIT education (‘just in time’ learning) and is regarded by some of its practitioners as the ultimate communicative methodology. Teaching curriculum subjects through the medium of English means that teachers must convey not only the subject content and disciplinary language but also the practical problemsolving, negotiations, discussions and classroom management in ways that characterise disciplinary pedagogic practices. In that sense it differs from ESP. In most cases, CLIL is used in secondary schools and relies on basic skills in English being already taught at primary level. CLIL changes the working relationships within schools, and requires a cultural change of a kind which is often difficult to bring about within educational institutions. English teachers have to work closely with subject teachers to ensure that language development is appropriately catered for and this implies making sufficient non-contact time available for planning and review. English teachers may largely lose their ‘subject’ as a timetabled space and may take on a wider support and remedial role. For these reasons, although CLIL seems now to be growing quite fast in some countries, it is doing so organically rather than within ‘top-down’ reform programs. CLIL is difficult to implement unless the subject teachers are themselves bilingual. When English is developed within a CLIL program, assessment of English proficiency is made partly through subject assessment. An inexorable trend in the use of global English is that fewer interactions now involve a native speaker. The way English is taught and assessed should reflect the needs and aspirations of the ever-growing number of non-native speakers who use English to communicate with other non-natives. Understanding how non-native speakers use English among themselves has now become a serious research area. REVISION EXERCISES Instruction: These are revision assignments in which you should combine all skills you have employed in the preceding four units. You will have to start with identifying the main idea, the main topic, or the main purpose of the text. Then follows the task of: matching headings with paragraphs or sections, and identifying which sections relate to certain topics. Basing on circumstantial evidence, inferences and vocabulary-in context you will have to look into specific information given in the text. Make a list of key words. Step 1. Survey the text and make a list of headings and subheadings A list of headings will give you some clues to help single out main points of the text. Step 2. Skim read each paragraph Every paragraph deals with a specific aspect of a topic. The first sentence of a paragraph may tell you what the rest of the paragraph is about. Therefore while trying to identify the main idea of a paragraph, you should read the first sentence and skim the rest of the paragraphs. Follow the three-step strategy to make finding key words easier. Step 1. Make sure you know what you are looking for. Step 2. Scan each paragraph for 5-10 key words. Do not read every word. Step 3. Select 5-10 key words for the whole text. Task: Answer the following questions:  What is the main topic of the passage?  What is the author's attitude toward different types of universities in Englishspeaking countries and ESL countries?  What does CLIL change for teachers and students? Collect specific information that you may not have known before, first, passages 1-6 and, second, from passages 7-10. from PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING TRANSNATIONAL ENGLISH Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts S. Ch. Molina shares her view on successful intercultural communication as a matter of highest importance in variable national, social and cultural communities. She focuses on her experience as a teacher at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. Her teaching team worked on the technical aspects of teaching such as lesson development, lesson online delivery, and assessment, and discussed the challenges they encountered while engaged in the process of teaching and learning with our students. This text combines both theoretical and practical issues associated with intercultural communication which can be first understood and then acted upon. This broad-based, highly engaging discussion includes a balance of the global and local ideas that laid the groundwork for this field, as well as those that investigate the field's latest research. Material is presented in Kenyan context, which allows students to understand local issues and compare them to their lives to ensure that they are effective, culturally aware communicators. Text 5-2. TRANSNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: OPPORTUNITIES FOR TEACHER LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT (After S. Ch. Molina’s Transnational English language teaching: opportunities for teacher learning and development // ELTED Journal. Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick. Vol. 18 Autumn 2015) As teacher educator, I have long been interested in looking for ways in which to provide educational opportunities for students, particularly for those who are unable to receive education due to a variety of social and contextual factors. As a faculty member of a University dedicated to the values of equity and social justice, I looked for ways in which to embed these important principles into our TESOL teacher education program. I had the opportunity to teach at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences in Nairobi, Kenya. Our aim was to provide local youth with professional development opportunities and skills to successfully transition into society as a means out of poverty. We considered how our TESOL program could continue to be of service to them. In collaboration with our graduate students, we developed an online business English program to support their entrepreneurial goals. This project was a two-year initiative with the intention of training the staff members, using the “train-the-trainer” approach to empower the local trainers to then take on the leadership around this work. Because we were developing the program as we were simultaneously trying to understand the needs of the learners enrolled in the program, I instituted dialogical learning spaces, which were weekly teachingteam sessions lasting from one to three hours, where we brainstormed lesson plan ideas, prescreened and uploaded lessons, reviewed student submissions, provided feedback, while having conversations around our assumptions about language learning and teaching, particularly within this transnational context. I will focus on the learning that teachers derived through their participation in this project, and on the implications for TESOL teacher education in the global context. In re-envisioning the direction of language teacher education in the global context, we base on an important conceptual model for teacher educators. This model includes five shifts in perspectives from the traditional ways in which language teacher education has operated. First, the postnational perspective is the recognition that countries or cultures are no longer encapsulated, but rather permeable, in that knowledge and cultural capital flows across boundaries. Second, the postmodern perspective takes into consideration the evolving identity of individuals as having the power and agency to enact change. Third, the postcolonial perspective shifts the perception of English not as a language forced upon those who were colonized (though we recognize the negative influences that still remain in some countries), but a language that is used as a tool for communication in this global society. This paradigm shift has become important as we begin to recognize English as a powerful medium for engaging in conversations on the international platform. Fourth, the post-transmission perspective deviates from the traditional model of transmitting knowledge and holds teachers at the center of learning, where they construct meaning and make sense of their knowledge and experiences as they interact with the broader contexts, which influence the practice of learning and teaching. Fifth, the postmethod perspective, which shifts from the teaching of methods and strategies to empowering teachers to theorize about teaching practice through understanding the needs that continually manifest within their own teaching contexts, integrating changes to support those needs, analyzing their teaching practice and students’ learning and finally reflecting on the impact of their teaching in a cyclical process. The post-colonial perspective requires some further discussion in the context of this paper because of our transnational work in Kenya. The imposition of the Western education system on the culture and heritage of people around the world has alerted us to how history can shape individuals’ attitudes toward learning the English language. However, countries with a history of colonial imposition such as Kenya, have managed to maintain their own language/s, but have recognized English as a second language (L2) of non-native speakers that provides social mobility in multilingual contexts. This movement of English ownership from traditionally English speaking countries to the majority of the speakers who use this language in a Lingua Franca context has been termed the denationalization of English. English then becomes renationalized in the sense that speakers use it to express their own unique identities and cultural values. As such, English is used both locally within the local context and globally, to express local identities on the international platform, which describes the complexity of linguistic variation. This stresses the importance of adjusting methods of teaching English to be in line with the changing patterns of English use within the local context. Teachers need to be sensitive to the societal, political, economic, and educational environment in which L2 education takes place because it is deeply embedded in the larger social context that has a profound effect on it. The social context shapes various learning and teaching issues such as (a) the motivation for L2 learning, (b) the goal of L2 learning, (c) the functions L2 is expected to perform at home and in the community, (d) the availability of input to the learner, (e) the variation in the input, (f) and the norms of proficiency acceptable to that particular speech community. It is impossible to insulate classroom life from the dynamics of social institutions. In terms of raising cultural consciousness, the traditional view of cultural consciousness or cultural relevance also does not seem sufficient for transnational language teaching contexts. What is now required is a “global cultural consciousness.” For that purpose, instead of privileging the teacher as the sole cultural informant, we need to treat the learner as a cultural informant as well. By treating learners as cultural informants, we can encourage them to engage in a process of participation that puts a premium on their power/knowledge. We can do so by identifying the cultural knowledge learners bring to the classroom and by using it to help them share their own individual perspectives with the teacher as well as other learners whose lives, and hence perspectives, differ from theirs. Such a multicultural approach can also dispel stereotypes that create and sustain cross-cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications. Teaching in a transnational context demands an entirely different set of assumptions for our teachers. It is important for us to situate our pedagogical practice within the postperspectives paradigm. This project has supported the learning process through weekly meetings that served as a space for teachers and graduate students to engage in dialogizing about teaching practice within this particular transnational teaching context. We focused our conversations around teaching practice in this context and developing a deep understanding of the needs and goals of our students, as well as the historical, political, and socio-cultural dimensions that have influenced the status of English in Kenya. All the Kenyan students in this study reported that they were bilingual in Kiswahili and the local Kenyan English variety. English serves sociolinguistic functions such as instrumental (e.g. national exam), interpersonal (e.g. common language of communication), regulative (e.g. law) and creative functions (e.g. literature). It is also associated with high status jobs, the government, the academic achievement and social mobility. Kiswahili is used for social interactions within towns, trade between towns and some local jobs. Many of the students were planning to pursue entrepreneurial goals ranged from improving English language skills to pursue higher education, enhance their business skills, start their own businesses, and empower members of their communities. Additionally, some of them wished to work for multinational corporations and organizations such as the United Nations, World Vision, USAID. The course was housed on online platforms for education, which also have apps on the iPad to facilitate the creation and delivery of lessons and feedback on student assignments. Youtube was also used to share video lessons and for students to develop videos for responding to certain asynchronous assignments (e. g., Self-introductions, sales, pitch vídeos). Lastly, Skype was used to record synchronous assignments such as their mock job interviews. All of our data was housed on Google Drive. As a teaching team, we met weekly from one to three hours to work on the technical aspects of teaching such as lesson development, lesson online delivery, and assessment, but also the challenges we encountered while engaged in the process of teaching and learning with our students. These weekly meetings provided a safe place for the teachers to ask questions and reflect on their interactions with their students and reveal to me and the teaching team members areas that were, “ripe for mediation”. These discussions allowed us to probe further and negotiate meaning, which served as a form of mediation where the graduate students serving as teachers, had an opportunity to ask for example, a question related to whether or not a particular form of feedback was appropriate in this transnational context. We relied heavily on our students and research articles as our primary “experts” in scaffolding our learning process in this unique transnational context. The graduate students also served as “experts” on areas they have had experience with in order to help support our learning process. As we deployed the business English program through extensive research on best practices for teaching online and through assessing and addressing the needs of the students enrolled in the program, it became clear that we were met with some challenges. One of the learning experiences for our graduate students was the development of a curriculum based on student and institutional needs and goals. Though the Business English curriculum might resemble similar curriculums taught in any country on the topic of “Business English,” we found that there were many questions about the particularities of the linguistic and cultural nuances that were important to consider in light of the students goals. For example, if our students wanted to work for a local company, we found that it would be important for our student to be able to communicate and write in a way that was appropriate within that context without imposing American English stylist elements we might use in the U.S. context. Alternatively, we found that introducing the students to a variety of norms for business practices in global contexts might help them to better navigate business opportunities both locally and globally. In other words, we believed that the exposure to a variety of ways in which business is conducted in transnational contexts could empower our students to select those that best help them to share their voices in their particular local context or future global context. This essentially shifts the focus of English language teaching from approximating a native English speaker model to one that empowers the English speaker in these diverse, international contexts. Ideally, being able to simultaneously engage in the teaching and learning on both levels may be an important goal. We build an asynchronous learning platform, which allows for instructional engagement online including delivery of video lectures and assignments with a comment feature similar to that of Facebook. For interactive synchronous interactions, Skype technology was used and for asynchronous video lectures, feedback and assignments, iMovie and Youtube were used. Applications, such as Quark, that we had asked the students to download in order to develop their brochures required Internet access to function, so we had to include apps that could be used offline in order to accommodate the needs of our students who did not have access to Wi-fi on a regular basis. Our teachers learned to be flexible with the students’ schedules as they were in an area of the country with intermittent Internet access, often using the Internet cafés to download and upload assignments. There were also political and economic factors that affected the timeline in which assignments were accessed and submitted. We learned about the importance of setting the timelines with our students based on the local events and holidays and being flexible with these timelines to account for unforeseen circumstances. Another complexity that our teachers struggled with was the diversity of student proficiency levels. In this particular context, the diversity of proficiency levels was further complicated because our students had varying levels of proficiency in their own local English variety and British English. This often made our teachers wonder during our teaching team meetings if the features they identified were the norms for the local variety they spoke, a result of their native language or their individual developing English language system. In addition, our students had variation in strength, where most were stronger in writing than speaking. Within these circumstances, our teachers needed to negotiate how they could meet both the larger institutional, economic, political goals as well as support the students’ individual goals. One of the oft-debated areas within the EIL framework is the question of which variety of English to use in assessment. We learned that the assessment of productive skills (oral and written) is challenging when considered from the perspective of World Englishes in postcolonial countries in particular (e.g. syntactic simplification; pragmatics; spelling conventions). Language learning also requires time and we found that there were fewer errors in “controlled” formal written or rehearsed spoken language; however, some of these errors continued to manifest in informal emails and real-time spoken language. This nativized English may include some language mixing, code switching and use of emerging vernaculars, which adds to the diversity of local English, but could also add to the complexity of teaching English to local people. Some of the features identified as errors in the teacher feedback to their students such as the omission of articles and prepositions and misuse of prepositions, appears to be acceptable in the nativized variety of English. In, there are also pragmatic, grammatical and phonological features that are unique to Lingua Franca communications. Given that these are considered the norms in Lingua Franca Contexts and were often considered errors in this transnational context of English language teaching, it brings to the forefront again the question of “Which English or Englishes?” should be the framework for teaching and assessment. The teachers themselves had a diversity of linguistic exposure to different English varieties, and depending on their experience, their feedback was influenced or nuanced in their approach. Through this project, our teaching team attempted to take into careful consideration the importance of viewing English language teaching and learning from both a local and global perspective, with a sense of critical consciousness towards teaching English as an International language. As English language teaching is continuing to transcend boundaries of English varieties, it opens up many opportunities for engaging in global understanding and exchange. However, in terms of pedagogical practice, the questions about which English to use, what materials and methods to use for instruction and what assessment measures to utilize continue to be important areas to examine in such contexts. It has become clear that navigating the students’ learning is indeed a complex and challenging task as the teachers are learning alongside them. We began to truly value the teaching team meetings and learned the importance of creating learning communities centered on improving instructional practice to best meet the needs of our students, while, at the same time, designing an online learning and teaching platform that best approximates face-to-face interaction. For teachers teaching within these international and transnational contexts, it might be important to develop a kind of “multidialectal competence” and “metacultural competence”, which are essentially strategies used by English speakers in English as a Lingua Franca contexts to negotiate meaning. The transnational language teaching experience affords us the opportunity to take one step towards understanding what it might look like for our teachers to possess “metadialectal” and “meta-cultural” competencies. However, future studies that address ways in which teacher educators can nurture and develop these competencies in our teacher candidates may help to shed further light on this important area for teacher development. Write a précis of this text Précis (pronounced "preh-see"): is a type of summary or abridgment where you summarize a piece of text, its main ideas and arguments, in particular, to provide insight into its author’s content. While writing a précis you have to exactly and succinctly account for the key aspects of the text. If you write a successful précis, it is a good indication that you've read that text closely and that you understand its major points. It is an excellent way to show that you've closely read a text. A précis should consist of four brief but direct passages (components). The first identifies who wrote the text, where and when it was published, and what its topic and field are. The second explores how the text is developed and organized. The third explains why the author wrote this, her/his purpose or intended effect. The fourth and final sentence/passage describes who the intended or assumed audience of this text is. So, the process of précis writing begins with critical reading and research: 1. Read the original piece. 2. Specify its core points and arguments. 3. Consider the evidence used by the author. 4. Research what's new for you in the original piece: definitions, statements, words, data, etc.). 5. Identify the appeals the author used. Remember: don't give your personal opinions on the analyzed work because you are not writing a critical book review or analytical essay. The goal of your precis is to guide people through unfamiliar reading. It means that the voice, opinions of your text must reflect the author’s voice, his thoughts and be understandable for those people who have not read the original text. Keep in mind that a precis is not a:  Plan/outline of the original passage or article;  Simple abstract of the text;  Selection of the most prominent phrases and sentences;  Chain of facts, sentences that are not connected. A good precis has the following features. Precis is written in a writer's own words and mood. A writer shouldn't simply copy original sentences - he or she needs to compress and paraphrase them in her/his precis. Each sentence of your précis should be unique - it is your writing work. Precis should be logically ordered, with all parts of it being connected to each other. A writer can't use the first person pronouns (I, we) as precis is always written in the third person. Precis never contains any additional information or details not mentioned in the original text even if it supports the main idea if the author. UNIT 6. HOW TO TEACH MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION Guidelines for understanding intercultural communication Intercultural understanding is both an approach and an outcome of the learning process. It promotes critical sensitivity to cultural differences among peoples within nations as well as across nations. This approach promotes equal value in all human life and serves for preparation for membership in a diverse and pluralistic global community. Students are encouraged to develop the knowledge and skills required to negotiate and flourish in a diverse, transnational environment and to continue their engagement in critical analysis of cultural relationships both across and within nations. They are to achieve goals that promote intercultural understanding: · Disposition towards lifelong learning that includes a critical engagement with cultures. · Recognition and value for one’s own cultures as well as the cultures of others. · Knowledge of cultural differences among peoples within nations as well as across nations. · Development of global citizens and preparation for active membership in a diverse and pluralistic global community. · Development of skills to negotiate and flourish in a culturally diverse environment. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 6-1. HOW TO TEACH MULTICULTURAL COMMUNICATION (After B. Saint-Jacques’ Worldview in Intercultural Communication. A ReligioCosmological Approach. In L. Samovar, R. Porter, E. McDaniel, (Eds.), Intercultural Communication. A Reader) 1. New approach to intercultural understanding. Multicultural or intercultural communication cannot be learned without intercultural understanding, which is based on the knowledge of culture. The word “culture” has four different meanings: (1) High culture, the achievements of a society in terms of the most esteemed forms of literature, art, music. (2) Culture as behavior, the ways people agree to behave, act, and respond. (3) Culture as ways of thinking: modes of perception, beliefs and values. (4) Culture as language, the close link between language and culture. The second meaning of culture, that is, culture as behavior, is related to clothing, food, architecture, transportation, appearance and so on, it is usually called “overt culture” or, in the “iceberg model of culture”, what is above the waterline and therefore easily observable. Culture as behavior is subject to constant changes and is easily learned. The third meaning of culture, modes of perception, beliefs and values, is not easily observable and is often out of our own and others’ awareness, it is called “covert culture” and, in the “iceberg model of culture,” what is below the waterline. In our search of how to teach and learn intercultural understanding and communication, we shall be dealing with meanings three and four of culture. 2. Culture as Ways of Thinking, Beliefs and Values Culture is, first of all, perceptions concerning our system of values, our ways of thinking, our beliefs, our psychological orientations. Intercultural understanding is therefore the ability to understand the perceptions concerning one’s own culture and the perceptions of the people who belong to another culture, and the capacity to negotiate between the two. The Greek philosopher Socrates had chosen for himself the following maxim: “gnôthi seauton,” “Know Thyself.” The same is true for intercultural understanding. The first step for intercultural understanding is to have a clear idea about one’s own culture and about our personal perceptions of this culture. This is not an easy task, however. Perceptions about one’s culture are mostly unconscious. When asked to describe one’s culture, a person might have very vague answers or often provide certain social generalizations which are stereotypes about one’s culture. There are two important facts concerning perceptions of one’s culture: First, nations are not culturally homogeneous, individuals in a nation might have different perceptions about their culture. These perceptions will vary according to social class, age, education, gender, experiences in life and many other factors. Second, cultures are not static, they change constantly. These two facts are true for all cultures. Does this mean that it is practically impossible to find out the perceptions a person has about her or his own culture or the perceptions a person of a different culture holds about her or his own culture? No, it is quite possible through questioning, debates, discussions, reflective writing about one single cultural aspect, thus allowing the person to reflect about her or his own perception about one cultural aspect, often linked to other aspects of the culture. Thus, the door to one’s perception of one’s culture has been opened. The types of questions and discussions in this approach will vary according to the age and background of students. Let’s say that we are dealing with university students. If a student or a person of another culture is present, this is an ideal situation because that person can also answer the same question and then a lively discussion can take place. When it is not possible, however, answers for a question can be found in books dealing with a variety of cultures. Here are some examples of questions that students have to answer, and statements they have to qualify: 1/ strongly agree, 2/ agree, 3/ no opinion, 4/ disagree, or 5/ strongly disagree:  Men in my country usually expect women to prepare and serve food. __________  A married man should help around the house, doing cleaning, ironing and cooking. __________  In my country, it is common for a man to give up his seat to a woman on public transport. __________  In my country, it is not typical for women to speak their minds and contradict men. __________  Should both husband and wife contribute to the household income? ___________  Is it normal “going Dutch” (when each pays half of the costs) when a man and a woman go out? __________  If a man and a woman are having dinner together, is it OK for the woman to pay the bill? __________  Is it OK for a man to give a woman a pat on the backside to show he likes her? __________  Is it proper for a man to hold a door open for a woman? __________  Whenever a mixed group of people (male/female) come together the men always sit together. __________  If you are a student at school and you received a mark that seemed not to reflect your knowledge, is it proper to talk to the teacher about it? __________. Is it proper in your country?  If children do well at school, parents should reward them with a present or pocket money. __________  Students treat what the teachers and textbooks teach as something final and unquestionable. __________. Do they in your country?  Faithfulness is the most important factor for a successful marriage. __________  In English, the term stewardess (or steward for men) has been replaced with the gender-neutral term “flight attendant.” ____________. Can you give examples of such changes in your language? These are only a few examples. Statements and questions could be prepared dealing with all aspects of life, but only one cultural aspect at a given time. After discussions, students can be asked to do some reflective writing, for instance, describe what YOU think of marriage. It is quite possible that students of the same culture have different perceptions about several cultural aspects. Pictures and videos showing daily life scenes of people (for instance, ways of greeting between two men, two women or between a man and a woman) from one’s country and other countries are also excellent indirect ways to start fascinating discussions about differences in cultures and students’ reactions about these differences. This approach is the first step to the understanding of one’s perception about one’s culture and absolutely essential for apprehending the perceptions of a person of another culture, that is, intercultural understanding and communication. 3. Culture as Language: The Close Link Between Language and Culture It is quite evident that the teaching and learning of a second language could be an excellent way to access another culture and therefore to improve intercultural understanding and communication. This, however, is possible only if this learning and teaching begin with the idea that language and culture learning are fundamentally interrelated and that this interrelationship constitutes the center of the teaching and learning processes. A language is a window into the culture of people speaking this language. For instance, the teaching of personal pronouns I and You in languages like French, German, Spanish, and Japanese is an excellent opportunity to enter various aspects of the cultures of these languages, such as the social relations between two persons talking together: How well do they know each other? Is one superior to the other because of age, sex, position, or the social group to which one belongs? In these languages, there are choices of personal pronouns which have to be selected according to the reference points mentioned earlier. In French, for You, tu or vous, in German, du or Sie, in Spanish, tu or usted. In Japanese, for I, (to mention only a few) ore, boku, watakushi, watashi, for You, omae, kimi, anata (Saint-Jacques, 1971). In the English language, the speaker does not have to worry about these various points of reference: the personal pronouns I, and You are the only pronouns. However, in these other languages, the teaching of these pronouns provides a unique opportunity to observe language as an essential and closely integrated element of social behavior. In these languages, the wrong choice of pronouns can have disastrous effects for the speaker. Recently, a German driver who was arrested for speeding was so mad that he forgot the basic rules of pronouns in his mother tongue: the pronoun du is not to be used with people who are not close friends. He was fined for using du to the officer who arrested him! Intercultural learning involves developing an understanding of one’s own language and culture in relation to an additional language and culture. Traditional language teaching and learning with the sole emphasis on phonetics and syntax cannot produce speakers who have acquired some understanding of one’s own language and culture in relation to an additional language and culture— necessary conditions for intercultural understanding and communication. Moreover, there is also another important reason to link the teaching and learning of a language together with the culture of the people speaking this language. To learn a language, whether it is a first or second language, two basic conditions are essential: motivation and the opportunity to use this language. These two facts are closely related to each other, if there is no opportunity to use a language, motivation also ceases to exist, that is, the learner’s motivation to learn the language will become weaker and eventually disappear. The opportunity or necessity to use a language is a fundamental law of language learning. A language which is not used for frequent communication will slowly disappear, first on the active level, speaking and writing, and eventually on the passive level, listening and reading. Does it mean that the teaching and learning of a second language is a waste of time? The various benefits of second language learning usually identified in the defense of language education fall into two categories: (1) the practical and tangible benefits of being able to communicate in a second language, and (2) the broader benefits of expanding one’s intellectual experience, the improvement of cross-cultural awareness and a better understanding of other cultures. A language is like a window to the world of another culture (Saint-Jacques, 2006). Even if a person loses the active and even the passive knowledge of a second language, the learning of this language is a very enriching and beneficial process. Sakuragi (2006), in a recent paper, gives the example of second language teaching in the United States: “While the practical benefits of language learning in the United States are sometimes questioned due to the increasing dominance of English in international communication, the argument that language study helps students develop a sense of being a ‘world citizen’ remains cogent”. There are many second language learners who will never become fluent in their second language because of the lack of opportunity to use the language for communication. Even for them, in the cultural perspective, the study of languages is very beneficial. There are many countries in the world where a great majority of citizens does not have the necessity or opportunity to use another language for communication. The learning of languages, however, is part of the curriculum in schools and universities because it can provide students with a better understanding of other cultures as well as their own culture. REVISION: MAIN TOPIC AND SUBTOPICS, TEXT ORGANIZATION, MAKING INFERENCES, EXPLICATION OF SPECIFIC INFORMATION Instruction: This is a revision unit in which you should combine all skills you have mastered in the preceding five units. You will have to start with identifying the main idea, the main topic, or the main purpose of the text. Then follows the task of deciding if headings match with paragraphs or sections, and identifying if sections relate to definite topics. Basing on circumstantial evidence, inferences and vocabulary in context you will have to look into specific information given in the text. Step 1. Survey the text. Make a list of passage headings, which will give you some clues to help you quickly understand what each part of the text is about. Step 2. Skim-read each paragraph. Every paragraph deals with a specific aspect of a topic. The first sentence of a paragraph may tell you what the rest of the paragraph is about. Therefore while trying to identify the main idea of a paragraph, you should read the first sentence and skim the rest of the paragraph. Task: Scan the text for key words This title How to teach multicultural communication can help you realise that key words must concern intercultural communication which cannot be learned without intercultural understanding. E.g., in paragraph 3 it is possible to point out the following key words: learning languages, understanding cultures, cultural perspective. Follow the three-step strategy to make finding key words easier. Step 1. Make sure you know what you are looking for. Step 2. Scan each paragraph for 5-10 key words. Do not read every word. Step 3. Select 5-10 key words for the whole text. Task:  Basing on paragraph 1 give a definition of intercultural understanding.  Basing on paragraph 1 explain why the “overt culture” is easily observable in the “iceberg model of culture”.  Basing on paragraph 1 explain why the “covert culture” is below the waterline in the “iceberg model of culture”.  Basing on paragraph 2 explain why Socrates’ maxim: “Know Thyself.” is true for intercultural understanding. Answer the following questions:  What is the main topic of the text? (A) Different meanings of cultures. (B) Intercultural learning involves developing an understanding of one’s own language and culture in relation to an additional language and culture. (C) The door to one’s perception of one’s culture. (D) A better understanding of cultures.  What does the passage mainly discuss? (A) New approach to intercultural understanding. (B) Intercultural understanding, which is based on the knowledge of culture. (C) The cultural perspective of the study of languages. (D) Lack of opportunity to use the language for communication.  What is the author's attitude toward the opinion that it is practically impossible to find out the perceptions a person has about her or his own culture? (A) He shares this position. (B) He strongly disagrees. (C) He tries to be objective. (D) He doesn’t care.  Where in the four sentences does the author discuss culture as ways of thinking: modes of perception, beliefs and values? (A) When asked to describe one’s culture, a person might have very vague answers or often provide certain social generalizations which are stereotypes about one’s culture. (B) Cultures are not static, they change constantly. (C) Even if a person loses the active and even the passive knowledge of a second language, the learning of this language is a very enriching and beneficial process. (D) Nations are not culturally homogeneous, individuals in a nation might have different ideas about their culture. Qualify the following questions and statements by marking that you 1/ strongly agree, 2/ agree, 3/ have no opinion, 4/ disagree, or 5/ strongly disagree:  Men in my country usually expect women to prepare and serve food. __________  A married man should help around the house, doing cleaning, ironing and cooking. __________  In my country, it is common for a man to give up his seat to a woman on public transport. __________  In my country, it is not typical for women to speak their minds and contradict men. __________  Should both husband and wife contribute to the household income? ___________  Is it normal “going Dutch” (when each pays half of the costs) when a man and a woman go out? __________  If a man and a woman are having dinner together, is it OK for the woman to pay the bill? __________  Is it OK for a man to give a woman a pat on the backside to show he likes her? __________  Is it proper for a man to hold a door open for a woman? __________  Whenever a mixed group of people (male/female) come together the men always sit together. __________  If you are a student at school and you received a mark that seemed not to reflect your knowledge, is it proper to talk to the teacher about it? __________. Is it proper in your country?  If children do well at school, parents should reward them with a present or pocket money. __________  Students treat what the teachers and textbooks teach as something final and unquestionable. __________. Do they follow this stereotype in your country?  Faithfulness is the most important factor for a successful marriage. __________  In English, the terms stewardess (or steward for men) have been replaced with the gender-neutral term “flight attendant.” ____________. Can you give examples of such changes in your language? How do your answers qualify Russians’ ways of thinking, beliefs and values? Answer the following questions basing on Paragraph 3:  Does a great majority of Russian citizens have the necessity or opportunity to use English for communication?  If there is no opportunity to use a language, will the learner’s motivation to learn the language become weaker and eventually disappear?  Will a language which is not used for frequent communication slowly disappear?  Does it mean that the teaching and learning of a second language in Russia is a waste of time? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING MULTICULTURALISM FOR EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY BEYOND CULTURAL IDENTITY Guidelines for reading DOE texts on cross-cultural communication Does our culture impact upon our daily lives and the way we communicate with others? Do we need to learn the art of intercultural communication in a multi-racial and multi-cultural society? In a world where globalization is increasingly becoming a way of life, cultural intercommunication is taking on increasing importance. Cross-cultural communication is defined as a transitional, symbolic process involving the attribution of meaning between people of different cultures. Having an understanding of people from other cultures, and appreciating their value is expected to be an essential part of the framework needed to provide for a harmonious multi-cultural society. Communication in this sense is not strictly referring to speech but includes the attitude we take, our preconceptions, reactions and understanding of diverse cultures and traditions. We need to learn how to communicate with other cultures and, even in language this is not easy. It is a learning process. In speech as well as with actions, one has to learn that what is considered norm and acceptable in some cultures may be seen as the opposite in others. Text 6-2. WHAT MAKES A SCHOOL MULTICULTURAL? (After Caleb Rosado. Equity Literacy Institute and EdChange project, 1995-2020. Eastern University, Philadelphia, PA.) 1. It is an axiom of our times that our world is rapidly changing. With change comes not only a different view of the world, but also changes in language to name that new world. Old words take on new meanings and new words enter the vocabulary, resulting in another way of "seeing." It was not too long ago that as a nation we moved from an Agrarian Society concerned with conformity, through an Industrial Society concerned with nationalism and uniformity, to our present Information Society concerned with diversity within a global context, on our way to the Global Society of the 21st century with a planetary worldview. Such cultural and political upheavals have given rise to knowledgeable players in the game of social change, while leaving most people as confused bystanders, desperately hanging on to a past which in part is dysfunctional to the present and in many ways irrelevant to the future. The needs of the 21st century demand a citizenry that is culturally sensitive and internationally focused, with an orientation toward the future rather than the past. Multiculturalism, as the new paradigm for education for the 21st century, is a political ping-pong term greatly misused and highly misunderstood. Since for many it is also a valueladened concept, it has come under fire from diverse segments of the population, who due to their social position view the world differently. The fact that where you stand determines what you see is a reality in most situations, and it is especially true for the concept of multiculturalism. The purpose of this article is to provide an operational definition of multiculturalism as a basis for understanding the changes coming to our society, and to propose a model for what makes a school multicultural. 2. The concept of multiculturalism embodies a new orientation toward the future. Unfortunately, in all the heated discussion around the term no clear definition of the concept has yet emerged. People are thus left to read into the term whatever their biases and self-interests dictate. Let me put forth an operational definition of multiculturalism as a starting point to better clarify our human interactions. Multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and behaviors that recognizes and respects the presence of all diverse groups in an organization or society, acknowledges and values their socio-cultural differences, and encourages and enables their continued contribution within an inclusive cultural context which empowers all within the organization or society. Let's take it apart. There are the four pairs of action phrases that give substance to the definition: "beliefs and behaviors," "recognizes and respects," "acknowledges and values," "encourages and enables," and a fifth one, "empowers." Multiculturalism is a system, a set of interrelated parts, in this case, beliefs and behaviors, which make up the whole of how humans experience today's world. It includes what people believe about others, their basic paradigms, and how these impact, and are impacted by, behavior. The outcome of this framework of beliefs/behaviors are seven important actions. 3. The first is recognition of the rich diversity in a given society or organization. For the longest time racial/ethnic minorities, the physically disabled, and women have not been given the same recognition as others. The one-sided approach to history and education has been a testimony to that fact. With recognition should also come respect. Respect and recognition are not the same, since recognizing the existence of a group does not necessarily elicit respect for the group. In a slave economy, for example, the presence of slaves was recognized but their humanity was not respected. 4. Multiculturalism also entails acknowledging the validity of the cultural expressions and contributions of the various groups. This is not to imply that all cultural contributions are of equal value and social worth, or that all should be tolerated. Some cultural practices are better than others for the overall betterment of society. These cultural expressions and contributions that differ from those of the dominant group in society are usually only acknowledged when there is an economic market for them, such as music for African American, native Indian dances for tourism or Mexican cuisine. When the business sector wants our money, the advertising industry pictures people of color in a positive light. But in most other cases the entertainment media simply caricatures minority stereotypes, such as women usually in supportive roles. Multiculturalism thus means valuing what people have to offer, and not rejecting or belittling it simply because it differs from what the majority, or those in power, regard as important and of value. 5. Multiculturalism will also encourage and enable the contribution of the various groups to society or an organization. Women and persons of color, for example, often experience discouragement because what they bring to the "table" for discussion is often regarded as of little value or worth. Not everything can be utilized, however, nor is of the same worth and value. But it does have value, even if for no other reason than the effort invested in bringing it forward. Such efforts must be encouraged, for who knows from where the next great idea may come from a youth, from an elderly person, from an African American, from a single parent, from a lesbian, from a high school drop-out, from a business executive, etc.? The word enable here is important, because what lies behind it is the concept of empowerment – the process of enabling people to be self-critical of their own biases so as to strengthen themselves and others to achieve and deploy their maximum potential. People's sense of self-worth, value and dignity is most often determined not only by the kind of support and encouragement they receive from others, but also from how willing they are to self-examine negative behaviors in their own life and in their cultural group. If I or my group is practicing self-destructive action, all the external help will go for naught. 6. The essence of multiculturalism, the undergirding concept of multicultural education, is the ability to celebrate with the other in a manner that transcends all barriers and brings about a unity in diversity. Multiculturalism enables us to look upon the Other, especially the Other that society has taught us to regard with distrust and suspicion, and to be taken advantage of, not as a "potential predator, but as a profitable partner." The last part of this definition of multiculturalism "within an inclusive cultural context" is most important because it is here where many people get off and refuse to go along with an inclusive approach to society or to education. Many people fear multiculturalism will bring in "foreign" concepts and ideas which will deviate the nation from its historic course and transform the United States into something different from what it has been. We need to realize that America has always been a multicultural society, whether or not many have been willing to admit it. Along with the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation and environmental destruction, one of the principal problems confronting world society today is the problem of racial/ethnic hostility and cultural insensitivity. 7. A new age demands new methods and new structures, for the ferment of change cannot be contained in the old structures, but will burst these. It is the old problem of "new wine in old wineskins." This age-old truism of Jesus Christ is so clear that one wonders how people throughout the ages can continue making the same old mistakes in the face of inevitable change. Yet Jesus Himself gave us the reason why people continue making the same perennial mistake. In the very next breath, He declared, "No one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'" (vs. 39). What He is telling us here is that even in the face of inevitable change, no one really wants to change; people still prefer the old. Thus those who have the most invested in the old structures are the most reluctant to change, since they stand the most to lose in the new order of things. The bigots would prefer spillage rather than change their self-preserved, sacrosanct, social structures. They may woof, woof all they want, however, but the caravan of change moves on. When change is inevitable, they desire that change which will not necessarily change the old structures. The result is a lot of fine rhetoric that is slow to change, because the concern is with reformation not revolution. 8. What's the solution? It is found in managing diversity! Managing diversity is nothing new. In fact, historic colonizing empires like Spain, Portugal and England, and modern nations like the United States, South Africa, Japan, Germany, and now newly emerged nations with their "ethnic cleansing" efforts, have managed diversity most effectively, but for purposes of exclusion, at both the individual and institutional dimensions. Various institutions in society, such as schools, churches, businesses, corporations, as well as communities have also managed diversity well, but again, for purposes of exclusion. In part this is because as Audre Lorde tells us, "we have no patterns for relating across our human differences as equals." Without such patterns or models, the prevailing attitude and behavior toward persons of color and others with biological, physical and socio-cultural differences has been one of exclusion and control. Today, to reach our potential as organizations and society, that attitude has to shift to one of inclusion. Managing diversity is an on-going process that unleashes the various talents and capabilities which a diverse population bring to an organization, community or society, so as to create a wholesome, inclusive environment, that is "safe for differences," enables people to "reject rejection," celebrates diversity, and maximizes the full potential of all, in a cultural context where everyone benefits. Multiculturalism, as the art of managing diversity, is an inclusive process where no one is left out. Diversity, in its essence, then is a safeguard against idolatry, the making of one group as the norm for all groups. 9. Therefore, one of the dangers that must be avoided in grasping a proper understanding of multiculturalism is bashism. Bashism is the tendency to verbally and/or physically attack another person or group based solely on the negative meaning given to group membership due to biological, cultural, political or socioeconomic differences (such as gender, age, race/ethnicity, political party, class, education, values, religious affiliation or sexual orientation)‹without regard for the individual. The motivating factor for bashism is fear, arising out of ignorance of the other. One of the backwashes of a narrow view of multiculturalism, especially as espoused by some women and persons of color, is what I call "white maleism." White Maleism is the tendency of minority groups to blame white males for most of the social evil in the world today, especially as it relates to sexism and racism, and view them as selfish, ruthless, unrepentant and unredeemable, and, as a consequence, refuse to recognize and accept the contribution that many white males have made, continue to make, and desire to make, to remove oppression. While much of oppression today has been the historical by-product of the abuse of power by white males, not much is gained in terms of creating an inclusive, caring, compassionate educational system and society, by reversing the process and excluding many white males who have been instrumental in creating the "house of abundance" and structures of inclusion. Some of us, persons of color, would not be where we are today if it were not for culturally, politically and morally concerned white males who opened institutional doors, made decisions, implemented policies, and stood in the breach to bridge the gulf of intolerance. The effective management of diversity includes, empowers and benefits all persons concerned, whites included. In an age of cultural pluralism, multiculturalism is needed to manage diversity effectively. In essence, then, multiculturalism is nothing more than the art of managing diversity in a total quality manner. It is the only option open to educators, leaders and administrators in an ever-increasing culturally pluralistic environment. In schools the process of multiculturalism is best maintained through Multicultural Education, an intrinsic approach to education and curriculum construction that acknowledges and respects the contributions which the various racial/ethnic groups have made to society, and incorporates these contributions in an overall program of instruction which meets the needs of an ever-changing society and is sensitive to the personal and social development of all persons concerned. Today's diverse student populations and workforce are simply not going to go away, but increase. This is the direction of the future – multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual communities. And effective leaders, concerned with the bottom line – the maximizing of profit, whether material or nonmaterial – are recognizing this new direction. The art of managing diversity is thus of great concern to all persons charged with the responsibility of overseeing the work of others. Organizations, however, that try to force today’s reality into yesterday's management styles will seriously jeopardize the viability of their enterprise. Beyond the challenge of creating a humane educational environment where students and staff of diverse backgrounds and experiences learn to appreciate each other, lies the additional one of changing the structural arrangements. WRITE A PRÉCIS OF THIS TEXT BASED ON THE TOPIC, THE PURPOSE, THE IDEA, TEXT STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION Instruction: We are not all born equal with regards to communication skills. It’s obvious some people find communication easier than others and this is the same in cross-cultural communication. No matter what your natural skill level is in communication, you can always work on developing stronger cross-cultural skills. Of course, international experience and exposure to different cultures plays an important role, but there’s a lot of work you can do to help you acquire stronger cross-cultural skills faster. In the analysis of this text, make sure to take steps you have mastered in the preceding ten units. To write a precis of this text you will have to start with matching headings with paragraphs or sections, and identifying which sections relate to which topics. Then follows the task of identifying the main topic, or the main purpose of the author, the main idea of the text. Basing on circumstantial evidence, inferences and vocabulary in context you will have to look into clues for specific information given in the text. Matching headings with paragraphs Step 1. Survey the text. A list of headings can give you some useful information to help you quickly understand what each part of the text will be about. Step 2. Skim-read each paragraph. This technique gives you a general idea of what the writer is saying in each paragraph. Step 3. Determine which heading is the best match for each of the paragraphs marked by the numbers. Empowerment of diversity Recognition of diversity Acknowledgement of diversity Partnership in diversity The ferment of change New names for the new world Managing Diversity Ignorance of the other What Is Multiculturalism? Answer the following questions:  What is the main topic of the text? (A) Multiculturalism as an outgrowth of the complexities of the twentieth century. (B) The identity of a multicultural person. (C) One’s culture as the door to one’s perception. (D) An operational definition of multiculturalism.  What does the text mainly discuss? (A) New approach to intercultural understanding. (B) Intercultural understanding, which is based on the knowledge of culture. (C) Essential similarities between people. (D) The concept of multiculturalism.  What is the author's attitude toward the opinion that the dangers must be avoided in grasping a proper understanding of multiculturalism? (A) He shares this position. (B) He strongly disagrees. (C) He tries to be objective. (D) He doesn’t care.  Where in the four sentences does the author discuss the multicultural person as, at once, both old and new? (A) The fact that where you stand determines what you see is a reality in most situations, and it is especially true for the concept of multiculturalism. (B) Even in the face of inevitable change, no one really wants to change; people still prefer the old. (C) Many people fear multiculturalism will bring in "foreign" concepts and ideas which will deviate the nation from its historic course. (D) A new age demands new methods and new structures, for the ferment of change cannot be contained in the old structures.  What is the main idea advanced by the author in the text? (A) Multiculturalism is the basis for understanding the changes coming to our society. (B) We may now be on the threshold of a new kind of person, a person who is socially and psychologically a product of the interweaving of cultures in the twenty first century. (C) A new type of person is developing from the complex of social, political, economic, and educational interactions of our time. (D) An understanding of the new kind of person must be predicated on a clear understanding of cultural identity. Write a précis of this text: Your precis should be logically ordered, with all parts of it being connected to each other. You can't use the first person pronouns (I, we) as a precis is always written in the third person. A precis never contains any additional information or details not mentioned in the original text even if it supports the main idea if the author . Don't give your personal opinions on the analyzed work because you are not writing a critical book review or analytical essay. The goal of your precis is to guide people through unfamiliar reading. It means that the voice, opinions of your text must reflect the author’s voice, his thoughts and be understandable for those people who have not read the original text. Keep in mind that a precis is not a:  Plan/outline of the original passage or article;  Simple abstract of the text;  Selection of the most prominent phrases and sentences;  Chain of facts, sentences that are not connected. UNIT 7. LANGUAGE AND DIVERSITY Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts You should keep in mind that, in DOE texts, most of the reading passages have a neutral tone, but sometimes an author may take a position for or against some point. However, answer choices that indicate strong emotion – amused, angry, outraged, pleased, and so forth – will seldom be correct. Identifying the author’s tone and attitude is often required for an overall understanding of the text. Tone questions ask you to determine the author's feelings about the topic by the language that he or she uses in writing the passage. Attitude questions are very similar to tone questions. Again, you must understand the author's opinion. The language that the author uses will tell you what his or her position is. In the text below the term superdiversity is open for discussions where rival views require arguments for and against. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 7-1. LANGUAGE AND SUPERDIVERSITY (After J. N. Jørgensen’s and K. Juffermans’ sections in the Toolkit for Transnational Communication in Europe. Copenhagen Studies in Bilingualism. University of Copenhagen, 2011) 1.‘Superdiversity’ is the term introduced by Vertovec (2007) to describe the new forms of sociocultural diversity that has emerged after the end of the Cold War, and has altered the face of large urban centers in the West and elsewhere. It is characterized by two parallel developments: (1) a range of new forms of migration across the world, leading to ‘diversity within diversity’ in about every society, and, in particular, in large urban centers in the West and elsewhere; (2) the escalation of online cultural and social phenomena since the advent of the internet, leading to new forms of identity performance, new forms of global popular culture and new forms of community formation. All these developments are shot through with new sociolinguistic phenomena of tremendous complexity, defying current ways of understanding and description. The struggle to come to terms with these developments has led to a flurry of terminological innovation, including terms such as ‘languaging’, ‘polylingual languaging’, ‘metrolingualism’, ‘transidiomaticity’ and so forth. Superdiversity is a term for the vastly increased range of resources, linguistic, religious, ethnic, cultural in the widest sense, that characterize late modern societies. The term has been coined by Vertovec (2006) in a review of demographic and socio-economic changes in post-Cold War Britain: "Super-diversity underscores the fact that the new conjunctions and interactions of variables, that have arisen over the past decade, surpass the ways – in public discourse, policy debates and academic literature – that we usually understand diversity in Britain". 2. Superdiversity should be understood as diversification of diversity, as diversity that cannot be understood in terms of multiculturalism (the presence of multiple cultures in one society) alone. At the basis of this paradigm shift are two sets of developments that can be observed in Europe and world-wide. One is the changing patterns and itineraries of migration from the outside into Europe and continued migration by the same people inside Europe: "more people are now moving from more places, through more places, to more places" (Vertovec 2010). In effect, people bring with them continuously more different resources and experiences from a variety of places in their everyday interactions and encounters with others and institutions. A second factor is the technological developments which have made new social media of communication accessible to the masses, with mobile phones and the Internet (e.g., social network sites). These developments mean that the individual in superdiversity is likely to meet a much wider range of resources than was characteristic of Europe just a few decades ago. 3. A consequence of this superdiversity is an increasingly important lack of predictability. A few decades ago it would be possible to predict with some degree of certainty what a 14-year old grade school student in, for instance, Berlin would be like – looks, mother tongue, religious affiliation, cultural preferences, musical taste, and in other ways. The range of resources available to and employed by 14-year old grade school students in Germany was limited compared to what we observe today – none of this can today be predicted with any substantial degree of certainty. Blommaert (2010) observes that "the presuppositions of common integration policies – that we know who the immigrants are, and that they have a shared language and culture – can no longer be upheld". Fanshawe and Sriskandarajah (2010) take the observation a step further and criticize the routine reference to "protected strands" (gender, race, disability, sexuality, faith and belief, age) in efforts to eliminate discrimination and inequality – there is no longer any single dimension along which to work with these concepts, or with "identities". Their argument is that in the context of superdiversity, we need a new politics of identity: people can't be put in a box anymore. 4. The superdiverse conditions call for a revisiting and reinventing of our theoretical toolkit to analyze and understand phenomena of language and communication (see Blommaert and Rampton 2011). For instance, it makes concepts such as "speech community", "ethnic groups", "minority" very difficult to maintain in any sense. It requires us to study rather than assume relations between ethnicity, citizenship, residence, origin, profession, legal status, class, religion and language. A superdiversity perspective on society problematizes the countability and representability of cultures, languages and identities (see also our languaging lemma here), which is why superdiversity can be understood as post-multiculturalism (Vertovec 2010). The concept of superdiversity has been theorized primarily in relation to the UK and, by extension, contemporary Europe. It is, however, evident that other societies have experienced and still experience superdiversity, and that superdiversity may be a much older condition in other places, India and Africa being obvious examples which include societies of long-standing superdiversity, although not necessarily late modern. 5. Humankind is a languaging species. Human beings use language to achieve their goals, and with a few exceptions by using language to other human beings. It is a widely held view that language as a human phenomenon can be separated into different “languages”, such as “Russian”, “Latin”, and “Greenlandic”. This idea is based on the recently developed sociolinguistic understanding that this view of language cannot be upheld on the basis of linguistic criteria. “Languages” are sociocultural, or ideological, abstractions which match reallife use of language poorly. This means that sociolinguistics must apply another level of analysis with observed language use. Languaging is the unique human capacity to change the world through communication with others by means of language, i.e. systematically organized arbitrary signs. This capacity enables people to acquire (or develop) a complex system of symbols, and to use this system for creating and negotiating meanings and intentions and transferring them across time and space. All human beings language, and they do so to achieve their goals. Languaging is individual and unique in the sense that every single person possesses her or his own combination of competences and knowledge with respect to language. No two persons share exactly the same vocabulary, pronunciation, etc. More importantly, however, language is social in the sense that every aspect of language is shared among several individuals, and that it is exclusively acquired and practiced in interaction with other individuals. 6. Traditionally the language sciences deal with 'languages'. Languages are thought of as sets of features, i.e. conventions which are believed to somehow belong together. Over the past decade sociolinguistics has come to the conclusion that languages are ideologically constructed abstract concepts which do not represent real life language use: 'languages do not exist as real entities in the world and neither do they emerge from or represent real environments; they are, by contrast, the inventions of social, cultural and political movements' (Makoni and Pennycook, 2007). Languages in the plural exist only as sociocultural inventions: 'Languages are conceived and languaging is practiced' (Mignolo, 1996). The making of languages in Europe is intertwined with the nation-building projects that emerged in the wake of the Renaissance and reached its high point in the nationalist and romanticist nineteenth century. The compartmentalized vision of language as separate bounded linguistic systems is a modernist, Renaissance vision on language. Italian is the product of the creation of an Italian nation-state, while French is the product of the creation of a French nationstate, thereby absorbing, erasing or marginalizing the linguistic diversity in their territories. Likewise, the boundary between Dutch and German is the same as the border between the Netherlands and Germany and does not in any meaningful way precede the history of the respective nation-states. 7. A languaging perspective regards boundaries between languages as arbitrary and historically contingent, as the result of particular histories of standardization and regulation. Standardizing language means compartmentalizing the free and unbounded languaging of a particular geographical area and class of people as the language for that particular geographical area and its people and freezing its evolution. Standardizing language also means enregistering particular linguistic features as normative: selecting particular phonemes, morphemes, words, syntax, etc. as normal, as the norms for the language while designating all variation to those norms as sub-standard, dialect, or even deficit language. Languaging is the use of language, not of "a language". The analytical perspective pointed to by the concept is that of the feature. Linguistic features appear in the shape of units and regularities. Individual features are routinely ascribed a range of associations. Features are typically (but not always) associated with one or more sociocultural constructions called "languages". The unit (word) Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit, for example, is generally associated with "German". Features are also associated with values, meanings, speakers, places, etc. (Jørgensen 2010). Learning language in real life means learning new features, including some or all of these associations. A languaging perspective sees language in actual practice not as bounded, countable entities that are given in the natural world, but as dynamic, creative potential to speak. It emphasizes that people do not primarily use 'a language', or 'some languages', but use language, linguistic resources. Bilinguals are not seen as 'speaking two languages', but as languagers making use of resources that are recognized by the speakers or others as belonging to two sets of resources. A languaging perspective conceptualizes language as a verb (as practice or behavior), rather than as a noun (a thing or object) and places the activity and the agents (languagers) in focus rather than the linguistic system ('languages'). As a theoretical notion, languaging therefore reflects 'a human turn' in sociolinguistics, i.e., a move away from languages (in plural) as stable linguistic systems ('codes' or 'varieties') that are used by people, toward language or languaging as a dynamic sociolinguistic system that is constructed and performed by people. The question students of languaging ask themselves is therefore not 'who speaks (or writes) what language (or what language variety) to whom, when and to what end', as Fishman defined the field sociolinguistics forty years ago, but 'who languages how and what is being languaged under what circumstances in a particular place and time' (for further discussion, see Møller and Jørgensen, 2009; and Juffermans, 2011). CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE FOR THE MAIN COMPONENTS OF THE TEXT Instruction: When analyzing each paragraph of the text you mostly rely on circumstantial evidence. Circumstantial evidence is evidence not drawn from the direct observation of a fact. If, for example, “Standardizing language means compartmentalizing the free and unbounded languaging of a particular geographical area and class of people as the language for that particular geographical area and its people and freezing its evolution”, then there is circumstantial evidence that the author is a supporter of languaging. Circumstantial evidence is collected by asking and answering overview questions. 1. Matching headings with paragraphs.  Step 1. Survey the whole text.  Step 2. Look over the 7 headings given in the table.  Step 3. Skim each paragraph to identify the topic. Match the given 7 headings with the 7 paragraphs of the text: Consequences of superdiversity Languaging perspectives Tradition and modernity in language visions Languaging is human A superdiversity perspective Factors of superdiversity The term ‘Superdiversity’ 2. Identifying where to find information.  Step 1. Survey introductory and concluding paragraphs and identify the core ideas of the passage.  Step 2. Skim the rest of the passage to make sure.  Step 3. Scan the text to find the correct wording of its main idea, the topic, and the purpose, write out the key words from each paragraph.  Step 4. Skim the text for examples of descriptions, step-by-step explanations, directions, comparisons and contrasts, analyses, analogies, and definitions. a/ The main idea is what the author has in mind when s/he is writing a text. Which one of the sentences given below most closely renders the main idea of the text? 1. Superdiversity is the new sociocultural diversity characterized by new forms of migration across the world, and the new forms of community formation. 2. Superdiversity means the presence of multiple cultures in one society. 3. Superdiversity eliminates discrimination and inequality. 4. Superdiversity is primarily characteristic of the UK and, by extension, contemporary Europe. 5. Languages are sociocultural, or ideological, abstractions which match real-life use of language perfectly well. b/ The topic is the subject area the author chooses to bring her/his idea to the reader. Identify the main topic of the text. 1. The making of languages in Europe. 2. A human turn in sociolinguistics. 3. Learning language in real life. 4. The new forms of sociocultural diversity and language practice. 5. Standardization and regulation of language. c/ The purpose of the text is what the author wants the reader to believe in. Does the writer want you to believe that: 1. Traditional language sciences don’t deal with languaging? 2. Boundaries between languages result from particular histories of standardization and regulation? 3. Superdiverse conditions call for a new analysis and understanding of the phenomena of language and communication? 4. Humankind is a languaging species? 5. The concept of language exists only as a sociocultural invention? 4. Identifying patterns of text organization. Identify description, step-by-step explanation, directions, comparison and contrast, analysis, analogy, and definition in the following paragraphs: Find in the text as many patterns of text organization as you can. 5. Reviewing and reciting the text. Take 5-6 minutes to review and recite the text with the help of the following context clues: a) Numerical statements, such as "There are two reasons ...". b) Rhetorical questions. c) Introductory summaries: "Let me first explain..."; "The topic which I intend to discuss is interesting because...". d) Development of an idea, signaled by statements such as: "Another reason..."; "On the one hand..."; "Therefore..."; "Since..."; "In addition..."; etc. e) Transitions, such as "Let us turn our attention to..."; "If these facts are true, then..."; etc. f) Chronology of ideas, signaled by "First... "; "The next..."; "Finally...,"; etc. g) Emphasis of ideas, such as "This is important because..."; "The significant results were..."; "Let me repeat..."; etc. h) Summary of ideas, signaled by "In conclusion...; As I have shown... "; etc. 6. What circumstantial evidence can be inferred from the following paragraph: A few decades ago it would be possible to predict with some degree of certainty what a 14-year old grade school student in, for instance, Berlin would be like – looks, mother tongue, religious affiliation, cultural preferences, musical taste, and in other ways. The range of resources available to and employed by 14-year old grade school students in Germany was limited compared to what we observe today - none of this can today be predicted with any substantial degree of certainty. 7. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage? The organization of the passage is: (A) too specific; (B) too general; (C) incorrect, (D) irrelevant; (C) correct. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING SUPER-DIVERSITY — THE NEW TRANSNATIONALISM CONDITION OF Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts In 2013, the UN announced that the number of international migrants worldwide had reached 232 million, up from 154 million in 1990. To capture the effects of this increase on the UK, Vertovec (2007) proposed the term superdiversity, which was then taken up by the sociolinguistic community (e.g. Blomntaert,2013; Blommaert & Rampton,2011). The notion of ‘superdiversity’ has engaged scholars beyond the field of sociolinguistics. The concept of superdiversity is directly tied to the contemporary discourse on globalization. Most scholars agree that the world is experiencing globalization at an unprecedented scale and scope, mostly because of the high degree of space-time compression achieved by the increasing mobility of people, commodities, texts, and knowledge. Text 7-2. SOCIOLINGUISTICS OF SUPER-DIVERSITY (After D. Parkin’s, K. Arnaut’s Super-diversity & sociolinguistics – a digest. 2014) ‘Super-diversity’ was defined by Vertovec (2006; 2010) and is widely taken up by others, not in the least by sociolinguists (Blommaert and Rampton 2011). This uptake indicates that super-diversity is gradually opening new terrains of investigation and beginning to raise new methodological and theoretical questions in the social and political sciences as well as in the humanities (Arnaut 2013 - forthcoming; Blommaert 2012). In essence, the concept of super-diversity seeks to qualify the new condition of transnationalism ever since the global flows of people have been profoundly changing both quantitatively and qualitatively. While the amount of people migrating keeps rising at a steadily growing pace, the migration flows have radically diversified. This diversification applies not only to the range of migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries, but also to the socioeconomic, cultural, religious, and linguistic profiles of the migrants as well as to their civil status and their migration trajectories. The sociolinguists with a keen interest in globalization and mobility contend that the presentday complexity and diversity of migration flows is paralleled by that of global cultural and linguistic flows (Jørgensen, et al. 2011; Leppänen 2012). The latter have also profoundly intensified in volume as well as in the way they suffuse people’s communicative activities, and many facets of their private and public, social and cultural lives. Key to this development is the mobile turn in information and communication technologies. The watershed moment in both the migration and communication dimensions of the new condition of transnationalism is situated around 1990. New transnationalism New transnationalism of the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties saw major geo-political changes coinciding with those of rapid communications technology and the maturing of the digital age. There was the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, which Ernest Gellner called the most momentous occasion since the French revolution; the ensuing collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; its conversion to a new kind of capitalism in China following that country’s reforms of the 1980s; the remarkably swift effect of India’s own 2 economic reforms; and the ending of apartheid in South Africa. That these politicoeconomic events occurred within a few years of each other is a good illustration of the global knock-on effects of crises in relation to each other. These factors have altered the nature of migration worldwide. Added to older migratory patterns, either deriving from the host country’s imperial past or from post-WWII state regulated labor migrations, are new migrations of smaller groups from a wider number of sending countries. Post-communist migrants from eastern Europe seek work and settlement in the European Union, while migration flows from Central Asia to eastern Europe grow in magnitude and diversity. South-to-south migration has grown alongside existing (but equally changing) south-to-north patterns. For instance, following the ending of apartheid, South Africa has become the destination as well as the hub of increased migration flows from other African countries as has China from countries all over the world, including Africa. The acceleration and multiplication of such new movements of people is a kind of stepping-stone to an increasingly transnational world connected by digital communication technology. New migrations and diasporas have indeed been accompanied by the increasing use of mobile phones and other ‘smart’ devices in combination with the internet. On-going miniaturization and grassroots accessibility are two major aspects of the communication technology’s booming spread and mobility. At which pace and to what a geographic extent the global digital revolution has accelerated could be recently measured from the immense success of the cell phone-based social medium MXIT in South Africa (Velghe 2011), or more spectacularly, the mass mobilizations during e.g. the London riots and the Arab Spring. Of course, throughout the twentieth century international communication and massmedia (radio and television) were important vectors of globalization, but current mobile interactive technologies have seen this drastically fragmented and individualized. Likewise, the burgeoning new patterns of international population movement which consist of new, smaller and more ethno-culturally diverse groups of migrants caulked upon earlier, long-standing migratory patterns. In this sense the ‘super’ in ‘super-diversity’ can be taken to refer to the superimposition of older upon newer ‘diversities’ and their mutual rearticulation in the process. Everywhere around the world, the interaction of ‘the’ autochthonous population with different generations and groups of migrants, engenders the cultural differentiation of the former. In South Africa the collapse of the racial boundaries has in itself given rise to new configurations which Nuttall (2009: 20) calls ‘entanglements’. These different shifts in the making, punctuated by savage government curbs redefines ineluctably and irreversibly the very idea of a self-recognizing population everywhere around the globe. Unsurprisingly, these shifts demand for new ways of repartitioning and classifying populations, in other words new diversity models. Beyond multiculturalism Contrary to the present transnationalism, the earlier pre-WWII or pre-decolonization phase of globalisation, politico-economic and socio-cultural diversity were seen as made up of supposedly discrete elements. The national, ethnic or religious groups were conceived to exist alongside each other. They had not yet so merged as to lose their respective remembered lines of differentiation. A case in point are the relatively regimented labor migrations from the Mediterranean to Western Europe of the after-war decades which stand in stark contrast to the relative unruly and more disruptive post-1990 new migrations from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The earlier diversity or multiculturalism regimes – with colonial population management and apartheid as its most extreme expressions –, were really those of parallelisms and pluralities: ethnic and cultural pluralism, medical and linguistic pluralism referred in liberal quarters to the side-by-side relations of distinctive entities or knowledges. Their constituents and proponents were encouraged to celebrate their distinctiveness and, despite real differences between them of power, privilege and resources, to take their place as equals before each other. Ideologies cannot last for long without material or substantive reinforcement, however. Crosscut by increasing inequalities, the ideal-based pluralisms gave way at their edges to fuzzy boundaries or no boundaries at all. The concept of super-diversity tries to capture the manifold implications of this alleged development from the co-existing, side-to-side (and sometimes back-to-back) relations of relatively bounded entities to the reverberative, crisscrossing and subdivision of different parts of these entities. Together with other disciplines, contemporary sociolinguistics engages with the evident repercussions of this shift on linguistic and cultural production. Super-diversity in sociolinguistic research Sociolinguistics has a long-standing record in analyzing and interpreting linguistic diversity albeit until recently within the ‘old’ multiculturalist, or rather, multilingualist mould. It typically associated the use of languages and varieties of languages with more or less stable and clearly positioned (e.g. working-class or elite) socio-cultural groups or ‘speech communities’ while setting apart the combination of languages in one conversation as codeswitching or codemixing (Parkin 1974). Replacing the worn-out multilingualist model with a more dynamic one but retaining the sophisticated ethnographic methods and critical stance of earlier sociolinguistics (Gumperz and Hymes 1972; Parkin 2012 - forthcoming), Rampton (2005) analyzed forms of crossover speech or crossing, in which a range of diverse linguistic particles are borrowed, transformed, returned and employed as communicative ‘resources’. The resources make up what Blommaert and Backus (2011) call speech ‘repertoires’ and are deployed in what Jørgensen and others (2011) call ‘polylanguaging’ and Creese and Blackledge (2010) using García’s term, call ‘translanguaging’. Such processes are more than just code-switching. Speakers use constantly changing communicative resources: verbal, audio , visual and bodily. They have to make themselves understood while keeping up to date with the most recent styles and registers of communication. Varis and Wang (2011) aptly refer to a struggle between the semiotic creativity that is expected of speakers in super-diversity and the need to retain some normative stability in communication in order to be understood. It is a delicate balance. As Rampton (2011) showed for urban Britain, on the one hand ethnicity from the 1980s and 1990s gave way to social class as a driver of youth speech. On the other hand, this new class-based speech was not stable but was heterogeneous. It was made up of different speech styles which crossed, so to speak, backwards and forwards into each other. More than this, such heterogeneous urban vernaculars have lasted beyond speakers’ youth and into their middle age. In other words, in some of the sociolinguistic literature, superdiversity refers to the very rapid circulation of constantly changing semiotic variables which do not necessarily settle into more stable varieties, indexing stable identities. Furthermore, vernacular urban youth speech does no longer give way in later life to more received speech styles. Rather, they exist along more settled varieties, spoken or at least advocated by members of the so-called ‘establishment’ such as professionals and mobile middle classes, so creating further layers of complexity. Apart from face-to-face communication, contemporary sociolinguistics looks into semiotic complexity in Internet-based communication, socialization and learning. S. Leppänen and her collaborators have been looking into how participants bring into play different voices and different styles in a wide-range of internet-based activities such as YouTube videos, gaming, blogging and vlogging, Facebook and other social media interaction, etc.. This fascinating line of research reveals the creativity and sophistication with which (often) young people express a myriad of affective, social, and cultural alignments and affinities with preferences and role models, movements and hypes, styles and ideas, all over the globe (Leppänen 2012). A third sector of sociolinguistic research is linguistic landscaping which documents and analyses commercial or other forms of writing and printing in public space. This research shares with the new media research a sustained interest in literacy and design but differs in the former’s attention to space and the material side of public literacy (Stroud and Mpendukana 2009). For Blommaert (2012: 23) linguistic landscaping research is a particularly powerful tool to rapidly assess or otherwise profoundly gauge the complexity of globalized neighborhoods which he designates as “complex of infrastructures for superdiversity”. In sum, these and other lines of research in the sociolinguistics of superdiversity are addressing the different levels at which diversity plays out: (a) communicative practices that constitute emergent forms of conviviality and rooted cosmopolitanism, (b) diversity and integration discourses in the corporate and public sector and the ideologies they enshrine about language norms, (c) more generally, the emergence of normativity in a polycentric world in which traditional normative centers (nation-state apparatuses) are just one among many, and finally (d) (at the theoretical level) conceptualizing some of the key-notions of super-diversity, such as complexity, unpredictability, and indeed, diversity. Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to write a presentation based on the two combined texts – 7-1 and 7-2. Presentation is a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing an examination board or a class meeting. It can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking engagements’ such as making a speech or getting a point across in conference. A presentation requires you to get a message across to the listeners and will often contain a 'persuasive' element. It may, for example, be a talk about your reading for a graduate or candidate exam. You should know exactly what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it. Clarity of ideas and good organization of a presentation should help result in a lively, logical and compelling message, delivered in a confident and professional way. You are to choose between the two types of presentation: 1. The first type of your presentation should have three main elements: an introduction, a main message and conclusions. Within the main body of your presentation, divide your key message into three elements and then expand each of these points into three sub-points. 2. An alternative structure of your presentation uses the questions “What?”, “Why?” and “How?” to communicate your message to the audience. In a way, this also harnesses the power of three, but is a special case for driving action.  “What?” identifies the key message you wish to communicate.  “Why?” addresses the next obvious question that arises for the audience.  “How?” is the final question that naturally arises in the listeners’ mind. They want to know how they are going to achieve what you have just suggested. Try not to be too prescriptive here. Instead of telling people exactly how they should act on your message, offer suggestions as to how they can act, perhaps using examples. Editing Your Content Once you have a first draft of your presentation, it is important to review and edit this. This will help to ensure that it really does get your message across in the most effective way. When editing presentation content, you should consider: 1. The language. Make sure that what you are saying will be clear to your audience. Remove any jargon and try to use plain English instead. If necessary, explain terms when you first use them. 2. Sentence structure. Use short sentences and keep the structure simple. Remember that you will be talking through your ideas and that the audience will be listening rather than reading. 3. The flow. Make sure that your presentation structure leads your audience through your ideas and helps them to draw your conclusion for themselves. 4. Use metaphors and stories to aid understanding and retention. 5. ‘Hooks’ to get and hold the audience’s attention. Ensure that you have included several ‘hooks’ at various points in the presentation. This will help you to get and then keep the audience’s attention. These might be stories, or audience participation, or some alternative visual aids, such as a short video. 6. Check, and double check, for spelling and grammar. Make sure that any presentation slides or illustrations, titles, captions, handouts or similar are free from spelling mistakes. UNIT 8. BASICS OF SOCIOLINGUISTICS Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts We must immediately and quite definitely say: modern sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics. While this industry was only being formed, it was getting on its feet, one could argue about its status. But now, at the beginning of the 21st century, when sociolinguistics not only defined the object, goals and tasks of research, but tangible results were also obtained, the linguistic nature of this science is quite obvious. It is another matter that sociolinguists borrowed many methods from sociologists, for example, methods of mass surveys, questionnaires, oral interviews. But, borrowing from sociologists these methods, sociolinguists use them creatively, with reference to the tasks of language learning, and in addition, on their basis, their own methods of working with linguistic facts and with native speakers are developed. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 8-1. SOCIOLINGUISTICS VERSUS CORE LINGUISTICS After Robin Tolmach Lakoff’s What is Sociolinguistics? // A companion to the history of the English language / edited by Haruko Momma and Michael Matto. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008. Sociolinguistics is the study of language in its social context. That definition includes both 1) the way in which humans use differences in linguistic form to determine the social positions of themselves and others, and 2) the way in which speakers tailor their linguistic behaviors to the social context in which they are speaking. Examples of the first include dialect differences, gender differences, and other encodings of social position and status, and the ways in which we as hearers use these differences to determine: Is the other like or unlike me (do we, in some sense, “speak the same language”)? Is my interlocutor more powerful or less powerful than I am, or just as powerful? Examples of the second include our ability to arrange our discourse on a scale of formality: we talk one way (in terms of vocabulary and grammar) with intimates, another with more distant acquaintances and strangers. Sociolinguistics is the most socially relevant of all aspects of linguistics, since it talks about how people use (and abuse) language socially and politically. Sociolinguistics uses “core” linguistics (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) to explain how the forms of language, as analyzed in these areas, are given social meanings. Sociolinguistics has only recently separated itself from core linguistics, although (as has been argued by Labov) it can reasonably be seen as the true basic or core linguistic area, since it deals with the intersection of language form and social construction, a connection that is at the root of our humanness. The term itself was not much used before the late 1960s, when Labov and his co-workers began to use it to differentiate between the work they were doing and the autonomous linguistics of the Chomskyan school (transformational generative grammar). Prior to the Chomskyan domination of the field and during the ascendancy of American Structuralism, as first defined by Bloomfield (1933) and the major linguistic theory in America from the 1920s through the early 1960s, a lot of what was considered, simply, a “linguistics” included what today would be categorized as “sociolinguistics”: dialectology, cross-cultural comparisons, English usage, and so on. But once core linguistics was defined as “linguistics” proper, what was left became, by default, marginalized as, for instance, psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics is inherently interdisciplinary. It draws from and contributes to the knowledge base of many other disciplines: most obviously, cultural anthropology, psychology, and education; less obviously, literary theory, political science, and sociology. The same kinds of work may be assigned to one field rather than another purely on the basis of the departmental affiliation of its author. In Language (1933), Bloomfield defined the subject of linguistics as oral, spontaneous, and decontextualized forms of language, studied in an antimentalistic (non-interpretive) way. But this definition, useful and productive as it was, excludes many of the most important and fascinating aspects of language. Much of what is most significant about language lies in its social uses: the distinction it makes between public and private, oral and written, ephemeral and eternal, spontaneous and non-spontaneous. A complete explanatory theory of language would need to discuss all of these and would therefore have to include in its database examples of each, analyzed as situated in their social and psychological contexts. Besides the constraint against the non-spontaneous, including the written, traditionally American linguists (both Bloomfieldian and Chomskyan) have shared another taboo, avoiding the study of “structure above (or beyond) the sentence level.” There are reasonable justifications for this. Within Bloomfieldian antimentalism, the recognition of discursive structures as rule-governed entails interpretation. An analyst must discuss what makes a narrative “good”– satisfying to its creators and hearers. Within transformational grammar, the study of units consisting of combinations of sentences is simply not possible; analysis begins and ends at the sentence level. Moreover, syntactic rules are formal, involving the presence and ordering of concrete units: noun phrase, main verb, relative clause and so on; the more amorphous “idea units” of narrative and other kinds of connected discourse are not accessible to such analysis. Hence, until quite recently, the study of connected text “above the sentence level” has rarely been attempted within linguistics, socio- or otherwise (as an exception, see Labov 1972). I mention the foregoing because the rest of this essay violates conventional linguistic theory and practice. Many of my colleagues would not consider what follows (socio)linguistics. But definitions and fields must change, if they are to progress, and extending the domain of (socio)linguistics to include larger and more abstract units and non-spontaneous forms of utterance is essential: in complex and literate societies such as ours, these kinds of discourse are the principal means by which we make sense, create cohesion, and define ourselves as group members or non-members. The example I am using studies the construction, deconstruction, and possible reconstruction of gender roles through a story that made its way through various American media during the winter and spring of the year 2005, and thereby illustrates the way American society uses literate narrative to understand itself. Methods of Data Collection The aim of sociolinguistic data collection is to find spontaneous language used naturally. This turns out to be a difficult task. Labov (e.g. 1972) talks about the “Observer’s Paradox” as a hindrance to that ideal. The Observer’s Paradox states that the investigator needs to get spontaneous and natural data, but all possible (and ethical) methods of data collection interpose an element of unnaturalness or nonspontaneity. The most successful work minimizes that element, but it is always there. There are two major methods of data collection, as follows. The interview or questionnaire Suppose the investigator wishes to study the ways in which speakers of Standard American English can respond to compliments. A simple way to get this kind of data is through a questionnaire: volunteers are asked to provide a list (orally and face to face, or in writing on a form) of the ways they (or people in general) might appropriately respond to an utterance intended and understood as a compliment. The subject might be asked to produce a list or be asked to evaluate (perhaps on a numerical scale) a set of possible responses. Often the subject is offered a brief scenario within which the compliment-response pair occurs. After a suitable number of interviews, the investigator tallies up the percentages for each response and draws conclusions based on them. The interview method has some advantages. The interview itself is short, making it relatively easy to get subjects to cooperate and to tabulate the responses. It is possible to get a great deal of data from many subjects. But the method necessarily creates the Observer’s Paradox: speakers are asked to judge or produce examples without contextualization or at best in artificial contexts. Hence these responses do not represent what speakers actually do, but rather only what speakers think they do, or think other people do, or think they should do (because it’s polite, normal, elegant, etc.) or think the investigator wants them to say they do. The more interesting (and, often, touchy) the topic (e.g., gender differences in linguistic behavior), the more probable it is that the subject’s responses will be inaccurate. For these reasons, many sociolinguists avoid this method, and the principal journal of the field, Language in Society, will not accept articles based on interview-generated data for publication. The recording of spontaneous discourse Conversation analysis makes great use of this method, usually through the use of an audio/video recorder. In this method, an investigator places a recorder in the midst of a group of people who are having, or are about to have, a “natural” conversation, e.g., at a dinner party. The investigator later transcribes the recordings, and the transcripts are analyzed. Patterns emerge representing the forms of typical conversation: turn-taking rules, gaps and overlaps, the structure of adjacency pairs (like question-answer or conversational openings). Ethically participants must be asked in advance whether they are willing to participate, and the recorder must be kept in plain sight throughout the conversation. Investigators claim that after about ten minutes subjects forget about the recorder and start speaking completely “naturally,” but since it is (ethically) impossible to do a contrastive study with a concealed recorder, we can’t know this for sure. Recording of spontaneous utterance has a clear advantage over interview elicitation because data are naturally produced and therefore much closer to people’s real behavior. It is an excellent method for collecting examples of patterns that recur frequently (e.g., those of conversational interaction). It is useful, too, because it avoids introspection: investigators need not deal with the meanings of contributions, only with their structures. But for a study of possible responses to compliments, this method is impracticable. Compliments are relatively rare: one would have to collect reams of recordings of conversations in order to get a usably large amount of data. Too many important linguistic behaviors are offlimits for this kind of study. Interpretation and the Role of the Investigator’s Mind require that the investigator discover a corpus, not make sense of it. Should sociolinguistic research be purely empirical and non-interpretive? Or are there types of research and specific circumstances in which introspective methods, carefully controlled, have a place and in fact are essential? Without being able to say why speaker A said utterance B in context C, or what B was apt to mean, in that context, to hearer D, a great deal of what is interesting about language use and its consequences is inaccessible to study. For instance: • Everything that involves interpretive ideas: “power,” “stereotype,” and “identity.” • Understanding and misunderstanding the inexplicit (e.g., contextualization clues, politeness). It is customary for sociolinguistic surveys to record speakers from several different age groups. Often the frequency of different variants differs within the same community according to how old the speaker is. Where there are such differences, they can be used as diagnostics of ongoing change that is taking place (a point we return to below). Recently, sociolinguists have begun to explore even more creative methods for exploring the complex relationship between social and linguistic factors and variation and change. The methods of social dialectology focus exclusively on production of language: what variants do speakers use in different (social or linguistic) contexts? Some work has begun to also ask whether social or linguistic factors have an effect on the way speakers perceive language, e.g., do people hear something different if they think they are listening to speakers with different social attributes? Work in this area suggests that this may indeed be the case. • The creation of social connections (and disconnections) via discursive choices (e.g., “speaking for another”), discourse markers). • How we communicate by not communicating (e.g., metacommunication and conversational style; conversational implicature). Without theory and methodology allowing an investigator to say things like, “the speaker, in saying Y, meant to communicate X,” or “the speaker meant to communicate X, but the addressee understood Y,” none of these crucial concepts are available for investigation. While several important areas are still open to sociolinguistic research, for instance dialectology and variation, and conversation analysis, it would impoverish the field to discard the former topics. Labov’s methods remain the gold standard for pure empiricism, but even he is edgy about his important work on narrative structure (e.g., Labov 1972), since it violates his own caveats. OVERVIEW QUESTIONS: THE FIELD OF RESEARCH, THE SUBJECT MATTER, THE MAIN TOPIC, AND THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THE TEXT Instruction: The first questions you should ask are overview questions about the field of research, the subject matter, the main topic and/or the main purpose of the text. Overview questions lead you to identify the most important concepts and ideas in the text. You can employ the skill of surveying the text for all types of questions, but keep in mind that the strategies are slightly different for each question type, so look at them separately. Ask and answer overview questions about the difference between core linguistics and sociolinguistics, e.g.: What makes sociolinguistics interdisciplinary? How does the author characterize Chomskian, Bloomfieldean and Labovian approaches to language analysis? What methods of data collection are prevalent in sociolinguistics? What are the field of research, the subject matter, the main topic and the main purpose of the text? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING SOCIOLINGUISTICS – THE STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF LANGUAGE USE ON SOCIETY Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Variationist sociolinguistics uses empirical and quantitative methods to study the links between linguistic variation and social factors. Adherents of variationist sociolinguistics argue that the understanding of language includes its variable aspects as well as its categorical ones. At all linguistic levels, sociolinguistic variables enable speakers to say the same thing in different ways, with the variants being ‘‘identical in reference or truth value, but opposed in their social and/or stylistic significance” (Labov, 1972: 271). Text 8-2. VARIATIONIST CONTROVERSIES IN SOCIOLINGUISTICS (After Robin Tolmach Lakoff’s What is Sociolinguistics? // A companion to the history of the English language / edited by Haruko Momma and Michael Matto. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2008) Language has been studied for many years and from different perspectives. At first, language was studied in terms of its structure; however, with the advent of sociolinguistics, it began to be studied in relation to the society which uses it, which makes language described in an objective way, as there was a more scientific and descriptive approach to linguistic analysis with emphasis on the spoken usage. The advent of sociolinguistics has attracted the interest of many researchers, and it is concerned with the connections between language and society and the way we use it in different social situations. It describes language variation in its social context, and it was William Labov who opened the door to such a study, which had been neglected completely in linguistic theory. Speech variation as an important subject has been discussed by many sociolinguists in different dimensions. Sociolinguistics, as a huge field, studies the wide variety of dialects across a given region, to the analysis of the different social variables influencing the speaker’s language. It often shows us the humorous realities of human speech and how a dialect of a given language can often describe the age, gender, and social class or level of education… of the speaker. Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society. Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on the society. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics. It is historically closely related to linguistic anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has even been questioned recently. It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place, language usage also varies among social classes, and it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics studies. This general framework is applicable to communities where several languages are used, as both bilingual and monolingual speakers are constantly confronted with choices between linguistic forms that share the same referential meaning or the same function in particular contexts. Sociolinguistic variation thus both reflects social organization and contributes to its formation. Moreover, the alternation between variants is held to be the starting point of diachronic change in language. From this perspective, languages are heterogeneous and evolving systems, due to their internal dynamics, contact with other language varieties, and their links with social organization, which is itself evolving, composite and multi-layered. Sociolinguistic research covers three major areas: 1) the study of speech variations within a speech community; 2) concrete speech acts within the social context, often referred to as ethnography of communication; and 3) the speech community per se. The study of linguistic awareness and communicative competence among any community falls within the second category, that is, the study of speech acts (linguistic problem solving) within a social setting. In determining how to go about their work, sociolinguists must find the best compromise between the need to make use of rigorous methods of discovery and analysis, and the desire to study everything that is of interest in language use. I am aware of no generally agreed upon resolution to this conflict. Sociolinguistics again has had significant things to say about another area of linguistics often considered totally unrelated: historical linguistics. Labov’s work addresses a paradox: language always changes over time, but at any moment a language (e.g., Standard American English) seems invariant and homogeneous. How does homogeneous synchronic structure turn into diachronic change? Labov’s answer was that language is always in flux; there are always variations across or within seemingly invariant speech communities. Most of these variations are tiny and imperceptible to speakers (hence the appearance of invariance). Over time, these tiny differences aggregate into the large shifts that are recognized as diachronic change. Labov doesn’t say exactly how this occurs. The Changing Role of Gender in Public Discourse (over the last thirty to forty years) questions about gender differences have been raised in academia (across many fields), the sciences, religion, and politics. Many answers given by experts violate conventional wisdom and question comforting age-old stereotypes. During the 1990s many of these controversies receded in favor of new understandings of gender and gender roles, as women showed that they could succeed in areas previously reserved for men, and as everyone showed that rigid gender roles and expectations could change. Those conclusions may have been premature. Gender is the oldest and psychologically most salient distinction among human beings. Even stereotypical differences between races (and classes, much less so) prove extraordinarily hard to overcome. So it should not be surprising that the old ideas never died, but merely were in hibernation. The moment of reversal was September 11, 2001. The horrific events of that day profoundly shook Americans’ group identity: the sense of America’s invulnerability and supremacy over all other nations. The events of 9/11 occurred, moreover, during a conservative turn already under way, politically and culturally. If we see the changes in the American perception of gender roles between the 1970s and 2000 as a profound shift in personal identity, add to that the upheaval in group identity caused by 9/11, and superimpose a conservative mood, then the apparently quiescent question of gender differences would naturally re-emerge. So, for instance, a seemingly minor comment by Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was all that was needed to arouse an impassioned dialogue on gender. Summers’ offhand remarks, in the socio-political context in which they were delivered, attracted an inordinate amount of both public and private attention, and therefore passed what I have called the Undue Attention Test (UAT). The Summers Case as a Study in Sociolinguistics. On January 14, 2005, Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers delivered what were later characterized as “off the cuff” remarks at a conference at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, convened on the topic “Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce: Women, Underrepresented Minorities, and their S. & E. Careers.” In his remarks, Summers suggested some reasons women might be underrepresented in university science, mathematics, and engineering faculties. Such positions, he suggested, “require extraordinary commitments of time and energy [including] 80-hour weeks. . . . Few married women are willing to accept such sacrifices”. Secondly, he cited research showing that more high school boys than girls score very high and very low on standardized math tests, differences that “possibly” arose from biological differences between the sexes. Immediately, the storm broke. We can read the controversy as a continuing story, or narrative, running through the popular media between January 17 and late spring 2005. I am basing my discussion principally on articles that appeared in the New York Times over that period, with a few from other print media. But the argument went far beyond these sources, not only in print but on television and radio news, magazine, and talk shows. I am concentrating on the Times as the US paper of record, but a great many similar stories occurred in all these formats. To know how to “read” the story, that is, interpret both the explicit content and the profusion and direction of the reportage, the reader must be aware of the social, psychological, and political context within which the events took place. Otherwise, the story is bewildering. Why should anyone – let alone everyone – care what a university president, speaking well outside his own field of expertise (economics), hypothesizes about the scarcity of women in science? During the period January 17 to May 31, 2005, Lexis-Nexis lists 258 stories in major papers containing the name “Lawrence H. Summers.” By comparison, for the same period in 2004, only 30 such documents are listed. From this perspective, the case passes the UAT: an inordinate amount of public discourse about a topic that would seem to be lacking in general interest. But stories that pass the UAT do so because, when their context is fully understood, the interest is far from “undue”: the topic represents something that participants in the culture find, at that point in time, to be highly salient and problematic. The “problem” in this case is the recurrent question of differences between the sexes. Do differences in men’s and women’s success in highly prestigious fields like the sciences still exist – despite attempts to equalize the playing field – because of the innate differences Summers alluded to, in which case nothing much can or should be done to rectify the situation; or because of social differences, including prejudice against women within the scientific community, and unequal distribution of child care and housework between members of couples? The questions Summers raised had been dealt with in various disciplines, in many ways, again and again over thirty-five years. But in 2005 they could still provoke passionate back-and-forth response for several reasons. First, the topic itself is inflammatory and unresolved. If the differences should turn out to be biologically based, that might lead many to conclude that women are inherently inferior in other ways as well, and some would take that conclusion as an invitation to undo legislatively the accomplishments of the last thirty years. If, on the other hand, Summers’ assertion proved incorrect, changes would have to be made in hiring and promotion practices by departments and universities that wanted to seem equitable, and by couples who wanted egalitarian relationships. Secondly, the source of the statement was no ordinary guy, but a man with a great deal of intellectual clout. Not only had Summers been President Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury, but he was currently the head of the most ancient and prestigious of American universities. Among the non-academic public, Harvard is Harvard and everyone else is not. So if the same statements had been made by (say) the president of Yale or of the University of California, my guess is that they would not have created a similar firestorm. Lastly, and to my mind most importantly, the issue of gender equity had recently become embroiled in controversy after a long period of relative calm. At the moment Summers made his remarks, America was ready to re-fight gender issues because the country was controlled by a religiously conservative Republican administration and Congress; because we were fighting two wars (on “terrorism” and in Iraq), and war always tends to polarize gender roles; and because the confounding of our American group identity by the events of 9/11 had created, for many Americans, a crisis in our individual identities as gendered persons. So the story had stamina because of the context in which the remarks were made. In fact, the Summers story was not the first harbinger of new concern over gender issues. Over the previous few years there had been some media attention to gender roles. An article by Lisa Belkin in the New York Times Magazine (Belkin 2003) talks at length and with approval about women who have abandoned prestigious careers to become “stay-at-home moms.” An article in the New York Times’ Sunday Week in Review (Warner 2004) quoted men whose wives were working at highsalaried jobs as resentful and complaining. Alessandra Stanley (2004), commenting on the season’s new television shows, argued that they were re-creating and reinforcing old gender stereotypes (including in her attribution Desperate Housewives, soon to become a major hit). The Narrative I frame the Summers case as a story, or “narrative,” using Labov’s definition: a minimal narrative consists of two “narrative clauses,” temporal statements whose order cannot be rearranged without changing their meaning or creating nonsense. In this case there are four main “narrative clauses,” that is, major story developments: 1. The original event and its immediate fallout. 2. Analysis of the validity of Summers’ claims, including a pair of Op-Ed articles; arguing for and against the existence of biological differences, citing scientifi c studies that came to opposite conclusions. Appearing nine days after the Summers statement, these articles occupy, extraordinarily, almost a full Op-Ed page. Each side claims to have “science” on its side – but different science with different underlying assumptions about what constitutes a valid scientific approach. There was also discussion of environmental barriers to women’s achievement, whether collegial prejudice or the unfair distribution of domestic duties. 3. While the arguments of (2) were playing out, a related topic surfaced: an examination, often negative, of Summers’ performance as Harvard president showing how far the story had spread beyond the science and education pages. These stories focused on Summers’ confrontational and belittling style in dealing with his faculty, often arguing that the style was counterproductive. Indeed, during this period the Harvard faculty voted twice to give Summers a vote of no confidence, necessitating several apologies on his part. 4. Finally, there were discussions of the role of gender elsewhere than in science and university governance. Dowd (2005) in a Times Op-Ed column, muses on why so few other women are willing or able to serve as political commentators (she suggests, because women speaking critically are viewed much more unfavorably than are men, and because women are much more strongly affected than men by negative response). Tierney (2005), in the same place, argues that women are simply less competitive than men, as demonstrated by the fact that men virtually always are the winners of Scrabble tournaments. An article in the Times’ Sunday Arts and Leisure section (Allen 2005) points out that, at auction, the works of modern female artists fetch lower prices than those of their male counterparts. While none of these directly addresses the Summers controversy, it seems probable that they would not have been written except within the penumbra of that dispute. Conclusions First, language and the world it represents are interconnected. It is impossible to make sense of the discourse around the Summers case without understanding the social and political settings within which it was situated. Secondly, all levels of language are grist for the sociolinguist’s interpretive mill. All are predictable and rule governed, and we use all – spontaneous and planned; oral and written; formal and informal; verbal and non-verbal – to make sense of the world around us and present ourselves and our identities to one another. Third, the domain of sociolinguistics, as of linguistics more generally, is everything that we as human beings use language to achieve, intentionally or otherwise. Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to write a presentation based on the two combined texts: Text 8-1 “Sociolinguistics versus core linguistics” and Text 8-2 “Variationist controversies in sociolinguistics”. Both are abridged after R. T. Lakoff’s “What is sociolinguistics?”. Presentation is a means of communication that can be adapted to various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing an examination board or a class meeting. It can also be used as a broad term that encompasses other ‘speaking engagements’ such as making a speech or getting a point across in conference. A presentation requires you to get a message across to the listeners and will often contain a 'persuasive' element. It may, for example, be a talk about your reading for a graduate or candidate exam. You should know exactly what you want to say and the order in which you want to say it. Clarity of ideas and good organization of a presentation should help result in a lively, logical and compelling message, delivered in a confident and professional way. You are to choose between the two types of presentation: 1. The first type of your presentation should have three main elements: an introduction, a main message and conclusions. Within the main body of your presentation, divide your key message into three elements and then expand each of these points into three sub-points. 2. An alternative structure of your presentation uses the questions “What?”, “Why?” and “How?” to communicate your message to the audience. In a way, this also harnesses the power of three, but is a special case for driving action.  “What?” identifies the key message you wish to communicate.  “Why?” addresses the next obvious question that arises for the audience.  “How?” is the final question that naturally arises in the listeners’ mind. They want to know how they are going to achieve what you have just suggested. Try not to be too prescriptive here. Instead of telling people exactly how they should act on your message, offer suggestions as to how they can act, perhaps using examples. Editing Your Content Once you have a first draft of your presentation, it is important to review and edit this. This will help to ensure that it really does get your message across in the most effective way. When editing presentation content, you should consider: 7. The language. Make sure that what you are saying will be clear to your audience. Remove any jargon and try to use plain English instead. If necessary, explain terms when you first use them. 8. Sentence structure. Use short sentences and keep the structure simple. Remember that you will be talking through your ideas and that the audience will be listening rather than reading. 9. The flow. Make sure that your presentation structure leads your audience through your ideas and helps them to draw your conclusion for themselves. 10. Use metaphors and stories to aid understanding and retention. 11. ‘Hooks’ to get and hold the audience’s attention. Ensure that you have included several ‘hooks’ at various points in the presentation. This will help you to get and then keep the audience’s attention. These might be stories, or audience participation, or some alternative visual aids, such as a short video. 12. Check, and double check, for spelling and grammar. Make sure that any presentation slides or illustrations, titles, captions, handouts or similar are free from spelling mistakes. UNIT 9. HOW TO BE AN ETHICAL NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts on journalism Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and good practice applicable to journalists. This subset of media ethics is known as journalism's professional "code of ethics" and the "canons of journalism". The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements by professional journalism associations and news organizations. While various codes may have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and public accountability, as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public. Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 9-1. ETHICAL CODE OF JOURNALISM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. (Adridged after the Handbook of Values and Practice for the News and Editorial Departments of The New York Times) https://www.nytimes.com/editorialstandards/ethical-journalism.html#rulesForSpecializedDepartments Introduction and Purpose The goal of The New York Times is to cover the news as impartially as possible — “without fear or favor,” in the words of Adolph Ochs, our patriarch — and to treat readers, news sources, advertisers and others fairly and openly, and to be seen to be doing so. The reputation of The Times rests upon such perceptions, and so do the professional reputations of its staff members. Thus The Times and members of its news department and editorial page staff share an interest in avoiding conflicts of interest or an appearance of a conflict. For more than a century, men and women of The Times have jealously guarded the paper’s integrity. Whatever else we contribute, our first duty is to make sure the integrity of The Times is not blemished during our stewardship. Our Duty to Our Readers The Times treats its readers as fairly and openly as possible. In print and online, we tell our readers the complete, unvarnished truth as best we can learn it. It is our policy to correct our errors, large and small, as soon as we become aware of them. We treat our readers no less fairly in private than in public. Anyone who deals with readers is expected to honor that principle, knowing that ultimately the readers are our employers. Civility applies whether an exchange takes place in person, by telephone, by letter or online. Simple courtesy suggests that we not alienate our readers by ignoring their letters and emails that warrant reply. The Times gathers information for the benefit of its readers. Staff members may not use their Times position to make inquiries for any other purpose. As noted above, they may not seek any advantage for themselves or others by acting on or disclosing information acquired in their work but not yet available to readers. Staff members who plagiarize or who knowingly or recklessly provide false information for publication betray our fundamental pact with our readers. We will not tolerate such behavior. Pursuing the News The Times treats news sources just as fairly and openly as it treats readers. We do not inquire pointlessly into someone’s personal life. Staff members may not threaten to damage uncooperative sources. They may not promise favorable coverage in return for cooperation. They may not pay for interviews or unpublished documents. Staff members should disclose their identity to people they cover (whether face to face or otherwise), though they need not always announce their status as journalists when seeking information normally available to the public. Staff members may not pose as police officers, lawyers, business people or anyone else when they are working as journalists. (As happens on rare occasions, when seeking to enter countries that bar journalists, correspondents may take cover from vagueness and identify themselves as traveling on business or as tourists.) Theater, music and art critics and other writers who review goods or services offered to the public may conceal their Times connection but may not normally assert a false identity or affiliation. As an exception, restaurant critics may make reservations in false names to protect their identity. Restaurant critics and travel writers must conceal their Times affiliation to eliminate the possibility of special treatment. Obeying the Law in Pursuit of the News Staff members must obey the law in the pursuit of news. They may not break into buildings, homes, apartments or offices. They may not purloin data, documents or other property, including such electronic property as databases and email or voice mail messages. They may not tap telephones, invade computer files or otherwise eavesdrop electronically on news sources. In short, they may not commit illegal acts of any sort. Staff members may not use the identification cards or special license plates issued by police or other official agencies except in doing their jobs. Staff members who have applied for or hold “NYP” or other special plates should disclose that fact to the associate managing editor for news administration or the deputy editorial page editor. Staff members whose duties do not require special plates must return them. Staff members may not record conversations without the prior consent of all parties to the conversations. Even where the law allows recording with only one party aware of it, the practice is a deception. Masthead editors may make rare exceptions to this prohibition in places where recordings made secretly are legal. Dealing with the Competition Staff members compete zealously but deal with competitors openly and honestly. We do not invent obstacles to hamstring their efforts. When we use facts reported by another publication, we attribute them. Staff members may not join teams covering news events for other organizations, and they may not accept payment from competitors for news tips. They may not be listed on the masthead of any non-Times publication. (Exceptions can be made for publications that do not in any way compete with The Times, such as a church or synagogue newsletter, an alumni magazine or a club bulletin.) Protecting the Paper’s Neutrality Staff members may not accept gifts, tickets, discounts, reimbursements or other inducements from any individuals or organizations covered by The Times or likely to be covered by The Times. (Exceptions may be made for trinkets of nominal value, say, $25 or less, such as a mug or a cap with a company logo.) Gifts should be returned with a polite explanation. A sample letter for use in such situations appears below. Staff members may not accept employment or compensation of any sort from individuals or organizations who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise. Staff members may not accept anything that could be construed as a payment for favorable coverage or as an inducement to alter or forgo unfavorable coverage. They may share in reprint fees that other journalistic media pay The Times, according to the terms of our contract with the Newspaper Guild. They may also share in fees paid by non-journalistic parties for permission to reprint Times material in advertisements or promotions, though their share of those fees may not exceed $200 an article. Staff members may accept any gifts or discounts available to the general public. Normally they are also free to take advantage of conventional corporate discounts that the Times Company has offered to share with all employees (for example, corporate car rental rates). And staff members may accept free admission at museums or other benefits extended to all Times employees by virtue of the Times Company Foundation’s support of various cultural institutions. Staff members must be mindful, however, that large discounts — even those negotiated by the Times Company — may create the appearance of partiality, especially by those who have a hand in the coverage of the company or industry offering the discount. If General Motors, for instance, offers substantial trade discounts to all Times Company employees, the Detroit correspondent should not accept without discussing the possible appearance of favoritism with the responsible editors. If any such discounts do raise doubts, staff members should bring them to the attention of their department heads and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor before accepting. Unless the special terms are offered by The New York Times Company or a Times subsidiary or affiliate, staff members may not buy stock in initial public offerings through “friends and family shares” where any plausible possibility exists of a real or apparent conflict of interest. Staff members may not accept allocations from brokerage firms. Providing Financial or Other Advice It is an inherent conflict for a Times staff member to perform public relations work, paid or unpaid. Staff members may not advise individuals or organizations how to deal successfully with the news media (though they may of course explain the paper’s normal workings and steer outsiders to the appropriate Times person). They may not, for example, advise candidates for public office, write or edit annual reports or contribute to the programs of sports teams. They should not take part in public relations workshops that charge admission or imply privileged access to Times people, or participate in surveys asking their opinion of an organization’s press relations or public image. They are free, however, to offer reasonable help to institutions such as their child’s school, a small museum, a community charity or their house of worship. Staff members may not serve as ghost writers or co-authors for individuals who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise. They may not undertake such assignments for organizations that espouse a cause. Staff members may not engage in financial counseling (except in the articles they write). They may not manage money for others, proffer investment advice, or operate or help operate an investment company of any sort, with or without pay. They may not do anything that would require registration as an investment adviser. They may, however, help family members with ordinary financial planning and serve as executors or administrators of estates of relatives and friends and as court-appointed conservators and guardians. Speaking Engagements The Times freely acknowledges that outside appearances can enhance the reputation of its bylines and serve the paper’s interests. Nevertheless, no staff member may appear before an outside group if the appearance could reasonably create an actual or apparent conflict of interest or undermine public trust in the paper’s impartiality. No staff member who takes part in a broadcast, webcast, public forum or panel discussion may write or edit news articles about that event. Staff members should be especially sensitive to the appearance of partiality when they address groups that might figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise, especially if the setting might suggest a close relationship to the sponsoring group. Before accepting such an invitation, a staff member must consult with the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Generally, a reporter recently returned from the Middle East might comfortably address a suburban synagogue or mosque but should not appear before a group that lobbies for Israel or the Arab states. A reporter who writes about the environment could appropriately speak to a garden club but not to conservation groups known for their efforts to influence public policy. Staff members may not accept invitations to speak before a single company (for example, the Citigroup executive retreat) or an industry assembly (for example, organized baseball’s winter meeting) unless The Times decides the appearance is useful and will not damage the newspaper’s reputation for impartiality. In that case, The Times will pay expenses; no speaker’s fee should be accepted. Staff members invited to make such appearances should consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Staff members should not accept invitations to speak where their function is to attract customers to an event primarily intended as profit-making. Staff members may accept speaking fees, honorariums, expense reimbursement and free transportation only from educational or other nonprofit groups for which lobbying and political activity are not a major focus. If a speaking fee exceeds $5,000, the staff member must consult the standards editor, the associate managing editor for news administration or the deputy editorial page editor before accepting. Staff members who accept fees, honorariums or expenses for speaking engagements must file with the associate managing editor for news administration or the deputy editorial page editor by January 31 of each year an accounting of the previous year’s appearances. If their fees total less than $5,000, no annual accounting is required. Fees earned under Times auspices for promotional or other approved purposes need not be included. Staff members who write books and want to promote them must give their supervisor a schedule of proposed appearances. They may accept routine expenses and fees in promotional appearances, but they must make every effort to ensure that their appearances conform to the spirit of these guidelines and do not interfere with their responsibilities to the paper. If they have doubts about an appearance, they must consult their supervisor and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Speeches and other outside endeavors by staff members, or unpaid, should not imply that they carry the endorsement of The Times (unless they do). To the contrary, the staff member should gracefully remind the audience that the views expressed are his or her own. Outside commitments should not interfere with the speaker’s responsibilities at The Times. Thus no staff member should agree to an extensive speaking schedule without approval from a supervisor. Competitions and Contests Staff members may not enter competitions sponsored by individuals or groups who have a direct interest in the tenor of Times coverage. They may not act as judges for these competitions or accept their awards. Common examples are contests sponsored by commercial, political or professional associations to judge coverage of their affairs. The standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor may make exceptions for competitions underwritten by corporate sponsors if broad in scope and independently judged, such as the University of Missouri awards for consumer journalism, long sponsored by J.C. Penney. Staff members may compete in competitions sponsored by groups whose members are all journalists or whose members demonstrably have no direct interest in the tenor of coverage of the field being judged. Times staff members may act as judges for such competitions and accept their awards. For example, a staff member may enter a university-sponsored competition for coverage of economic or foreign affairs but not accept an advocacy group’s prize for outstanding environmental coverage. This prohibition on taking part in sponsored competitions applies to film festivals or awards in which critics are asked to vote and to such competitions as the Tony Awards, the Heisman Trophy, most valuable player and rookie of the year honors and admission to sports halls of fame. Cooperation of this sort puts the paper’s independence into question. A current list of some competitions that The Times has approved is posted on the Newsroom home page under Policies. Staff members who would like to enter others should consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. A critical factor in approving a competition, whatever its sponsorship, is a record of arm’s-length decisions, including a willingness to honor critical reporting. Normally staff members are free to accept honorary degrees, medals and other awards from colleges, universities and other educational institutions. Those who cover higher education or supervise that coverage should be sensitive to any appearance of coziness or favoritism. Those in doubt should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Participation in Public Life Staff members of The Times are family members and responsible citizens as well as journalists. The Times respects their educating their children, exercising their religion, voting in elections and taking active part in community affairs. Nothing in this policy is meant to infringe upon those rights. But even in the best of causes, Times staff members have a duty to avoid the appearance of a conflict. They should never invoke The Times’s name in private activities. Certain of these requirements apply to all newsroom and editorial page employees, journalists and support staff alike. No newsroom or editorial employee may do anything that damages The Times’s reputation for strict neutrality in reporting on politics and government. In particular, no one may wear campaign buttons or display any other sign of political partisanship while on the job. Otherwise, “staff members” in this section refers only to the professional journalists. Voting, Campaigns and Public Issues Journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics. Staff members are entitled to vote, but they must do nothing that might raise questions about their professional neutrality or that of The Times. In particular, they may not campaign for, demonstrate for, or endorse candidates, ballot causes or efforts to enact legislation. They may not wear campaign buttons or themselves display any other insignia of partisan politics. They should recognize that a bumper sticker on the family car or a campaign sign on the lawn may be misread as theirs, no matter who in their household actually placed the sticker or the sign. Staff members may not themselves give money to, or raise money for, any political candidate or election cause. Given the ease of Internet access to public records of campaign contributors, any political giving by a Times staff member would carry a great risk of feeding a false impression that the paper is taking sides. No staff member may seek public office anywhere. Seeking or serving in public office plainly violates the professional detachment expected of a journalist. It poses a risk of having the staff member’s political views imputed to The Times, and it can sow a suspicion of favoritism in The Times’s political coverage when one of its staff is an active participant. Staff members may not march or rally in support of public causes or movements, sign ads taking a position on public issues, or lend their name to campaigns, benefit dinners or similar events if doing so might reasonably raise doubts about their ability or The Times’s ability to function as neutral observers in covering the news. Staff members must keep in mind that neighbors and other observers commonly see them as representatives of The Times. Staff members may appear from time to time on radio and television programs devoted to public affairs, but they should avoid expressing views that go beyond what they would be allowed to say in the paper. Op-Ed columnists and editorial writers enjoy more leeway than others in speaking publicly because their business is expressing opinions. The Times nevertheless expects them to consider carefully the forums in which they appear and to protect the standards and impartiality of the newspaper as a whole. Staff members must be sensitive that perfectly proper political activity by their spouses, family or companions may nevertheless create conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict. When such a possibility arises, the staff member should advise his or her department head and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Depending on circumstances, the staff member may have to recuse himself or herself from certain coverage or even move to a job unrelated to the activities in question. A staff member with any doubts about a proposed political activity should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. These restrictions protect the heart of our mission as journalists. Though The Times will consider matters case by case, it will be exceedingly cautious before permitting an exception. Advertisers, Marketing, Promotion The Times treats advertisers as fairly and openly as it treats readers and news sources. The relationship between The Times and advertisers rests on the understanding, long observed in all departments, that news and advertising are strictly separate — that those who deal with either one have distinct obligations and interests and neither group will try to influence the other. Members of the news department should maintain their disinterest and objectivity by avoiding discussions of advertising needs, goals and problems except where those needs or problems are directly related to the business of the news department. In many instances, for example, the news and advertising departments may properly confer on the layout and configuration of the paper or the timing of special sections. When authorized by the executive editor, members of the news staff may take part in interdepartmental committees on problems that affect several departments, including news. As far as possible they should leave advertising issues to colleagues from the business side. From time to time, when authorized by the executive editor or the editorial page editor, staff members may take part in events organized by The Times for marketing or promotion. But they should stick to their expertise and refrain from saying anything that sounds like a sales pitch. No one in the news department below the masthead level (except when authorized by the executive editor) may exchange information with the advertising department or with advertisers about the timing or content of advertising, the timing or content of articles or the assignment of staff or freelance writers, editors, artists, designers or photographers. (To be continued in Part 2 of this unit). Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to write an essay about the ethical code of your profession based on the two combined texts of Unit 9. As an interim step approaching you to coping with this assignment you will have to discuss the articles of the Code given above, express your attitude and compare them to the code of Russian journalism as you may envision it. Even if you are not interested in journalism as your life occupation you may well have some ideas to be shared with your teacher and fellow students. Identify where to find information. Survey the text. a/ The implication of the text is what the Code aims at. The aim of the Code is to value the importance of being ethical for the profession. b/ The topic is the subject area the Code chooses to bring its ideas to the reader. Identify the main topic of the text. c/ The purpose of the text is what the Code wants the reader to believe in Sample Questions  What is the main topic of the passage?  What does the text mainly discuss?  What is the text primarily concerned with? Main purpose questions ask why the author wrote a passage. The answer choices for these questions usually begin with infinitives. Sample Questions • What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? • What is the author's main purpose in the passage? • What is the main point of this passage? • Why did the author write the passage? Sample Answer Choices To define_____ To relate_____ To discuss_____ To propose_____ To illustrate_____ To support the idea that_____ To distinguish between _____and______ To compare ____and_____ Main detail questions ask about the most significant information of the text. To answer such question, you should point out a line or two in the text. Sample Question What idea is emphasized in the text? Make up a condensed 1-page summary of the text. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING OBLIGATIONS OF THE TIMES STAFF MEMBER Guidelines for extensive reading of DOE texts Extensive reading of Domain-Oriented English texts is emphasized in this manual as a way of developing the graduates’ competence in domain-oriented communication embracing interdisciplinary topics. It implies independent study of the texts discussing vital issues of professional and general interest. A plausible definition of extensive reading as a competence acquiring procedure is based on: (1) abridged presentations of longer texts; (2) general understanding of the research field; (3) the learner’s intention of gaining specific experience and acquiring special information from the text. (4) Extensive reading is individualized, with students being offered a choice of interdisciplinary texts they would want to read; (5) the texts may or may not be discussed in class. Text 9-2. ETHICAL CODE OF JOURNALISM IN THE NEW YORK TIMES. (Continued from Part 1) (Abridged after the Handbook of Values and Practice for the News and Editorial Departments of The New York Times) Obligations to The Times The Times’s good name does not belong to any of us. No one has a right to expropriate it for private purposes. Staff members may not use Times identification cards for purposes not connected with Times employment. Cards may not be used to obtain special treatment or advantage from governmental, commercial or other organizations (except when the card is required for a benefit available to all Times Company employees by virtue of its foundation’s charitable relationships, such as free admission to the Metropolitan Museum). Staff members may not use Times stationery, business cards, forms or other materials for any purpose except the business of the newspaper. Speaking for The Times Staff members must not disclose confidential information about the operations, policies or plans of The Times or its corporate affiliates. Department heads and masthead executives may authorize other staff members to comment publicly on policies or plans within the staff members’ areas of responsibility and expertise. If staff members are approached by other media or other outsiders to discuss Times content or policy, they should refer the questioners to a masthead executive or the corporate communications department. Staff members are free to discuss their own activities in public, provided their comments do not create an impression that they lack journalistic impartiality or speak for The Times. None of these restrictions should be interpreted as barring a staff member from responding openly and honestly to any reasonable inquiry from a reader about that staff member’s work. If a reader asks for a correction, that request should be passed promptly to a supervisor. If the request threatens legal action or appears to be from a lawyer, the complaint should be promptly referred to the legal department through a department head. Books, Movies, Reprints and Copyright Any staff member intending to write or assemble a nonfiction book based on material that derives from his or her assignment or beat must notify The Times in advance, so The Times can decide whether to make a competitive bid to publish the work. In this regard, staff members cannot accept or entertain any sort of preemptory bid from an outside publisher before allowing The Times to consider the project. Staff members are required to inform The Times of any such project or proposal, in writing, by sending a letter or email to their department head, as well as to the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. The notification should include any information about the anticipated time frame of the project, including (if applicable) the time frame that an outside publisher has set for bidding on the project. Within a reasonable period, taking into account the time frame for the project, The Times will inform the staff member in writing whether it wants to compete for the project. If it does, The Times will provide the staff member with a competitive bid. In the end, the staff member and his or her agent have no obligation to accept The Times’s offer. This process is intended to assure The Times a seat at the table in any negotiations, including auctions, involving books based on materials derived from a Times assignment or beat. These guidelines do not apply to book proposals or projects that involve the reproduction of articles, columns, photographs, artwork or other material created by staff members and published in The Times or on nytimes.com. The Times owns such material outright, and no such material may be reproduced elsewhere without the prior written permission of The Times, nor may it be rewritten, updated or otherwise altered and then republished without The Times’s prior written permission. Staff members are often approached by agents, producers, studios or others seeking rights to Times material. Such inquiries must be forwarded immediately to the standards editor or to the deputy editorial page editor and to the legal department. If a staff member represented by the Newspaper Guild has questions about rights to payment for reprints of articles that the staff member has written, he or she should refer to The Times’s collective bargaining agreement with the Guild. In general, this agreement calls for a 50/50 split of the fees involved. In contemplating book projects — or other outside endeavors — staff members must never give an impression they might benefit financially from the outcome of news events. Staff members may not negotiate with any outside person or entity for any rights to an article or story idea before the article has run in The Times. Staff members involved in covering a running story may not negotiate over books, articles, films, programs or media projects of any sort based on that coverage until that news has played out, unless they have written permission in advance from the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. No staff member may serve as a ghost writer or co-author for individuals who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise. No staff member will be given a leave of absence, paid or unpaid, to write a book without the explicit permission of the executive editor or the editorial page editor. Ideally, a staff member who feels he or she will need to leave to complete a book project should inform The Times of the intention to seek a leave at the same time he or she first makes the book project available for consideration by The Times. A decision to grant or deny a request for a book leave — like requests for most other leaves of absence — will be based on many factors, including previous book leaves or accommodations the newspaper has granted to the staff member; the impact the leave will have on departmental staffing needs, and the degree to which The Times believes the book project will accrue to the newspaper’s interests. If a staff member represented by the Newspaper Guild has a question about a leave of absence, he or she should refer to The Times’s collective bargaining agreement with the Guild. At no time may a staff member turn over notes, interviews documents or other working materials to any third party, including agents, producers, studios or outside production agencies, or share those materials with them unless legally compelled to do so. Staff members are advised that in such circumstances, The Times’s legal department will provide assistance. (Those represented by the Guild should refer to their collective bargaining agreement for the parameters of that assistance.) As a matter of policy, The Times will not give commercial producers or publishers access to working materials any more than it would turn them over to government prosecutors for use in court. This paragraph applies only to television and film: Staff members offered “consulting” agreements by agents, producers, studios or others must consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor before accepting. No staff member may serve as a consultant to a film or program that he or she knows in advance is tendentious or clearly distorts the underlying facts. In no case should a consulting role be described in a way that invokes The Times or implies its endorsement or participation. Journalistic Work Outside The Times Staff members are generally entitled to accept freelance assignments that do not directly compete with The Times’s own offerings. Normally, work for competitors will not be permitted. When allowed in rare instances, permission will be limited to cases in which The Times is not interested in assigning the staff member a similar piece or project. The Times competes in a far larger arena today than in the past. The printed paper remains our flagship, as does The International Herald Tribune internationally, but we reach an audience of millions through The New York Times on the web. We are learning to translate our journalism into outstanding television. We publish numerous books, both original and drawn from past articles; we offer archival photos of museum quality. We deliver The New York Times in its complete form via the web. Our bedrock mission is to serve a high-quality audience that values Times journalism, relying on any appropriate medium. Competitors include any newspaper, magazine or other media of publication, regardless of form, with an editorial focus on either New York City or general-interest news and information. If the competitive status of a publication, website or TV production is unclear, a staff member should consult with the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Staff members are encouraged (but not required) to offer their freelance work to The Times or, in the case of a website, to The New York Times on the web before trying to sell it elsewhere. The Times offers a number of outlets for work for which a staff member is paid extra, including the Times Magazine, the Book Review and special sections. (Any freelance material that derives from a Times assignment or beat must first be offered to The Times before a staff member offers it elsewhere.) Staff members must ensure that their freelance work does not interfere with their responsibilities to The Times and that it is consistent with these policies and guidelines. If any doubt exists, they must consult their supervisors and the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor before accepting outside assignments. Before accepting a freelance assignment, a staff member should make sure that the tone and content of the publication, website or program are in keeping with the standards of The Times. In general, a staff member should write nothing elsewhere that could not fit comfortably under his or her byline in The Times or that implies The Times’s sponsorship or endorsement. An outside publication, program or website may identify staff members by their Times positions but only in a routine way. Because their primary identification is with The Times, staff members who accept freelance assignments should adhere to these guidelines in carrying out those assignments. For example, a staff member on freelance assignment may not accept compensation, expenses, discounts, gifts or other inducements from a news source. Similarly, staff members who establish their own sites online must ensure that their online conduct conforms to these guidelines. Frequency matters. Freelance work might create a conflict of interest if it is pursued with such regularity that it interferes with Times assignments or compromises the integrity or independence of The Times. Freelancing might also create a conflict if it identifies a staff member as closely with another publication or website as with The Times. A business reporter who wrote a column in every issue of a trade magazine might soon become more identified with that magazine than with The Times. A critic writing regularly for an arts magazine might foster the impression that The Times was not his or her prime responsibility. The use of a pseudonym does not alter the obligation to comply with this provision. A regular contribution to an outside enterprise is permissible if it does not interfere with or flow from Times responsibilities or involve intellectual matter owed to The Times and its readers. Examples of acceptable affiliations might be a foreign desk copy editor who writes a monthly column on stamp-collecting or a mapmaker working as a freelance illustrator. Staff members considering such continuing ventures should confer with their supervisors and with the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Appearing on Broadcast Media Staff members may participate in radio, television or Internet interviews or discussions, paid or unpaid, that deal with articles they have written or subjects that figure in the coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise. Such occasional appearances must not imply that they carry the sponsorship or endorsement of The Times (unless they do). Staff members should be careful about the use of their names and that of the newspaper in materials promoting the appearances. As a courtesy, they should let their department head know about their plans to appear. In deciding whether to make a radio, television or Internet appearance, a staff member should consider its probable tone and content to make sure they are consistent with Times standards. Staff members should avoid strident, theatrical forums that emphasize punditry and reckless opinion-mongering. Instead, we should offer thoughtful and retrospective analysis. Generally a staff member should not say anything on radio, television or the Internet that could not appear under his or her byline in The Times. Staff members may not appear on broadcasts that compete directly with The Times’s own offerings on television or the Internet. They may not accept assignments from the Times’s TV clients or potential clients without its approval. As the paper moves further into these new fields, its direct competitors and clients or potential clients will undoubtedly grow in number. A staff member who has any doubt about the status of a particular program should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Appearances might create a conflict of interest if they come so regularly that they interfere with Times assignments or compromise the integrity or independence of The Times. They might also create a conflict if they identify a staff member as closely with a radio or television program or a website as with The Times. A Washington reporter who appeared weekly on a television program might soon become more known for that program than for work done for The Times. Occasional appearances on the same program would not run that risk. Sorting Out Family Ties In a day when most families balance two careers, the legitimate activities of companions, spouses and other relatives can sometimes create journalistic conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts. They can crop up in civic or political life, professional pursuits and financial activity. A spouse or companion who runs for public office would obviously create the appearance of conflict for a political reporter or an editor involved in election coverage. A brother or a daughter in a high-profile job on Wall Street might produce the appearance of conflict for a business reporter or editor. To avoid such conflicts, staff members may not write about people to whom they are related by blood or marriage or with whom they have close personal relationships, or edit material about such people or make news judgments about them. For similar reasons, staff members should not recruit or directly supervise family members or close friends. Some exceptions are permissible — in a foreign bureau, for instance, where a married couple form a team, or in the case of an article by a food writer profiling her brother the Yankee star, where the kinship is of genuine news interest. Business-Financial, Technology and Media News Staff members in business-financial news regularly work with sensitive information that affects financial prices. Because of that sensitivity, they are subject to additional and stricter requirements. Staff members in technology news and media news are subject to the same rules as those in business-financial news, for the same reason. Members of these three departments may not play the market. That is, they may not conduct in-and-out trading (buying and selling the same security within three months). They may not buy or sell options or futures or sell securities short. Any of these actions could create the appearance that a staff member was speculating by exploiting information not available to the public. In special circumstances — a family financial crisis, for example — the associate managing editor for news administration may waive the three-month holding period. Supervising editors in business-financial, technology or media news should be especially cautious in investing because they may reasonably expect to become involved in the coverage of virtually any company at any time. Their counterparts in other departments should be equally sensitive to possible conflicts in supervising coverage of companies in their domain. Because of the sensitivity of their assignments, some business financial staff members may not own stock in any company (other than the New York Times Company). These include the Market Place writer, other market columnists, the regular writer of the daily stock market column, reporters regularly assigned to mergers and acquisitions, the daily markets editor, the Sunday investing editor, the Sunday Business editor, the business and financial editor and his or her deputies. Masthead editors and other editors who play a principal part in deciding the display of business and financial news, including its display on Page 1, may not own stock in any company (other than the New York Times Company). The editorial page editor, the deputy editorial page editor and the Op-Ed editor may not own stock in any company (other than the New York Times Company). Nor may editorial writers and Op-Ed columnists regularly assigned to write about business, finance or economics. Rules for Specialized Departments Sports To avoid an appearance of bias, no member of the sports department may gamble on any sports event, except for occasional recreational wagering on horse racing (or dog racing or jai alai). This exception does not apply to staff members who cover such racing or regularly edit that coverage. Except for journalists who receive press passes to cover sporting events, members of the sports department may not accept tickets, travel expenses, meals, gifts or any other benefit from teams or promoters. Sports reporters assigned to cover games may not serve as scorers. Members of the sports department may not take part in voting for the Heisman Trophy, most valuable player and rookie of the year awards, entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame or similar honors. Culture, Styles, Dining The Times has exceptional influence in such fields as theater, music, art, dance, publishing, fashion and the restaurant industry. We are constantly scrutinized for the slightest whiff of favoritism. Therefore staff members working in those areas have a special duty to guard against conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict. Reporters, reviewers, critics and their editors in the Book Review, the Times Magazine and the cultural news, media news and styles departments, beyond abiding by the other provisions of this document, may not help others develop, market or promote artistic, literary or other creative endeavors. They may not suggest agents, publishers, producers or galleries to aspiring authors, playwrights, composers or artists. They may not suggest chefs to restaurant owners or designers to clothing manufacturers. They may not recommend authors, playwrights, composers or other artists to agents, publishers, producers or galleries. They may not offer suggestions or ideas to people who figure or are likely to figure in coverage they provide, edit, package or supervise. They may not invest in productions that figure or are likely to figure in their coverage. (Food writers and editors may not invest in restaurants.) They may not comment, even informally, on works in progress before those works are reviewed. They may not serve on advisory boards, awards juries, study committees or other panels organized by the people they cover or whose coverage they supervise. They may not accept awards from such people. And they may not request extra copies of books, tapes or other materials that are routinely submitted for review. An arts writer or editor who owns art of exhibition quality (and thus has a financial stake in the reputation of the artist) may inspire questions about the impartiality of his or her critical judgments or editing decisions. Thus members of the culture staff who collect valuable objects in the visual arts (paintings, photographs, sculpture, crafts and the like) must annually submit a list of their acquisitions and sales to the associate managing editor for news administration. The Times recognizes that members of its talented staff write books, operas and plays; create sculpture, and give recitals. It further recognizes that such projects require commercial arrangements to come to fruition. A writer requires a publisher, a playwright a production company. Nevertheless those commercial ties can be a breeding ground for favoritism, actual or perceived. Staff members who enter into such arrangements must disclose them to their supervisors, who may require them to withdraw from coverage of the parties involved. Staff members who have a publisher or a movie contract, for example, must be exceedingly sensitive to any appearance of bias in covering other publishers or studios. Those with any doubts about a proposed arrangement should consult the standards editor or the deputy editorial page editor. Certain positions, such as those of the Book Review editor and the culture editor, have such potential for conflicts that those editors may not enter into any commercial arrangements with publishers, studios, or other arts producers without the executive editor’s written approval. Art, Pictures, Technology Beyond honoring all the other provisions of this document, Times photographers, picture editors, art directors, lab personnel and technology editors and reporters may not accept gifts of equipment, programs or materials from manufacturers or vendors. They may not endorse equipment, programs or materials, or offer advice on product design. This guideline is not meant to restrict The Times from working with vendors to improve its systems or equipment. With the approval of the picture editor, the design director, the technology editor or the Circuits editor, staff members may test equipment or materials on loan from manufacturers or vendors, provided such tests are properly monitored. The equipment or materials should be returned promptly after testing unless purchased by The Times. Automobiles It is our policy that no one may test drive or review a vehicle for The Times unless the paper is paying the vehicle’s owner the normal market rental or its equivalent. Rare exceptions may occur when an equivalent rent is largely hypothetical, as with military vehicles, vintage autos or race cars. Reviewers should carry out their testing expeditiously and return the vehicle promptly. A reasonable amount of personal use is permissible provided that the use contributes to the review. Travel No writer or editor for the Travel section, whether on assignment or not, may accept free or discounted services of any sort from any element of the travel industry. This includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, tour operators, airlines, railways, cruise lines, rental car companies and tourist attractions. This prohibition applies to the free trips commonly awarded in raffles at travel industry events. It does not apply, however, to routinely accumulated frequent-flyer points. Travel editors who deal with non-staff contributors have a special obligation to guard against conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflict. They must bear in mind that it is our policy not to give Travel assignments to freelance writers who have previously accepted free services. Depending on circumstances, the Travel editor may make rare exceptions, for example, for a writer who ceased the practice years ago or who has reimbursed his or her host for services previously accepted. It is also our policy not to give Travel assignments to anyone who represents travel suppliers or who works for a government tourist office or as a publicist of any sort. The Travel editor may make rare exceptions, for example, for a writer widely recognized as an expert in a particular culture. Writers on assignment for Travel must conceal their Times affiliation. The validity of their work depends on their experiencing the same conditions as an ordinary tourist or consumer. If the Times affiliation becomes known, the writer must discuss with an editor whether the reporting to that point can be salvaged. On rare occasions, the affiliation may be disclosed, for example, when a special permit is required to enter a closed area. No Travel writer may write about any travel service or product offered by a family member or close friend. These rules also apply to writers and editors of travel content in other sections. Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to write an essay based on the two combined texts: Text 9-1 “Ethical Code of Journalism in The New York Times. Part 1.” and Text 9-2 “Ethical Code of Journalism in The New York Times. Part 1”. Both are abridged after the Handbook of Values and Practice for the News and Editorial Departments of The New York Times”. Essay is a free form development of thought on an independently selected or given topic. Important components are creative thinking and author’s personal reflections; it is not compulsory to prove statements. The required length of your essay is recommended to be 4−5 pages. You may choose between two topics: 1) The Code of Journalism, and 2) The Code of your Profession. In the essay introduction, you should start by repeating the topic and your thesis. For example, if your topic was something like: Some people believe that ethics is not important in journalism. Others believe that it is indispensable. Discuss both views and give your opinion. As soon as you have restated the question, then give your opinion on the subject. Now that you have given your opinion, you need to back it up. The best way to do this is to give examples. You can begin this paragraph with phrases like: Personally, I believe that...; From my point of view...; I am convinced that...; In my opinion...; In my view... In your next paragraph, you should look at the question from the opposite viewpoint to yours. This shows that you have balance in your writing and it is a sign of a good essay. You can start this paragraph with phrases such as: It can also be argued that...; Someone who held the opposing view would say that...; However, there is also another side to this discussion. In contrast, some people hold the view that... You need to summarize your whole argument as a conclusion. Essentially, this means that you give your opinion again that you stated in the introduction. Development of Your Thesis A thesis is the essence of your essay—the claim you are making, the main idea and the point you are trying to prove. All the other paragraphs in your essay will revolve around this one central idea. Your thesis statement consists of the one or two sentences of your introduction that explain what your position on the topic at hand is. Strong Form A good essay presents thoughts in a logical order. The format should be easy to follow. The introduction should flow naturally to the body paragraphs, and the conclusion should tie everything together. The best way to do this is to lay out the outline of your paper before you begin. After you finish your essay, review the form to see if thoughts progress naturally. Style The style of your essay reveals your writing skills. You demonstrate your fluency by writing precise sentences that vary in form. A mature essay writer uses various types of sentences, idiomatic phrases, and demonstrates knowledge of the vocabulary. Conventions Conventions include spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and grammar. Having lots of mistakes suggests carelessness and diminishes the credibility of your arguments. If you make too many errors, your writing will be difficult to understand. To avoid this, always use proofreading software, such as Grammarly, to weed out the major errors. Follow up with a close reading of your entire paper. Support and References In this essay you are asked to write an essay based on the two combined texts. In general, you should select information from the Code above, from reliable sources - websites, online articles, and books. Use quotes and paraphrases to support your ideas, but be sure to credit your sources correctly. UNIT 10. CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING Guidelines for reading texts on the use of CLIL in European education CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language. This can be done by the English teacher using cross-curricular content or by the subject teacher using English as the language of instruction. Both methods result in the simultaneous learning of content and English. Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a term created in 1994 by David Marsh and Anne Maljers as a methodology similar to but distinct from language immersion and content-based instruction. It's an approach for learning content through an additional language (foreign or second), thus teaching both the subject and the language. The idea of its proponents was to create an "umbrella term" which encompasses different forms of using language as medium of instruction. CLIL is fundamentally based on methodological principles established by research on "language immersion". This kind of approach has been identified as very important by the European Commission because: "It can provide effective opportunities for pupils to use their new language skills now, rather than learn them now for use later. It opens doors on languages for a broader range of learners, nurturing self-confidence in young learners and those who have not responded well to formal language instruction in general education. It provides exposure to the language without requiring extra time in the curriculum, which can be of particular interest in vocational settings." The European Commission has therefore decided to promote the training of teachers to "enhance the language competences in general, in order to promote the teaching of non-linguistic subjects in foreign languages". PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 1-11. CONTENT AND LANGUAGE INTEGRATED LEARNING (Based on Education in EU. European Commission. https://ec.europa.eu/education/ 2014) According to the recent research, one of the most effective methods of ESL instruction is the content-based approach, where language instruction is integrated with the content areas. Rather than developing an ESL program that is focused on the language needed for social interactions or the structure of language, this method incorporates language into the context of academic content. The core curriculum is the basis for teaching language. Instructors focus on the key principles and concepts and use visuals, hands-on activities, simpler language, adapted readings, graphic organizers, and so forth to help make the most important academic content comprehensible. Thus, language skills develop as students work on their special subjects: math, social studies, science or language arts at their appropriate levels. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) involves teaching a curricular subject through the medium of a language other than that normally used. The subject can be entirely unrelated to language learning, such as history lessons being taught in English in a school in Spain. CLIL is taking place and has been found to be effective in all sectors of education from primary through adult and higher education. Its success has been growing over the past 10 years and continues to do so. Teachers working with CLIL are specialists in their own discipline rather than traditional language teachers. They are usually fluent speakers of the target language, bilingual or native speakers. In many institutions language teachers work in partnership with other departments to offer CLIL in various subjects. The key issue is that the learner is gaining new knowledge about the 'non-language' subject while encountering, using and learning the foreign language. The methodologies and approaches used are often linked to the subject area with the content leading the activities. If you teach EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction), LAC (Language Across the Curriculum), CBI (Content-based Instruction) or CBLT (Content-based Language Teaching; if you work in Bilingual Education; if you’re a subject teacher working through the medium of a foreign language, or a language teacher bringing in content into your English lesson, you work within the area of Content and Language Integrated Learning. “CLIL refers to situations where subjects, or parts of subjects, are taught through a foreign language with dual-focused aims, namely the learning of content, and the simultaneous learning of a foreign language”. “It [CLIL] provides exposure to the language without requiring extra time in the curriculum“. (Marsh, D. 2002. Content and Language Integrated Learning: The European Dimension – Actions, Trends and Foresight Potential). This would seem a good reason as any to promote an approach with a twin set of objectives. One of these objectives is clearly educational (to learn subject content and a foreign language) and the other is administrative. Since educational and administrative needs often fight for space, this seems a good way to promote peace between them. We were told in the European Council Resolution in 1995 that, “...all EU citizens, by the time they leave compulsory schooling, should be able to speak two languages other than the mother tongue”. Curricula attempting to achieve this aim have been getting more and more desperate in their attempts to find timetabling space. What is the possible answer to this problem? Why, CLIL, of course. Instead of studying Geography in the majority language, do it in a foreign language. As long as it works, the pupils learn the same subject concepts and skills, but increase contact time with the foreign language – crucial consideration in the improvement of attainment levels. “…an approach to bilingual education in which both curriculum content (such as science or geography) and English are taught together. It differs from simple English-medium education in that the learner is not necessarily expected to have the English proficiency required to cope with the subject before beginning to study“. (Graddol D. English Next, British Council Publications, 2006) Graddol suggests that a powerful element of CLIL is its role in the improvement of language skills, and that pupils do not necessarily need a particularly high level of foreign language attainment to do their ‘CLIL-ing’. Now this sounds quite radical. Why? Because the teachers would have to adjust their methodology to ensure that the students were understanding the content. Teachers would not be able to simply ‘transmit’ the content, assuming that their audience understood. They would have to think of other means (group work, tasks, etc) which would result in an increase of the skill-based focus of the learning. The educational materials (textbooks) would also have to reflect this approach. The pupils would be learning language that was more clearly focused on, and related to, the subject matter that they needed to learn. CLIL is not confined to higher-achieving students. It is not an approach for the elite. It fits in perfectly with a mixed-ability philosophy. Ensuring that students understand the content, reducing teacher-talk, increasing the focus on skills, influencing publishers to do likewise and getting students to learn language items that are always contextualised, always functionally necessary in the classroom – sound good at any level of curricular discourse. What is CLIL? Well already it looks as if it is something like ‘good practice’, and if we take Graddol at his word, it can be applied across the ability range. Finally, another quote that extends the scope of CLIL still further: “CLIL is about using languages to learn… It is about installing a ‘hunger to learn’ in the student. It gives opportunity for him/her to think about and develop how s/he communicates in general, even in the first language”. (Marsh, Marsland & Stenberg, 2001) We can see from the first part of the underlined sections that CLIL views language as a ‘vehicle’, not simply as an entity in itself. This is a central component of the CLIL package. David Graddol said something similar too in his book English Next, when he talked about the world now viewing English not so much as a language but as a core skill. This is a crucial observation, and it lies at the heart of the educational and social change that has taken place since the development of the Internet and the parallel growth of globalization. As English becomes an essential add-on to any curricular program around the world, it is moving into a position where it becomes a subject that pupils learn in order to do something else. CLIL, with its ‘dual-focused’ aims, encapsulates perfectly this post-modern, utilitarian view of the English language. Liberal educationalists may not agree with it, but for the time being it is here to stay. In its defence, CLIL also seems to contribute to the buzz-concept of our times – namely ‘motivation’. Teachers’ forums talk about it endlessly, as do the blurbs on the back of scholastic textbooks and the opening lines of ministerial declarations. Does CLIL install a ‘hunger to learn’ as Marsh et al. claim? If this is true, then we need to know exactly why. We can examine this in subsequent articles, but for now, why should CLIL motivate more than other conventional approaches? Could it be because: It provides reasons for learning and improving the foreign language level, because the understanding of the subject content compulsory. It focuses on and assesses the subject content, so the learner is not being assessed on his/her mastery of the Past Simple (for example) but rather his/her ability to use it in the appropriate places. It gives students a feeling of real achievement. They are coping with, and talking and writing about, complex material in the foreign language. They are not being asked to discuss ‘vox-pop’ content as in standard language learning textbooks (Pop Stars, Global Warming, My Favorite Auntie) – where the content is used as a slave to illustrate a certain language structure – but because the content is important in itself. In CLIL there is a chance that they are being asked their opinions because the expression of opinions (for example) is a key competence in the syllabus content. This method includes learning situations that provide for the following critical factors:  Comprehensible input  Low anxiety for the students  Many opportunities for interaction and language use  Meaningful communication and natural language  Language-learning situations that are fun and motivational  Development of higher-order thinking skills UNDERSTANDING THE SUMMARY ORGANIZATION AND EXPLICATION OF KEY FACTS AND IDEAS Instruction: When writing a summary of the article “Content and language integrated learning” keep in mind that there are four main requirements to be met: 1. The summary should cover the original as a whole. 2. The material should be presented in a neutral fashion. 3. The summary should be a condensed version of the material, presented in your own words. 4. Do not include anything that does not appear in the original (do not include your own comments or evaluation.) and be sure to identify your source. Steps for writing your summary: 1. Organize your notes into an outline which includes main ideas and supporting points but no examples or details (dates, numbers, statistics). 2. Write an introductory paragraph that begins with a frame, including an in-text citation of the source and the author as well as a reporting verb to introduce the main idea.  ARTICLE: The title… In his/her article (or paper) "____________________,” ______(year) (title, first letter capitalized) (author's last name) __________________ argues/claims/reports/contends/maintains/states that ____________________________. (main idea/argument; S /subect/ + V /verb/ + C /complement/) Example: In her article " Euro-English accents", Researcher Britta Larson Bergstedt (2015) investigates the response of non-native English speakers, specifically, Swedish female students, towards European (female) foreign accents in spoken English.  BOOK: In his book “Key aspects of the use of English in Europe” Claude Truchot (2011) illustrates the evolution of language situation and English lingua franca in the countries of the European Union.  INTERVIEW: In his interview with the magazine World Englishes (May, 2012) Professor Robert Phillipson (first name, last name) argues that the English language plays the role of the killer of national languages. Reporting Verbs: Strong argument Neutral Argue state Claim report Contend explain maintain discuss Insist illustrate Counter argument refute the claim argue against Suggestion Criticism suggest criticize recommend Other examples of frames:  According to ___________________ (year), ________________________________________. (author's last name) (main idea; S + V + C)  ___________'s article on ______________ (year) discusses the ____________________. (author's last name) (topic) (main idea; Noun Phrase)  __________________, in his/her article, "________________" argues that _______________________. (author's last name, year) (title of article) (main idea; S + V + C) 3. The main idea or argument needs to be included in this first sentence. Then mention the major aspects/factors/reasons that are discussed in the article/lecture. Give a full reference for this citation at the end of the summary. For a one-paragraph summary, discuss each supporting point in a separate sentence. Give 1-2 explanations for each supporting point, summarizing the information from the original. For a multi-paragraph summary, discuss each supporting point in a separate paragraph. Introduce it in the first sentence (topic sentence). Example: According to the recent research, one of the most effective methods of ESL instruction is the content-based approach, where language instruction is integrated with the content areas. Support your topic sentence with the necessary reasons or arguments raised by the author/lecturer but omit all references to details, such as dates or statistics. 4. Use discourse markers that reflect the organization and controlling idea of the original, for example cause-effect, comparison-contrast, classification, process, chronological order, persuasive argument, etc. 5. In a longer summary, remind your reader that you are paraphrasing by using "reminder phrases," such as  The author goes on to say that ...  The article (author) further states that ...  (Author's last name) also states/maintains/argues that ...  (Author's last name) also believes that ...  (Author's last name) concludes that 6. Restate the article’s/paper’s conclusion in one sentence. 7. Give a full reference for the citation (see the example below for the in-text citations in #2). For citing electronic sources, please see Citation of Electronic Resources. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A NATURAL WAY TO LEARN A LANGUAGE WHEN A SUBJECT IS TAUGHT IN THAT LANGUAGE Guidelines for reading DOEL texts on the use of English in European education. Many teachers see CLIL as a more natural way to learn a language; when a subject is taught in that language there is a concrete reason to learn both at the same time. And as students have a real context to learn the language in, they are often more motivated to do so, as they can only get most of the content if they understand the language around it. Moreover, being content focused, CLIL classes add an extra dimension to the class and engage students, which is especially advantageous in situations where students are unenthusiastic about learning a language. In Europe over half of the countries with a minority/regional language community resort to partial immersion as the preferred way of teaching both the minority and the state language. During the 1990s this system was made available to all pupils in the general education system. In the same period, several European Union countries launched initiatives involving CLIL. Teachers working with CLIL are specialists in their own discipline rather than traditional language teachers. They are usually fluent speakers of the target language, bilingual or native speakers. In many institutions, language teachers work in partnership with other departments to offer CLIL in various subjects. The key issue is that the learner is gaining new knowledge about the 'non-language' subject while encountering, using and learning the foreign language. The methodologies and approaches used are often linked to the subject area with the content leading the activities. Text 10-2. CLIL TEACHERS’ TARGET LANGUAGE COMPETENCE (Based on http://clilingmesoftly.wordpress.com/clil-teachers-tl-competence/) Why thinking CEFR may distract from the real language issues in CLIL. According to a recent OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) study (2009) teacher quality is one of the most important schooling factors influencing student achievement. The difference between having an effective versus an ineffective teacher is estimated to be equivalent to a full year’s difference in learning growth for students. Moreover, the impact of differences in teacher quality outweighs the impact of other educational investments, such as reductions in class size. This raises an important question in CLIL training and research: In which respects can the CLIL teacher’s foreign language competence be seen as a quality indicator of his or her teaching? The starting point for reflections on the issue of language competence for CLIL teachers was the request for a review of a Spanish research project which investigated into the language competence of CLIL teachers in the Madrid region. The outcome appeared straightforward and clear. Train non-language teachers to pass a CEFR (The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) level – mostly B2 or C1 – and half the CLIL battle would be won easily. However, given the linguistic complexity of any CLIL incident, this can lead to frustration and quality loss. According to available resources (Eurydice) the following tentative (not comprehensive) picture for official language requirements for CLIL in Europe emerges:  Several countries such as Germany, Austria and Norway state that teachers have generally studied two subjects during their education. If they study a foreign language and a non-language subject, they are thus competent in the two types of subject targeted by CLIL. According to the Eurydice country report on Austria, school heads themselves decide whether teachers may teach their subject(s) in a language other than the normal language of instruction (German). In so doing, they may consider the following:  is the teacher also a teacher of the CLIL target language?  has (s)he spent a certain period of time in a country in which the CLIL target language is spoken, for example, studying or working there?  has (s)he had any specific linguistic and/or methodological in-service training in the field of CLIL?  is the teacher a native speaker of the CLIL target language?  has (s)he taken a proficiency examination in the CLIL target language?  is (s)he married to a native speaker of the CLIL target language? However, only Hungary requires certified evidence of these two specific areas of specialisation. If teachers have no initial language qualification, they have to possess a B2-C1 level certificate. (Information from Eurydice, a network of 43 national units based in all 38 countries of the Erasmus+)  Poland has introduced teacher training standards where graduates have to master a foreign language and reach a level of B2 or B2+. If they choose the combination ‘non-language subject plus foreign language’, they have to reach level C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, in the case of the language subject. (Eurydice)  Italian CLIL teachers’ competence is B1/B2, according to Ludbrook, and in providing implications for CLIL content teacher training, she somehow vaguely states that CLIL teachers should have a level of general language proficiency that allows independent teaching. (Eurydice)  France: CLIL is typically carried out within the SELO system (Sections Europeennes et da langue orientale) with teachers being subject teachers rather than language teachers. In the first years of experimentation, the CLIL teacher was a subject teacher whose foreign language competence was certified by the regional inspector for the language concerned. Generally, this competence corresponded to a B2 level in the European Framework, although some activities were considered as needing a C1 level. In 2004, the Ministry set up a national certificate for teaching in a SELO, the certification complémentaire. Every year, the regional authorities, the Rectorat, organize a regional session open to all qualified teachers, and to initial trainees qualifying at the end of the year. Candidates must submit a paper giving their qualifications and motivations, and then take an oral exam before a jury composed of subject and language specialists. This certification is valid all over the country. (Eurydice)  The Netherlands: The Dutch education authorities recommend at least a B2 level. Schools introducing CLIL usually do so with their regular Dutch staff. Interested teachers are selected and trained during a two year period of in-service training courses. Most schools offer teachers’ courses ranging from classroom English to advanced English language programmes. Training is usually supported in-school by the English teachers. In addition, there are several institutions in the Netherlands that offer training for content and language integrated teaching, focusing mainly on the development of teachers’ language proficiency. (Eurydice)  Belgium: The requirements for CLIL teachers comprise a basic qualification obtained in the target language and/or certificate of upper secondary education obtained in the target language.  Spain: Sacramento Jaimez and Ana M. Lopez Morillas (2011), as proponents of the Andalusian plurilingual program in primary and secondary education, report that B-2 has been set as the minimum level a content teacher must have in order to apply for a definite bilingual post. Following the Eurydice survey 2006 four main language criteria for the prospective CLIL teachers evolve. They should either: 1) be native speakers of the target language, 2) have completed a course or studied in the target language, 3) be undergoing in-service training on CLIL type provision, and 4) have taken a language test or examination. Strategies associated with the last two categories are developed specifically for recruiting teachers. Those associated with the first two are ways of ensuring less directly that appropriate teachers will be selected for CLIL. In most countries, all such strategies are adopted on a voluntary basis. Needless to say that most of these language requirements for CLIL or any preparatory courses for CLIL go hand-in-hand with carefully elaborated and detailed statements on the methodology of CLIL, often suggesting various CLIL models and principles. Interestingly, some proponents would even go so far as to compensate foreign language deficits with more advanced methodological skills. Jaimez and Lopez Morillas (2011) consider methodological updating essential in the Andalusian bilingual education model “in order to compensate for the lack of confidence and competence in the use of the foreign language”. Metaphorically speaking, this could be compared to the idea of who is the best football coach? Someone with a personal international career or someone who spent the same time reading a lot about the “beautiful game” and all the psychological and sociological aspects connected to it? Furthermore, CLIL pedagogies have been highly influenced by language acquisition theories which favour language teaching perspectives may also play an important role in the animated discussion on CLIL teachers’ language competence. Summing the data up the following picture emerges. The diversity of opinions, the lack of authentic teacher data, and the linguistic complexity of any CLIL event seem to make an approach whose language requirements are (almost) exclusively based on CEFR scales strongly questionable. Why the L4C Model may be more helpful. A more elaborated model covers the linguistic multiplicity of CLIL and through this may allow better planning, preparation, and teaching of any CLIL incident. The L4C model (languages four/for CLIL): This model consists of four “languages” that merge to create an appropriate linguistic CLIL event. 1. General language: This comprises advanced general everyday language competence as covered by the CEFR scales, also comparable to Cummins BICS (BICS are Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills). 2. Academic language: This is language mostly reserved for schooling or academic purposes. Basically, this is language that will be used across various subjects or domains that are “school-focussed”. For example, words such as “analyse, evaluate, grid, pie chart, column, etc”. As for English it essentially embraces the academic word list as provided by Averil Coxhead – http://www.victoria.ac.nz/lals/resources/academicwordlist/. 3. Subject/Domain Specific Language: This is language that almost exclusively appears in relatively restricted areas/domains, such as “hibernation” in biology or “precipitation” in geography. Some researchers also use the word “technical terms”. Various measures could be taken to ensure a satisfactory training in this language area. a) Experienced subject teachers together with their language colleagues put up a bank or an inventory of domain specific key-vocabulary. b) Shadowing of mother tongue teachers in the respective subject. For example, an Austrian history/CLIL teacher attends lessons in an English teacher’s history class doing intensive linguistic and action research. c) Dialogic learning, which is teaching that centers around conversations with other teachers focusing on teaching and learning issues during which teachers examine their own beliefs and practices and engage in collaborative planning, problem solving and decision making. d) Using and linguistically analyzing information technology data to gather relevant subject specific language data. 4. Classroom language, or language to learn. This is language that is used for Cognitive development most popularly linked with Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking skills, strategy training (literacy skills, presentation skills etc.), CLIL supporting learning styles such as collaborative learning, discovery learning, team-teaching, etc. So at the end of the day this raises the need for some serious subject specific linguistic soul-searching, or in other words, collecting and evaluating data from CLIL teachers in action. REVISION OF SUMMARY WRITING Instruction: Writing a good summary demonstrates that you clearly understand a text and that you can communicate this understanding to your readers. Sometimes you are asked to write a summary of a paper/article which abounds in factual information. Such a summary can be tricky to write at first because it’s tempting to include too much or too little information. But by following our easy 8-step method, you will be able to summarize texts quickly and successfully for any class or subject. 1) Divide…and conquer. First off, skim the text you are going to summarize and divide it into sections. Focus on any headings and subheadings. Also look at any bold-faced terms and make sure you understand them before you read. 2) Read. Now that you’ve prepared, go ahead and read the selection. Read straight through. At this point, you don’t need to stop to look up anything that gives you trouble—just get a feel for the author’s tone, style, and main idea. 3) Reread. Rereading should be active reading. Underline topic sentences and key facts. Label areas that you want to refer to as you write your summary. Also label areas that should be avoided because the details – though they may be interesting – are too specific. Identify areas that you do not understand and try to clarify those points. 4) One sentence at a time. You should now have a firm grasp on the text you will be summarizing. In steps 1-3, you have divided the piece into sections and located the author’s main ideas and points. Now write down the main idea of each section in one well-developed sentence. Make sure that what you include in your sentences are key points, not minor details. 5) Write a thesis statement. This is the key to any well-written summary. Review the sentences you wrote in step 4. From them, you should be able to create a thesis statement that clearly communicates what the entire text was trying to achieve. If you find that you are not able to do this step, then you should go back and make sure your sentences actually addressed key points. 6) Ready to write. At this point, your first draft is virtually done. You can use the thesis statement as the introductory sentence of your summary, and your other sentences can make up the body. Make sure that they are in order. Add some transition words (then, however, also, moreover) that help with the overall structure and flow of the summary. And once you are actually putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys!), remember these tips:  Write in the present tense.  Make sure to include the author and title of the work.  Be concise: a summary should not be equal in length to the original text.  If you must use the words of the author, cite them.  Don't put your own opinions, ideas, or interpretations into the summary. The purpose of writing a summary is to accurately represent what the author wanted to say, not to provide a critique. 7) Check for accuracy. Reread your summary and make certain that you have accurately represented the author’s ideas and key points. Make sure that you have correctly cited anything directly quoted from the text. Also check to make sure that your text does not contain your own commentary on the piece. 8) Revise. Once you are certain that your summary is accurate, you should (as with any piece of writing) revise it for style, grammar, and punctuation. If you have time, give your summary to someone else to read. This person should be able to understand the main text based on your summary alone. If he or she does not, you may have focused too much on one area of the piece and not enough on the author’s main idea UNIT 11. THE USE OF ENGLISH IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Guidelines for reading DOE texts on the use of English in European business With the continuing globalization of markets and internationalization of trade, professionals in a wide range of organizations, from large multinational corporations to small to medium size enterprises, are increasingly coming together to do business in the international workplace, frequently adopting a common language of communication. More often than not, this lingua franca is English. While English for International Business (EIB) has an essential function as a lingua franca in multilingual settings, it can also present challenges both linguistically and culturally, particularly as more and more interactions are between speakers whose first language is not English. P. Rogerson-Revell’s paper reports on preliminary research which forms part of a larger scale study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca in international business meetings. The paper summarizes the findings of a questionnaire exploring the use of EIB by a particular European business organization. P. Rogerson-Revell’s limited findings can help shed light on some of the language issues that may be present in such international contexts and the possible communications difficulties and frustrations that can result. A positive result is that, as well as uncovering some of these challenges, the analysis also shows an awareness by many participants of some of the strategies that can be used to overcome them. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 11-1. USING ENGLISH FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS: A EUROPEAN CASE STUDY (After P. Rogerson-Revell’s article in English for Specific Purposes, #26, 2007) Introduction This extract from an article in the ‘New York Times’ newspaper, reinforces what is now beyond dispute, regardless of any ideological objections, that the use of English for international business is firmly established in Europe: ... As European banks and corporations burst national boundaries and go global, many are making English the official corporate language. Two years ago, when France, Germany and Spain merged their aerospace industries into one company, they not only gave it an English name – the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, or EADS – they also made English its language. In Germany, the national postal service, Deutsche Post World Net, increasingly uses English as its working language. Smaller companies are doing likewise. In Finland, the elevator maker Kone adopted English in the 1970s; in Italy, Merloni Elettrodomestici, a midsize home appliance maker, did so in the mid-1990s. Management meetings at big banks like Deutsche Bank in Germany and Credit Suisse in Switzerland are routinely in English. ‘‘I can’t give percentages, but now many executives are not Italian – French, English, Danish, Russian and so on’’, said Andrea Prandi, Merloni’s spokesman. ‘‘We consider ourselves a European group. For Europe, the official language is English’’. While there are a number of reasons for the current spread of English both internationally and within Europe, many of these are founded on what Brutt-Griffler terms ‘econocultural’ grounds, i.e., they are the product of the development of a world market and global developments in the fields of science, technology, culture and media (Brutt-Griffler, 2002). Many languages have been used around the world as contact languages for international trade and communication. Within Europe itself, there have been several lingua francas since Roman times, including Greek, Latin, French, German and English. The latter three are currently widely used in parts of Europe, and make up what Graddol refers to as the ‘Big Languages’ in Europe (Graddol, 2000). Nevertheless they are not the only languages used for international communication in Europe with, for example, Russian being used in the newer eastern European nations and the pidgin, or hybrid blend of several Scandinavian languages, ‘Scandinaviska’, used in several northern European countries (Louhiala-Salminen, Charles, & Kankaanranta, 2005). Historically, the development of any language as a lingua franca or pidgin to facilitate communication between speakers of different languages has often been initiated by international commerce or trade. In fact the word ‘pidgin’ is said to be derived from the Chinese pronunciation of the English word business and Pidgin English was the name given to a Chinese–English–Portuguese pidgin used for commerce in Canton during the 18th and 19th centuries. Indeed, in its strictest sense, the term ‘lingua franca’ seems to be equated with a pidgin being a language with no native speakers. The term English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) is generally used in this way to refer exclusively to the use of English between speakers whose mother tongue is not English (Firth, 1996; Seidlhofer, 2001). The term BELF (Business ELF) is also used by some (Louhiala-Salminen et al., 2005) to refer to the use of English for business purposes between speakers whose mother tongue is not English. However, both of these terms exclude a substantial body of communicative events where English is used as a common language both between ELF speakers and between ELF and English as a mother tongue (EMT) speakers. Broader terms such as ‘English as an International Language’ (EIL), along with ‘Global English’ and ‘International English’, seem open to this more flexible and liberal interpretation. Consequently, in this study, the term English for International Business (EIB) is used to refer to the use of English as a common language in business contexts where both EMT and ELF speakers could be present. This study focuses on one such context, where English is used for international meetings in a particular European professional organization, presenting and discussing some of the communication difficulties reported by the meeting participants. This preliminary study will form part of a broader discourse analytic study investigating the linguistic and sociocultural issues involved in using EIB. The initial study will not only inform this second stage of research but also hopefully make a small contribution to the growing body of knowledge on the use of English in Europe and particularly in European business. The use of English in Europe The complexity of the use of English, as mother tongue, second language and international language in Europe has been recognized and suggestions for modifying Kachru’s concentric circles framework of world English use to accommodate this complexity have been suggested to take into account the various, dynamic roles of English in different European countries. For instance, Berns (1995) claims that in Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, although English is not an official language, it serves various social, commercial, educational and cultural functions which justify categorizing these countries as belonging to both Kachru’s ‘expanding’ and ‘outer’ circles. It could similarly be argued that Sweden and Denmark could increasingly be seen as straddling these two circles. Furthermore, the recent accession of ten more countries to the EU in 2004 has increased the number of countries in the ‘expanding circle’. The mobility of Europe’s boundaries and people within them, together with growing opportunities for cross-border trade, adds to the complexity of language use across Europe and doubtless encourages the development of an international language or languages. EIB in Europe Within Europe, there is growing evidence that English has become the biggest business lingua franca. A study conducted by the Danish Council of Trade and Industry estimated that Danish companies conducted 80% of their international business in English (cited in Firth, 1996). Similarly, Crystal (1997) claims that according to a recent yearbook of international organizations 99% of European organizations use English as a working language (cited in Graddol, 2000). However, while English may well be the most widely used business language in Europe, a survey of language use in European businesses (Hagen, 1998) found, for instance, that German is increasingly being used in central and Eastern Europe, especially with the accession of new Eastern European states into the EU. Hagen also claims that in order to do cross-border business successfully, companies need to be able to communicate in all three of Europe’s ‘Big Languages’, namely English, German and French (Hagen, 1998). Although, as Graddol (2000) points out, this is a target which many British companies find hard to meet, as illustrated in a further survey of European executives’ language skills which found that while in the EU as a whole, 70% of businesses have executives with foreign language abilities (rising to over 90% in Sweden, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands), only 39% of UK businesses had executives proficient in more than one language. These figures also reflect the findings of similar surveys. For instance, Labrie and Quell’s study of foreign language knowledge across the EU showed that although British people’s knowledge of French and German is increasing, particularly in the younger generation (i.e., 15–24-year old), they still lag behind many European nations in that only 47% can speak any foreign language (Labrie & Quell, 1997). The multifunctional role of English in Europe is not only restricted to its use within specific countries but can also be illustrated within international organizations where it may be used as a mother tongue (EMT) by native English speaking employees but also as a lingua franca (ELF) between non-native English speakers and as an international language between ELF and EMT speakers. In the current study, all three types of users are represented. A European ‘language problem’ The spread of English is commonly seen as a ‘language problem’ threatening to engulf and replace indigenous European languages, as reflected in European policy statements such as: If democratic citizenship in Europe is to be internationally based, it is crucial to ensure diversification in language teaching so that citizens in Europe can interact in their own languages, rather than through English as a lingua franca. At the same time, Seidlhofer and other researchers are questioning the belief that English is creating a ‘language problem’ in Europe and the assumption that Europeans have to choose between their own native language and English. As Spichtinger argues, ‘one can speak German as one’s national language and English as one’s European language’ (2001). ‘Linguistic imperialism’ vs. ‘functional realism’ Spichtinger (2001) suggests that we can learn from the countries of Kachru’s Outer Circle, i.e. former British colonies, to appropriate English for our own European purposes. He argues that the plurilingualism of the EU countries bears some similarities with former colonial countries such as India and Nigeria, where English was retained not because of postcolonial imperialism, as argued by Phillipson (1992) and others, but because it would fulfil a useful function. Seidlhofer elaborates on this pragmatic motivation for using English as an international language, seeing it both as utilitarian, i.e. important for international business, and idealistic, i.e. facilitating cross-border communication and mutual understanding (Seidlhofer, 2003). This view of the appropriation of English for international communication and trade, rather than as a symbol of national supremacy, is supported increasingly not only by European and North American scholars, such as Jenkins (2000), McKay (2002), Seidlhofer (2001) and Brutt-Griffler (2002) but also by researchers in Outer Circle countries, such as Chew in Singapore (1999) and Bisong (1995) in Nigeria. Seidlhofer argues that this shift represents a new era in studies of the global functions of English where the concept of ‘functional realism’ increasingly seems to be replacing the earlier era of ‘linguistic imperialism’ as posited by Phillipson (1992), Pennycook (1998) and Canagarajah (1999). As Seidlhofer comments: ELF speakers are. . . not primarily concerned with emulating the way native speakers use their mother tongue within their own communities, nor with socio- psychological and ideological issues. Instead, the central concerns for this domain are efficiency, relevance and economy in language learning and language use. The reasons why the linguistic imperialism school has had little impact on mainstream ELT are rather obvious: people need and want to learn English whatever the ideological baggage that comes with it, a fact acknowledged even in Canagarajah’s (1999) ‘Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching’ (Siedlhofer, 2000). This pragmatic view is frequently reflected in business and management. For instance, commenting on the choice of English, as corporate language in the multinational engineering and telecoms firm Siemens AG of Germany, Bernhard Welschke, head of European policy at the Federation of German, stated that ‘‘German companies are very pragmatic. . . They value a single language for business, even if it is not their own’’. Similarly, supporting the view that the use of English by businesses is generally pragmatic rather than ideological, Professor Rangan of Insead suggests that the corporate use of English represents ‘‘only shallow integration’’ while providing an essential communication tool, ‘‘much the way we use mathematics and numbers’’. The significance of English in European and indeed in international business has long been recognized in the business world and is evidenced in the quantity and expenditure on business English language and culture training. The importance of effective international communication is highlighted in much of the international management literature. As Victor (1992) suggests: It is probably better to have mediocre technical skills and excellent international business communication skills than to have excellent technical skills and poor international business communication skills (Victor, 1992). Underpinning this concern is a realization that communication and information flow are central features of organizations and businesses and that there is a fundamental relationship between effective communication and business outcomes: Good communication creates good relationships, high morale, increased productivity and profit. Bad communication, on the other hand, can lead to inefficiency, waste and loss of profit (Mead, 1990). There has also been some recognition that EIB represents an emerging form or variety of English which is distinct from standard British or American varieties. For instance, Jussi Itavuori, the Finnish group vice president for human resources at EADS, describes it as: ‘‘... neither English nor American ... It is some sort of operating language. It loses quite a lot of nuance’’. Within the field of business language training there have also been attempts, albeit limited, to describe and teach some form of ‘international English’ for business learners. One example of this is ‘Offshore English’, a term coined by the Canning training company to describe the type of English which they suggest native English speakers need to use to be more readily understandable by non-native English users. Similarly, Hollqvist (1984) reports how the Swedish telecoms giant, Ericsson, tried to create its own version of international English, referred to as ‘Ericsson English’, which aimed to provide a restricted range of vocabulary and language structures without loss of accuracy. There are of course other examples of restricted varieties of English which have been created for very specific international purposes, such as ‘Airspeak’ (for Air Traffic Control) and ‘Policespeak’ (for binational police and emergency service cooperation at the Channel Tunnel) but these were created to serve very limited communicative purposes unlike the breadth and flexibility of functions required of a business lingua franca or international language. Within linguistics, there has also been increasing interest in the role of language and culture in international business communication and specifically in European business. However, despite the range of uses of English across Europe and its undisputable spread in particular for international business purposes, there seems, as Seidlhofer (2004) states, little corpus-based analysis of how English is actually used for international business communication in Europe. Nor is there much information on how business Europeans feel about its use. It is with these issues in mind that the current research study is framed, aiming to shed further light on the use of English as a common language of international business in Europe. (To be continued in Unit 219) READING STRATEGIES FOR EXPLICATION OF KEY FACTS AND IDEAS GIVEN IN THE TEXT, SELECTING KEY WORDS, SUMMARY WRITING, ABSTRACT WRITING Instruction: You have already invested much time and effort into mastering skills for intensive reading and DOE text analysis. While skimming, surveying and scanning the texts, you are expected to deploy skills acquired in Units 1-10. You will have to start with understanding the text organization, identifying the topic, the purpose, the tone and attitude of the author, the main idea of the text, making inferences, discovering context clues and circumstantial evidence for specific information given in the text. All these facts and details will help you write a good summary following effective summary rules. Preparing to write a good summary make sure you understand the material you are working with perfectly well. Go through indispensable preliminary steps:  Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings dividing the text into sections. Try to determine what problems P. Rogerson-Revell’s paper is dealing with. This can help you identify important information.  Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes.  In your own words, write down the main points of each section.  Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor detail. Go through the process again, making changes as appropriate. One more stage in the DOE text analysis will be learning how to write a valid abstract of the text. Abstract writing An abstract is a condensed version of a longer piece of writing that highlights the major points covered, concisely describes the content and scope of the writing, and reviews the writing's contents in abbreviated form. Abstracts are short statements that briefly summarize an article or scholarly document. Abstracts are like the blurbs on the back covers of novels. They entice someone to read further. With an abstract, you have to prove why reading your work is worthwhile. Two types of abstracts are generally used: Descriptive Abstracts: - tell readers what information the report, article, or paper contains; - include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper; - do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations; - are always very short, usually under 100 words; - introduce the subject to readers, who must then read the report, article, or paper to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations. Informative Abstracts: - communicate specific information from the report, article, or paper; - include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper; - provide the report, article, or paper's results, conclusions, and recommendations; - are short – from a paragraph to a page or two, depending upon the length of the original work being abstracted. Usually informative abstracts are 10% or less of the length of the original piece. - allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report, article, or paper. All abstracts include: - a full citation of the source, preceding the abstract; - the most important information first; - the same type and style of language found in the original, including technical language; - key words and phrases that quickly identify the content and focus of the work; - clear, concise, and powerful language. Tips and Warnings  Embed keywords into the first 20 words of your abstract.  Emphasize the information, not the author, unless the author has noteworthy credentials.  Never introduce new information in the abstract. Reveal what's in the article.  Read it aloud to yourself.  Make sure it sounds natural and coherent.  Keep it short – stick to one or two solid paragraphs. Answer the following questions:  Do you agree with the definition given above? Or would you like to add or take out anything?  What are the generally used types of abstracts?  How can you characterize the type of abstract you are going to write for P. Rogerson-Revell’s paper?  Why are abstracts so important?  What do abstracts include? Prepare a 2 minute story about the guidelines of writing a good abstract. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE USE OF DOE FOR THE WORKPLACE Guidelines for reading DOE texts on the use of international English in European business Business English (BE) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get work done” in international business. In this article, Evan Frendo explores internationally operating business professionals’, teachers’ and trainers’ perceptions of BE communication and its “success” at work, based on selected data from surveys and in-depth studies conducted in European multinational companies. The findings show that BE can be characterized as a dynamic communication code. BE competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BE interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BE competence. In sum, BE competence can be considered an essential component of business knowledge required in today’s global business environment. Text. 11-2. ENGLISH FOR THE WORKPLACE: SHARING THOUGHTS WITH TEACHERS AND TRAINERS OF BUSINESS ENGLISH AND ESP (Based on Evan Frendo’s presentations 13-15 Nov 2020) Over the last decade BE (Business English) has been gaining prominence, with articles appearing in various publications. Last year the Journal of Business Communication devoted an entire issue to it. And Vicki Hollett has invited several prominent speakers to discuss the issue in the next BESIG webinar. What I would like to do in this post is to introduce the idea of BE as lingua franca (LF) for business and discuss some implications for us as teachers and trainers of business English. Note: BESIG, the Business English Special Interest Group of International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL), is a truly professional body representing the interests and serving the needs of the international business English teaching community. First of all, what is ELF? English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has been around (and hotly debated) for a while now. (See the Wikipedia page for a useful list of references). Research by people like Jennifer Jenkins and Barbara Seidlhofer have worked on looking at various features, but there is still a lot of discussion about just how useful ELF is to teachers and trainers. For example, Jenkins (2007) says that “ELF emphasizes the role of English in communication between speakers from different L1s, i.e. the primary reason for learning English today.” On the other hand Swan (2009), argues that “In a pedagogic context, … there is little justification for its use: it is both redundant and confusing, and we would do better to avoid it.” The crux of the issue seems to revolve around how we define ELF. For ELF researchers it seems to be a way of talking about how English is used between people who do not have English as their own native tongue. They are not suggesting that ELF is a specific variety of English, although there have been some attempts to try and describe its general characteristics, or “common core”. Indeed for some researchers (Firth, 2009; Jenkins, 2007) ELF is about a new attitude to English as a language – it should not be seen as a sort of incorrect or deficient type of English, which non-native speakers (NNS) use in their communication with each other, but rather as a language in its own right. In ELF it is the end result that matters, not whether interactions contain “mistakes” when measured against some standard variety of English. The problem is that as teachers and trainers we have become used to providing a model (normally our own variety of English) for our learners to aim at – this is difficult with an ELF approach, where there is no easily identifiable model. As Seidlhofer points out, “spontaneous ELF communication always has an element of ad hoc negotiation of relevant norms, because speakers’ systemic/linguistic and schematic/cultural backgrounds vary from case to case, by definition”(2006) And what about business English lingua franca or BELF? This article explores the role of English and other languages as perceived by members of upper management in a family-owned German multinational corporation in the technology sector. The findings show that, in the 21st century, English has become an indispensable “must” in the company and that there is a general understanding that staff at all levels develop their language skills as they see appropriate for their roles within the company. What needs to be learned, however, is not English as a native language but communicative effectiveness in English as a business lingua franca, which – as an international contact language – brings together nonnative as well as native Englishes from various linguacultural backgrounds spoken with varying degrees of proficiency. Learning to cope with the challenges of such diversity, in the context of business communication, seems to happen most effectively in business “communities of practice” rather than in traditional English training. The study also shows that, despite the dominance of English, other languages are not disappearing from the scene but are, indeed, used as a pragmatic or strategic resource. In particular, German, as the headquarters’ language, maintains an important role among individuals and within the organization. Should English be the lingua franca in international companies? Professor Maury Peiperl: Yes! International companies and international commerce generally imply a fundamental need for people to communicate across the globe, at least at a basic verbal and written level. Translation and multi-lingual communication are important, but unless there is one common language everyone doing global business can speak, the complexity these imply (which increases as the square of the number of languages used) makes it unwieldy for cross-border businesses to function. Multi-lingual firms will always find it difficult to compete with those who use a single cross-border language, as will those who use something other than the de facto global language, for both will pay higher transaction costs. Should English be the lingua franca in international companies? Research Fellow Karsten Jonsen: No! Non-native English speakers and companies should not be language submissive. Linguistic diversity is worth fighting for. English as a common business language is an easy choice, and much like most doctrines celebrating homogeneity, the one-company/onepeople/one-language-fits-all cultural mentality is deceptively easy. Economical reasoning predicts that this will happen increasingly in multinational companies. While a common language facilitates socialization processes, communication and team building, social identity theory speaks to how language barriers set boundaries with many people. To give you an idea of what some people think about BELF, here are some recent quotes from researchers who are active in the field. “BELF refers to English used as a neutral and shared communication code. BELF is neutral in the sense that none of the speakers can claim it as her/his mother tongue; it is shared in the sense that it is used for conducting business within the global business discourse community, whose members are BELF users and communicators in their own right – not non-native speakers or learners.” (Louhiala-Salminen, Charles & Kanraanranta, 2005) “Rather than focusing on language proficiency … the findings of such research could then drive teaching and training materials to focus more efficiently on those areas that are likely to cause a problem.” (Gerritsen and Nickerson, 2009) “BELF … implies a starting point where the code of communication is investigated in its own right, not as “English” in the traditional sense of the word.” (Rogerson-Revell and Salminon, 2010) “Our findings suggest that English in today’s global business environment is “simply work” and its use is highly contextual. Thus, knowledge of the specific business context, the particular genres used in the particular business area, and overall business communication strategies are tightly intertwined with proficiency in English, which impacts upon teaching." (Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen, 2010) "For our conceptualization of BELF, the “B” is of utmost importance." (Kankaanranta and Louhiala-Salminen, 2010) “… the concept of language competence, which has traditionally been gauged against the yardstick of a native speaker’s skills, has to be reevaluated in the light of recent (B)ELF research.” (Ehrenreich, 2010) "BELF competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BELF interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BELF competence." (Kankaanranta and Planken, 2010) It seems that BELF is very much about adapting English to specific contexts and specific users so that the business is successful. If we look at business English an a continuum, then at one end we have what might be called “General Business English”, where we do not know very much about the target context, or where learners have less defined aims, and at the other end we have BELF, which is a quite specific use of language which depends on the context and the speakers. The key is that this specific use of English can only be measured against its own rules for successful communication, not against a “norm” imposed by outsiders. As Hanford (2010) argues, “the most important issue in business is not language ability, but the experience and ability to dynamically manoeuvre within the communities of practice which business people inhabit.” What does it mean to us as trainers? The answer to this lies in our learners – what is it that they actually want from us? Is our primary role to help our learners learn English in the traditional sense, or is it to help them communicate in their business context? Clearly one of our tasks is to help our learners decide what is appropriate in any given context, and what isn’t, but this is too simplistic. For an ELF teacher BELF research suggests a pedagogic approach which has: 1. A much greater emphasis on needs analysis. People who use BELF work in very specific contexts and use very specific lexis, genres etc. Understanding this is key. 2. More listening to / analyzing of real BELF conversations, ideally with the learner as one of the interlocutors. 3. Materials which focus on relevant spoken genres (e.g. meetings, small talk) and written genres (e.g. emails / contracts etc), and not interviews or articles from newspapers and the internet. And content which resembles BELF interaction, not native speaker (NS) interaction, and is based on BELF corpora, not NS. 4. Tasks which do not focus so much on lexis and structures and more on why particular interactions are effective or ineffective, and strategies to deal with such situations. 5. Less focus on the trainer as the provider of the “model” and the arbiter as to what might be successful communication, and more focus on input from the target community of practice and other BELF users. 6. Tests which do not focus on form but on effectiveness. Seidlhofer, Breiteneder, and Pitzl (2006) finish their discussion on ELF in Europe and the associated challenges for applied linguistics with this comment: “Uncoupling any language from its native speakers is, of course, a challenging idea that will require a considerable effort of adjustment of attitudes and long-established concepts of just what a language is.” Perhaps this is the crux of what BELF is really about. EXPLICATION OF KEY FACTS AND IDEAS GIVEN IN THE TEXT, SELECTING KEY WORDS FOR ABSTRACT WRITING Instruction: Below are the guidelines for abstract writing (continued). This is an adaptation of several texts placed on the Internet without copyright limitations. You are sure to realize that to write a good abstract you will have to gain experience of using all steps recommended in this unit. Your abstract must be in the right format to meet necessary requirements. On following the given steps and writing a good abstract your purpose is not only to acquire the standard guidelines along which an abstract is written but also to get ready to discuss abstract writing skills in class. The steps for writing a good abstract Skim Evan Frendo’s presentation with the goal of abstracting in mind. Make notes of key facts and ideas given in the text, selecting key words. Outline its main themes and highlights to use for your abstract. Look specifically for the main parts of Evan Frendo’s article: purpose, methods, scope, results, conclusions, and recommendation, etc. Scan the article and try to pinpoint any concepts you could use as keywords for an Internet search. Headings, titles or table of contents are usually good sources of keywords. Use the headings, outline heads as a guide to writing your abstract. As you're writing an abstract about another person's paper, the introduction and the summary are good places to begin. These areas generally cover what the article emphasizes. Write a rough draft. After you've finished rereading the article, write a rough draft without looking back at what you're abstracting. Summarize the article using new words. Don't copy and paste from the original! This rough draft should be longer than your finished product so you can delete unnecessary words. Let yourself brainstorm while you edit. Write an introductory sentence. This will be a statement of purpose for your article. It should introduce your central concept. Write the body. This will be a brief description of the subject matter, roughly one or two paragraphs. Embed keywords into the first 20 words of the body. Make them inconspicuous so they don't break the reader's concentration. Write a one- or two-sentence conclusion. This should entice someone to read more. Edit and revise your abstract as needed. It is best to let a day pass before you return to it with fresh eyes. Edit unnecessary words. Be sure you clearly present your main points. Don't merely copy key sentences from the article: you'll put in too much or too little information. Don't rely on the way the material was phrased in the article: summarize information in a new way. Revise your rough draft to correct weaknesses in organization: improve transitions from point to point, drop unnecessary information, add important information you left out, eliminate wordiness, fix errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Answer the following questions:  Do you agree that the steps listed above are absolutely necessary?     Do you think it is necessary to always pursue these steps in your abstracts?? What are parts of an abstract? Did you know all these things about abstracts before? If you did, who told you first? Or did you acquire this knowledge by probe and error experience? UNIT 12. A NEGATIVE GLOBAL IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC Guidelines for intensive reading of DOE texts The text below is domain-oriented at a general analysis of the current economic and social situation. You should be ready to discuss it in any (non)academic environment. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is drastically changing the lives of people, who are highly discouraged because these circumstances can be tough for their social, physical and mental wellbeing. This report is a collection of facts that can support people to navigate their lives in these challenging times as well as inspire them to deal with the uncertainty of the global crisis. Naturally, anyone would think of a pandemic situation in very negative terms due to its emotional, socio-economic, environmental, political and cultural factors. However, it is also positive due to certain factors that help to reintegrate and reorganise the social system as a whole. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 12-1. A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery (After International Monetary Fund Report. June 2020) Fallout from the pandemic. Global growth is projected at –4.9 percent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the April 2020 World Economic Outlook (WEO) forecast. The COVID19 pandemic has had a more negative impact on activity in the first half of 2020 than anticipated, and the recovery is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast. In 2021 global growth is projected at 5.4 percent. Overall, this would leave 2021 GDP some 6½ percentage points lower than in the preCOVID-19 projections of January 2020. The adverse impact on low-income households is particularly acute, imperiling the significant progress made in reducing extreme poverty in the world since the 1990s. As with the April 2020 WEO projections, there is a higher-than-usual degree of uncertainty around this forecast. The baseline projection rests on key assumptions about the fallout from the pandemic. In economies with declining infection rates, the slower recovery path in the updated forecast reflects persistent social distancing into the second half of 2020; greater scarring (damage to supply potential) from the larger-than-anticipated hit to activity during the lockdown in the first and second quarters of 2020; and a hit to productivity as surviving businesses ramp up necessary workplace safety and hygiene practices. For economies struggling to control infection rates, a lengthier lockdown will inflict an additional toll on activity. Moreover, the forecast assumes that financial conditions—which have eased following the release of the April 2020 WEO—will remain broadly at current levels. Alternative outcomes to those in the baseline are clearly possible, and not just because of how the pandemic is evolving. The extent of the recent rebound in financial market sentiment appears disconnected from shifts in underlying economic prospects—as the June 2020 Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) Update discusses—raising the possibility that financial conditions may tighten more than assumed in the baseline. All countries—including those that have seemingly passed peaks in infections—should ensure that their health care systems are adequately resourced. The international community must vastly step up its support of national initiatives, including through financial assistance to countries with limited health care capacity and channeling of funding for vaccine production as trials advance, so that adequate, affordable doses are quickly available to all countries. Where lockdowns are required, economic policy should continue to cushion household income losses with sizable, well-targeted measures as well as provide support to firms suffering the consequences of mandated restrictions on activity. Where economies are reopening, targeted support should be gradually unwound as the recovery gets underway, and policies should provide stimulus to lift demand and ease and incentivize the reallocation of resources away from sectors likely to emerge persistently smaller after the pandemic. Strong multilateral cooperation remains essential on multiple fronts. Liquidity assistance is urgently needed for countries confronting health crises and external funding shortfalls, including through debt relief and financing through the global financial safety net. Beyond the pandemic, policymakers must cooperate to resolve trade and technology tensions that endanger an eventual recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, building on the record drop in greenhouse gas emissions during the pandemic, policymakers should both implement their climate change mitigation commitments and work together to scale up equitably designed carbon taxation or equivalent schemes. The global community must act now to avoid a repeat of this catastrophe by building global stockpiles of essential supplies and protective equipment, funding research and supporting public health systems, and putting in place effective modalities for delivering relief to the neediest. Economic decline in global activity. Economic data available at the time of the April 2020 WEO forecast indicated an unprecedented decline in global activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data releases since then suggest even deeper downturns than previously projected for several economies. The pandemic has worsened in many countries, leveled off in others. Following the release of the April 2020 WEO, the pandemic rapidly intensified in a number of emerging market and developing economies, necessitating stringent lockdowns and resulting in even larger disruptions to activity than forecast. In others, recorded infections and mortality have instead been more modest on a per capita basis, although limited testing implies considerable uncertainty about the path of the pandemic. In many advanced economies, the pace of new infections and hospital intensive care occupancy rates have declined thanks to weeks of lockdowns and voluntary distancing. Synchronized, deep downturn. First-quarter GDP was generally worse than expected (the few exceptions include, for example, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, and Thailand, among emerging markets, and Australia, Germany, and Japan, among advanced economies). High-frequency indicators point to a more severe contraction in the second quarter, except in China, where most of the country had reopened by early April. Consumption and services output have dropped markedly. In most recessions, consumers dig into their savings or rely on social safety nets and family support to smooth spending, and consumption is affected relatively less than investment. But this time, consumption and services output have also dropped markedly. The pattern reflects a unique combination of factors: voluntary social distancing, lockdowns needed to slow transmission and allow health care systems to handle rapidly rising caseloads, steep income losses, and weaker consumer confidence. Firms have also cut back on investment when faced with precipitous demand declines, supply interruptions, and uncertain future earnings prospects. Thus, there is a broad-based aggregate demand shock, compounding near-term supply disruptions due to lockdowns. Mobility remains depressed. Globally, lockdowns were at their most intense and widespread from about mid-March through mid-May. As economies have gradually reopened, mobility has picked up in some areas but generally remains low compared to pre-virus levels, suggesting people are voluntarily reducing exposure to one another. Mobility data from cellphone tracking, for example, indicate that activity in retail, recreation, transit stations, and workplaces remains depressed in most countries, although it appears to be returning to baseline in certain areas. Severe hit to the labor market. The steep decline in activity comes with a catastrophic hit to the global labor market. Some countries (notably in Europe) have contained the fallout with effective short-term work schemes. Nonetheless, according to the International Labor Organization, the global decline in work hours in 2020:Q1 compared to 2019:Q4 was equivalent to the loss of 130 million full-time jobs. The decline in 2020:Q2 is likely to be equivalent to more than 300 million full-time jobs. Where economies have been reopening, activity may have troughed in April—as suggested, for example, by the May employment report for the United States, where furloughed workers are returning to work in some of the sectors most affected by the lockdown. The hit to the labor market has been particularly acute for low-skilled workers who do not have the option of working from home. Income losses also appear to have been uneven across genders, with women among lower-income groups bearing a larger brunt of the impact in some countries. Of the approximately 2 billion informally employed workers worldwide, the International Labor Organization estimates close to 80 percent have been significantly affected. Contraction in global trade. The synchronized nature of the downturn has amplified domestic disruptions around the globe. Trade contracted by close to –3.5 percent (year over year) in the first quarter, reflecting weak demand, the collapse in cross-border tourism, and supply dislocations related to shutdowns (exacerbated in some cases by trade restrictions). Weaker inflation. Average inflation in advanced economies had dropped about 1.3 percentage points since the end of 2019, to 0.4 percent (year over year) as of April 2020, while in emerging market economies it had fallen 1.2 percentage points, to 4.2 percent. Downward price pressure from the decline in aggregate demand, together with the effects of lower fuel prices, seems to have more than offset any upward cost-push pressure from supply interruptions so far. Policy Countermeasures Have Limited Economic Damage and Lifted Financial Sentiment Some bright spots mitigate the gloom. Following the sharp tightening during January– March, financial conditions have eased for advanced economies and, to a lesser extent, for emerging market economies, also reflecting the policy actions discussed below. Sizable fiscal and financial sector countermeasures deployed in several countries since the start of the crisis have forestalled worse near-term losses. Reduced-work-hour programs and assistance to workers on temporary furlough have kept many from outright unemployment, while financial support to firms and regulatory actions to ensure continued credit provision have prevented more widespread bankruptcies (see Annex 1 and the June 2020 Fiscal Monitor Database of Country Fiscal Measures, which discuss fiscal measures amounting to about $11 trillion that have been announced worldwide, as well as the April 2020 WEO and the IMF Policy Tracker on Responses to COVID-19, which provide a broader list of country-specific measures). Swift and, in some cases, novel actions by major central banks (such as a few emerging market central banks launching quantitative easing for the first time and some advanced economy central banks significantly increasing the scale of asset purchases) have enhanced liquidity provision and limited the rise in borrowing costs (see the June 2020 GFSR Update). Moreover, swap lines for several emerging market central banks have helped ease dollar liquidity shortages. Portfolio flows into emerging markets have recovered after the record outflows in February-March and hard currency bond issuance has strengthened for those with stronger credit ratings. Meanwhile, financial regulators’ actions—including modification of bank loan repayment terms and release of capital and liquidity buffers—have supported the supply of credit. Stability in the oil market has also helped lift sentiment. West Texas Intermediate oil futures, which in April had sunk deep into negative territory for contracts expiring in the early summer, have risen in recent weeks to trade in a stable range close to the current spot price. Exchange rate changes since early April have reflected these developments. As of mid-June, the US dollar had depreciated by close to 4 percent in real effective terms (after strengthening by over 8 percent between January and early April). Currencies that had weakened substantially in previous months have appreciated since April—including the Australian dollar and the Norwegian krone, among advanced economy currencies, and the Indonesian rupiah, Mexican peso, Russian ruble, and South African rand, among emerging market currencies. Considerations for the Forecast. The developments discussed in the previous section help shape the key assumptions for the global growth forecast, in particular with regard to activity disruptions due to the pandemic, commodity prices, financial conditions, and policy support. Disruptions to activity in the forecast baseline. Based on downside surprises in the first quarter and the weakness of high-frequency indicators in the second quarter, this updated forecast factors in a larger hit to activity in the first half of 2020 and a slower recovery path in the second half than envisaged in the April 2020 WEO. For economies where infections are declining, the slower recovery path in the updated forecast reflects three key assumptions: persistent social distancing into the second half of 2020, greater scarring from the larger-than-anticipated hit to activity during the lockdown in the first and second quarters, and a negative impact on productivity as surviving businesses enhance workplace safety and hygiene standards. For economies still struggling to control infection rates, the need to continue lockdowns and social distancing will take an additional toll on activity. An important assumption is that countries where infections have declined will not reinstate stringent lockdowns of the kind seen in the first half of the year, instead relying on alternative methods if needed to contain transmission (for instance, rampedup testing, contact tracing, and isolation). The risk section below considers alternative scenarios, including one featuring a repeat outbreak in 2021. Policy support and financial conditions. The projection factors in the impact of the sizable fiscal countermeasures implemented so far and anticipated for the rest of the year. With automatic stabilizers also allowed to operate and provide further buffers, overall fiscal deficits are expected to widen significantly and debt ratios to rise over 2020–21. Major central banks are assumed to maintain their current settings throughout the forecast horizon to the end of 2021. More generally, financial conditions are expected to remain approximately at current levels for both advanced and emerging market economies. Commodity prices. The assumptions on fuel prices are broadly unchanged from the April 2020 WEO. Average petroleum spot prices per barrel are estimated at $36.20 in 2020 and $37.50 in 2021. Oil futures curves indicate that prices are expected to increase thereafter toward $46, still about 25 percent below the 2019 average. Nonfuel commodity prices are expected to rise marginally faster than assumed in the April 2020 WEO. Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to write a presentation based on the two combined texts: Text 12-1 “A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery” and Text 12-2 “Evolution of the pandemic is a key factor shaping the economic outlook”. Both are abridged after the International Monetary Fund Report. June 2020. Presentation is a means of communication that can be adapted to various personal preferences of speaking style and various speaking situations, such as talking to a group, addressing an examination board or a class meeting. Everyone on the internet has an opinion on how to give the “perfect” presentation. You are to choose which type of presentation suits you best. Presentations styles In general, there are six presentations styles: Coach, Connector, Freeform, Instructor, Storytelling, Visual. Coach-style presentations work best for presenters who are enthusiastic about the topic they are speaking about. To make this work for you, you will need to find a balance between speaking and getting reactions and feedback from the audience. You will also need to speak and share information at an appropriate pace. Connector-style presentation is one in which the speaker highlights what they have in common with the audience. Listeners feel that the speaker is “one of them” and are thus more receptive to the presenter’s message. Freeform presenters generally know what they want to say without a great deal of planning, rules or structure. If you would like to try this style, consider keeping yourself to two or three key points, use some humor, and share some stories with your audience. However, if you need a few reminders of what to say, feel free to have a few flashcards on hand, but make sure that the information on those cards is concise. Instructor style may be best for people who need to convey a complex message to persuade the audience to consider or adopt a certain viewpoint. To use this style effectively, consider using figures of speech, metaphors and visual aids to help the audience conceptualize what you are talking about. Also, find a way to balance focusing on the subject matter and on your audience. Storytelling style is a great way for speakers to connect with their audiences. This style works best when you provide anecdotes that align with your main points and if you can use words that elicit emotion for the listener. Speakers who use visual style tend to use large and colorful slides with small quantities of text. This is a great style for speakers who believe slides should only compliment their speech or who have a short time to prepare and present. WHAT STYLE WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADHERE TO AND WHY? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING UNCERTAINTY IN GLOBAL ECONOMY, POLICY AND HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES Guidelines for reading DOE texts on the COVID-19 economic outlook The reader has to realize that the present and would-be evolution of the pandemic and the policy response to it have not just dominated the economic and fiscal developments in 2020; they also set the starting point for the rest of the year and 2021. As long as the virus remains a significant health threat – with no vaccine and no highly effective treatment – the situation remains too volatile to provide a definitive assessment of the global economic impact. Over the third quarter of 2020, most countries have started to see a sharp but incomplete economic recovery. But recovery faces risks from cautious consumers, high rates of unemployment, low investment during the first half of 2020, the rise of private sector debt, and disruptions to international trade. Economic analysts forecast that GDP will reach pre-crisis levels mostly in 2021 or 2022. Even so, we expect all economies to remain smaller than either our pre-COVID forecast or a simple extrapolation of preCOVID trends would imply. Text 12-2. Evolution of the pandemic is a key factor shaping the economic outlook (After International Monetary Fund Report. June 2020) Risks to the Outlook Fundamental uncertainty around the evolution of the pandemic is a key factor shaping the economic outlook and hinders a characterization of the balance of risks. The downturn could be less severe than forecast if economic normalization proceeds faster than currently expected in areas that have reopened—for example in China, where the recovery in investment and services through May was stronger than anticipated. Medical breakthroughs with therapeutics and changes in social distancing behavior might allow health care systems to cope better without requiring extended, stringent lockdowns. Vaccine trials are also proceeding at a rapid pace. Development of a safe, effective vaccine would lift sentiment and could improve growth outcomes in 2021, even if vaccine production is not scaled up fast enough to deliver herd immunity by the end of 2021. More generally, changes in production, distribution, and payment systems during the pandemic could actually spur productivity gains—ranging from new techniques in medicine to, more broadly, accelerated digitalization or the switch from fossil fuels to renewables. Downside risks, however, remain significant. Outbreaks could recur in places that appear to have gone past peak infection, requiring the reimposition of at least some containment measures. A more prolonged decline in activity could lead to further scarring, including from wider firm closures, as surviving firms hesitate to hire jobseekers after extended unemployment spells, and as unemployed workers leave the labor force entirely. Financial conditions may again tighten as in January–March, exposing vulnerabilities among borrowers. This could tip some economies into debt crises and slow activity further. More generally, cross-border spillovers from weaker external demand and tighter financial conditions could further magnify the impact of country- or region-specific shocks on global growth. Moreover, the sizable policy response following the initial sudden stop in activity may end up being prematurely withdrawn or improperly targeted due to design and implementation challenges, leading to misallocation and the dissolution of productive economic relationships. Some of these aspects are featured in the Scenario Box, which presents growth projections under alternative scenarios. Beyond pandemicrelated downside risks, escalating tensions between the United States and China on multiple fronts, frayed relationships among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)+ coalition of oil producers, and widespread social unrest pose additional challenges to the global economy. Moreover, against a backdrop of low inflation and high debt (particularly in advanced economies), protracted weak aggregate demand could lead to further disinflation and debt service difficulties that, in turn, weigh further on activity. Policy Priorities With the relentless spread of the pandemic, prospects of long-lasting negative consequences for livelihoods, job security, and inequality have grown more daunting. Further effective policy actions can help slow the deterioration of those prospects and set the stage for a speedier recovery that benefits all in society across the income spectrum and skills distribution. At the same time, considering the substantial uncertainty regarding the pandemic and its implications for different sectors, the policy response will have to adapt as the situation evolves to maximize its effectiveness—for instance, shifting from saving firms to facilitating resource reallocation across sectors. As discussed in the April 2020 WEO, these policy objectives are shared across emerging market and developing economies as well as advanced economies, but the former group is relatively more constrained by lower health care capacity, larger informal sectors, and tighter borrowing constraints. Moreover, some emerging market and developing economies entered this crisis with limited policy space. External support and strong multilateral cooperation are therefore essential to help these financially constrained countries combat the crisis. This is particularly the case for low-income countries. Many of these have high debt, and some are already in a precarious security situation, with scarce food and medicine. Hence, their ability to deploy the policy response needed to prevent a devastating human toll and long-lasting impacts on livelihoods depends critically on debt relief, grants, and concessional financing from the international community. Island economies that rely heavily on tourism and economies that are driven by oil exports are also likely to face long-lasting challenges. Resources for Health Care The pandemic continues to test health care capacity in many countries, accelerating in emerging market and developing economies. Other countries that have passed peaks in infections remain at risk of renewed surges. All countries therefore need to ensure that their health care systems are adequately resourced. This requires additional spending as needed in various areas, including virus and antibody testing; training and hiring contact tracers; acquiring personal protective equipment; and health care infrastructure spending for emergency rooms, intensive care units, and isolation wards. Multilateral cooperation to support health care systems. The international community needs to vastly step up efforts to support national initiatives, including completing the removal of trade restrictions on essential medical supplies; sharing information on the pandemic widely and transparently; providing financial assistance and expertise to countries with limited health care capacity, including via support for international organizations; and channeling funding to scale up vaccine production facilities as trials advance so that adequate, affordable doses are quickly available to all countries. Contain the Economic Fallout, Facilitate Recovery Confronted with a highly transmissible virus and susceptible populations, countries have restricted mobility to curb its spread and protect lives. In the resulting deep economic downturn, the broad economic policy objectives remain similar to those discussed in the April 2020 WEO, with a continued emphasis on sizable, well-targeted measures that protect the vulnerable. As economies reopen, the focus there should gradually move from protecting jobs and shielding firms to facilitating recovery and removing obstacles to worker reallocation. Elevated debt levels, nonetheless, could constrain the scope of further fiscal support—and will pose an important medium-term challenge for many countries. To ensure that economies are well prepared to counter further shocks, policymakers should consider strengthening mechanisms for automatic, timely, and temporary support in downturns. As analyzed in the April 2020 WEO, rules-based fiscal stimulus measures that respond to deteriorating macroeconomic conditions—such as temporary targeted cash transfers to liquidity constrained, low-income households that kick in when the unemployment rate or jobless claims rise above a certain threshold—can be highly effective in dampening downturns. Economies where the pandemic is accelerating. In countries where lockdowns are required to slow transmission, the emphasis should be on containing the health shock and minimizing damage to the economy so that activity can normalize more quickly once the restrictions are lifted. The objective is twofold: cushioning income losses for people to the extent possible while enabling the shift of resources away from contact-intensive sectors that will likely be persistently smaller after the pandemic. Targeted measures, such as temporary tax breaks for affected people and firms, wage subsidies for furloughed workers, cash transfers, and paid sick and family leave are good common practices for cushioning income losses. The specific mix of targeted support should be tailored to country circumstances with due consideration for those who may not be protected by the formal safety net (as discussed below). Temporary credit guarantees, particularly for small International and medium-sized enterprises, and loan restructuring can help preserve employment relationships likely to remain viable after the pandemic fades. In tandem, spending on retraining, where feasible, should be increased so that workers are better equipped to seek employment in other sectors as needed. Broader social safety nets should be enhanced, including to expand eligibility criteria for unemployment protection and provide better coverage of self-employed and informal workers. Central bank liquidity provision and targeted relending facilities for funding-affected firms can help ensure that credit provision continues, while policy rate cuts and asset purchases can limit the rise in borrowing costs (see the June 2020 GFSR Update for details). Public infrastructure investment or across-the-board tax cuts may be less effective in stimulating demand when large parts of the economy are shut down. Nonetheless, where financing constraints permit, such measures can play an important role in supporting confidence and limiting bankruptcies. Economies where reopening is underway. Many countries have begun scaling back stringent lockdowns. With reopening, policy focus must also shift toward facilitating recovery. This requires progressively unwinding targeted support as the recovery gets underway, incentivizing the reallocation of workers and resources where needed, and providing stimulus. The exit from targeted support—such as wage subsidies for furloughed workers, cash transfers, enhanced eligibility criteria for unemployment insurance, credit guarantees for firms, and moratoria on debt service—should proceed gradually to avoid precipitating sudden income losses and bankruptcies just as the economy is beginning to regain its footing. The sequence in which the targeted measures are unwound should take into account the structure of employment—for instance, the share of self-employed, the distribution of firms across sectors experiencing different rates of recovery, and the degree of informality in the economy. Where fiscal space permits, as targeted fiscal support is unwound, it can be replaced with public investment to accelerate the recovery and expanded social safety net spending to protect the most vulnerable. The former can support the transition to a low-carbon economy and mitigation strategies. The latter will be particularly important given that the pandemic has taken a significant toll on lower-skilled workers (who may have a harder time securing reemployment than higher-skilled workers) and lower-income households more generally (who may not have adequate resources to purchase health care and essentials). At the same time, hiring subsidies and spending on worker training will need to increase to facilitate reallocation toward sectors with growing demand and away from those likely to emerge persistently smaller from the pandemic. Policymakers should also address factors that can impede this reallocation, including barriers to entry that favor incumbents at the expense of potential entrants and labor market rigidities that deter firms from hiring. Easing reallocation will also involve actions to repair balance sheets and address debt overhangs—factors that have slowed past recoveries from deep recessions. This will require mechanisms for restructuring and disposing of distressed debt. Such steps to reduce persistent resource misallocation and productivity losses can further enhance the effectiveness of broader stimulus to lift aggregate demand and boost employment. Modalities for delivering relief in countries with large informal sectors. In economies where the pandemic and associated lockdowns weigh heavily on informally employed workers, digital payment systems can provide an alternative modality for ensuring that government relief measures reach intended beneficiaries (IMF Special Series Note on COVID-19). Where individuals do not have IDs or access to mobile phones to avail of this channel, temporary workarounds can be implemented to scale up the coverage of digital payments (IMF Special Series Note on COVID-19), along with complementary in-kind support of food, medicine, and other essentials staples for households in need—for example, through local governments and community organizations. Multilateral Cooperation Considering the global scale of the crisis, countries must cooperate on multiple fronts to combat the shared challenges. Besides common efforts to support health care systems, liquidity assistance is urgently needed for countries confronting health shocks and external funding shortfalls. The G20 initiative for a temporary standstill on official debt service payments by lowincome countries is an important first step to help them preserve international liquidity and channel resources to combat the health crisis. Private creditors should also provide comparable treatment. More generally, it is in the best interest of all creditors and low-income country and emerging market borrowers with high debt and large financing needs to quickly agree on mutually acceptable terms of debt relief where needed. Multilateral assistance through the global financial safety net can help further cushion the impact of funding shocks. The IMF has enhanced the access limits to its emergency financing facilities, increased its ability to provide grant-based debt service relief, and is helping vulnerable countries with new financing through other lending facilities. Other elements of the global financial safety net have also been activated to alleviate international liquidity shortages in emerging markets, including central bank swap lines. Shared recognition that emerging market and developing economies are generally more constrained than reserve-currency-issuing advanced economies guides these actions. The longer the pandemic and its aftermath persist, the greater the need to enhance efforts to support financially constrained economies. Beyond the pandemic, policymakers must cooperate to address the economic issues underlying trade and technology tensions as well as gaps in the rules-based multilateral trading system. The eventual recovery from the COVID-19 crisis would be endangered without a durable solution to these frictions. Building on the record drop in greenhouse gas emissions this year (reflecting significantly lower fossil fuel use during the pandemic), policymakers should implement their climate change mitigation commitments, and effort needs to be scaled up at the international level, ideally through equitably designed carbon taxation or equivalent schemes (see the October 2019 Fiscal Monitor). Low oil prices also present an opportunity to reduce harmful fuel subsidies. And the global community must act now to avoid a repeat pandemic catastrophe by building global stockpiles of essential supplies and protective equipment that can be distributed quickly to affected areas, funding research and supporting public health systems, and putting in place adequate and effective modalities for delivering relief to the neediest. Two Alternative Scenarios (1) a second COVID-19 outbreak in early 2021, and (2) a faster recovery from the lockdown measures implemented in the first half of 2020. Scenario 1: A Second Global COVID-19 Outbreak in Early 2021 While the baseline does not rule out a possible resurgence in cases in some countries, the first scenario assumes instead that a second major global outbreak takes place early in 2021. The disruptions to domestic economic activity in each country in 2021—resulting from measures taken to contain this second outbreak—are assumed to be roughly one-half the size of what is already in the baseline for 2020. The halving of the impact reflects the assumption that containment measures will be less disruptive to firms and households because the share of vulnerable individuals will likely be lower and the measures will become better targeted at vulnerable groups, building on the experience gained regarding the effectiveness of measures that have been tried to date. As a result of the second outbreak, there is assumed to be additional tightening in financial conditions in 2021, relative to the baseline. The additional tightening is about one-half of the increase in sovereign and corporate spreads seen since the beginning of the pandemic, with advanced economies facing, on average, relatively limited tightening, especially in sovereign premiums, and emerging markets facing larger increases in spreads on both sovereign and corporate debt. Conventional monetary policy reacts endogenously in countries where there is still some room for further reductions in policy rates, mainly in emerging markets. Unconventional policies are not explicitly incorporated in the simulations; however, they are implicitly reflected in the limited tightening of financial conditions in advanced economies. Regarding the fiscal policy response, it is assumed that governments implement additional discretionary measures above and beyond automatic stabilizers. As a result, the overall spending response to the decline in output is twice as strong as the response under typical business cycle fluctuations. Despite the policy response, the outbreak is assumed to cause further longer-lived damage to the supply side of economies (scarring) starting in 2022, as increased bankruptcies lead to capital destruction, temporary slowing in productivity growth, and a temporary increase in trend unemployment. The additional scarring is assumed to be about one-half the size of what is already in the baseline, with emerging markets experiencing greater, longer-lived damage than advanced economies, given the more limited policy space to support incomes in those countries. Scenario 2: A Faster Recovery It assumes a gradual recovery in activity starting in the second half of 2020. In the second scenario, it is assumed that the recovery is faster than expected, as greater confidence in efficient post-lockdown measures (social distancing and more effective testing, tracing, and isolation practices) lead to effective containment and less precautionary behavior by households and firms once the lockdowns are lifted. As a result of the faster recovery, financial conditions become more accommodative; for simplicity, the loosening of financial conditions starts in 2021. It is also assumed that the discretionary fiscal measures already included in the baseline are maintained in their entirety; that is, there is no partial rollback in response to the improved outlook. However, automatic stabilizers would imply less fiscal support overall as they respond endogenously to a faster dissipation of excess supply. The faster recovery also implies there is 50 percent less supply-side scarring than in the baseline starting in 2021. Instruction Your assignment is to write a presentation based on the two combined texts: Text 12-1 “A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery” and Text 12-2 “Evolution of the pandemic is a key factor shaping the economic outlook”. Both are abridged after the International Monetary Fund Report. June 2020. Below are useful phrases for your presentation from two sources: https://www.londonschool.com/blog/30-useful-phrases-presentations-english/; https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/52-phrases-better-flowing-english-presentations-stevenhobson/ USEFUL ENGLISH PHRASES FOR A PRESENTATION For many people, creating and holding a presentation involves a great deal of effort. To make matters worse, if the presentation has to be given in English, it often entails double the effort for native Russian speakers. We want to make your next presentation a bit more effortless by introducing the most useful phrases and expressions for an English-language performance. Welcome At the beginning of each presentation, you should welcome your audience. Depending on who you are addressing, you should extend a more or less formal welcome. Good morning/afternoon/evening, ladies and gentlemen/everyone. On behalf of “Company X”, allow me to extend a warm welcome to you. Introducing the speaker The level of formality of your welcome address will also apply to how you introduce yourself. Customize it to match your audience. Let me briefly introduce myself. My name is “John Miller” and I am delighted to be here today to talk to you about… First, let me introduce myself. My name is “John Miller” and I am the “Position” of “Company X”. I’m “John” from “Company Y” and today I’d like to talk to you about… Introducing the topic After the welcome address and the introduction of the speaker comes the presentation of the topic. Here are some useful introductory phrases. Today I am here to talk to you about… What I am going to talk about today is… I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about… Explanation of goals It is always recommended to present the goals of your presentation at the beginning. This will help the audience to understand your objectives. The purpose of this presentation is… My objective today is… Structure After presenting the topic and your objectives, give your listeners an overview of the presentation’s structure. Your audience will then know what to expect in detail. My talk/presentation is divided into “x” parts. I’ll start with…/First, I will talk about…/I’ll begin with… …then I will look at… …next… and finally… Starting point After all this preparation, you can finally get started with the main part of the presentation. The following phrases will help you with that. Let me start with some general information on… Let me begin by explaining why/how… I’d like to give you some background information about… End of a section If you have completed a section of your presentation, inform your audience, so that they do not lose their train of thought. That’s all I have to say about… We’ve looked at… So much for… Interim conclusion Drawing interim conclusions is of utmost importance in a presentation, particularly at the end of a chapter or section. Without interim conclusions, your audience will quickly forget everything you may have said earlier. To sum up… Let’s summarize briefly what we have looked at. Here is a quick recap of the main points of this section. Transition Use one of the following phrases to move on from one chapter to the next. I’d now like to move on to the next part… Let’s now turn to… Examples Frequently, you have to give examples in a presentation. The following phrases are useful in that respect. For example, A good example of this is… As an illustration, To give you an example, To illustrate this point, Details In a presentation, you may often need to provide more details regarding a certain issue. These expressions will help you to do so. I’d like to expand on this aspect/problem/point. Let me elaborate further on… Links If you want to link to another point in your presentation, the following phrases may come in handy. As I said at the beginning… This relates to what I was saying earlier… Let me go back to what I said earlier about… This ties in with… Reference to the starting point In longer presentations, you run the risk that after a while the audience may forget your original topic and objective. Therefore, it makes sense to refer to the starting point from time to time. I hope that you are a little clearer on how we can… To return to the original question, we can… Just to round the talk off, I want to go back to the beginning when I… I hope that my presentation today will help with what I said at the beginning… Reference to sources In a presentation, you frequently have to refer to external sources, such as studies and surveys. Here are some useful phrases for marking these references. Based on our findings, According to our study, Our data shows/indicates… Emphasis To ensure that your presentation does not sound monotonous, from time to time you should emphasize certain points. Here are some suggestions. It should be emphasized that… I would like to draw your attention to this point… Another significant point is that… The significance of this is… This is important because… We have to remember that… Paraphrase At times it might happen that you expressed yourself unclearly and your audience did not understand your point. In such a case, you should paraphrase your argument using simpler language. In other words, To put it more simply, What I mean to say is… So, what I’m saying is… To put it in another way… Questions during the presentation Questions are an integral part of a presentation. These phrases allow you to respond to questions during a presentation. Does anyone have any questions or comments? I am happy to answer your questions now. Please feel free to interrupt me if you have questions. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Please stop me if you have any questions. Do you have any questions before I move on? If there are no further questions at this point, I’d like to… Questions at the end of a presentation To ensure that a presentation is not disrupted by questions, it is advisable to answer questions at the very end. Inform your audience about this by using these phrases. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation. I’ll gladly answer any of your questions at the end. I’d be grateful if you could ask your questions after the presentation. Inquiries After answering a question from the audience, check that the addressee has understood your answer and is satisfied with it. Does this answer your question? Did I make myself clear? I hope this explains the situation for you. Summary and conclusion At the end of the presentation, you should summarize the important facts once again. I’d like to conclude by… In conclusion, let me sum up my main points. Weighing the pros and cons, I come to the conclusion that… That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thank you for listening/your attention. UNIT 13. BIODIVERSITY AS THE FOUNDATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Guidelines for reading DOE texts on biodiversity Economically, the services provided by biodiversity are estimated to be double the world’s annual GDP – although this number is difficult to calculate as many of biodiversity’s life-giving services cannot be replicated at scale by human technology. By the United Nations, an international coalition of scientists concluded that within the next 80 years, we are on track to lose over one million known species. That is one species in eight. In addition, the populations of individual species have plunged. Tigers have lost 97% of their populations, migratory birds are estimated to have lost approximately 70% of their populations. In the span of only a few decades, the biomass of humans and our livestock has come to total 24 times more than that of all wild mammals! PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 13-1. THE LINK BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (Abridged after the Green Facts Express report, 2020. https://www.greenfacts. org/en/biodiversity%20/l-3/3) Biodiversity is the foundation of ecosystem services to which human well-being is intimately linked. No feature of Earth is more complex, dynamic, and varied than the layer of living organisms that occupy its surfaces and its seas, and no feature is experiencing more dramatic change at the hands of humans than this extraordinary, singularly unique feature of Earth. This layer of living organisms—the biosphere—through the collective metabolic activities of its innumerable plants, animals, and microbes physically and chemically unites the atmosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere into one environmental system within which millions of species, including humans, have thrived. Breathable air, potable water, fertile soils, productive lands, bountiful seas, the equitable climate of Earth’s recent history, and other ecosystem services are manifestations of the workings of life. It follows that large-scale human influences over this biota have tremendous impacts on human well-being. It also follows that the nature of these impacts, good or bad, is within the power of humans to influence. The single biggest threat to biodiversity is habitat loss, linked to food production on land and in the sea. Biodiversity needs space to survive. Every animal needs a home. That home is wilderness. When we remove wildlands and convert them into industrial production spaces, we simultaneously subtract the landscapes needed for life production. The landscapes we depend on are for our own survival. When we lose biodiversity, we reduce our ability to fight climate change, grow sustainable and healthy crops, have access to clean and abundant water, prevent pandemics, and plan for a future for our children and grandchildren. Humans need biodiversity. Because the decline in biodiversity is caused by humans, biodiversity now needs us to transform our behavior. Humans need wild nature in order to survive. The best solution for fighting climate change and ending the extinction crisis is to set aside enough space for nature to support healthy biodiversity. That means protecting at least half the planet’s land and and seas. Scientists conclude that if we do so by 2030, we can successfully avert the worst of the climate and extinction emergencies. (In some cases, we need more than half fragile ecosystems, like rainforests, to be 80% protected or stewarded by local, sustainable communities.) Protecting the planet at that scale may seem like a huge task, but in fact, this is a historic opportunity for us to transform the way we live with nature. Because we must protect half the entire planet, that means every region, every community, every individual is on the frontlines of conservation. You are on the frontlines of conservation, and you can make a difference. The challenge is that while we need biodiversity and biodiversity needs us, most people around the world still don’t know about the critical importance of wildlands and the biodiversity they support. Biodiversity includes all ecosystems — managed or unmanaged. Sometimes biodiversity is presumed to be a relevant feature of only unmanaged ecosystems, such as wildlands, nature preserves, or national parks. This is incorrect. Managed systems — be they plantations, farms, croplands, aquaculture sites, rangelands, or even urban parks and urban ecosystems — have their own biodiversity. Given that cultivated systems alone now account for more than 24% of Earth’s terrestrial surface, it is critical that any decision concerning biodiversity or ecosystem services address the maintenance of biodiversity in these largely anthropogenic systems. Measuring Biodiversity: Species Richness and Indicators. In spite of many tools and data sources, biodiversity remains difficult to quantify precisely. Ideally, to assess the conditions and trends of biodiversity either globally or subglobally, it is necessary to measure the abundance of all organisms over space and time, using taxonomy (such as the number of species), functional traits (for example, the ecological type such as nitrogen-fixing plants like legumes versus non-nitrogen-fixing plants), and the interactions among species that affect their dynamics and function (predation, parasitism, competition, and facilitation such as pollination, for instance, and how strongly such interactions affect ecosystems). Even more important would be to estimate turnover of biodiversity, not just point estimates in space or time. Currently, it is not possible to do this with much accuracy because the data are lacking. Even for the taxonomic component of biodiversity, where information is the best, considerable uncertainty remains about the true extent and changes in taxonomic diversity. There are many measures of biodiversity: species richness (the number of species in a given area) represents a single but important metric that is valuable as the common currency of the diversity of life — but it must be integrated with other metrics to fully capture biodiversity. Because the multidimensionality of biodiversity poses formidable challenges to its measurement, a variety of surrogate or proxy measures are often used. These include the species richness of specific taxa, the number of distinct plant functional types (such as grasses, forbs, bushes, or trees), or the diversity of distinct gene sequences in a sample of microbial DNA taken from the soil. Species - or other taxon-based measures of biodiversity, however, rarely capture key attributes such as variability, function, quantity, and distribution— all of which provide insight into the roles of biodiversity. Ecological indicators are scientific constructs that use quantitative data to measure aspects of biodiversity, ecosystem condition, services, or drivers of change, but no single ecological indicator captures all the dimensions of biodiversity. Ecological indicators form a critical component of monitoring, assessment, and decision-making and are designed to communicate information quickly and easily to policy-makers. In a similar manner, economic indicators such as GDP are highly influential and well understood by decision-makers. Some environmental indicators, such as global mean temperature and atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, are becoming widely accepted as measures of anthropogenic effects on global climate. Ecological indicators are founded on much the same principles and therefore carry with them similar pros and cons. 1.2 Where is biodiversity? Biodiversity is essentially everywhere, ubiquitous on Earth’s surface and in every drop of its bodies of water. The virtual omnipresence of life on Earth is seldom appreciated because most organisms are small (<5 centimeters); their presence is sparse, ephemeral, or cryptic, or, in the case of microbes, they are invisible to the unaided human eye. Documenting spatial patterns in biodiversity is difficult because taxonomic, functional, trophic, genetic, and other dimensions of biodiversity have been relatively poorly quantified. Even knowledge of taxonomic diversity, the best- known dimension of biodiversity, is incomplete and strongly biased toward the species level, megafauna, temperate systems, and components used by people. This results in significant gaps in knowledge, especially regarding the status of tropical systems, marine and freshwater biota, plants, invertebrates, microorganisms, and subterranean biota. For these reasons, estimates of the total number of species on Earth range from 5 million to 30 million. Irrespective of actual global species richness, however 1.7–2 million species that have been formally identified represent only a small portion of total species richness. More-complete biotic inventories are needed to correct for this deficiency. While the data to hand are often insufficient to provide accurate pictures of the extent and distribution of all components of biodiversity, there are, nevertheless, many patterns and tools that decision-makers can use to derive useful approximations for both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. North-temperate regions often have usable data on spatial distributions of many taxa, and some groups (such as birds, mammals, reptiles, plants, butterflies, and dragonflies) are reasonably well documented globally. Biogeographic principles (such as gradients in species richness associated with latitude, temperature, salinity, and water depth) or the use of indicators can supplement available biotic inventories. Global and sub-global maps of species richness, several of which are provided in the MA reports Current State and Trends and Scenarios, provide valuable pictures of the distribution of biodiversity. Most macroscopic organisms have small, often clustered geographical ranges, leading to centers of both high diversity and endemism, frequently concentrated in isolated or topographically variable regions (islands, mountains, peninsulas). A large proportion of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity at the species level is concentrated in a small part of the world, mostly in the tropics. Even among the larger and more mobile species, such as terrestrial vertebrates, more than one third of all species have ranges of less than 1,000 square kilometers. In contrast, local and regional diversity of microorganisms tends to be more similar to large-scale and global diversity because of their large population size, greater dispersal, larger range sizes, and lower levels of regional species clustering Biomes and biogeographic realms provide broad pictures of the distribution of functional diversity. Functional diversity (the variety of different ecological functions in a community independent of its taxonomic diversity) shows patterns of associations (biota typical of wetlands, forests, grasslands, estuaries, and so forth) with geography and climate known as biomes, with ecosystems and ecoregions being smaller divisions within biomes. These can be used to provide first-order approximations of both expected functional diversity as well as possible changes in the distribution of these associations should environmental conditions change. Temporal Patterns of Biodiversity: Background Rates of Extinction and Biodiversity Loss. Except for the last 1,000 years, global biodiversity has been relatively constant over most of human history, but the history of life is characterized by considerable change. The estimated magnitude of background rates of extinction is roughly 0.1–1.0 extinctions per million species per year. Most measurements of this rate have come from assessing the length of species’ lifetimes through the fossil record: these range over 0.5–13 million years, and possibly 0.2–16 million years. These data probably underestimate background extinction rates because they are necessarily largely derived from taxa that are abundant and widespread in the fossil record. A mismatch exists between the dynamics of changes in natural systems and human responses to those changes. This mismatch arises from the lags in ecological responses, the complex feedbacks between socioeconomic and ecological systems, and the difficulty of predicting thresholds. Multiple impacts (especially the addition of climate change to the mix of forcing functions) can cause thresholds, or rapid and dramatic changes in ecosystem function even though the increase in environmental stress has been small and constant over time. Understanding such thresholds requires having long-term records, but such records are usually lacking, or monitoring has been too infrequent, of the wrong periodicity, or too localized to provide the necessary data to analyze and predict threshold behavior. Shifts to different regimes may cause rapid substantial changes in biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being. Regime shifts have been commonly documented in pelagic systems due to thresholds related to temperature regimes and overexploitation. Some regime shifts are essentially irreversible, such as coral reef ecosystems that undergo sudden shifts from coral-dominated to algal-dominated reefs. The trigger for such phase shifts usually includes increased nutrient inputs leading to eutrophic conditions and removal of herbivorous fishes that maintain the balance between corals and algae. Once the thresholds (both an upper and a lower threshold) for the two ecological processes of nutrient loading and herbivory are passed, the phase shift occurs quickly (within months), and the resulting ecosystem—though stable—is less productive and less diverse. Consequently, human well-being is affected not only by reductions in food supply and decreased income from reef-related industries (diving and snorkeling, aquarium fish collecting, and so on), but also by increased costs due to diminished ability of reefs to protect shorelines. (Algal reefs are more prone to being broken up in storm events, leading to shoreline erosion and seawater breaches of land). Such phase shifts have been documented in Jamaica, elsewhere in the Caribbean, and in Indo-Pacific reefs. Introduced invasive species can act as a trigger for dramatic changes in ecosystem structure, function, and delivery of services. For example, the introduction of the carnivorous ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi (a jellyfish-like animal) in the Black Sea caused the loss of 26 major fisheries species and has been implicated (along with other factors) in the subsequent growth of the oxygen-deprived “dead” zone. What is the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services? Species composition matters as much or more than species richness when it comes to ecosystem services. Ecosystem functioning, and hence ecosystem services, at any given moment in time is strongly influenced by the ecological characteristics of the most abundant species, not by the number of species. The relative importance of a species to ecosystem functioning is determined by its traits and its relative abundance. For example, the traits of the dominant or most abundant plant species — such as how long they live, how big they are, how fast they assimilate carbon and nutrients, how decomposable their leaves are, or how dense their wood is — are usually the key species drivers of an ecosystem’s processing of matter and energy. Thus, conserving or restoring the composition of biological communities, rather than simply maximizing species numbers, is critical to maintaining ecosystem services. Local or functional extinction, or the reduction of populations to the point that they no longer contribute to ecosystem functioning, can have dramatic impacts on ecosystem services. Local extinctions (the loss of a species from a local area) and functional extinctions (the reduction of a species such that it no longer plays a significant role in ecosystem function) have received little attention compared with global extinctions (loss of all individuals of a species from its entire range). Loss of ecosystem functions, and the services derived from them, however, occurs long before global extinction. Often, when the functioning of a local ecosystem has been pushed beyond a certain limit by direct or indirect biodiversity alterations, the ecosystem-service losses may persist for a long time. Changes in biotic interactions among species — predation, parasitism, competition, and facilitation — can lead to disproportionately large, irreversible, and often negative alterations of ecosystem processes. In addition to direct interactions, such as predation, parasitism, or facilitation, the maintenance of ecosystem processes depends on indirect interactions as well, such as a predator preying on a dominant competitor such that the dominant is suppressed, which permits subordinate species to coexist. Interactions with important consequences for ecosystem services include pollination; links between plants and soil communities, including mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing microorganisms; links between plants and herbivores and seed dispersers; interactions involving organisms that modify habitat conditions (beavers that build ponds, for instance, or tussock grasses that increase fire frequency); and indirect interactions involving more than two species (such as top predators, parasites, or pathogens that control herbivores and thus avoid overgrazing of plants or algal communities). Many changes in ecosystem services are brought about by the removal or introduction of organisms in ecosystems that disrupt biotic interactions or ecosystem processes. Because the network of interactions among species and the network of linkages among ecosystem processes are complex, the impacts of either the removal of existing species or the introduction of new species are difficult to anticipate. As in terrestrial and aquatic communities, the loss of individual species involved in key interactions in marine ecosystems can also influence ecosystem processes and the provisioning of ecological services. For example, coral reefs and the ecosystem services they provide are directly dependent on the maintenance of some key interactions between animals and algae. As one of the most species-rich communities on Earth, coral reefs are responsible for maintaining a vast storehouse of genetic and biological diversity. Substantial ecosystem services are provided by coral reefs — such as habitat construction, nurseries, and spawning grounds for fish; nutrient cycling and carbon and nitrogen fixing in nutrient-poor environments; and wave buffering and sediment stabilization. The total economic value of reefs and associated services is estimated as hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet all coral reefs are dependent on a single key biotic interaction: symbiosis with algae. The dramatic effects of climate change and variability (such as El Niño oscillations) on coral reefs are mediated by the disruption of this symbiosis. Biodiversity affects key ecosystem processes in terrestrial ecosystems such as biomass production, nutrient and water cycling, and soil formation and retention — all of which govern and ensure supporting services (high certainty). The relationship between biodiversity and supporting ecosystem services depends on composition, relative abundance, functional diversity, and, to a lesser extent, taxonomic diversity. If multiple dimensions of biodiversity are driven to very low levels, especially trophic or functional diversity within an ecosystem, both the level and stability (for instance, biological insurance) of supportive services may decrease. Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to produce a presentation based on the two combined texts: Text 13-1 “The link between biodiversity and ecosystem services” and Text 13-2 “A continuing loss of biodiversity”. Both are abridged after the Green Facts Express report, 2020. Below are a few more useful phrases for your presentation. MORE USEFUL PHRASES FOR A PRESENTATION Presentations have the advantage that many standard phrases can be used at various points. Perhaps you wish to welcome the audience, introduce the speaker and the topic, outline the structure, offer a summary, or deal with questions. In all these situations, you can apply a number of useful expressions that will make your presentation a linguistic success. Welcome At the beginning of each presentation, you should welcome your audience. Depending on who you are addressing, you may extend a less formal welcome. Hi, everyone. Welcome to “Name of the event”. Introducing the topic I am delighted to be here today to tell you about… I want to make you a short presentation about… I’d like to give you a brief breakdown of… Starting point Before I start, does anyone know… As you are all aware… I think everybody has heard about…, but hardly anyone knows a lot about it. Transition I’d like to recap the main points. Well, that’s about it for this part. We’ve covered… This leads me to my next point, which is… Turning our attention now to… Graphs and images Presentations are usually full of graphs and images. Use the following phrases to give your audience an understanding of your visuals. Let me use a graphic to explain this. I’d like to illustrate this point by showing you… Let the pictures speak for themselves. I think the graph perfectly shows how/that… If you look at this table/bar chart/flow chart/line chart/graph, you can see that… Unknown answer Occasionally, it may happen that you do not have an answer to a question. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Simply use one of the following phrases to address the fact. That’s an interesting question. I don’t actually know off the top of my head, but I’ll try to get back to you later with an answer. I’m afraid I’m unable to answer that at the moment. Perhaps, I can get back to you later. Good question. I really don’t know! What do you think? That’s a very good question. However, I don’t have any figures on that, so I can’t give you an accurate answer. Unfortunately, I’m not the best person to answer that. Conclusion Thank you all for listening. It was a pleasure being here today. Well, that’s it from me. Thanks very much. That brings me to the end of my presentation. Thanks for your attention. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE CURRENT TRENDS IN BIODIVERSITY Guidelines for reading DOE texts on the global trends of biodiversity The reader has to realize that the present and would-be state of the biodiversity loss depends on human activities having an impact on it and the consequences of the disappearance of biodiversity. The increasingly obvious recognition of how human activities have been responsible for the degradation, fragmentation, and destruction of ecosystems and their biodiversity is the topic of the text below. The gradual decline in biodiversity (we are even talking about the extinction of many species today) has many consequences for humankind. In order to manage biodiversity, it is necessary to make inventories of diversity, to monitor change in diversity and to make plans focused on the multidisciplinary approach. The biodiversity science has been getting more interdisciplinary over time. A multidisciplinary research approach encompasses economics, ecology, anthropology, landscape analysis and law to discuss the potential of plans for development and protection of cultural and biological diversity. Text 13-2. A CONTINUING LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY (Abridged after the Green Facts Express report, 2020. https://www.greenfacts. org/en/biodiversity%20/l-3/3) How are the impacts of biodiversity loss distributed geographically? Biodiversity use, change, and loss have improved well-being for many social groups and individuals. But people with low resilience to ecosystem changes—mainly the disadvantaged—have been the biggest losers and witnessed the biggest increase in not only monetary poverty but also relative, temporary poverty and the depth of poverty. Poor people have historically disproportionately lost access to biological products and ecosystem services as demand for those services has grown. Local residents are often displaced from their fishing grounds, and the fish produced are usually not for local consumption but for export. Coastal residents often no longer have access to cheap protein or sources of income The increase in international trade of biological products has improved the wellbeing for many social groups and individuals, especially in countries with well-developed markets and trade rules and among people in developing countries who have access to the biological products. However, many groups have not benefited from such trade. Conflicts between competing social groups or individuals over access to and use of biological products and ecosystem services have contributed to declines in well-being for some groups and improvements for others. One of the main reasons some countries, social groups, or individuals, especially the disadvantaged, are more severely affected by biodiversity and ecosystem changes is limited access to substitutes or alternatives. When the quality of water deteriorates, the rich have the resources to buy personal water filters or imported bottled water that the poor can ill afford. Similarly, urban populations in developing countries have easier access to clean energy sources because of easy access to the electrical grid, while rural communities have fewer choices. Many industrial countries maintain seed banks in response to the rapid rate of loss of crop genetic diversity and to make existing genetic diversity more readily available to plant breeders. Most poverty statistics are only available at an aggregate level. These tend to hide pockets of poverty existing sometimes within traditionally defined “wealthy” regions or provinces. Therefore, using aggregate data to understand and establish links between biodiversity loss, ecosystem changes, and well-being can be quite misleading. What are the current trends in biodiversity?  Current rates of loss exceed those of the historical past by several orders of magnitude and show no indication of slowing.  Biodiversity is declining rapidly due to land use change, climate change, invasive species, overexploitation, and pollution. These result from demographic, economic, sociopolitical, cultural, technological, and other indirect drivers.  While these drivers vary in their importance among ecosystems and regions, current trends indicate a continuing loss of biodiversity. Recent and Current Trends in Biodiversity. Across the range of biodiversity measures, current rates of change and loss exceed those of the historical past by several orders of magnitude and show no indication of slowing. At large scales, across biogeographic realms and ecosystems (biomes), declines in biodiversity are recorded in all parts of the habitable world. Among well-studied groups of species, extinction rates of organisms are high and increasing (medium certainty), and at local levels both populations and habitats are most commonly found to be in decline. Virtually all of Earth’s ecosystems have now been dramatically transformed through human actions. More land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950 than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850. Between 1960 and 2000, reservoir storage capacity quadrupled and, as a result, the amount of water stored behind large dams is estimated to be three to six times the amount held by rivers. Some 35% of mangroves have been lost in the last two decades in countries where adequate data are available (encompassing about half of the total mangrove area). Roughly 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed and an additional 20% have been degraded. Although the most rapid changes in ecosystems are now taking place in developing countries, industrial countries historically experienced comparable changes. The biomes with the highest rates of conversion in the last half of the 20th century were temperate, tropical, and flooded grasslands and tropical dry forests (more than 14% lost between 1950 and 1990). Areas of particularly rapid change in terrestrial ecosystems over the past two decades include: o the Amazon basin and Southeast Asia (deforestation and expansion of croplands); o Asia (land degradation in drylands); and o Bangladesh, Indus Valley, parts of Middle East and Central Asia, and the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa. Habitat conversion to agricultural use has affected all biogeographical realms. In all realms (except Oceania and Antarctica), at least a quarter of the area had been converted to other land uses by 1950, and in the Indo-Malayan realm almost half of the natural habitat cover had been converted. In the 40 years from 1950 to 1990, habitat conversion has continued in nearly all realms. The temperate northern realms of the Nearctic and Palearctic are currently extensively cultivated and urbanized; however, the amount of land under cultivation and pasture seems to have stabilized in the Nearctic, with only small increases in the Palearctic in the last 40 years. The decrease in extensification of land under agricultural use in these areas is counterbalanced by intensification of agricultural practices in order to ensure continued food production for expanding human populations. Within the tropics, rates of land conversion to agricultural use range from very high in the Indo-Malayan realm to moderate in the Neotropics and the Afrotropics, where large increases in cropland area have taken place since the 1950s. Australasia has relatively low levels of cultivation and urbanization, but these have also increased in the last 40 years at a similar rate to those of the Neotropics. The majority of biomes have been greatly modified. Between 20% and 50% of 9 out of 14 global biomes have been transformed to croplands. Tropical dry forests were the most affected by cultivation between 1950 and 1990, although temperate grasslands, temperate broadleaf forests, and Mediterranean forests each experienced 55% or more conversion prior to 1950. Biomes least affected by cultivation include boreal forests and tundra. While cultivated lands provide many provisioning services (such as grains, fruits, and meat), habitat conversion to agriculture typically leads to reductions in local native biodiversity. Rates of human conversion among biomes have remained similar over at least the last century. For example, boreal forests had lost very little native habitat cover up to 1950 and have lost only a small additional percentage since then. In contrast, the temperate grasslands biome had lost nearly 70% of its native cover by 1950 and lost an additional 15.4% since then. Two biomes appear to be exceptions to this pattern: Mediterranean forests and temperate broadleaf forests. Both had lost the majority of their native habitats by 1950 but since then have lost less than 2.5% additional habitat. These biomes contain many of the world’s most established cities and most extensive surrounding agricultural development (Europe, the United States, the Mediterranean basin, and China). It is possible that in these biomes the most suitable land for agriculture had already been converted by 1950. Over the past few hundred years, humans have increased the species extinction rate by as much as three orders of magnitude (medium certainty). This estimate is only of medium certainty because the extent of extinctions of undescribed taxa is unknown, the status of many described species is poorly known, it is difficult to document the final disappearance of very rare species, and there are extinction lags between the impact of a threatening process and the resulting extinction. However, the most definite information, based on recorded extinctions of known species over the past 100 years, indicates extinction rates are around 100 times greater than rates characteristic of species in the fossil record. Other less direct estimates, some of which model extinctions hundreds of years into the future, estimate extinction rates 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than rates recorded among fossil lineages Between 12% and 52% of species within well-studied higher taxa are threatened with extinction, according to the The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Less than 10% of named species have been assessed in terms of their conservation status. Of those that have, birds have the lowest percentage of threatened species, at 12%. The patterns of threat are broadly similar for mammals and conifers, which have 23% and 25% of species threatened, respectively. The situation with amphibians looks similar, with 32% threatened, but information is more limited, so this may be an underestimate. Cycads have a much higher proportion of threatened species, with 52% globally threatened. In regional assessments, taxonomic groups with the highest proportion of threatened species tended to be those that rely on freshwater habitats. Threatened species show continuing declines in conservation status, and species threat rates tend to be highest in the realms with highest species richness. Threatened vertebrates are most numerous in the biomes with intermediate levels of habitat conversion. Low-diversity biomes (such as boreal forest and tundra) have low species richness and low threat rates and have experienced little conversion. Very highly converted habitats in the temperate zone had lower richness than tropical biomes, and many species vulnerable to conversion may have gone extinct already. It is in the high-diversity, moderately converted tropical biomes that the greatest number of threatened vertebrates are found. Among a range of higher taxa, the majority of species are currently in decline. Studies of amphibians globally, African mammals, birds in agricultural lands, British butterflies, Caribbean corals, waterbirds, and fishery species show the majority of species to be declining in range or number. Increasing trends in species can almost always be attributed to management interventions, such as protection in reserves, or to elimination of threats such as overexploitation, or they are species that tend to thrive in human-dominated landscapes. An aggregate indicator of trends in species populations, the Living Planet Index, uses published data on trends in natural populations of a variety of wild species to identify overall trends in species abundance. Although more balanced sampling would enhance its reliability, the trends are all declining, with the highest rate in freshwater habitats. Genetic diversity has declined globally, particularly among domesticated species. In cultivated systems, since 1960 there has been a fundamental shift in the pattern of intra-species diversity in farmers’ fields and farming systems as a result of the Green Revolution. Intensification of agricultural systems coupled with specialization by plant breeders and the harmonizing effects of globalization have led to a substantial reduction in the genetic diversity of domesticated plants and animals in agricultural systems. The on-farm losses of genetic diversity of crops have been partially offset by the maintenance of genetic diversity in gene banks. A third of the 6,500 breeds of domesticated animals are threatened with extinction due to their very small population sizes. In addition to cultivated systems, the extinction of species and loss of unique populations that has taken place has resulted in the loss of unique genetic diversity contained in those species and populations. This loss reduces overall fitness and adaptive potential, and it limits the prospects for recovery of species whose populations are reduced to low levels. Globally, the net rate of conversion of some ecosystems has begun to slow, and in some regions ecosystems are returning to more natural states largely due to reductions in the rate of expansion of cultivated land, though in some instances such trends reflect the fact that little habitat remains for further conversion. Generally, opportunities for further expansion of cultivation are diminishing in many regions of the world as the finite proportion of land suitable for intensive agriculture continues to decline. Increased agricultural productivity is also lowering pressures for agricultural expansion. Since 1950, cropland areas in North America, Europe, and China have stabilized, and even decreased in Europe and China. Cropland areas in the former Soviet Union have decreased since 1960. Within temperate and boreal zones, forest cover increased by approximately 3 million hectares per year in the 1990s, although about half of this increase consisted of forest plantations. Biotic homogenization, defined as the process whereby species assemblages become increasingly dominated by a small number of widespread species, represents further losses in biodiversity that are often missed when only considering changes in absolute numbers of species. Human activities have both negative and positive impacts on species. The many species that are declining as a result of human activities tend to be replaced by a much smaller number of expanding species that thrive in human-altered environments. The outcome is a more homogenized biosphere with lower species diversity at a global scale. One effect is that in some regions where diversity has been low because of isolation, the species diversity may actually increase—a result of invasions of non-native forms (this is true in continental areas such as the Netherlands as well as on oceanic islands). Recent data also indicate that the many losers and few winners tend to be non-randomly distributed among higher taxa and ecological groups, enhancing homogenization. While biodiversity loss has been a natural part of the history of Earth’s biota, it has always been countered by origination and, except for rare events, has occurred at extremely slow rates. Currently, however, loss far exceeds origination, and rates are orders of magnitude higher than average rates in the past. Recall that biodiversity loss is not just global extinction, such as that faced by many threatened and endangered species, but declines in genetic, ecosystem, and landscape diversity are considered bio-diversity loss as well. Even if every native species were retained in an ecological preserve, if the majority of the landscape has been converted to high-intensity monoculture cropland systems, then biodiversity has declined significantly. Landscape homogenization is linked to biotic homogenization. The patterns of threat and extinction are not evenly distributed among species but tend to be concentrated in particular ecological or taxonomic groups. Ecological traits shared by species facing high extinction risk include high trophic level, low population density, long lifespan, low reproductive rate, and small geographical range size. The degree of extinction risk also tends to be similar among related species, leading to the likelihood that entire evolutionary radiations can and have been lost. The majority of recorded species extinctions since 1500 have occurred on islands. However, predictions of increasing numbers of future extinctions suggest a significant shift from island to continental areas. Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to produce a presentation based on the two combined texts: Text 13-1 “The link between biodiversity and ecosystem services” and Text 13-2 “A continuing loss of biodiversity”. Both are abridged after the Green Facts Express report, 2020. You are well aware that presentation is an activity in which someone shows, describes, or explains something to a group of people, a speech or talk in which a new product, idea, or piece of work is shown and explained to an audience. In your presentation you should convince your potential audience that 1) human activities are accountable for the loss of biodiversity and 2) it is the multidisciplinary approach that can find ways to stop biodiversity decline. See Instruction for Units 7, 8 and 12. Presentation skills are the skills you need in delivering effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills cover a variety of areas such as the structure of your presentation, the design of your slides, the tone of your voice and the body language you convey. Structure Structure is important because a well-organized presentation creates an impression that you know what you are talking about-you will gain the audience's trust and they will be more likely to listen to you. A structure provides a logical flow so that you can provide the information that the audience needs to follow your presentation. The structure will help you become more comfortable following this flow. There is a natural structure to presenting and the following structure formalizes this process. Purpose To determine your purpose, ask the question: "What are the main points I want my audience to take away from my presentation"? This provides focus for you and the audience is clear on what they will gain listening to your presentation. Audience pre-assessment It is important to identify the characteristics, knowledge and needs of your audience so that you are delivering the 'right' presentation to the 'right' audience. Know who your audience is, what they want/need to know and what is their background. This step is done before the presentation or throughout. Opening your Presentation/Bridge This is also known as the hook. It is designed to grab the audience's attention and provide them with a reason to be interested in the presentation. Body of Presentation This is the major portion of the presentation. It is necessary that it connects directly to your purpose or bridge. Cover enough points to achieve your purpose (no more) and be sure to support your points clearly and concisely. Closing your Presentation This is the final impression that you will leave with your audience-make sure it is a strong one. Connect back to your purpose and let them know where you have been. Leave your audience with a clear understanding of your points. UNIT 14. BIODIVERSITY IS THE SUM OF ALL LIFE ON EARTH Guidelines for reading DOE texts on biodiversity Human beings are an integral and inseparable part of the natural world. Our existence and health ultimately depend on the integrity and functioning of ecosystems. The value of biodiversity and ecosystem services is in building and protecting physical and mental health. Within and around cities, green infrastructure is the network of green spaces and other environmental features, which sustains biodiversity and brings benefits to human health and well-being. Biodiversity is one of the primary foundations for human physical and psychological health and wellbeing. The benefits which biodiversity and ecosystem services can bring to people are numerous and occur at many levels. Not only are biodiversity and ecosystem services fundamental to life with the provision of air, water and other essential resources, but they also contribute to climate regulation and thus provide people with a favorable living environment. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 14-1. WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY AND WHERE IS IT FOUND? (Abridged after the Green Facts Express report, 2020. https://www.greenfacts. org/en/biodiversity%20/l-3/3) Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species, and of ecosystems. The air you breathe and the food you eat all rely on biodiversity, which is in perilous decline because of us. What we do in the next few years will determine the fate of biodiversity, and life on Earth. Biodiversity is the sum of all life on earth. Every single individual lifeform from the smallest bacteria in the soil to the largest whale in the sea, is a component of Earth’s biodiversity. But biodiversity doesn’t stop at the individual. Biodiversity is also the relationships between these lifeforms and their habitat. That includes the relationship between plankton and whales that help produce oxygen in the atmosphere, seeds and rhinos that help plant forests, and bacteria and plants that change the chemistry of soils. Biodiversity is an abbreviation of the term “biological diversity” which was coined in the mid-1980s with the help of the legendary tropical biologist, Thomas Lovejoy. In the sciences, biodiversity is measured at several levels: genetic, species, communities, and ecosystems. Humans are very much a member of the biodiversity community, and our own cultural diversity is increasingly recognized to be a product of local biodiversity. Culture is closely connected to the wild nature from which human communities emerge. The term “bio-cultural diversity” describes the relationship between human culture and the surrounding ecology. Biodiversity tends to be far higher in the tropics than in cold, polar regions, meaning that in the tropics there are the most species, more genetic data, and more complex ecological interactions. Still, even the coldest, darkest regions, from the polar seas to the deepest caves, are rich in lifeforms. And each and every one of these lifeforms contributes something important to the chemistry of their, and our, environment. The highest quality biodiversity is often found in two types of places: protected area wildlands and those territories stewarded by Indigenous Peoples. Earth’s biodiversity is its most valuable and most necessary resource. Biodiversity is the primary source of Earth’s biosphere – the life web that produces everything humans need most: food, water, many modern medicines, and air. While other planets are likely rich in minerals of high monetary value here on Earth, no other planet that we know of have the conditions necessary for human civilization. Earth’s biodiversity is the very basis for our own survival. This is demonstrated repeatedly, across the planet, at the macro and microscopic scale. Without plants, there would be no oxygen. Without bees, many of our crops would vanish. Other benefits of biodiversity are even more fundamental. The hardwood trees in the rainforests that are our most effective aboveground carbon sinks are also the product of the relationship between seeds and the fruit-eating animals that eat them. Trees are up to 500x more likely to germinate when the seeds have first passed through the digestion system of a bat, monkey, or elephant. Microscopic biodiversity in our soils creates the chemical conditions necessary for healthy, abundant, and sustainable crops. Many new medicines are found in nature, including cancer fighting fungi and pain killing tree resins. Region-to-region differences in ecosystem processes are driven mostly by climate, resource availability, disturbance, and other extrinsic factors and not by differences in species richness (high certainty). In natural ecosystems, the effects of abiotic and land use drivers on ecosystem services are usually more important than changes in species richness. Plant productivity, nutrient retention, and resistance to invasions and diseases sometimes grow with increasing species numbers in experimental ecosystems that have been reduced to low levels of biodiversity. In natural ecosystems, however, these direct effects of increasing species richness are usually overridden by the effects of climate, resource availability, or disturbance regime. Losses of biodiversity may reduce the capacity for adjustment to changing environments (that is, ecosystem stability or resilience, resistance, and biological insurance) (high certainty). The loss of multiple components of biodiversity, especially functional and ecosystem diversity at the landscape level, will lead to lowered ecosystem stability (high certainty). There is evidence that a large number of resident species, including those that are rare, may act as “insurance” that buffers ecosystem processes in the face of changes in the physical and biological environment (such as changes in precipitation, temperature, pathogens). As tragically illustrated by social conflict and humanitarian crisis over droughts, floods, and other ecosystem collapses, stability of ecosystems underpins most components of human well-being, including health, security, satisfactory social relations, and freedom of choice and action. Invasion resistance. The preservation of the number, types, and relative abundance of resident species can enhance invasion resistance in a wide range of natural and seminatural ecosystems (medium certainty). Although areas of high species richness (such as biodiversity hot spots) are more susceptible to invasion than species-poor areas, within a given habitat the preservation of its natural species pool appears to increase its resistance to invasions by non-native species. Pollination is essential for the provision of plant-derived ecosystem services, yet there have been worldwide declines in pollinator diversity (medium certainty). Many fruits and vegetables require pollinators, thus pollination services are critical to the production of a considerable portion of the vitamins and minerals in the human diet. Although there is no assessment at the continental level, documented declines in more-restricted geographical areas include mammals (lemurs and bats, for example) and birds (hummingbirds and sunbirds, for instance), bumblebees in Britain and Germany, honeybees in the United States and some European countries, and butterflies in Europe. Estimates of the global annual monetary value of pollination vary widely, but they are in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars. Climate regulation. Biodiversity influences climate at local, regional, and global scales, thus changes in land use and land cover that affect biodiversity can affect climate. The important components of biodiversity include plant functional diversity and the type and distribution of habitats across landscapes. These influence the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon, albedo (proportion of incoming radiation from the Sun that is reflected by the land surface back to space), evapotranspiration, temperature, and fire regime—all of which influence climate, especially at the landscape, ecosystem, or biome levels. For example, forests have higher evapotranspiration than other ecosystems, such as grasslands, because of their deeper roots and greater leaf area. The diversity of habitats in a landscape exerts additional impacts on climate across multiple scales. Landscape-level patches (>10 kilometers in diameter) that have lower albedo and higher surface temperature than neighboring patches create cells of rising warm air above the patch (convection). This air is replaced by cooler moister air that flows laterally from adjacent patches (advection). Climate models suggest that these landscape-level effects can substantially modify local-to-regional climate. Some components of biodiversity affect carbon sequestration and thus are important in carbon-based climate change mitigation when afforestation, reforestation, reduced deforestation, and biofuel plantations are involved (high certainty). Particularly important is how fast plants can grow, which governs carbon inputs, and woodiness, which enhances carbon sequestration because woody plants tend to contain more carbon, live longer, and decompose more slowly than smaller herbaceous plants. Plant traits also influence the probability of disturbances such as fire, windthrow, and human harvest, which temporarily change forests from accumulating carbon to releasing it. The major importance of marine biodiversity in climate regulation. The ocean, through its sheer volume and links to the terrestrial biosphere, plays a huge role in cycling of almost every material involved in biotic processes. Of these, the anthropogenic effects on carbon and nitrogen cycling are especially prominent. Biodiversity influences the effectiveness of the biological pump that moves carbon from the surface ocean and sequesters it in deep waters and sediments. Some of the carbon that is absorbed by marine photosynthesis and transferred through food webs to grazers sinks to the deep ocean as fecal pellets and dead cells. Pest, disease, and pollution control. The maintenance of natural pest control services, which benefits food security, rural household incomes, and national incomes of many countries, is strongly dependent on biodiversity. Yields of desired products from agroecosystems may be reduced by attacks of animal herbivores and microbial pathogens, above and below ground, and by competition with weeds. High-biodiversity agriculture has cultural and aesthetic value and can reduce many of the externalized costs of irrigation, fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide inputs associated with monoculture agriculture. The marine microbial community. Some marine organisms provide the ecosystem service of filtering water and reducing effects of eutrophication. Some marine microbes can degrade toxic hydrocarbons, such as those in an oil spill, into carbon and water, using a process that requires oxygen. Thus, this service is threatened by nutrient pollution, which generates oxygen deprivation. Biodiversity is essentially everywhere. The virtual omnipresence of life on Earth is seldom appreciated because most organisms are small (<5 centimeters); their presence is sparse, ephemeral, or cryptic, or, in the case of microbes, they are invisible to the unaided human eye. North-temperate regions often have usable data on spatial distributions of many taxa, and some groups (such as birds, mammals, reptiles, plants, butterflies, and dragonflies) are reasonably well documented globally. Biogeographic principles (such as gradients in species richness associated with latitude, temperature, salinity, and water depth) or the use of indicators can supplement available biotic inventories. Global and sub-global maps of species richness provide valuable pictures of the distribution of biodiversity. A large proportion of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity at the species level is concentrated in a small part of the world, mostly in the tropics. Even among the larger and more mobile species, such as terrestrial vertebrates, more than one third of all species have ranges of less than 1,000 square kilometers. In contrast, local and regional diversity of microorganisms tends to be more similar to large-scale and global diversity because of their large population size, greater dispersal, larger range sizes, and lower levels of regional species clustering. What competing goals can affect biodiversity? When society has multiple goals, many of which depend on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the many constituents of well-being, difficult decisions involving trade-offs among competing goals have to be made. The value of ecosystem services lost to human society, in the long term, may greatly exceed the short-term economic benefits that are gained from transformative activities. In Sri Lanka, for example, the clearing of tropical forest for agriculture initially reduced the habitat for forest-adapted anopheline mosquito vectors of malaria. But in due course, other vector species occupied the changed habitat, contributing to the resurgence of malaria. Many of the changes in biodiversity and ecosystems have been made to enhance the production of specific ecosystem services such as food production. But only 4 of the 24 ecosystem services examined in this assessment have been enhanced: crops, livestock, aquaculture, and (in recent decades) carbon sequestration, while 15 services have been degraded. The degraded services include capture fisheries, timber production, water supply, waste treatment and detoxification, water purification, natural hazard protection, regulation of air quality, regulation of regional and local climate, regulation of erosion, and many cultural services (the spiritual, aesthetic, recreational, and other benefits of ecosystems). Modifications of ecosystems to enhance one service generally have come at a cost to other services that the ecosystem provided. An aquaculture farmer, for instance, may gain material welfare from management practices that increase soil salinization and thereby reduce rice yields and threaten food security for nearby subsistence farmers. Trade-off analysis aided by qualitative and quantitative values for biodiversity and services can help decision-makers make intelligent decisions among competing goals. Such analysis can identify management strategies that generate efficient outcomes in which it is not possible to increase one objective without decreasing another. Second, it can show the extent to which current decisions are inefficient and help identify opportunities for improving the status quo. Third, it illustrates the nature of the trade-offs between goals once the efficiency frontier has been reached. What is the value of biodiversity for human well-being? The importance of biodiversity and natural processes in producing ecosystem services that people depend on is not captured in financial markets. Unlike goods bought and sold in markets, many ecosystem services do not have markets or readily observable prices. However, lack of a price does not mean lack of value. Existence value of species and other “non-use” values pose a greater challenge to those who would try to measure the complete value of conserving biodiversity and natural processes. Combinations of irreversible actions, such as species extinction, and uncertainty give rise to option value (such as the value of maintaining flexibility, keeping options open, until uncertainty is resolved). Though clear in theory, getting reasonable estimates of option value is difficult in practice. Private and social values of conserving biodiversity and natural systems often differ widely. The private use value of biodiversity and ecosystem services by individuals will typically ignore the “external” benefits of conservation that accrue to society in general. For example, a farmer may benefit from intensive use of the land but generally does not bear all the consequences caused by leaching of excess nutrients and pesticides into ground or surface water, or the consequences of loss of habitat for native species. The indirect values of biodiversity conservation can be highly significant in comparison with the direct economic values derived from a particular area. In existing economic studies of changes to biodiversity in specific locations (such as the conversion of mangrove forests, degradation of coral reefs, and clear-felling of forests), the costs of ecosystem conversion are often found to be significant and sometimes exceed the benefits of the habitat conversion. The depletion and degradation of many ecosystem services represents the loss of a capital asset that is poorly reflected in conventional indicators of economic growth or growth in human well-being. A country could cut its forests and deplete its fisheries, and this would show only as a positive gain to GDP, despite the loss of the capital asset. (GDP measures the flow of economic benefits from the use of these resources, but the depletion of the capital asset is not reflected.) Moreover, many ecosystem services are available freely to those who use them (fresh water in aquifers, for instance, and the use of the atmosphere as a sink for pollutants) and so again their degradation is not reflected in standard economic measures. They significantly change the balance sheet for countries with economies largely dependent on natural resources. Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to write an essay about the biodiversity as the sum of all life on Earth based on the two combined texts of Unit 14. As an interim step approaching you to coping with this assignment you will have to discuss what and where the biodiversity is, and express your personal view and the attitude of the general public in your country. Even if you don’t think of personally being involved in preserving the biodiversity you may well have some ideas for your essay to be shared with your teacher and fellow students. Essay writing is a key component to academic success at every level. It is, essentially, the way in which people within the academic community communicate with each other. Thus, there are fundamental ways in which academics structure their work and formal ways of communicating what they have to say. Writing essays is not simply a hoop for students to jump through. The vast majority of instructors and professors also write essays at a professional level, and they do not ask of their students anything less than the standard that is asked of them. Where too many students go wrong in writing their essays is in either failing to plan ahead (not giving sufficient, care, thought, or time to the process) or in not understanding the expectations of essay writing. Of these expectations, appropriate and effective essay structure is critical. Students often lose valuable marks by failing to structure their essays clearly and concisely to make the best of their ideas. So how do you structure academic writing? What is the best essay structure format? First, consider what an essay is. What is it supposed to do? At its core an essay is simply an argument. Now, by argument we don’t mean a slanging match between two angry people. Rather, we are talking about a formal argument. An idea or a claim, which is supported by logic and/or evidence. Imagine the following scenario: you feel the time has come to protect biodiversity in your area. Imagine yourself making out a program and requesting the authorities to accept it. Almost automatically, your mind formulates a rhetorical structure. There are effective and ineffective ways of asking of making such a request. The effective strategy will have a logic and an order. You will firstly claim that the time is high for the biodiversity to be protected. And you will give evidence to support why you think so. And so on. And you would probably wrap up your discussion with an overview of why protecting the biodiversity is important. And that is fundamentally an essay. Every good essay has three basic parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING THE INTERDEPENDENCE OF URBANIZATION BIODIVERSITY AND Guidelines for reading DOE texts on urbanization and biodiversity Specializing in multidisciplinary approach to your university course you should keep in mind that patterns of urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services at the global scale are inextricably linked to the biophysical world, although these linkages are increasingly difficult to clearly identify. The matter is in the fact that cities both impact and depend upon the biophysical environment. Urbanization is both the cause of societal or environmental problems and the solution to many problems, depending on the time-scale and scope of the analysis. Urbanization impacts biodiversity and ecosystem services both directly and indirectly. Direct impacts primarily consist of habitat loss and degradation, altered disturbance regimes, modified soils and other physical transformations caused by the expansion of urban areas. Indirect impacts include changes in water and nutrient availability, increases in abiotic stressors such as air pollution, increases in competition from non-native species, and changes in herbivory and predation rates Text 14-2 EFFECTS OF URBANIZATION ON BIODIVERSITY (Abridged after R. McDonald, P. Marcotullio, B. Güneralp. Urbanization and Global Trends in Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Springerlink, 2013) Cities Both Impact and Depend on the Environment City growth and the urbanization process are linked with biophysical and ecological processes. The totality of these linkages is often too daunting to track down; therefore, researchers tend to adopt one of two primary modes of analysis to dissect the interaction between cities and the environment. One mode of analysis of urban/environment interactions is to focus on the impact of urban areas upon biodiversity or ecosystem services. These impacts can occur over a range of spatial scales. At a very local scale, the pattern of urban development determines how natural habitat is fragmented, which affects how native biodiversity is impacted and where invasive species become established. A second mode of analysis of urban/environment interactions is to study the dependence of urbanites on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Dependencies can occur over a range of scales, just like impacts. To be a true ecosystem service, a desirable ecosystem process has to occur near consumers of that service. The degree to which proximity is essential—the transportability of an ecosystem service—varies from service to service. Urban street trees, for instance, provide shade to urbanites over a scale of tens of meters. At a watershed scale, many cities depend on natural habitat to provide an adequate supply of clean water. At a global level, urbanites depend on the climate regulation services supplied by ecosystems. Urbanization as a Problem and a Solution Global urbanization has been an uneven process, both temporally and geographically. The increase in the global urban population began slowly. In 1800, around 3 % of humanity lived in cities, with an estimated 1.7 % of global population in cities of 100,000 or more and 2.4 % of global population in cities of 20,000 or more. As late as 1900, the share of the world’s population living within cities of these sizes remained less than 10 %. By 1950, however, estimates suggest that approximately 729 million people worldwide lived in all cities; this number corresponded to 29 % of the global population. Subsequently global urbanization increased rapidly. By 1960 there were approximately 998 million in the world’s cities, by 1985 there were 1.98 billion, and by 2010 there were 3.49 billion. This amounts to adding 67.5 million people to the urban population each year. The UN suggests that the numbers of people moving to cities annually will continue to increase until around 2030, when more than 72 million people are predicted to be added to cities annually. Thereafter the annual additions are expected to decline (for further discussion on population projections. In terms of geographical variability, urbanization has reached high levels in the developed world, both of which largely manifest in the temperate zone. Generally, cities in these Northern areas are now growing more slowly than those of the South and some are even contracting in terms of population. At the same time, urbanization is increasing in the developing world, much of which is located in the tropics and sub-tropics. In these locations, cities are absorbing large numbers of people. This viewpoint of cities as a source of environmental problems, however, often rests on a relatively simple scope of analysis. A simple equation for calculating such an impact is the socalled I = PAT equation, where Impact (e.g., tons of greenhouse gases emitted) equals the number of People times the Affluence (e.g., energy consumption per capita) times the Technology (e.g., tons of greenhouse gases emitted per unit energy). If total impact from an urban area is the scope of analysis, then in most cases larger cities will cause a larger impact on the environment, for the simple reason that the population is larger. By this logic, a city of zero population size would have zero environmental impact. However, the process of urbanization also influences both the Affluence and Technology terms in the I = PAT equation, in sometimes complex ways. Incomes tend to be greater in cities than in rural areas, and greater in bigger cities than in smaller cities, which can sometimes increase resource consumption. However, there are often efficiencies that are gained with dense settlement. Studies in the United States, for example, have pointed out that residents of cities consume less energy per-capita and therefore generate less greenhouse gas emissions per-capita. Similarly, urban residents in the United States eat less beef and pork than their rural counterparts. In the developing world, in contrast, those in cities consume more meat than their rural counterparts, which appears to be primarily due to the increase in income in urban households rather than changes in dietary preferences associated with living in a city. Urbanization is a multifaceted process, and it is very difficult to specify what would have happened to the environment in a society if urbanization did not occur. Urbanization is promoted by numerous factors, including: increased ease of communications and transport, economies of scale and agglomeration economies, increased personal contact among workers and entrepreneurs, and efficiency gains from the high population density in cities. As people move to cities, they leave the agricultural sector for employment in industry and services, thus substantially changing the economies of nations as they urbanize. Urbanization is also associated with changes in population structure and decreases in fertility. These dynamics bring substantial benefits for and changes to industries and society. Thus, from the perspective of the economic development and human well-being of a nation, urbanization is often an integral part of the solution. Global Urbanization and Biodiversity Biological diversity is an essential component of many invaluable ecosystem services for human material welfare and livelihoods. For example, many components of people’s homes are provided, regulated or supported by biodiversity, including food, the wood in the building, fresh water from taps and fuel in stoves. Nitrogen fixation is important for biological productivity, and only a few plants such as legumes can perform this service. Preserved forests close to coffee-plant flowers, provide reliable sources of pollinators, which have been estimated to improve coffee yields by 20 %. Biodiversity contributes to human security, resiliency, health and freedom of choices and actions. Moreover, biodiversity preservation is a goal in itself, as articulated in the Convention on Biological Diversity and many national-level laws (e.g., the Endangered Species Act in the United States). Despite these important contributions to society, biodiversity is declining. Researchers have identified a sixth great extinction event promoted by anthropogenic activities. Human actions are fundamentally and irreversibly changing the diversity of life on the planet. Rates of extinction continue to increase and the number of species threatened continue to grow. The Global Distribution of Biological Diversity Biodiversity can be examined a number of different ways. While species richness and endemism vary unevenly across the Earth’s surface, a number of broad trends have been observed. Species richness is generally higher in high productivity sites like tropical rain forests and lower in low productivity sites like arctic tundra, for unclear reasons. The pattern of distribution is called the latitudinal geographic gradient because the highest levels of biodiversity are found near the equator and they drop off as one moves towards the poles. This pattern holds true for major taxa (classes, orders and families) for microbes, plants and animals in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. The latitudinal gradient is superimposed on a number of other gradients including distance to coast, position within a peninsula, and topographic position. Species endemism is the number of species unique to one location and is a major concern to conservationists. Examples of endemic species include the Devil’s Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) from the United States, Australia’s koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) and many different species of cichlid fish found in Lakes Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi. Endemism is distributed very differently from species richness. While species richness is low on isolated islands, endemism is high in proportional terms, as the geographic isolation of biota leads to speciation that fills empty niches. Coastal areas are places with a high degree of marine and terrestrial endemism because of the high habitat diversity. Direct Impact of Urbanization on Biodiversity Cities are concentrated along coastlines and some islands as well as major river systems, which also happen to be areas of high species richness and endemism. Ecologists have explained this pattern by examining the correlation between human population density and productivity, while urban historians have focused on the importance of freshwater and marine trade routes for city formation. The most direct impact of cities on biodiversity is the change in land cover associated with urban growth. Urban growth is clearly a significant global driver of land-use conversion and deforestation. Urban areas occupy approximately 3 % of the Earth’s land surface, although the actual number varies significantly depending on the definition of urban and the spatial grain of analysis. The spatial correlation between urban growth and endemism means urban growth has already impacted biodiversity significantly analyzed the implications of urban areas circa 1995 for ecoregions, protected areas across the world, and rare species. The effect of urban areas is concentrated in certain localities. The majority of terrestrial ecoregions (comprising 62 % of the Earth’s land surface) are currently less than 1 % urbanized and will experience little change through 2030. However, around 10 % of terrestrial vertebrates are in ecoregions that are heavily impacted by urbanization, even though these ecoregions only represent 0.3 % of the Earth’s land surface. These ecoregions are concentrated along coasts and on islands, which are generally areas of high endemism. In addition, urban areas seem to have increased the threat to survival of certain vertebrate species, especially those having smaller ranges. Most of this threat is in middle and low-income countries, which raises questions about the institutional capacity to act against potential adverse effects of urban expansion on biodiversity. Different impacts will materialize at varying distances from urban areas and ecological mechanisms often link protected areas to surrounding lands. It is worth noting that some of these effects are positive such as recreational activities and logistical advantages provided by close proximity to ecosystem services provision areas within protected areas. A great proportion of the world’s terrestrial protected areas are also within 50 km of a city. Almost half of the case studies (47 %) in a meta-analysis on global urban expansion are found within 10 km of a terrestrial protected area. The average annual rate of urban land expansion of these cities from 1970 to 2000 is greater than 4.7 % and not statistically significantly different from growth rates of urban areas elsewhere. Thus, urban land expansion is as likely to take place near protected land as elsewhere, and proximity of an urban area to a protected area does not necessarily slow the rate of urban land conversion. In North America the amount of urban land in close proximity to PAs is the largest among all regions. The other two regions that have a high percentage of their populations that are urban, Western Europe and Eastern Europe, also had large amounts of urban land within close proximity of their respective PAs. Overall, 4 and 11 out of the 16 regions had 50 % or more of their urban land within 25 and 50 km of PAs, respectively. On the other hand, in almost all regions except Eastern Asia and Western Europe, the percentage of lands that were urban within the 10, 25, and 50 km-wide zones around the PAs was well below 2 % circa 2000. In the future however, urban growth patterns will change. With urban growth, urban land use will likely double although there is significant uncertainty in predicting how much urban population and urban area will increase. This trend is visible in predictions of urban population by major habitat in 2050. Urban population will increase in essentially all habitat types. There will be particularly noticeable increases in urban population in tropical moist forests, deserts and tropical grasslands. Note that in terms of urban population per habitat area, there will be significant increases in impact in mangroves, flooded grasslands, and temperate broadleaf forests. Also worth noting are impacts to tropical conifer forests, a unique habitat type found only in a relatively small area globally. Expansion of cities also fragments the remaining blocks of natural habitat. This increases the isolation of natural habitat patches, as the average distance between them increases. Increased isolation tends to reduce population and gene flow among patches, and may break a large regional population into several discrete subpopulations. Seasonal and intergenerational migration is also restricted. Highly mobile taxa like birds are generally less affected by isolation than less mobile taxa like amphibians, although some apparently mobile species avoid moving across urban land cover. Urbanization increases the number and extent of non-native invasive species by increasing the rate of introduction events and creating areas of disturbed habitat for non-native species to become established. There is a suite of “cosmopolitan” species, skilled generalists, that are present in most cities around the world. Meanwhile, urbanization often leads to the loss of “sensitive” species dependent on larger, more natural blocks of habitat. The net result is sometimes termed “biotic homogenization.” Species richness in cities may actually be higher than that of rural areas, depending on the richness of the suite of cosmopolitan species relative to that in natural habitat, but global species richness declines. The flora and fauna of the world’s cities have become more similar and homogeneous over time, at least relative to the diversity of species composition prior to urbanization. Indirect Effects of Urbanization on Biodiversity Cities may occupy a small percent of the global land area, but they contain the majority of the world’s population and are concentrated centers of activity. These activities end up shaping land-use over a far larger land area, and influence the decisions of landowners and the policy decisions of governments in ever widening geographic extents. The questions remain, however, how dense settlements interact with other human activities and what would happen if cities were removed from the equation. As mentioned previously, more specific policies focused on the process associated with urbanization may provide more valuable conservation tools than a general attack on cities. Three recent research findings that demonstrate our lack of knowledge on the exact role of urbanization and how examining interactions closely may help conservation efforts. First, international trade accounts for 30 % of all global species threats. However, there have been all too few studies that have examined the role of urbanization, trade and the environment. Obviously what is traded matters to the outcome of these relationships. How does, for example, the growing trade in electric bicycles to specific cities in the U.S. and Europe impact the environment? Has urbanization influenced production processes to lower environmental impact? Does the concentration of population and subsequent generation of “green” ideology have any impact on individual merchandise choice? In order to understand the role of urbanization in trade’s impact on biodiversity, more study is needed to identify not only the distances of materials travel, but also where are they coming from before arriving at urban centers. Second, researchers estimated that during this period, global materials use increased eight-fold to reach almost 60 billion tons (Gt) of materials per year. At the same time, the total population increased by four-fold. What is interesting is that is that over this century, materials use increased at a slower pace than the global economy, but faster than world population. Consequently, while material intensity (i.e., the amount of materials required per unit of GDP) declined, the materials use per capita doubled from 4.6 to 10.3 tons/cap/year. The role of technology and increasing wealth in these increases is clear. What is much less clear is the role of the growth of cities. During the past century the urban population increased approximately 18fold. What was the urban impact on materials consumption? On one hand, cities may have helped to increase the rate of consumption through infrastructure development. On the other hand, given that this infrastructure is shared by large numbers of people, urbanization could have slowed overall material consumption growth. That is, if populations were not densely organized, the levels of materials consumed may have been much larger. These questions suggest that cities and the urbanization process may have beneficial aspects that lower overall consumption levels. Finally, even when population size decreased in some locations, the number of households increased with subsequent increases in impacts. The process of urbanization is often associated with economic development, which is in turn associated with smaller household size, but teasing out causality here is difficult. The indirect processes by which urbanization affects biodiversity loss are unclear, but potentially quite significant. Moreover, in many analyses it is difficult to separate the effect of urbanization per se from other confounding processes, like economic development and changes in demographics. Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to produce an essay based on the two combined texts: Text 14-1 “What is biodiversity and where is it found?” and Text 14-2 “Effects of urbanization on biodiversity”. You are well aware that writing an essay is an activity in which you have to explains something to your readers. In your essay you should convince your readers that 1) human activities are accountable for the loss of biodiversity and 2) it is the multidisciplinary approach that can find ways to stop biodiversity decline. When you are writing an essay, every sentence and every paragraph is important. But there is something extra important about introductions: you want the introduction to be just right, almost perfect. You want to put your best self forward and create a great first impression. The second part of the essay is the body. This is the longest part of the essay. In general, a short essay will have at least three full paragraphs; a long essay considerably more. Each paragraph is a point that you want to make that relates to the topic, each reason you have for protecting the biodiversity should be a separate paragraph, and that paragraph is an elaboration on that claim. The last section of your essay is the conclusion. In general, this will also be a single paragraph in shorter essays, but can go on to two or three for slightly longer discussions. Every well-structured essay ends with a conclusion. Its purpose is to summarise the main points of your argument and, if appropriate, to draw a final decision or judgement about the issues you have been discussing. Sometimes, conclusions attempt to connect the essay to broader issues or areas of further study. It is important not to introduce any new ideas in the conclusion – it is simply a reminder of what your essay has already covered. Now sit down at your computer ad write your essay. UNIT 15. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO 21ST CENTURY BIOLOGY Guidelines for intensive reading of interdisciplinary DOE texts The biological sciences have long benefited from the intellectual and pragmatic input of ideas and techniques from other disciplines, including medicine, chemistry, engineering, and mathematics. “Interdisciplinarity in the Biological Sciences” discusses the synergies that have emerged from the integration of these disciplines into the biological sciences, and uses examples to strongly advocate for such approaches. The reach of biology extends well beyond the sciences and technology into interdisciplinary interactions within the social sciences, arts, and humanities. The definition of a "discipline" and discussions of the varieties of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary research have occupied much scholarly debate. Although there is not always agreement on these definitions, it is clear that areas of research are dynamic -- continually emerging, melding, and transforming. What is considered interdisciplinary today might be considered disciplinary tomorrow. As a working definition of interdisciplinary research, we refer you to the definition set forth in a US National Academies' report: "Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice." PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 15-1. 21ST CENTURY BIOLOGY: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH (Abridged after K. Osman’s et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. N102, 2013) 1. Definition of interdisciplinary approach The principal goal of interdisciplinary approach for Biology, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (BTEM) is to cultivate scientific inquiry that requires coordination of both knowledge and skills simultaneously like it is done, in general, for interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The dominant activity for BTEM is inquiry/discovery on the authentic problems. This is intended to enhance the students’ abilities to construct their own knowledge through the relevant hands-on and minds-on activities. The essence of Engineering is inventive problem solving: the integration of advanced ICT (information communication technologies) believed to be able to fulfill current Net Generation learning styles. Mathematics plays an important role as computational tools. The expected outcome of BTEM implementation is the inculcation of 21st century skills. Interdisciplinary approach can be defined as a knowledge view and curriculum approach that consciously applies methodology and language from more than one discipline to examine a central theme, issue, problem, topic, or experience. One of the typical strategy uses in the interdisciplinary approach is problem-centric, that connects knowledge from several disciplines to examine complicated real-life problems. Interdisciplinary approach is implemented with the idea that subject-specific learning is neither important nor relevant to young school leavers in the twenty-first century. The 21st century biology requires interdisciplinary approaches across different disciplines, such as engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry and mathematics to deal with higher level of complex problems, especially related to health, food, energy and environment which are becoming more dependent on other disciplines to collaborate in providing new applicants, new methods, new techniques and new tools. The new biologist of the twenty-first century is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines but a scientist with deep knowledge in one and a with working fluency in others. Teaching through this new interdisciplinary perspective requires new approaches, materials and pedagogies as well. Solving complex, interdisciplinary problems will require that students go far beyond their biology content knowledge only. They are required to understand what connections exist across disciplines and how to make those connections. 2. Students of the Net Generation Preparing future biologists without offering them the exposure and experience with engineering and technology, will fail to survive in the competitive environment. For this conceptual framework, the core knowledge is focused on the subject of biology. Application of Information and Communication Technology during teaching/learning processes is highlighted in the subject of technology. The skills of ICT include surfing internet for relevant information, usage of e-tools for communication purposes, application of tools provided by the Microsoft office (MS Words, MS Power point, MS Excel, etc.). Technology has been immersed as part of the students’ life with the integration of ICT in the teaching/learning science. Rapid advances in information technologies have changed the learning styles of many students of the Net Generation. These students have grown up in a world where technology is second nature to them. Online social networking and electronic-based resources are increasingly being used to enhance students’ understanding and interest in biology. ICT also encourages learning in a constructive context. The fragmented or separated teaching of biology and mathematics blocked the integration of both disciplines. Developing the connection between biology and mathematics is one of the most important ways to shift the paradigms of these two established science disciplines. The process of breaking the border between biology and mathematics should start as early as possible in the educational process, in order to combine both disciplines at graduate and postgraduate levels of study. Incorporation of mathematics into biology curricula is critical for developing quantitative process skills demanded in modern biology. Recent achievements in integration modern biology and technology have created a dramatically new opportunity for the application of mathematics to biology. The new generation of biologists will routinely use mathematical models and computational approaches for drawing hypotheses, doing design experiments, and analyzing results. Teaching students to become inventive problem solvers have long been goals of science education. However, methods to promote creative thinking in scientific problem solving, have not become as yet widely known or used in the science education. The essence of engineering is inventive problem. Recently, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TIPS) has already been established in engineering field expanding to nontechnical fields, like education. For BTEM, it is proposed to modify procedures of Unified Structured Inventive Thinking (USIT) as inventive tools to solve authentic problems. Thus, with the BTEM exposure, engineering inventive problem solving skills become the major element to incorporate in the students’ inquiry-discovery activities. 3. Inquiry-discovery strategies The dominant activity of BTEM is inquiry/discovery. BTEM is aimed at providing a framework for inquiry/discovery teaching, which emphasises the active discovery of biological knowledge by students. Thus, in this process the students are supposed to function as autonomous learners, and the teachers - as facilitators. The teacher scaffolds the students by frequently reminding them to reflect, collaborate, ask themselves questions, and justify their conclusions. Inquiry-discovery process occurs through development of cognitive, metacognitive, psychomotor and social skills. When the students carry out experiments, they apply different inquiry skills, such as asking question, raising a hypothesis, planning an experiment to test the hypothesis, accessing and analyzing data, making inferences, drawing conclusions, reporting and writing a research report. Students also apply metacognitive skills by engaging in reflective thinking throughout the learning stages. Students acquire psychomotor skills by manipulating with laboratory equipment and using computer. Inquiry process also promotes collaborative social skills. The main assumption is that inquiry skills develop best in the context of well-designed activities. BTEM highly emphasizes on self-directed hands-on and minds-on activities to help students construct understanding of knowledge by themselves. We do not need to teach students particular science content or concepts. There are five essential features of inquiry process: • Learners are engaged by scientifically oriented questions. • Learners give priority to evidence, which allows them to develop and evaluate explanations that address scientifically oriented questions. • Learners formulate explanations from evidence to address scientifically oriented questions. • Learners evaluate their explanations in light of alternative explanations, particularly those reflecting scientific understanding. • Learners communicate and justify their proposed explanations. 4. Constructivist theory Constructivist theory is the backbone that supports interdisciplinary approach of BTEM, especially when students need to incorporate their current and prior understanding while discovering new knowledge, continuously assimilating and accommodating the acquired knowledge. They need to reflect on their knowledge and experiences as well. The inquiry process can provide students with opportunities to explore and understand natural world by themselves. It also assists students’ in their development of prior knowledge and experiences. Research findings show that students who are involved in inventive activities are more comfortable solving new and unfamiliar problems. Inventive thinking comprises of the following life skills: • Adaptability and managing complexity. It is defined as a) the ability to modify one’s thinking, attitudes, or behaviors to be better suited to current or future environments; b) the ability to handle multiple goals, tasks, and input while understanding and adhering to constraints of time, resources, and systems (e.g. organizational, technological). • Self-direction. It is defined as the ability to set goals related to learning, plan for the achievement of those goals, independently manage time and effort, and independently assess the quality of learning and any products that result from the learning experience. • Curiosity. It is defined as one’s desire to know and inquire. • Creativity. It refers to the act of bringing something into existence that is genuinely new, original, and of value either personally (of significance only to the individual or organization) or culturally (adds significantly to a domain of culture as recognized by experts. • Risk taking. It includes willingness to make mistakes, advocate unconventional or unpopular positions, or tackle extremely challenging problems without obvious solutions, It enhances one’s personal growth, integrity, or accomplishments. • Higher-order thinking and sound reasoning. It includes the cognitive processes of analysis, comparison, inference and interpretation, evaluation, and synthesis applied to a range of academic domains and problem-solving contexts. Ask and answer overview questions about the research field, the subject matter, or the main purpose of the text. Identify most important points in the text, the essence or topic of the passage. The process of answering the detail questions may give you a clearer understanding of the main idea, topic, or purpose of the passage. The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the passage. Sample Questions What is the research field of the text? What is the subject matter and main topic of the passage? What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? What news is emphasized in the passage? Find in the text above answers to the questions? 1. Why do the research methods used to solve biological problems require a number of different types of approaches and the expertise of a variety of scientists? 2. Why is the interdisciplinary approach qualified as the only way we can further our biological knowledge? 3. Do you support the view that interdisciplinary approaches are required to answer all scientific questions? 4. What does 'interdisciplinary' study really mean? And why is it so desirable? 5. What is so beneficial about this type of study? 6. What is meant by a constructivist paradigm? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING A MULTI/INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR THE 21ST CENTURY Guidelines for reading DOE texts on multi/interdisciplinary approach The multidisciplinary approach to the 21st century biology allows the student to learn by making connections between ideas and concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. Students learning in this way are able to apply the knowledge gained in one discipline to another different discipline as a way to deepen the learning experience. The most effective approach to interdisciplinary study enables students to build their own interdisciplinary pathway by choosing courses which make sense to them. For example, it is not too difficult to find a theme which crosses over disciplinary boundaries in literature, art and history or science and mathematics. Studying topics thematically is one way to bring ideas together resulting in more meaningful learning. This can occur by allowing students to choose their own subjects and their learning is deepened when they reflect on the connections between what they are learning in different disciplines. One of the biggest barriers to achieving true interdisciplinary study in education environments is the necessity for collaboration of educators. This can be difficult to achieve, but not impossible. Interdisciplinary teaching and learning is maximized when professionals from different disciplines work together to serve a common purpose and to help students make the connections between different disciplines or subject areas. Such interaction is in support of the constructivist paradigm which allows for new knowledge construction and a deeper understanding of ideas than disciplinary study. Text 15-2. A NEW BIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (Abridged after a report of US National Academy of Sciences “A New Biology for the 21st Century: Ensuring the United States Leads the Coming Biology Revolution”, 2009) The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Department of Energy (DOE) asked the National Research Council’s Board on Life Sciences to convene a committee to examine the current state of biological research in the United States and recommend how best to capitalize on recent technological and scientific advances that have allowed biologists to integrate biological research findings, collect and interpret vastly increased amounts of data, and predict the behavior of complex biological systems. A Vision of the Future Imagine a world:  where there is abundant, healthful food for everyone  where the environment is resilient and flourishing  where there is sustainable, clean energy  where good health is the norm Each of these goals is a daunting challenge. Furthermore, none can be attained independently of the others––we want to grow more food without using more energy or harming natural environments, and we want new sources of energy that do not contribute to global warming or have adverse health effects. The problems raised by these fundamental biological and environmental questions are interdependent and “solutions” that work at cross purposes will not in fact be solutions. Fortunately, advances in the life sciences have the potential to contribute innovative and mutually reinforcing solutions to reach all of these goals and, at the same time, serve as the basis for new industries that will anchor the economies of the future. Here are some of the many different ways in which the life sciences could contribute to meeting these challenges:  A wide variety of plants with faster maturation, drought tolerance, and disease resistance could contribute to a sustainable increase in local food production.  Food crops could be engineered for higher nutritional value, including higher concentrations of vitamins and healthier oils.  Critical habitats could be monitored by arrays of remote sensors, enabling early detection of habitat damage and providing feedback on the progress of restoration efforts.  Water supplies and other natural resources could be monitored and managed using biosensors and other biologically based processes.  Biological systems could remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus helping to maintain a stable climate; the carbon they capture could be used to create biologically based materials for construction and manufacturing.  Biological sources could contribute at least 20 percent of the fuel for transportation through a 10-fold increase in biofuel production.  Bio-inspired approaches to producing hydrogen could provide another affordable and sustainable source of fuel.  Biologically inspired approaches to capturing solar energy could increase the efficiency and lower the cost of photovoltaic technology.  Manufactured products could increasingly be made from renewable resources and be either recyclable or biodegradable.  Industrial manufacturing processes could be designed to produce zero waste through a combination of biological treatment of byproducts and efficient recycling of water and other manufacturing inputs.  Greater understanding of what it means to be healthy could lead to health care focused on maintaining health rather than reacting to illness.  Individualized risk profiles and early detection could make it possible to provide each person with the right care at the right time. Integration of the biological sciences with physical and computational sciences, mathematics, and engineering promises to build a wider biological enterprise with the scope and expertise to address a broad range of scientific and societal problems. Who is the new biologist? All biologists think across levels of biological complexity—molecular biologists consider the impact of genetic regulatory pathways on the health of organisms, ecologists consider the impact of environmental change on the gene pool of an ecosystem, and neuroscientists link cellto-cell communication with behavior. Rare is the biologist who does not use computational tools to analyze data, or rely on large-scale shared facilities for some experiments. And an increasing fraction of biologists collaborate closely with physical scientists, computational scientists or engineers. There is no stark division between ‘old’ biologists and ‘new’ biologists, but rather that there is a continuum from more reductionist, focused research within particular subdisciplines of biology to more problem-focused, collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Each is important, and many, if not most, biologists have feet in both worlds. So if many biologists already practice the New Biology at some level, what is the role of this report? Its role is to bring attention to the remarkable depth and scope of the emerging New Biology that is as yet poorly recognized, inadequately supported, and delivering only a fraction of its potential. Consider the newly hired assistant professor in the immunology department of a medical school who wants to collaborate with an ecologist who studies the impact of changing land use patterns on natural ecosystems and an engineer who models complex networks. Together they hope to develop a biosensor to detect emerging infectious diseases. Where will this group apply for funding? How will that assistant professor’s tenure committee react to a series of publications in engineering and ecology journals? Or consider the physics professor who wants to develop an interdisciplinary course on the physics and chemistry of DNA replication with colleagues from the chemistry and molecular biology departments. Will any of these professors be given credit for contributing to the teaching needs of their own departments? Such a course would likely not count toward degree requirements in any of the three departments. And yet the students who took such a course would be well-prepared to work across disciplinary boundaries no matter which of the three sciences they decided to pursue in depth. Importantly, the New Biologist is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and basic “fluency” in several. One implication of this is that not all “New Biologists” are now, or will in the future be, biologists! The physicists who study how the laws of physics play out in the crowded and decidedly non-equilibrium environment of the cell, or the mathematicians who derive new equations to describe the complex network interactions that characterize living systems are New Biologists as well as being physicists or mathematicians. In fact, the New Biology includes any scientist, mathematician, or engineer striving to apply his or her expertise to the understanding and application of living systems. Summary The committee of 16 experts from the fields of biology, engineering and computational science undertook to delineate those scientific and technological advances and come to a consensus on how the U.S. might best capitalize on them. This report, authored by the Committee on a New Biology for the 21st Century, describes the committee’s work and conclusions. The committee concluded that biological research has indeed experienced extraordinary scientific and technological advances in recent years. In the chapter entitled “Why Now?” the committee describes the integration taking place within the field of biology, the increasingly fruitful collaboration of biologists with scientists and engineers from other disciplines, the technological advances that have allowed biologists to collect and make sense of ever more detailed observations at ever smaller time intervals, and the enormous and largely unanticipated payoffs of the Human Genome Project. Despite this potential, the challenge of advancing from identifying parts, to defining complex systems, to systems design, manipulation, and prediction is still well beyond current capabilities, and the barriers to advancement are similar at all levels from cells to ecosystems. Having delineated the advances, the committee set about reaching an agreement as to how the U.S. could best capitalize on them. The committee was invited to use the following series of questions to guide its discussions:  What fundamental biological questions are ready for major advances in understanding? What would be the practical result of answering those questions? How could answers to those questions lead to high impact applications in the near future?  How can a fundamental understanding of living systems reduce uncertainty about the future of life on earth, improve human health and welfare, and lead to the wise stewardship of our planet? Can the consequences of environmental, stochastic or genetic changes be understood in terms of the related properties of robustness and fragility inherent in all biological systems?  How can federal agencies more effectively leverage their investments in biological research and education to address complex problems across scales of analysis from basic to applied? In what areas would near term investment be most likely to lead to substantial long-term benefit and a strong, competitive advantage for the United States? Are there high-risk, high pay-off areas that deserve serious consideration for seed funding?  Are new funding mechanisms needed to encourage and support cross-cutting, interdisciplinary or applied biology research?  What are the major impediments to achieving a newly integrated biology?    What are the implications of a newly integrated biology for infrastructural needs? How should infrastructural priorities be identified and planned for? What are the implications for the life sciences research culture of a newly integrated approach to biology? How can physicists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers be encouraged to help build a wider biological enterprise with the scope and expertise to address a broad range of scientific and societal problems?  Are changes needed in biology education—to ensure that biology majors are equipped to work across traditional subdisciplinary boundaries, to provide biology curricula that equip physical scientists and engineers to take advantage of advances in biological science, and to provide nonscientists with a level of biological understanding that gives them an informed voice regarding relevant policy proposals? Are alternative degree programs needed or can biology departments be organized to attract and train students able to work comfortably across disciplinary boundaries? The committee found that the third bullet, “How can federal agencies more effectively leverage their investments in biological research and education to address complex problems across scales of analysis from basic to applied? In what areas would near term investment be most likely to lead to substantial long-term benefit and a strong, competitive advantage for the United States?” provided a compelling platform from which to consider each of the questions, and a robust framework upon which to organize its conclusions. Thus, the committee’s overarching recommendation is that the most effective leveraging of investments would come from a coordinated, interagency effort to encourage the emergence of a New Biology approach that would enunciate and address broad and challenging societal problems. The committee focused on examples of opportunities that cannot be addressed by any one subdiscipline or agency—opportunities that require integration across biology and with other sciences and engineering, and that are difficult to capitalize on within traditional institutional and funding structures. Fully realizing these opportunities will require the enabling of an integrated approach to biological research, an approach the committee calls the New Biology. The essence of the New Biology, as defined by the committee, is integration—reintegration of the many sub-disciplines of biology, and the integration into biology of physicists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to create a research community with the capacity to tackle a broad range of scientific and societal problems. Integrating knowledge from many disciplines will permit deeper understanding of biological systems, which will both lead to biology-based solutions to societal problems and also feedback to enrich the individual scientific disciplines that contribute new insights. The New Biology is not intended to replace the research that is going on now; that research, much of it fundamental and curiositydriven by individual scientists, is the foundation on which the New Biology rests and on which it will continue to rely. Instead, the New Biology represents an additional, complementary approach to biological research. Purposefully organized around problem-solving, this approach marshals the basic research to advance fundamental understanding, brings together researchers with different expertise, develops the technologies required for the task and coordinates efforts to ensure that gaps are filled, problems solved, and resources brought to bear at the right time. Combining the strengths of different communities does not necessarily mean bringing these experts into the same facility to work on one large project—indeed, advanced communication and informatics infrastructures make it easier than ever to assemble virtual collaborations at different scales. The New Biology approach would aim to attract the best minds from across the scientific landscape to particular problems, ensure that innovations and advances are swiftly communicated, and provide the tools and technologies needed to succeed. The committee expects that such efforts would include projects at different scales, from individual laboratories, to collaborations involving many participants, to consortia involving multiple institutions and types of research. Many scientists in the United States are already practicing the integrated and interdisciplinary approach to biology that the committee has called the New Biology. The New Biology is indeed already emerging, but it is as yet poorly recognized, inadequately supported, and delivering only a fraction of its potential. The committee concludes that the most effective way to speed the emergence of the New Biology is to challenge the scientific community to discover solutions to major societal problems. In the chapter entitled “How the New Biology Can Address Societal Challenges” the committee describes four broad challenges, in food, environment, energy and health that could be tackled by the New Biology. These challenges represent both the mechanism for accelerating the emergence of a New Biology and its first fruits. The committee chose to focus on these four areas of societal need because the benefits of achieving these goals would be large, progress would be assessable, and both the scientific community and the public would find such goals inspirational. Each challenge will require technological and conceptual advances that are not now at hand, across a disciplinary spectrum that is not now encompassed by the field. Achieving these goals will demand, in each case, transformative advances. It can be argued, however, that other challenges could serve the same purpose. Large-scale efforts to understand how the first cell came to be, how the human brain works, or how living organisms affect the cycling of carbon in the ocean could also drive the development of the New Biology and of the technologies and sciences necessary to advance the entire field. In the committee’s view, one of the most exciting aspects of the New Biology Initiative is that success in achieving the four goals chosen here as examples will propel advances in fundamental understanding throughout the life sciences. Because biological systems have so many fundamental similarities, the same technologies and sciences developed to address these four challenges will expand the capabilities of all biologists. 1. Generate food plants to adapt and grow sustainably in changing environments The New Biology could deliver a dramatically more efficient approach to developing plant varieties that can be grown sustainably under local conditions. The result of this focused and integrated effort will be a body of knowledge, new tools, technologies, and approaches that will make it possible to adapt all sorts of crop plants for efficient production under different conditions, a critical contribution toward making it possible to feed people around the world with abundant, healthful food, adapted to grow efficiently in many different and ever-changing local environments. 2. Understand and sustain ecosystem function and biodiversity in the face of rapid change Fundamental advances in knowledge and a new generation of tools and technologies are needed to understand how ecosystems function, measure ecosystem services, allow restoration of damaged ecosystems, and minimize harmful impacts of human activities and climate change. What is needed is the New Biology, combining the knowledge base of ecology with those of organismal biology, evolutionary and comparative biology, climatology, hydrology, soil science, and environmental, civil, and systems engineering, through the unifying languages of mathematics, modeling, and computational science. This integration has the potential to generate breakthroughs in our ability to monitor ecosystem function, identify ecosystems at risk, and develop effective interventions to protect and restore ecosystem function. 3. Expand sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels Making efficient use of plant materials—biomass—to make biofuels is a systems challenge, and this is another example of an area where the New Biology can make a critical contribution. At its simplest, the system consists of a plant that serves as the source of cellulose and an industrial process that turns the cellulose into a useful product. There are many points in the system that can be optimized. The New Biology offers the possibility of advancing the fundamental knowledge, tools, and technology needed to optimize the system by tackling the challenge in a comprehensive way. 4. Understand individual health The goal of a New Biology approach to health is to make it possible to monitor each individual’s health and treat any malfunction in a manner that is tailored to that individual. In other words, the goal is to provide individually predictive surveillance and care. Between the starting point of an individual’s genome sequence and the endpoint of that individual’s health is a web of interacting networks of staggering complexity. The New Biology can accelerate fundamental understanding of the systems that underlie health and the development of the tools and technologies that will in turn lead to more efficient approaches to developing therapeutics and enabling individualized, predictive medicine. Finally, in the chapter entitled “Putting the New Biology to Work,” the committee proposes that a national initiative dedicated to addressing challenges like those described for the areas of food, the environment, energy, and health would provide a framework whereby the U.S. could best capitalize on recent scientific and technological advances. The committee recommends setting big goals and then letting the problems drive the science. It contends that inter-agency collaboration will be essential and that information technologies will be of central importance. Finally, the committee discusses new approaches to education that could speed the emergence of the New Biology, and provides examples of how a national initiative could spur the implementation of those new approaches. The committee does not provide a detailed plan for implementation of such a national initiative, which would depend strongly on where administrative responsibility for the initiative is placed. Should the concept of an initiative be adopted, the next step would be careful development of strategic visions for the programs and a tactical plan with goals. It would be necessary to identify imaginative leaders, carefully map the route from ‘grand visions’ to specific programs, and develop ambitious, but measurable milestones, ensuring that each step involves activities that result in new knowledge and facilitates the smooth integration of cooperative interdisciplinary research into the traditional research culture. A New Biology Initiative would represent a daring addition to the nation’s research portfolio, but the potential benefits are remarkable and far-reaching: a life sciences research community engaged in the full spectrum of knowledge discovery and its application; new biobased industries; and most importantly, innovative means to produce food and biofuels sustainably, monitor and restore ecosystems and improve human health. To that end, the committee provides the following findings and recommendations: Finding 1  The United States and the world face serious societal challenges in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health. Innovations in biology can lead to sustainable solutions for all of these challenges. Solutions in all four areas will be driven by advances in fundamental understanding of basic biological processes.  For each of these challenges, solutions are within reach, based on building the capacity to understand, predict, and influence the responses and capabilities of complex biological systems. There is broad support across the scientific community for pursuing interdisciplinary research, but opportunities to do so are constrained by institutional barriers and available resources.  Approaches that integrate a wide range of scientific disciplines, and draw on the strengths and resources of universities, federal agencies, and the private sector will accelerate progress toward making this potential a reality. The best way for the United States to capitalize on this scientific and technological opportunity is to add to its current research portfolio a New Biology effort that will accelerate understanding of complex biological systems, driving rapid progress in meeting societal challenges and advancing fundamental knowledge. Recommendation 1 The committee recommends a national initiative to accelerate the emergence and growth of the New Biology to achieve solutions to societal challenges in food, energy, environment, and health. Finding 2  For its success, the New Biology will require the creative drive and deep knowledge base of individual scientists from across biology and many other disciplines including physical, computational and geosciences, mathematics, and engineering. The New Biology offers the potential to address questions at a scale and with a focus that cannot be undertaken by any single scientific community, agency or sector.  Providing a framework for different communities to work together will lead to synergies and new approaches that no single community could have achieved alone. A broad array of programs to identify, support, and facilitate biology research exists in the federal government but value is being lost by not integrating these efforts.  Interagency insight and oversight is critical to support the emergence and growth of the New Biology Initiative. Interagency leadership will be needed to oversee and coordinate the implementation of the initiative, evaluate its progress, establish necessary working subgroups, maintain communication, guard against redundancy, and identify gaps and opportunities for leveraging results across projects. Recommendation 2: The committee recommends that the national New Biology Initiative be an interagency effort, that it have a timeline of at least 10 years, and that its funding be in addition to current research budgets. Finding 3  Information is the fundamental currency of the New Biology. Solutions to the challenges of standardization, exchange, storage, security, analysis, and visualization of biological information will multiply the value of the research currently being supported across the federal government.  Biological data are extraordinarily heterogeneous and interrelating various bodies of data is currently precluded by the lack of the necessary information infrastructure. It is critical that all researchers be able to share and access each others’ information in a common or fully interactive format. The productivity of biological research will increasingly depend on longterm, predictable support for a high-performance information infrastructure. Recommendation 3 The committee recommends that, within the national New Biology Initiative, priority be given to the development of the information technologies and sciences that will be critical to the success of the New Biology. Finding 4  Investment in education is essential if the new biology is to reach its full potential in meeting the core challenges of the 21st century.  The New Biology Initiative provides an opportunity to attract students to science who want to solve real-world problems. The New Biologist is not a scientist who knows a little bit about all disciplines, but a scientist with deep knowledge in one discipline and a “working fluency” in several.  Highly developed quantitative skills will be increasingly important. Development and implementation of genuinely interdisciplinary undergraduate courses and curricula will both prepare students for careers as New Biology researchers and educate a new generation of science teachers well versed in New Biology approaches.  Graduate training programs that include opportunities for interdisciplinary work are essential. Programs to support faculty in developing new curricula will have a multiplying effect. Recommendation 4 The committee recommends that the New Biology Initiative devote resources to programs that support the creation and implementation of interdisciplinary curricula, graduate training programs, and educator training needed to create and support New Biologists. Instruction: Write a 2-page precis of this text To remind you what a precis is: It is a summary, which gets its name from the French language. It literally means, ‘cut brief’ or ‘precise’. It is a concise synopsis of a published work, like scholarly article or dissertation. If you are asked to define précis, you can call it a summary of the text but not a paraphrased text. When you sum up the ideas of certain work, it can be called précis. Do note that it is different from paraphrasing because there is no need for mentioning all details discussed in a piece of writing. Précis explains the core of the text and has a structure. The précis format will help you to understand the structure of the text. It is an objective view or you can call it a brief summing up of ideas. It is not a critical analysis, which requires you to examine contents and ideas expressed in the article. It does not demand you to write your personal opinion. Only essential points should be covered. When you are writing a precis, you must make it short, precise and one must stick to the theme. The steps of writing a precis can be generally categorized as those involving careful examination of the source (with some potential note-taking) , outlining a structure, and writing down the precis itself. Writing a precis is the process of reading through/ analyzing a literary work and extracting the main points, so as to assemble a brief summary of the mentioned work. Précis writing is not as easy as you might think! You have to keep certain points in your mind before you start to jot it down. How to write a precis? Here are some tips for you to write it!  Read the article carefully and highlight or mark the main ideas.  Try to reflect on what author is trying to communicate through the text.  Take a close look at evidence that the author has used.  You would need to restate thesis given by the author in your own words. Do note that it should be precise and on-point.  You need to write only one or two sentences for each of the section. It would be a summary of each section but not in too many words.  Now you need to re-read article and check whether it is in sync with your summary.  You must review write-up and confirm whether you have covered the main points or not. Always use a logical structure.  Check the text for correctness and clarity. Do a grammar check before submitting it to the professor. When citing a precis, the author's name and article title - both pertaining to the original article would have to be mentioned. UNIT 16. INTERNATIONAL TOURISM: A GLOBAL FORCE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT Guidelines for intensive reading of interdisciplinary DOE texts Travel is fun. It is a fantastic adventure. More than that, however, travel can enrich your life in numerous ways. Heading out into the wild, taking to the open road or embarking on a journey to another country is so much more than just a good time. The world contains a rich array of people and cultures. Exploring a new country exposes you to another set of cultural traditions. Through gaining new understandings about people whose lives are different from your own, you might develop an appreciation for the diversity that exists even in your own city. If you have always wanted to learn a new language, planning and taking a trip to a foreign country provides you a great reason to start! Another benefit that comes from journeying to new lands is the opportunity to try an entirely different cuisine than what you serve at your own dinner table. Immersing yourself in a new place allows you the opportunity to learn more about a wide variety of topics, from history to geography to cultural practices to economics. Learning by doing increases people’s understanding of new information. You can learn more from the experiences of travel than you learn from reading a book on any relevant subject. Discovering new places can spark your creative side. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 16-1. THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL TOURISM (Abridged after H. H. Makhlouf’s The Multi-Dimensional Impact Of International Tourism // International Business & Economics Research Journal. February 2012 Volume 11, Number 2) 1. WHAT IS TOURISM? The term “tourism” implies different things to different people. WTO (1995) defines it from a broad perspective as the “activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business or other purposes”. Another two-part definition refers to it in the first part as “the processes, activities, and outcomes arising from the relationships and the interactions among tourists, tourism suppliers, host governments, host communities, and surrounding environments that are involved in the interacting and hosting of visitors”. The second part describes it as “the industry of travel, hotels, transportation, and all other components that serve the needs of travelers”. This definition explains what tourism is all about from two different perspectives, but combined they complement each other. Each of the varying definitions of tourism reflects “specific requirements and circumstances”, particularly when one takes into account that this industry is fragmented and composed of many diverse businesses that are not exclusively dedicated to serving the needs of international tourists. Equally challenging to arriving at a universally acceptable definition of tourism is finding a commonly accepted explanation of who constitutes an international tourist. Based on its definition of tourism, WTO (1995) defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business, and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited” (P 14). Excluded from the definition of a tourist, therefore, is an individual who travels to other locations for employment purposes. From the perspectives of international tourism, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines international tourists as “persons visiting (a) country for less than one year, specifically for purposes of recreation or holiday, medical care, religious observances, family affairs, participation in international sports and cultural events, conferences, and other meetings”. This definition not only describes the type of travelers who should be classified as international tourists for statistical purposes, but also the different types or forms of international tourism. A UN publication further contributes to our understanding of who should be classified as international tourists by pointing to those who should not be counted as such. The groups to be excluded include foreign students, crew members of foreign ships and aircrafts, travelers who stay in a given country for less than one day (like international excursionists), persons in transit to other countries, and employees of international organizations or foreign embassies. Tourism (has become) a key foreign exchange earner for 83 percent of developing countries and the leading export earner for one-third of the world’s poorest countries. Despite this trend, international tourism, as an industry, is far below its potential in many developing countries in terms of the dollars earned. Hence, there is room for growth with more investment in the infrastructure and tourism-related businesses and more ambitious tourism management and marketing strategies. Referring to the importance of the strategic leadership role of destination country governments, it can be noted that tourism cannot grow into a thriving sector…without constructive leadership from the national government. Too many countries fail to reap the rewards of tourism because of poor planning, poorly thought out strategies, and fragmented policies. 2. TOURISM IN THE WORLD ECONOMY Driven by a relatively strong global economy, a growing middle class in emerging economies, technological advances, new business models, affordable travel costs and visa facilitation, international tourist arrivals grew 5% in 2018 to reach the 1.4 billion mark. This figure was reached two years ahead of UNWTO forecast. At the same time, export earnings generated by tourism have grown to USD 1.7 trillion. 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals were recorded in 2019, globally. A 4% increase on the previous year, which is also forecast for 2020, confirming tourism as a leading and resilient economic sector, especially in view of current uncertainties. This makes the sector a true global force for economic growth and development, driving the creation of more and better jobs and serving as catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship. In short, tourism is helping build better lives for millions of individuals and transforming whole communities. Growth in international tourist arrivals and receipts continues to outpace the world economy and both emerging and advanced economies are benefiting from rising tourism income. For the seventh year in a row, tourism exports grew faster than merchandise exports, reducing trade deficits in many countries. With such growth comes more responsibility in ensuring effective destination management that minimizes any adverse effect of tourism. Managing tourism in a sustainable manner for the benefit of all is more critical than ever. We need to grow more in value rather than just in volume. Digitalization, innovation, greater accessibility and societal changes are expected to continue shaping our sector. Both destinations and companies will need to adapt to remain competitive, while at the same time embracing tourism as a means of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building a better future for all. Most countries – be they developed or developing, rich or poor, and large or small – compete for a larger share of the international tourism dollars. They capitalize on their cultural heritage, historic landmarks, rich wildlife, ancient monuments, scenic beauty, and other distinctive attractions and invest in world class resorts, hotels, and entertainment facilities to increase their appeal to the greatest numbers and different types of international travelers. However, success in international tourism is not without a cost. Aside from the investment needed for developing, upgrading, and maintaining the tourism infrastructure, there are environmental and social costs that need to be measured and carefully managed. Although many economists point to the revenues that are earned by destination countries from international tourism, some observers in developing countries show concern about the creation of a state of economic, political and cultural dependency that may have long-term negative consequences. At present, international tourism occupies fourth place among the world’s leading industries, the other three being energy, chemicals, and automotives. In 2010, the number of international tourists reached about 940 million, compared to a mere 25 million in 1950. The annual revenue from this industry has also been growing at an annual rate ranging from 4 to 7 percent, and reaching $919 billion in 2010, according to the UN World Tourist Organization (WTO). As the number of tourists and the revenues from international tourism grew, the number of favored destination countries had also increased, with the developing and emergent economies attracting increasingly larger numbers of tourists. Tourism has a multi-faceted impact on both the countries of origin and the countries of destination. Such an impact is economic, cultural, environmental, social, educational, and political. As mentioned earlier, international tourism was responsible for the direct infusion of $919 billion into the economies of destination countries in 2010, with a potential increase over the next decade that surpasses projections for many other industries. Since most countries in the world are both countries of origin and destination, they share the benefits and costs of international tourism. Therefore, they have a common interest in providing tourists with needed support, legal protection, and services. 3. ECONOMIC BENEFITS Seen as an invisible export, international tourism is equated with merchandize and service exports in contributing to the destination countries’ revenues, employment base, business profits, and economic revitalization in local communities in touristic areas. Despite such dependence on this economic sector, such a group of tourism-oriented economies are not the largest recipients of tourism dollars. This distinction is earned by larger countries to which international tourism revenues are small relative to the sizes of their economies and total export earnings The returns on the destination countries’ investment in their tourism sectors are usually measured in terms of their net contribution to trade and payment balances; job creation; profits realized by tourism connected businesses, such as hotels, restaurants, local transportation companies, resorts, and entertainment establishments; and national and local governments’ tax revenues. Those countries also calculate the multiplier effect of expenditures made by tourists when they buy locally-made products and services. Tourist spending multiplies as it passes through various sections of the economy. Tourist expenditures not only support the tourist industry directly, but also help indirectly to support many other industries. In this way, money spent by tourists is actually used several times and spreads into various sectors of the economy. This means that every time money passes from one hand or one business to the next, it acts as a stimulus, thus multiplying the impact and value of tourist expenditures. The multiplier is also seen in increased employment beyond the tourism sector in such industries as furniture, construction, food and beverage production, souvenirs and gifts, handicrafts, and clothing. Another indirect benefit that has a broader impact on residents at destination countries comes with the building of a modern tourism infrastructure from improved road networks and airports to museums, amusement parks, health care facilities and world class hotels and resorts that have a positive impact on the quality of life in local communities. Such infrastructural facilities are not reserved for the exclusive use of foreign visitors and can be economically, socially, and culturally enriching for local residents. 4. THE DANGER OF ECONOMIC DEPENDENCY As stated earlier, tourism is the fourth largest industry in the word. It is responsible for 10 percent of the world’s income and about the same percentage of jobs. However, the level of dependency on this industry in different countries and regions is not the same. Smaller countries, like the Bahamas that have emphasized this industry and invested heavily in it, find themselves economically too dependent on it and largely defenseless against the negative external developments like global recessions that affect the flow of tourists. For the Bahamas - an extreme example of dependency - international tourism accounts for 60 percent of the gross national product and about 50 percent of employment. As a result, the recession that began in the United States in the second half of 2008, spread to other countries and resulted in an overall 4 percent drop in global tourism revenues, and the number of tourists visiting the Bahamas dropped by 112, 000, which is a significant number for such a small country. Such a reduction in the number of tourists resulted in more than a drop in revenues and tourism-related jobs. It meant temporary delay in re-paying the debt incurred to build and continue to modernize the tourism infrastructure and a loss to foreign investors (such as international hotels) in such an important sector. As it can be observed about the Caribbean islands, in general, building hotels, resorts, airports, roads, and other modern facilities that would attract international tourists required largescale borrowing and the investment of multinational hotels and financial institutions. Two- thirds of the hotel rooms in that region are foreign owned and the tour companies that arrange visitors’ activities are often foreign owned. The conclusion to be drawn from the Caribbean islands’ experience is that the smaller and the less diversified the economies of destination countries, the greater their dependence on tourism revenues and tourism-related jobs and the more economically vulnerable they would become as a result of uncontrollable external forces and trends. It addition, dependence on foreign investment in tourism reduces the net benefits realized due to “leakages”, such as the profits repatriated by international hotels and the payments made for tourism-related imports. 5. SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPACT International tourism makes possible the interaction of people from different cultures in a relaxed, friendly, and non-confrontational environment. As a result, tourists would leave the host country with a greater understanding of its culture, history, and way of life that may help in erasing some of the negative stereotypes that are based more on falsehoods than realities. Similarly, the host society would have a more realistic view of the differences and similarities among people with different cultural backgrounds. This could leave us with the conclusion that the cultural impact of international tourism could be quite positive, at least in terms of global people-to-people relations. Some critics of international tourism in smaller and developing countries, however, warn not only of the development of a state of economic dependency, but also of the emergence of both cultural and political dependencies that limit those countries’ policy options and cloud their individuality and cultural identity. Fears are expressed that tourism could eventually lead to, or at least contribute to, the destruction of indigenous cultures in countries that become too dependent on it, and a significant percentage of whose citizens become too exposed to foreign cultures and moral values. Indigenous cultures may be viewed as backward or less modern, particularly by individuals and groups whose livelihoods are tied to the tourism industry, much to the disappointment of cultural purists in those societies. Exposure to many foreign cultures is sometimes blamed for making tourism industry employees too pluralistic in their outlook and culturally neutral. The outcome could be socio-cultural polarization and conflict between the traditionalists who resent change in indigenous cultures and modernists who see the merits of change. 6. ROLE OF DESTINATION COUNTRY GOVERNMENTS Governments of destination countries have a major role to play in the development, management, and promotion of international tourism. They take responsibility for developing, modernizing and managing the tourism infrastructure, such as airports, roads, and national parks, and establishing the regulatory systems that prevent uncontrollable growth that may damage the environment, historic sites and monuments. In addition, governments are supposed to act to make it possible for tourists to leave the destination countries with favorable opinions by planning to avoid the bottlenecks that disrupt the tourists’ plans and schedules. For example, if airports, air flights, or roads are too inadequate to meet tourist demand, those affected would be stranded and may never consider repeat visits to such a destination. Governments also have a primary responsibility in ensuring fair treatment of tourists as well as protecting their and their property’s safety. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly recognized a code of ethics developed by the World Tourism Organization that urged equal and ethical treatment of international tourists. Article 1, paragraph 4 of those codes states that: It is the task of the public authorities to provide protection for tourists and visitors and their belongings. They must pay particular attention to the safety of foreign tourists owing to the particular vulnerability they may have. They should facilitate the introduction of specific means of information, prevention, security, insurance and assistance consistent with their needs. Any attacks, assault, kidnappings or threats against tourists or workers in the tourism industry, as well as the willful destruction of tourism facilities or of elements of cultural or natural heritage, should be severely condemned and punished in accordance with their respective national laws. These codes have also emphasized respect for the host countries’ traditions and the protection of their national heritage, including bio-diversity and ecosystems in planning the tourism infrastructure. Furthermore, they refer to the responsibility of tourists to abide by the host countries’ laws and abstain from intentionally engaging in offensive conduct, including criminal acts that injure the local population or damage the local environment. 7. TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL TOURISM International tourism has been growing at rates ranging from 4 to 7 percent annually. It recovered before other industries after the great recession of 2008-2009. By 2020, the number of international tourists, which reached 940 million in 2010, is expected to rise to 1.6 billion by 2020, according to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2005, p.1). Among the changes in this industry that are likely to continue is the shift in desirable tourist destinations from traditional sites in Europe and America to the developing and emerging countries, such as China and other countries in East Asia and the Pacific. Due to the lead that traditional European destination countries have maintained since the emergence of international tourism, those sites would continue to have a major share of international arrivals despite the changes. Europe will maintain the highest share of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60 percent in 1995 to 46 percent in 2020” (UNWTO’s Tourism 2020 vision, p. 2). In addition to the geographic shifts in tourists’ destinations, there is a notable change in the type of tourism emphasized by new destination countries. Mauritius, for example, has developed the infrastructure needed for medical tourism - the type of tourism that was traditionally exclusively associated with Europe and North America. Other countries that have also achieved success in this type of tourism include Thailand, Brazil, Tunisia, and Morocco. Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world. It contributes to the destination countries’ gross national product, employment base, economic vigor, government tax revenues, and positive global image. However, it is an industry that is sensitive to negative external forces and events, such as global economic recessions and foreign policy disputes, as well as internal developments, such as civil wars, security issues, epidemics, and political instability. In the case of small destination countries, it may create a state of political, social and/or economic dependency that has the potential of limiting their public policy options and freedom of action in international forums. MAIN TOPIC AND SUBTOPICS, TEXT ORGANIZATION, EXPLICATION OF SPECIFIC INFORMATION Instruction: You will have to start with identifying the main idea, the main topic, or the main purpose of the text. Step 1. Survey the text. Make a list of passage headings, which will give you some clues to help you quickly understand what each part of the text is about. Step 2. Skimread each paragraph. Every paragraph deals with a specific aspect of the topic. Scan the text for key words Follow the three-step strategy to make finding key words easier. Step 1. Make sure you know what you are looking for. Step 2. Scan each paragraph for 5-10 key words. Do not read every word. Step 3. Select 5-10 key words for the whole text. Basing on paragraph 1 give a definition of tourism.  Basing on paragraph 2 explain why international tourism holds an important place in world economy.  Basing on paragraph 3 explain what the economic benefits of tourism are.  Basing on paragraph 4 explain what is meant by the danger of economic dependency.  Basing on paragraph 5 explain what socio-cultural impact international tourism has. Answer the following questions: What is the main topic of the text? What does the passage mainly discuss? What is the author's attitude toward international tourism? Do you think many Russian businesses are involved in international tourism? PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING INTERCONNECTION OF MIGRATION AND TOURISM Guidelines for reading DOE texts on migration and tourism Global Migration Indicators, 2018, reported that the number of international migrants was 254 million in 2017, i.e. 3.4% of the world population (IOM, 2018). According to the World Migration Report 2018 (IOM, 2017) the number of international migrants was around 244 million in 2015. By comparison, this number was 100 million in 1990, and 84 million in 1970. The share of international migrants in the world's population thus rose from 2.3% in 1970 to 3.3% in 2015. The largest share of migrants in 2015, 72% of them, is the working age population of 20 to 64 years. Out of the total number of international migrants, 62% of their international destinations have been found in Europe and Asia, followed by North America with 22%, Africa with 9%, Latin America and the Caribbean with 4%, and Oceania with 3%. According to UN (2015), the largest number of migrants originates from Asia, primarily India and China and South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan). Mexico is in second place, followed by numerous European countries. Significantly, it is important to emphasize that any restriction of migration hamper further economic growth. Two-thirds of US growth since 2011 is directly attributable to migration; in the UK, if the number of migrants remained constant since 1990, the economy would be at least 9 per cent smaller than it is now and in Germany, if immigration also remained constant since 1990, the net economic loss would be 6%. Text 16-2. MIGRATION AND TOURISM FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH (Abridged after Age of migration: a chance for responsible tourism and new tourism experience // Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, Vol. 5, 2019) INTRODUCTION It is evident that in the 21st century tourists and migrants have a potential role of economic growth drivers. They are a trigger of multiplicative economic activity and population flows are the cause and the consequence of economic growth. The fact is that while most countries are very eager to accept tourists, migrants have quite different treatment that entails many tensions. The time we live in is called The Age of Migration because migrations have gained increasing political significance over the past decades. The time we live in is also the time of globalization, nonetheless it cannot be the time of ethnically pure countries, nor should it be. Countries advocate for the free movement of capital, goods and services, and on the other hand, they are considering closing down the borders when it comes to immigrants. There is a certain amount of courage in today's time to take the position of recognizing the benefits of transnational immigration links. Based on the transnational paradigm of migration, it is necessary to recognize transnational migration as "inextricably linked to the changing conditions" of global capitalism and its accumulation processes. Bearing in mind the issue of sustainability, the only real issue of the 21st century, it is necessary to intensively rethink how to use migration movements in the best possible way and incorporate them into the real needs of developed countries. It should also be borne in mind that sustainability does not include just the environment but should also be seen in the context of community, culture and economics. Returning to tourism and reflecting on its responsible and then sustainable development, the exploitation of immigration potential is an exceptional opportunity for ensuring sustainable tourism development. It is well known that the immigrant labor force helps competitiveness and growth of tourism. Immigration workforce contributes to long-term growth by improving the human capital of the country and therefore its innovation, productivity and competitiveness in international markets. In addition, tourism can be a force for peace. Given this potential, tourism has the opportunity to help refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants and to contribute to the responsible tourism development through social and cultural inclusion. Taking into account both parallel phenomena, i.e. the importance of the development of an inclusive society that will encompass migrants as equal members of the community and the importance of responsible tourism development, the research question arises as to how to link these two issues. The purpose of this research is to identify best practices which can help in the development of responsible tourism as a cornerstone of sustainable tourism development which includes migrants in this development with a view to promote economic, cultural and social cohesion. The authors focus primarily on the European area and the problem in the form of a large number of refugees with which Europe is confronted. Immigration is considered one of the major determinants of European competitiveness. The main aim of the study is to identify potential linkages between tourism and migration and to point to the potential role that inclusion of migrants and refugees in tourist activities can play in the development of responsible tourism. 1. STATE-OF-THE-ART: CONNECTION BETWEEN TOURISM AND MIGRATION ¶ It is possible to distinguish two types of mobility: long-term migration and short-term tourist movement. Short-term tourist movements are a complement to long-term migration; they are a form of territorial movement that does not represent a permanent change of habitual residence. Therefore, it is clear that tourism is an integral part of the migration. Today we may testify to new forms of mobility such as retirement migration or mobility in search of a better lifestyle. The boundary between tourism and migration becomes unclear because some people travel as tourist in pursuit for potential migration destination. However, research directed towards tourism and migration are developed independently of each other. It should also be stressed that, from all population trends, tourism is attracting at least academic attention. Therefore, it is not surprising that at the beginning of the 21st century, scientific considerations of the connection of tourism and migration in globalization conditions just began. Concerning the impact of migration on tourism, the most important point is the significance of the Visiting Friends and Relatives hypothesis. It is about people traveling to visit their friends and relatives who have previously migrated to a foreign country. Nevertheless, the presence and growth of immigrant communities can positively influence tourism flows through several channels. For example, friends and relatives, after returning to their country, convey their experiences to other friends, which will likely affect their future travel destinations. In addition, immigrants who travel back to their homeland can promote the host country and encourage further travel. It is known that immigration enriches the cultural life of host countries and provides a broader range of spending opportunities, such as ethnic restaurants and cultural events related to immigrant communities, which in turn makes the destination more attractive for all types of tourists (Etzo, 2016). Immigration movements thus influence the enrichment of culture and the creation of a diverse society. Immigrants who are entrepreneurs in the host country often use their contacts and business knowledge in the country of origin to work and thus stimulate business travel between the two countries (Seetaram, 2012). It is possible to conclude that immigration has a positive effect on tourism demand in the host country. 2. CONCEPTUALIZING SUSTAINABLE AND RESPONSIBLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Sustainability comes naturally to the Earth, but not so naturally to humankind. Progress in understanding and achieving sustainability requires integration of scientific, social, economic, and legal issues. The World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) cast the concept of sustainability in its present shape. It collated a wide range of views on ecologically sustainable development (ESD) which it set out in the so-called Brundtland Report, Our Common Future. This included both biophysical and cultural spheres and enunciated a set of principles which in the South Pacific have been adopted by many governments, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Cook Islands and others. There are four fundamental canons for the World Conservation Strategy that emerged from the World Commission on Environment and Development as follows: - Ecological sustainability. Development must be compatible with the maintenance of ecological processes, biological diversity and biological resources. - Economic sustainability. Development must be economically efficient and equitable within and between generations. - Social sustainability. Development must be designed to increase people’s control over their lives and maintain and strengthen community identity. - Cultural sustainability. Development must be compatible with the culture and the values of the people affected by it. The term sustainability is derived from the Latin word “sustinere”, which in turn is made up of sub meaning: “under” and tenere meaning: “hold”. In English, to sustain can mean to maintain, to support, or to endure. By adding ‘ability’ to ‘sustain’, the term sustainability then logically refers to the ability to support, to maintain or to endure. In other words, taken literally, something sustainable is something that endures for a long time - something that does not wear out quickly. However, over the years we have come to interpret the term sustainability differently. Mainstream environmental practices first emerged in the 1980s, when recycling became a household word for the first time. In 1987, the United Nations took the bold step of writing Our Common Future, a new theory for business and society to progress without harming the planet. This important text created the theory of sustainable development, or "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Human sustainability, as Martin and Schouten (2014: 11) define it, is the opportunity for all people to maintain fulfilling, productive lives while preserving or replenishing the natural and economic systems that make their well-being possible. According Yanez Arancibia et al (2013: 3) sustainability is defined as ‘meeting human needs in a socially and economically fair manner without depriving ecosystems of their health’; most of the words in its definition are normative and carry some value. Depending on how critical normative terms are defined, sustainability could mean anything from ‘exploit as much as desired without infringing on the future ability to exploit as much as desired’ to ‘exploit as little as necessary to maintain a meaningful life’. There are different steps towards sustainability, starting with the problem of both global change and human impacts that are putting in jeopardy both the environment and the sustainability of resource exploitation. If social and economic development ignores the ecological dimension, or there is a lack of attention to environmental values, ethics, laws, or policy dimensions of sustainability, the progress towards sustainable development would be utopian. DeBlanc Goldblatt (2012: 4) defines sustainability like ethical behavior with a long-term perspective that covers more topics than just environmentalism. Sustainability means thinking not just about tomorrow, or next year, but about 100 or 1,000 years from now, and it remains a critical principle for modem business. The tourism sector has been a relative latecomer to the development debate and to its responsibilities and role in advancing sustainable development. In the immediate post World War 2 rush to develop, tourism was initially ignored in the national development plans of most Third World countries. In other parts of the Third World, such as the Caribbean, the importance of tourism had been recognized earlier and led to such descriptions by economic advocates as “tourism, passport to development”. In the past two decades, tourism has begun to find general recognition as an economic sector that can contribute to “development”. Virtually all countries around the globe have now embraced tourism, with greater or lesser enthusiasm. The tourism industry, with its reliance on recreational air travel, is one of the world’s large gas consumers and polluters. Tourist activity can also degrade both the ecological and social life of a native population. 3. INCLUSION OF IMMIGRANTS IS RESPONSIBLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE Immigration has a valuable role to play in strengthening the EU’s competitiveness, addressing current and future demographic challenges and filling labor shortages. The key to maximizing the benefits of immigration is the successful integration of migrants into their host societies. Generally, people believe that immigrants are poorer, more dependent on welfare, and more numerous than they really are (Migration data portal, 2019). Public opinion on migration may also influence the degree to which a migrant integrates into their receiving community (Merelli, 2018). European residents appear to be, on average, the most negative globally towards immigration, with the majority believing immigration levels should be decreased. People’s views about their personal and their countries’ economic situations may be the strongest predictors of their views of immigration. Those who perceive economic situations as poor or worsening are more likely to favor lower immigration levels into their countries. The reverse is also true: those who perceive their individual or their countries’ economic situations as good or improving are more likely to want to see higher levels of immigration (IOM, 2015: 1). Tourism has the opportunity to play a crucial role in this area. Nevertheless, according to Smith (2017), tourism is „an industry based on providing a welcome for foreigners”. 4. POTENTIAL OF MIGRATION-BASED RESPONSIBLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT Migration has always been in the human nature that strives for greater prosperity, and globalization conditions that govern the world are just an accelerator of that aspiration. Human nature is also a striving for progress that has called into question the economic, ecological, sociological and cultural sustainability of further development of the human species. All migration-related forecasts, including tourism, indicate that there are continuous growth rates ahead of them. Tourism as the current generator of economic growth can only preserve its development if the principles of sustainable development are maintained. This means that their business must be based on responsible tourist development, which implies the implementation of the sustainability principles. Given its economic power, it is not surprising that it has a noteworthy role in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Radić, 2018). Once again, it should also be mentioned that migration has the potential to be a generator of economic growth. It is possible to conclude, from the literature review that deals with the relationship between tourism and migration that the mutual linkage of these two phenomena will only grow in the decades to come. Migration-led tourism hypothesis argues that migration can affect the development of tourism. Migrants visit relatives and friends, then the same visitors convey knowledge of the host country and thus encourage the arrival of new tourists, migrants significantly enrich the host country's culture, immigrant entrepreneurs influence the development of tourism activities in the host country and ultimately migrants influence the further tourism growth. Furthermore, taking into account examples of best practice from previous analysis, immigration can contribute to the development of responsible tourism by providing a sustainable travel experience and by discovering the authentic cultural heritage of migrants’ home countries. Tourism-led migration hypothesis argues that tourism can affect migration through the supply side and through the demand side. In other words, on the one hand, tourism attracts second-home owners and people in retirement and on the other hand, tourism and hospitality industry is attractive to migrants because it is relatively easily accessible given the necessary linguistic and other skills (Janta, et al., 2011). Likewise, responsible tourism can influence the increased inclusion of refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants. Proof findings are positive practices presented in the previous section. Migrants often lead to tensions in the community they enter, especially if they do not integrate into the society of the host country and challenge social standards (Rogers et al., 2009). Immigrants, if they are colored, often observe anger and distrust in the communities they enter (Kozak, Kozak, 2015). Despite the continuing demand for their services, due to the ethnic and racial diversity they bring with them, they are followed by a growing aversion of the domicile population (Espenshade, Hempstead, 1996). CONCLUSION The continuous upward trend in the number of tourist arrivals at global level has led to the development of a concept of responsible tourism that was defined in Cape Town in 2002 and, over time, its importance becomes more and more important. Its main goal is to "make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit" (Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations, 2002). In parallel, thanks to the process of global integration, with an increase in the movement of people from the tourism initiative that imply some kind of pleasure, there are also large migratory movements of people who are usually motivated by a quest for a better life. Migration movements, including tourism, also affect the creation of national policies. Though the last decade has seen the rise of extremist and exclusive political ideas, it is necessary to bear in mind the established pattern of development that migration retreats. Immigrants who come to a certain place are not isolated from their homes, communicate with each other, form clusters, bring new ideas, skills and money. After a while, the companies that originate from their countries, taking capital investment and ultimately employ migrants and locals follow them. Looking at the current practice examples it is possible to conclude that the inclusion of migrants as the active participants of the society is an opportunity for the development of responsible tourism. Because of immigration, people can meet different cultures. It is something they would not have been able to do in a world where everyone stays where they live. Immigrants bring in new dynamics when they move to new country. Experiencing new cultures, other nationality customs, socializing with locals who are not originally from the same country, is a privilege enjoyed by residents whose neighbors came in seek of a better life opportunity. In this way, people can experience sustainable travel and at the same time create meaningful and immersive travel experiences aimed at discovering the authentic cultural heritage of a migrant’s home countries. Inclusion of migrants in tourism development is a brain wave, which can make the destinations more responsible as well as sustainable. Your assignment is to write a 2-page precis of this text A précis is a summary, in your own words, of the work you have read. It briefly covers the important points in the work. It is not a paraphrase, and thus is not as long as the original work. It is objective and does not critique or evaluate the information. First Step – Read Actively  Read the work through once.  During this reading, pay attention to: The author’s purpose; The main ideas of the passage/article; The author’s argument; The support for the argument; The author’s insights.  This information will have to be concise and clear in your précis. Second Step – Summarize  Read the work through again.  Make a one-sentence summary of each paragraph or division in the text. Now you have created a basic outline of the work. Third Step – Writing  Depending on the required length of the assignment, write a short introductory paragraph or sentence. This should include, at a minimum, the author, the title and the thesis or main idea.  Use the sentences you wrote in the second step as details to develop your short précis paragraph or as topic sentences for the body paragraphs in a longer précis assignment.  Keep the body paragraphs as concise as possible, but make sure to include the necessary information that you noted when reading the work through the first time (purpose, research, methods, insights, support).  To conclude the précis, summarize the thesis in a new paragraph and list any recommendations made by the author. Fourth Step – Editing and Proofreading  Check your précis against the assignment instructions to make sure it meets all requirements.  Check the initial work to make sure you have made a complete summary and have not added any personal opinion.  Check for correct spelling and grammar, clarity, and coherence.  Finally, read your précis aloud. UNIT 17. THE COMPETITIVENESS OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY BUSINESS Guidelines for reading DOE texts on competitiveness The competitiveness of industry and firms has been one of the most important themes of research in the fields of economics and business studies. Although the concept of competitiveness of nations was initially proposed by economists, the term has also gained importance as a subject of study among management scholars. Most empirical studies on competitiveness at the industry level have been related to the manufacturing and related sectors, and only recently have some researchers started to examine the international competitiveness of the service sector with a particular focus on tourism destinations and the hotel industry that deserves a systematic and critical review. As the tourism and hotel industry continue to prosper in the global economy, competition—whether it be international or domestic among members of the industries—becomes fiercer. Possessing competitive advantages could be key to success for those members. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 17-1. DESTINATION COMPETITIVENESS IN TOURISM (Abridged after H. Tsai’s at al. Tourism and hotel competitiveness research // Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing Volume 26, 2009) Concepts of competitiveness Competitiveness research starts arguably with the seminal work on the competitiveness of nations by Porter (1990), who defined national competitiveness as an outcome of a nation's ability to innovatively achieve, or maintain, an advantageous position over other nations in key industrial sectors. Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) defined competitiveness as “the degree to which a country can, under free and fair market conditions, produce goods and services which meet the test of international markets, while simultaneously maintaining and expanding the real incomes of its people over the longer term” (1992, p. 237). In terms of the driving factors that determine national competitiveness, Porter argued that “it is firms, not nations, which compete in international markets” (1998, p. 33). The firm‐level competitiveness generally refers to the ability of the firm to increase in size, expand its global market share, and its profit. A nation's competitiveness can be measured by the accumulation of the competitiveness of firms operating within its boundaries; furthermore, the strength of these firms is considered to be the single most important criterion of national competitiveness. Competitiveness encompasses everything from national government policies and citizens' attitudes to investments in infrastructure and manufacturing capability. National competitiveness exists because of competition. The presence of competition makes competitiveness a relative quality and competitiveness is essentially a zero‐sum game. In other words, it is the quality of a competitor that determines its probability of winning the competition, which indicates that the competition has to be specified along with the competitiveness. Competitiveness is considered to involve a combination of assets and processes, where assets are either inherited (e.g., natural resources) or created (e.g., infrastructure) and processes transform assets to achieve economic benefits through sales to customers. Competitiveness is related to productivity growth and entails quality differences, relative prices, production and distribution costs, the ability to market, and the efficiency of the supporting marketing and distribution system. It is a country's ability to create, produce, distribute and/or service products in international economy, while rising returns on its sources. In comparison with the definitions of national competitiveness, the firm‐level competitiveness is a straightforward concept. It is a firm’s ability to design, produce, and/or market its products superior to those provided by its competitors, considering both the price and non‐price factors. Competitiveness remains a difficult concept and is still not precisely defined in various contexts as is shown by the definitions given above. Nevertheless, competitiveness is obviously seen as involving elements of productivity, efficiency, and profitability as a means of achieving rising standards of living and increasing social welfare. Indeed, the nation's competitive position lies in the creation of a social and economic environment that encourages the firms to take actions that promote their own self‐interest, while at the same time enhancing national competitiveness. However, an important point to make is that not all of the firms/industries in the nation contribute to competitiveness. In recent years, the concern with competitiveness has also drawn the attention of researchers in the fields of destination tourism and the hotel industry. The Concept of Destination Competitiveness The issue of competitiveness of tourism destinations has become increasingly important, particularly for countries and regions that rely heavily on tourism. A destination may be considered competitive if it can attract and satisfy potential tourists. Not only does the competitiveness of a destination directly affect tourism receipts in terms of visitor numbers and expenditures, but also it indirectly influences the tourism‐related businesses, such as the hotel and retail industries in that destination, to a certain extent. Destination choice remains one of the first and most important decisions made by tourists; and this decision in turn is, to a large extent, subject to a number of external factors, such as country image, accessibility, attractiveness, safety, etc. Destination choice, on the other hand, also determines inter‐enterprise competition between airlines, tour operators, hotels, and other tourism services. The tourism business is not singular but encompasses a three‐dimensional concept including market, product, and technology that satisfy people's leisure wants and needs. Going beyond the firm level, destination competitiveness is based on the notion that it is a cluster of tourist attractions, infrastructure, equipment, services, and organization that jointly determine what a destination has to offer to its visitors. Because of the multiplicity of industries involved in making destinations become competitive, it is necessary to look beyond rivalry among firms and examine the extent of cooperation needed for the future of competitiveness. Destination competitiveness provides a high standard of living for residents of the destination, maintains its market position and share, includes objectively measured variables such as visitor numbers, market share, tourist expenditure, employment, value added by the tourism industry, as well as subjectively measured variables such as ‘richness of culture and heritage,’ ‘quality of the tourism experience,’ etc. True destination competitiveness must be sustainable not just economically, and not just ecologically; but socially, culturally, and politically as well. Destination Competitiveness Models and Determinants Comparative advantages (e.g., low labor costs and attractive exchange rates) had long been believed to be the only contributing factor to a successful tourist market. However, competitive advantages appear to be key to assure a long‐term success of tourist destinations. Efforts of governments should be focused on two areas: strategic planning of the country's tourist businesses, which guides the development of the public sector as well as the private one and the involvement of all the affected parts; and to establish a competitive environment for this kind of business, which should be the base of the tourism policy. Based on the Calgary Model of Competitiveness (CMC) in Tourism, an exploratory framework of competitiveness of international tourism, the incorporation of five tourism‐specific sub‐factors including substitutes, entry/exit barriers, organization design, technology, and value to the CMC that is specifically applicable to Las Vegas. Service quality should be independent of price, not related to it. Indeed, value perceived by customers in the hospitality setting combines elements of both price and a customer's expectations for a service experience. Destination competitiveness model for Las Vegas pinpoints potential problem or opportunity areas for the Las Vegas market and offers insight for further destination competitiveness research. This framework for tourism destination management is based on the theoretical concepts of competitive (effective use of resources) and comparative advantages, which consider a number of broad categories of factor endowments—human resources, physical resources, knowledge resources, capital resources, infrastructure, and historical and cultural resources. However, it is not good enough to merely list the factors that determine the destination's competitiveness; it is also important to understand the relationships and interplays between these factors. The conceptual model of destination competitiveness includes the following components: competitive (micro) environment, global (macro) environment, core resources and attractors for primary elements of destination appeal, supporting factors and resources for secondary elements of destination appeal, destination management, and qualifying determinants (i.e., situational factors). Government and chance events are viewed as influencing competitiveness through their impact on the basic determinants. Tourism development impacts construct in terms of creating jobs and attracting investment capital and place attachment construct in terms of emotional/symbolic attachment to the community significantly influence the stakeholders' development of tourism attractions, which in fact also positively determine their support for destination competitive strategy. Another model of destination competitiveness enables comparisons between countries and between industries within the tourism sector. This model explicitly recognizes demand conditions as an important determinant of destination competitiveness. The destination competitiveness is supported by the inclusion of both industry (business‐related factors) and destination attributes across locations and markets. Bahar and Kozak examined the competitive position of Turkey vis‐à‐vis five other countries by comparing the views from both tourists and service providers. In their study, four factors—including cultural and natural attractiveness, quality of tourist services, availability of tourist facilities and activities, and quality of infrastructure—were extracted; the 23 potential determinants of destination competitiveness and significant differences were found to exist between tourists and service providers on their views of the competitive position of Turkey. Dwyer, Forsyth, and Rao compared the price competitiveness of 19 countries by developing a price competitiveness index. They argued that price differentials, along with exchange rate movements, productivity levels of various components of the tourist industry, and qualitative factors affect the attractiveness or otherwise of a destination. They claimed that overall destination competitiveness is determined by both price and non‐price factors— socio‐economic, demographic, and qualitative factors that determine the demand for tourism. Social, cultural, and psychological factors such as tourists' social statuses, personal interests, and cultural backgrounds and the geographic characteristics of the destination country influence the price competitiveness. Not only relative price competitiveness of a country could differ from one sector of the international tourism basket to the other, but also how changes in price competitiveness from one period to another could results from changes in the exchange rate, or cost of tourism basket relative to other goods and services within the country, or a combination of all. The Competitiveness Monitor Eight main indicators of tourism competitiveness are attributed to a Competitiveness Monitor (CM) initiated by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) for over 200 countries. The eight indicators, presented in index form, show the level of performance of each country relative to other countries and include price, openness in (international) trade, technology, infrastructure, human tourism (i.e., achievement of human development in terms of tourism activity), social development in the quality of life in the society, environment, and human resources. The social and technology indicators have the most weight, while, surprisingly, human tourism and environment indicators have the lowest. The environmental indicator is of particular importance to tourism, especially when the growth of eco‐tourism is the main concern in a destination. Price had a significant inverse relationship with competitiveness: Developed countries tend to be more competitive in terms of the other indicators and less competitive in terms of price. Taking into account market share and economic growth indicators weighted by bilateral distances of the geographical location of destinations and the inclusion of a cultural heritage indicator, three of the eight competitiveness determinants were found to contribute to the overall destination competitiveness: heritage and culture, economic wealth, and education. Attention should be paid on the education factor that countries of lower educational standard benefit in terms of competitive advantage. The European Foundation for Quality Management Model (EFQM is used to assess and evaluate destination competitiveness in Europe. This model assumes that factors such as customer satisfaction, people (employee) satisfaction, and impact on society are realized through leadership‐driving policy and strategy, people management, resources, and processes—leading ultimately to excellence in business results. In particular, leadership, planning, human resources, customer satisfaction, and measurement of performance are identified as important conditions to attain quality improvement and implementation. Destination Benchmarking The Austrian Government implemented the Benchmarking Indicator System, which initially was based on price and capacity only. In this benchmarking approach tourism quality attributes were divided into three different categories of factors (basic factors, excitement factors, and performance factors) that display a differing impact on tourist satisfaction. These three categories demonstrate that basic factors are the prerequisite conditions for market entry. If the basic factors are delivered, it is also important to have performance factors that are directly connected to customers' needs and desires. Finally, unexpected (excitement) factors could make a destination more attractive. Two different methods can be used to empirically test these three‐factor structures of customer satisfaction. Vavra's two‐dimensional Importance Grid, which is a structural picture of customer satisfaction. It is based on customers' self‐stated importance assessments. It deciphers hygiene and enhancing factors of customer satisfaction by comparing importance scores regarding specific service (i.e., destination) attributes with implicitly derived performance scores. It is hypothesized that tourists can distinguish between explicit and implicit importance dimensions of service features, which in turn can help identify three distinct satisfaction determinants: satisfiers, performance factors, and dissatisfiers. The main criticisms of tis method is that it fails to explain why different satisfaction factors can be arrived at by combining implicitly and explicitly derived importance scores. Brandt's Penalty‐Reward‐Contrast analysis is a performance‐only approach, which only focuses on one variable (i.e., the satisfaction). This method employs a dichotomized regression model with two sets of dummy variables, in which the first set exemplifies in quantitative form excitement factors and the second represents quantitative form basic factors In this method, if customers are experiencing low levels of satisfaction, the penalties for a destination would be expressed in an incremental decline; if customers are experiencing high levels of satisfaction, rewards are then expressed in an incremental. Consequently, the observed destination attributes would be classified as basic factors if penalty levels surpass reward levels. If, on the other hand, the reward index surpasses the penalty value, the observed destination attribute should be interpreted as an excitement factor. If the reward and penalty values are the same, customers are said to be satisfied only if the performance level of the attribute is relatively high, while dissatisfaction will result from low performance level of the attribute on the other side This approach seems to have a better potential, compared to Vavra's method, for identifying the factor‐structure configuration of tourist satisfaction in destinations. Destination benchmarking is problematic since there are so many factors that influence the satisfaction levels of tourists. However, features of destinations can be classified under two main headings: primary and secondary features, which together contribute to the overall competitiveness of a tourism destination. Primary features include climate, ecology, culture, and traditional architecture; and secondary features refer to superstructures developed specifically for tourism, such as hotels, catering, transport, and entertainment facilities. One major advantage of the method is its ability to capture the intrinsic characteristics of a destination, which may, otherwise, be difficult to measure. Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) The World Economic Forum Geneva published the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report (TTCR) in an attempt to explore the factors that drive travel and tourism competitiveness of destinations. It provides a comprehensive strategic tool for measuring the factors and policies that make a destination attractive to international tourists. The TTCI is composed of 14 “pillars” of travel and tourism competitiveness, which include: policy rules and regulations, environmental regulations, safety and security, health and hygiene, prioritization of travel and tourism, air transport infrastructure, ground transport infrastructure, tourism infrastructure, information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure, price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry, human resources, affinity for travel & tourism, and natural and cultural resources. The 14 pillars are then organized into three subindexes capturing the broad categories of variables that facilitate or drive travel and tourism competitiveness. These categories are (a) travel and tourism regulatory framework; (b) travel and tourism business environment and infrastructure; and (c) travel and tourism human, cultural, and natural resources. The report is valuable in advising developing destinations on areas that deserve attention or focus for better tourism destination development Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to write an essay about the competitiveness of tourism and hospitality industry based on the two combined texts of Unit 17. As an interim step approaching you to coping with this assignment you will have to discuss what the competitiveness is, and express your personal view on the concept of competitiveness in general and travel and tourism competitiveness in particular. Even if you don’t think of personally being involved in tourism and hospitality business you may have some ideas for your essay to be shared with your teacher and fellow students. Identify where to find information: Step 1. Survey introductory and concluding paragraphs and identify the core ideas of the passage. Step 2. Skim the rest of the passage to make sure. Step 3. Scan the text to find the correct wording of its main idea, the topic, and the purpose, write out the key words from each paragraph. Formulate the field of research, the topic, the main idea, the purpose of the author (what he wants the reader to believe in). What circumstantial evidence can be inferred from the following paragraph: …if customers are experiencing low levels of satisfaction, the penalties for a destination would be expressed in an incremental decline; if customers are experiencing high levels of satisfaction, rewards are then expressed in an incremental. Consequently, the observed destination attributes would be classified as basic factors if penalty levels surpass reward levels. If, on the other hand, the reward index surpasses the penalty value, the observed destination attribute should be interpreted as an excitement factor. If the reward and penalty values are the same, customers are said to be satisfied only if the performance level of the attribute is relatively high, while dissatisfaction will result from low performance level of the attribute on the other side. Take 5-6 minutes to review and recite the main points of the text with the help of the paragraph headings. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING COMPETITIVENESS IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY Guidelines for reading DOE texts on competitiveness in hospitality industry The competitiveness of a country derives from the performance of its enterprises, which certainly include the hotel industry. While a community's growth stimulates hotel performances, in turn hotels contribute to the community's economic, social, and cultural development. The hotel industry benefits from a destination's economic growth and stability and community developments, such as office buildings, retail malls, and entertainment facilities, which draw both business and leisure travelers and help create demand for hotel rooms. There are many other factors (e.g., input, process, output, and outcome) that determine the hotel industry's competitiveness. Indeed, hotels utilize input factors and produce a variety of products and services (outputs), and the nature of these outputs depends very much on hotels' strategic and competitive positions in the region. The impact of these measures in terms of tangible outcomes is reflected by the market share of the hotel industry and by the price competitiveness of the hotel industry in the regional market. Text 17-2. COMPETITIVENESS OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY IN THE REGIONAL MARKET (After H. Tsai’s at al. Tourism and hotel competitiveness research // Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing Volume 26, 2009) Strategic Decisions Strategic decisions guide the development of a firm and hence affect its competitiveness. The ability of a firm to find or create a position in a market is at the core of strategy development. When firms in the industry have reached their mature stage, each firm within this industry may struggle with the formulation of corporate and business strategies to stay ahead of their competitors A number of frameworks are identified that could help firms formulate strategic decisions leading to a competitive position. Hotel Performance Measurement Framework is perhaps the most comprehensive one, which links three salient areas of strategic planning: formulation, implementation, and evaluation. The traditional way of gauging hotel performance from a finance‐only perspective is not capable of presenting the true performance of the hotel industry. This framework was designed to capture both economic and organizational‐specific factors and changes in the external environment. The central theme of the framework is that input, output, processes, market, strategic orientation, and environmental characteristics are associated with outcomes. Moreover, the evaluation of a hotel's performance involves analyzing three categories of factors, which include physical characteristics, factors determined by the market, and factors that are controllable (e.g., salaries) by the hotel general manager. The Competitive Action Framework has been designed to analyze strategic conduct among firms in the hotel industry This framework suggests that the extent of differences of action portfolios within and between firms is relevant in determining a firm's performance. It is determined by the competitive environment; it is the matter of the possession of resources, as well as the moves of the competitor. Two modes of differentiation were devised: diversity in competitive actions and non‐conformity behavior toward competitive actions of competitors. It is found that strategic flexibility is important; it is better for hotels to have a diversified competitive action portfolio, which should conform to that of their competitors. Hotel Productivity is always a top priority for hotel operators. It encompasses an umbrella concept that includes efficiency, effectiveness, quality, predictability, and other performance dimensions, as well as a concept reflecting only production efficiency. Service firms can increase productivity in four ways. Firstly, the firm can improve its labor force through better recruiting or more extensive training (human capital). Secondly, it can invest in more efficient capital equipment (capital). Thirdly, the firm can replace works with automated systems (technology). Lastly, the firm can recruit consumers to assist in the service process. As labor costs generally account for the highest percentage of hotel operating expenses, these four ways of enhancing productivity could serve to help produce the highest level of output with the lowest level of input. Productivity Assessment Using Data Envelopment Analysis One way to examine the performance/productivity of a hotel is the use of data envelopment analysis (DEA). DEA can take into account controllable and uncontrollable (environmental and situational) factors in analyzing the firm's productivity/efficiency. Indeed, meaningful productivity statistics must not only accurately identify inputs and outputs, but must integrate all critical variables if such a measure is used to assess the overall operational productivity or efficiency. A major advantage of DEA is that it does not require an assumption about the functional form of the model that underpins the relationships between the input and output variables. Wang et al. (2006) employed the DEA and used the Tobit regression model to evaluate the efficiency determinants of the firms. This model was applied because firm and market factors can be differentiated and are beyond the traditional input‐output setting, but contribute to efficiency. A stepwise model of DEA is an iterative procedure in which the productivity is measured in terms of the important factors identified. The identified factors are incorporated into the DEA model, and the process is repeated until no other factors that determine the efficiency measures remain. The stepwise approach is beneficial for decision‐making purposes, as this method can interpret why particular units are either efficient or inefficient at each step, by separating the efficiency scores of every step in the efficiency tables. Marketing As competition in the hotel industry becomes more intense, it is increasingly important for hotels to invest more in marketing activities to attract and retain guests and distinguish themselves from their rivals in order to stay in the. Investment in processes is important, as it influences customer satisfaction and service quality in the end; if processes perform badly, it will affect the efficiency, and certainly competitiveness of firms. Like most companies, hotel firms typically spend considerable amounts of their budgets on marketing activities, including sales and promotion (branding). Marketing is considered a social and managerial process by which individuals obtain what they need and want through creating and trading product and values with others. Moreover, a marketing‐oriented firm tries to create value through providing goods and services geared toward consumers. Effective marketing activities are positively related to business performance; a firm's efficiency/productivity depends very much on the ability of the managers to formulate the right marketing strategies, which could then be implemented effectively by the marketing department within the service firm. The growth in brands and market segmentation has stimulated the need for hotels to “staff up” within the marketing department. However, if marketing expenditure is too excessive, the purpose of marketing may be defeated. That is, service firms should first minimize the level of marketing expenditure efficiently and then use marketing effectively to raise the level of productivity. Consumer Satisfactions, Service Quality, and Pricing Understanding consumer satisfaction is critical as it is believed that satisfaction leads to repeat purchases and favorable word‐of‐mouth promotion by clientele. In the hotel industry, customers tend to stay loyal to a brand when they are satisfied with the quality of the service that has been provided. Consumer (dis)satisfaction consists of the general feelings that a consumer has developed about a product or service after its purchase. In addition, this is influenced by items such as culture, social class, personal influence and family, and other individual differences (motivation and involvement, knowledge, attitude, lifestyle, personality, and demographics. The method of Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) helps to examine hotel customer satisfaction among business travelers. LISREL is a modeling program that can be employed to empirically assess theories that are usually formulated as theoretical models for observed and latent (unobservable) variables. If data are collected for the observed variables of the theoretical model, the LISREL program can be used to fit the model to the data. Tangible and intangible dimensions of three departments (reception, housekeeping, and food and beverage) could explain overall satisfaction, in which tangible aspects of the housekeeping and intangible aspects of reception have the strongest effects on overall guest satisfaction. The service quality (how well the service delivered meets customers' expectations) is difficult to define. As hotel products and services become more homogeneous, it is crucial for hotels to provide high quality services to differentiate themselves from their competitors., where delivering a quality service means conforming to customers' expectations. Some service quality measurement methods were proposed, and one such method is SERVQUAL used to examine the service quality expectations of hotel customers. Caution has to be made that the service quality dimensions in the SERVQUAL differ from one segment of the hotel industry to another and that cultural differences matter as well. The service expectations of hotel customers differ from culture to culture. The main interrelationships between service quality and the competitiveness of hotels, depend on external and internal effects. The external effects are customer satisfaction and its influence on the sales volume and the client's willingness to pay. The external effect mainly refers to the average direct costs of service provision. The service quality has a positive and direct effect on competitiveness. Moreover, it has an indirect effect via other variables, such as the occupancy level and average direct costs. Another important variable that relates to customer satisfaction and service quality is pricing. Hotel room price possesses a relative quality, compared to general goods and services, which may either stimulate or deaden the hotel room demand. If a hotel fails to satisfy the customers' needs, the hotel will tend to lose its customers. Price has a major impact on the selection of accommodations through the process of early decision (budget, location, reason for stay, etc.). Customer pricing expectations differ between Asian and Western consumers, thus influencing their satisfaction with hotel services. Technologies and Innovation As technological innovation of products and services is different, innovation in the accommodation services should be treated differently. The hotel industry is a supplier‐driven sector that innovates in applying research and development (R&D) embodied in technology, rather than undertaking internal R&D activities. As long as technological innovation leads to better and rapid reaction to the changing environment conditions and as long as the innovation is integrated in the company strategy, technology can be seen as a way to improve competitiveness. On the other hand, technology investments may lead to improved total productivity. Technological change (innovation) involves any investment that improves total productivity of a productive unit; it arises due to capital accumulation, which gives rise to the adoption of technology by best‐practice hotels, thus, shifting the frontier of technology. In hotel business, technological change means investing in new techniques with the aim of improving results. The relationship between innovation propensity and the hotels' category, governance settings and size show that higher‐tariff hotels and hotels that belong to a chain are more innovative, because they tend to, and can easily, gain the “know‐how” and other intangible assets compared with the lower tariff and hotels that do not belong to any chains. It has also been demonstrated that in order to improve the competitiveness, hotels need to adjust training and other human resources investments in response to innovations (see, for example technology in the service industry as knowledge technology, because the employees carry the knowledge that is needed in the hotel business). Physical technology, such as buildings and associated equipment, are easy to transfer; but technology needed for innovative methods and processes in the service organization is more difficult to transfer. It requires different types of skills, knowledge, and absorption capacity of people. In particular, successful technology transfer in the hotel industry depends upon the availability and willingness of employees who are provided with adequate education, training, development, and promotional opportunities. The technological dimensions in this framework can be viewed from a service perspective along two dimensions: diversity, which refers to the number of different service units; and complexity, which represents the degree and nature of relationships that exist between subunits. Increased diversity and complexity will have technological implications, which requires a more coordinated organizational structure. Information Technology (IT), such as the Internet, intranets, and central reservation systems, is one of the crucial technology investments that are often made by hotels to improve performance The installation of computer applications in the front office could improve performance of hotels. Although installing back‐office applications, such as personnel, purchasing modules, accounting modules, and financial reporting modules, may not contribute to the improvement of hotel performance in the short‐term, it does help with the improvement of the hotel's long‐term productivity. Operational (Environmental) Costs In many hotels, energy charges account for a substantial proportion of operating costs. After staffing costs, energy is one of the largest elements of expenditure; rising price of energy leads to an increase in operating costs for hotels and a potential reduction in profitability. Increasing costs of resources and the impact of waste could affect the income, environmental performance, and public image of the hotel. The energy flows in the hotel start from the various fuel inputs (such as electricity, etc.), which belong to eight cost centers (e.g. lift, catering, laundry, etc.) and finally down to the five end‐use services (such as leisure, bar, baths, room stay, etc.). The importance of an energy management program is in achieving increased profitability due to reduced operational costs and other non‐business (sustainable development) reasons to conserve energy use in hotels. However, it is important to note that without the skills and knowledge of employees, it is not possible to implement effective energy management programs. Thus, human capital is a crucial factor; hotels should invest more in training and educating their staff about the environmental issues. Other Aspects of Hotel Competitiveness Strategic alliances in the hospitality industry competitions are often formed with competing firms that possess complementary skills and resources. Key resources include location, brand name, and customer base. Direct advantages for members are: quick access to new markets, technology, knowledge and customers, circumventing or co‐opting regulatory barriers, absorbing a key local competitor, lowering risk by sharing costs, and benefiting from a partner's political connections. In particular, the hotel industry's performance is determined by the factor conditions, including well‐trained staff and infrastructures; the demand conditions, such as the spending power of tourists; the supporting industries like transportation and travel industries; and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry, such as the entry mode, pricing strategy, and even the location of the head office of the hotel chains, etc. A healthy market, together with effective investments in technology, are also important determining factors of the hotel industry's competitiveness. Competitiveness concerns of hospitality In cognizance of the multidimensionality of the competitiveness concept viewed at the country, industry, or firm level, the challenge lies in attaining a deeper understanding of the salient factors determining firm‐level competitiveness. These factors involve internal corporate resource strengths (both tangible and intangible) in the context of the firm's immediate task environment (strategic moves by immediate competitors) and its relationship to the sustainability of destination competitiveness. Evidence from industry professionals suggests that managers lack an understanding of how competitive interventions can be planned, implemented, and integrated with existing processes or new processes for rapid scale‐up of competitiveness. To address this issue, future research on hotel competitiveness could focus on investigating how existing models and approaches could be adapted for determining appropriate interventions in different stages of development of the hotel. A major concern in establishing, raising, and sustaining competitiveness (in the long run) at the firm, industry, and destination level, is the amount of resources available, its effective use, and its productivity. For the tourism and hospitality sector, the issues and measurement issues are even more demanding. Core resources ranging from the physiography of a destination to its culture and history and tourism superstructure, facilitating resources (availability and quality of capital and labor resources), enterprise and in‐house (company) inputs and capabilities of a firm have to be clearly identified with their efficiency and productivity accurately assessed. Productivity concerns of hospitality firms involve issues of efficient management, labor productivity (measurable), service productivity (elusive measures), and capital productivity. Future research should include the modification of productivity measures to reflect the hotels' changing focus from a “rooms‐only” orientation to a “full‐service” one, which then makes the use of a Sales per available room (SalesPAR) measurement—a more useful one than Revenue per available room (RevPAR). This is also related to the possible change in research emphasis toward customer‐oriented measures as opposed to product‐oriented ones. Productivity measures incorporating the actual purchasing habits of the customer over time may be more valuable than those calculations which only take into account the physical assets of the hotel and its employees. On the methodological frontier for research into firm‐specific competitiveness factors in hotels, the application of the non‐parametric approach data envelopment analysis (DEA) will be beneficial, as it is a rigorous productivity analysis tool that provides a direct assessment of efficiency to be compared with financial performance. It takes into consideration multiple input and output measurements in the evaluation of relative efficiencies of the large decision‐ making units in international hotel chains. The growing number of strategic alliances among the various segments of the hospitality industry (hotels, travel agents, card companies, cruise companies, etc.) will also intensify competition in the already fiercely competitive industry by strengthening competitive advantages of incumbent firms. This will further complicate the measurement of efficiency and productivity changes associated with re‐structuring and altered use of resources (manpower, capital, assets, etc.) within enlarged or re‐engineered units. Does size matter? What is the optimal size of a firm (hotel, tourist attraction, etc.) before it reaps economies of scale or suffers diseconomies of scale? In relation to these developments, in the future, greater effort should be devoted toward developing extensions of DEA and more sophisticated methods of efficiency measures, such as bootstrapping techniques, to further raise the level of accuracy in these key measurements in the tourism and hospitality sector for competitive analysis. While price competitiveness may take precedence over the other identified factors driving competitiveness, the attention to non‐price attributes of a destination will attain greater significance as recognition of the increasingly discerning travelers highlights the other service attributes and qualitative differences that makes a destination attractive or special. Concluding remarks In a multi‐faceted industry like tourism and hospitality, the identifiable attributes that contribute to a destination's competitiveness will vary in their importance across locations, depending on the product mix and target market segments. Importantly, the state of competitiveness of a destination can effectively be raised by the quality of services and organizations (tourist) which complement these clusters and built infrastructure. Integrating these related products and services in an appropriate manner will contribute toward maintaining and building a destination's continuing (sustained) competitiveness. Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that there is still no universal recipe for determining tourism competitiveness. As competitiveness continues to be one of the core issues for tourism destinations and the hotel industry, a good understanding of competitiveness‐related issues—such as the determinants, measurements, frameworks, and models—could help policymakers and industry operators not only pinpoint stronger areas for reinforcement and weaker ones for improvement, but also formulate informed corporate strategies and decisions that will help maintain/establish a competitive position for the enterprises Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to produce an essay based on the two combined texts: Text 17-1 “Destination competitiveness in tourism” and text 17-2 “Competitiveness of the hotel industry in the regional market”. Have you ever started writing an essay then realized you have run out of ideas to talk about? This can make you feel deflated and you start to hate your essay! The best way to avoid this mid-essay disaster is to plan ahead. Essay planning is one of the most important skills to teach students who should have an essay plan and clear goals about what to write. Essay planning isn’t as dull as you think. In fact, it really does only take a short amount of time and can make you feel relieved that you know what you’re doing! A good essay plan helps you arrange your ideas logically and stay on track during the writing process. Your plan should state how you're going to prove your argument, including the evidence you're going to use. Structure your plan around the different parts of an essay. To do this:  Write your argument in one sentence at the top of the page – you'll flesh this out into your introduction.  Write three or four key points that you think will support your argument. Try to write each point in one sentence. These will become your topic sentences.  Under each point, write down one or two examples from your research that support your point. These can be quotes, paraphrased text from reliable authors, etc. Remember to reference your examples when you write up your essay.  Finally, write the main point you want to leave in your reader's mind – that's your conclusion. How much time will you have to allot to write your essay? Here is your time scheme: 1. Figure out your Essay Topic (5 minutes) 2. Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes (20 minutes) 3. Brainstorm using a Mind-Map (10 minutes) 4. Arrange your Topics (2 minutes) 5. Write your topic Sentences (5 minutes) 6. Write a No-Pressure Draft in 3 Hours (3 hours) 7. Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission (30 minutes) UNIT 18. MANAGING HOSPITALITY BUSINESS Guidelines for reading DOE texts on hospitality management This is an interdisciplinary study on the junction of economics, hospitality business and international tourism. Management of hospitality business has become one of the most important themes of research in the fields of economics and business studies. Hotels are complicated investments and therefore selecting an appropriate hotel agreement for a property requires exhaustive research and investigation by investors. The choice of an operator as well as the hotel operating agreement has a significant impact on the cashflow and the potential value of the property. This article does not provide any recommendation but makes a list of factors relevant for decision making, as each hotel is unique, and a number of factors need to be considered when making a choice of hotel brand and the most suitable hotel operating agreement. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 18-1. HOTEL MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS Part 1. (Abridged after H. M. Choufany’s, E. Yildirim’s. Evolution of hotel management agreements and rise of alternative agreements. Thursday, 8th October 2020) This publication summarizes the evolution of a number of key terms in hotel management agreements and our outlook on how these key terms may evolve in the future. Furthermore, it provides an overview of franchise agreements and highlights alternative agreements that are being considered by sophisticated owners in the Middle East region. Introduction Hotels and the hospitality market are constantly evolving as a result of brands consolidating, owner profiles changing, technology disruption, changing traveler behavior as well as hotel investment trends altering. The 2019 HVS (Hospitality Valuation Services) Middle East Valuation Index highlighted declining hotel values in the Middle East as a result of several factors but most importantly oversupply and increased competition, declining RevPAR (Revenue per available room per day) and increasing costs. Consequently, all these shifts in the industry transformed the traditional relationship between owners and operators, which were reflected in the way hotel agreements were negotiated and have resulted in the emergence of alternative agreements. Since 2005, there has been a considerable increase in hotel developments in the Middle East, and global operators have significantly contributed to growing the hospitality offering supported by aggressive tourism initiatives led by the key cities in the region. Some key cities have witnessed double-digit growth in tourist arrivals and the number of branded hotels was circa 700 hotels or approximately 210,000 hotel rooms by the end of 2019 in the region. New supply was estimated to add some 70,000 hotel rooms by 2025, with most hotel supply planned for the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A recent HVS survey of the key global operators in the Middle East region shows that 84% of branded hotels operate under a management agreement, 11% operate under a franchise agreement and 5% are leased properties. New signings show an increase in franchise agreements to approximately 20% and the trend suggests that hotel owners in mature markets will look to convert the current hotel management agreements into franchise agreements at the end of the initial term, and in some instances earlier in the term subject to operator’s approval. In comparison, 25% of hotels operate under franchise agreement in Africa, 40% in Europe and close to 70% in the US. Management Agreements The hotel management contract, which is the most common in the Middle East region, is historically perceived as an attractive model for both owner and operator. It allows the operator to expand significantly into different markets without being exposed to ownership and development risks while allowing the owners to enjoy maximized financial returns by outsourcing their property's management rights to an operator in exchange for a fee. In the last 15 years, the GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) region specifically witnessed a tremendous increase in new hotel developments, the majority of which were subject to management agreements with international operators. Note: GNU is an extensive collection of free software, which can be used as an operating system or can be used in parts with other operating systems. The use of the completed GNU tools led to the family of operating systems popularly known as Linux. Some local brands have also grown their regional footprint through hotel management agreements. Historically, most new hotel developments attracted upscale and luxury brands, with a noticeable increase in midscale and economy brands in the last 3 to 5 years. Term & Base Fee Hotel management contracts came a long way to align the risk and reward between owners and operators. As the interest in hotel investment has increased along with the sophistication of hotel owners who tend to hire hotel asset managers and consulting companies to drive operating performance, owners have been able to negotiate terms which allow more flexibility and control. The average initial term for contracts signed in the Middle East after 2008 dropped from 21 years to 17 years when compared to a global average of 18.3 years. Luxury and upscale brands usually have a longer term when compared to the midscale brands. The length of the term is typically negotiated and tied to the commercial fees offered, which is typically represented by an inverse relationship. We take the view that the initial term in future contracts will be further shortened as investors are unlikely to commit to a long term without additional control mechanisms and termination rights in case of underperformance. We also expect an increase in “Manchise” agreements, which allow hotel owners to convert the management agreements into a franchise agreements after an initial term of 5 to 7 years. This operating model is discussed in detail later in this publication. The base management and license fees only consider the top line of the profit and loss statement and therefore may not necessarily incentivize the operator to minimize the operating expenses and increase the bottom line. Historically, base fees were a flat fee, ranging from (2% to 4%) over the term of the agreement and are largely a function of the size and positioning of the property. More recently, signed contracts include a base fee ramp up in the initial years of operations until the hotel is stabilized. The scaled up average base fee in the Middle East is 1.7% of Gross Operating Revenue (GOR) which is lower than the global average base fee of 2.6%. As owners expect operators to efficiently manage by increasing top line and maintaining expenses at reasonable levels, the base management fee is being heavily negotiated against a higher incentive fee, which is calculated on the Gross Operating Profit rather than the Gross Operating Revenues. Future negotiations on the base fee will also involve a definition of Gross Revenues as non-rooms revenues in the GCC region typically account for approximately 40%50% of the Hotel Profit and Loss statement. In large and premium positioned asset, it is common for several F&B outlets to be outsourced and at times the spa and beach club. It is therefore important to establish whether an operator should be compensated for all the hotel revenues or the portion in which the operator is directly responsible for. Incentive fee One of the major goals of an owner is to select the right management company to maximize the profitability and consequently increase the value of an asset. Therefore, encouraging and incentivizing the operator to maximize profitability should not be underestimated.  While the base management fee motivates the operator to focus on the top line, the incentive fee encourages the operator to manage and control the operating expenses. There are several forms of incentive fee structures, but the most common in recent years is the scaled incentive fee linked to the Gross Operating Profit.  Historically, incentive fees were flat and ranged between 8% and 10% of Gross Operating Profit. Approximately 73% of reviewed contracts, which were signed after 2008, show a noticeable shift to a scaled incentive fee structure, typically starting at 5% and increasing to 9% based on Gross Operating Profit and Adjusted Gross Operating Profit brackets.  More recently incentive fees are being tied to the operator achieving a minimum AGOP level of 15% to 20%.  Definition of Gross Operating Profit and Adjusted Gross Operating Profit have also changed in the last few years. In several contracts, the definition of AGOP includes FF&E deduction and some additional expenses that are agreed with owner.  As the hotel market matures and owners become more aware of the mechanisms to guarantee acceptable levels of returns on their investments, owner’s priority clause, performance guarantee and maximum fee cap are likely to become the norm. Owner's Priority Traditionally, incentive fee linked to available cash flow was less utilized in the Middle East. This fee structure is generally subordinated to the owner’s priority which can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the initial capital investment. Thereby, the incentive fee is paid to the operator only when the owner’s priority is reached. Hotel operators are more likely to accept the owner’s priority clause with the inclusion of an incentive fee revision mechanism wherein the owner’s priority hurdles are revised downwards if certain thresholds are not met. Minimum Guarantee Operator’s Performance Guarantee (Minimum Guarantee) is a financial guarantee by the operator to pay a specified sum if it fails to reach a certain Gross Operating Profit amount set in the management agreement which is indexed over the term of the contract. In our experience, operators only accept this clause with a claw back provision which entitles them to retrieve any foregone fees once the hotel exceeds the pre-defined minimum thresholds. In addition, operators tend to place a cap on the guaranteed amount within a specified number of years in the agreement. Maximum Fee Cap In recent years, an increasing number of hotel operators accepted capping the sum of the base and incentive fees to acquire the management rights of the strategic assets in the Middle East. The maximum fee cap range varies between 4% and 7% of the Total Revenue based on the project characteristics and the fee generation potential for the operator. Entering into a management agreement with a reputable and efficient operator allows the investor to capitalize the value of the asset and meet its financial obligations. We take the view that operators should be rewarded on managing efficiently by increasing revenues and maintaining reasonable cost levels to ensure that the property EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) and cashflows are maximized. Higher incentive fees to compensate operators when achieving healthy AGOP (Adjusted Gross Operating Profit) levels will likely become the norm to incentivize the operator to manage more efficiently. It is also likely that hotel owners will also link the incentive fee to Net Operating Profit or owner’s priority especially in the current unpredictable changes to the hospitality market and the declining EBITDA levels. Group Services Fee By associating with a brand, the owners benefit from the operators' established network and centralized systems for reservation, marketing, loyalty programs and training structures, in exchange of a fee. These fee amounts are usually standardized hence they are usually nonnegotiable. Average marketing fee in the Middle East is 1.75% of Gross Operating Revenue. In rare instances, the marketing fee is calculated based on Rooms Revenue which is typically more relevant to midscale and economy brands.  It is observed that the more developed the brand service systems are, the higher are the fees. On average, a well-established upscale brand charges a marketing fee ranging between 1.5% - 3% of Gross Operating Revenue whereas brands with relatively less established services could charge as low as 0.75% on Gross Rooms Revenue.  Operators also charge a reservation fee as part of the group services fee. Depending on the source of reservation, the fee can be charged in different forms such as percentage of gross room revenue, fixed fee based on available rooms or fixed fee charged per reservation. Average reservation fee in the Middle East as a percentage of the gross rooms’ revenue is 1% whereas the average for fixed amount per reservation received is USD 9. While these fees are typically non-negotiable, they are increasingly becoming a serious concern in negotiations as owners question the benefits to their property by contributing such significant amounts to the global systems. Since it remains difficult to track how these expenses are benefitting the property and maximizing its' value, they are considered as a potential hidden and uncontrollable cost. An increasing number of owners in the Middle East are looking for inclusion of the specific clauses in the management agreements which warrant the allocation of a fixed portion of the group services fees to promote their property and the brand within their market. Like the base fee calculation, the marketing fee when tied to Gross Operating Revenues requires definition and agreement on what revenues are included in instances whereby a number of outlets are outsourced or leased out. As operators acknowledge that direct bookings are rather lower than those booked through other established platforms such as Expedia and Booking.com, additional efforts in recent years have been made to boost direct bookings and reduce reliance on third party platforms. Also, in certain markets, the largest share of bookings is driven by the local sales team which also results in a high marketing and sales cost at the property level. Combined with the Group Marketing fee, this could total approximately 8% of total revenues. We take the view that operators will have to reassess those fees in response to the new realities and booking dynamics. A higher fee associated with direct online and offline bookings would incentivize the operator to increase its efforts to channel bookings through its own direct mediums, reduce commission pay outs and drive higher profitability. Area of Protection Understandably, an operator’s goal is to expand its' footprint, extend its distribution network and benefit from economies of scale though new signings and adding hotels to its management portfolio. However, if the operator develops multiple properties which belong to the same brand within the same market, it creates a threat to the performance of the subject property, may dilute its market share, and ultimately impacts the value of an asset. Hence, for the owner’s protection, in the majority of the contracts reviewed a territorial restriction is imposed on the operator, where the operator is unable for a specified number of years or throughout the full initial term, to franchise, lease, operate or affiliate with another property with the same or similar brand as of the subject property. There are two main factors to consider while negotiating the area of protection (AOP). These factors are the duration and the size of the area of protection, which is mostly defined by a radius. As a rule of thumb, the higher the market positioning, the bigger the area of protection. Deciding the radius of a territorial restriction depends on several factors but most importantly the city and future development opportunities. In some markets in the Middle East, operators are willing to sign only a 3 to 5 km radius as opposed to other markets where the area of protection covers the entire city. The positioning of the hotel plays a key role in the negotiations of this term. Typically, midscale and budget brands are more lenient when compared to upscale and luxury brands. However, the management fees that are forecasted to be generated by the subject property are also a key factor in identifying the owner’s bargaining power. Consequently, if the forecasted operator fees are higher, then the owner is likely to negotiate a bigger radius of AOP. Recent acquisitions and brand consolidation have worked in operators' favor in growing further even in markets where strict AOP have been negotiated. From an owner’s perspective, the consolidation between operating companies which typically results in an increase in number of hotels/brands under the same platform may dilute the property’s market share rather than allow the brand to capitalize its market presence. It is also arguable as to whether economies of scale could be achieved, especially when the investors/owners of similar branded properties are different. Performance Tests Performance tests provide the owners the rights to monitor and assess the operator’s performance and ability to drive higher profitability and cash flow. These tests, if negotiated and agreed in the right manner, grant the owner the right to terminate the contract in case the operator is underperforming within its competitive market or consistently failing to achieve the approved operating budget. As owners have become more sophisticated and hotels' trading performance has been challenged in the last couple of years, performance tests have become more prevalent. Exit strategy and termination rights gained more importance which also resulted in performance test thresholds becoming stricter and more enforceable. Although hotel management contracts in the Middle East, since the 90’s, have gained popularity as they allow both parties to maximize returns, rarely has the operator been held accountable for operating shortcomings while owner bears all the financial risk. Since operators are accountable and responsible for the hotel’s performance which in turn impacts the owner’s income potential, owners now expect to have the right to terminate the contract without paying damages or terminate when the operator underperforms. However, if the performance failure occurs in case of a force majeure event, extraordinary events and/or renovation, the owner’s right to terminate cannot be executed. 86% of the Middle East hotel agreements sample set included a performance test in the agreements. The reason why the performance test seems more prevalent in this region is due to the nature of the sample set used for this article. All contracts which did not include a performance test clause from the Middle East reviewed sample were signed before 2007. There are several factors to take into consideration while imposing a performance test. These factors include commencement year, test period, performance thresholds and operator’s right to cure.  Commencement Year and Test Period: The testing period typically kicks in once the property is stabilized, which is 3 to 4 years from the hotel opening. Most contracts reviewed have a performance test which stipulates two consecutive years of failure. Thresholds are defined in those two most common test metrics:  Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) parameter usually expects the operator to achieve a RevPAR level that is equal to or more than the pre-defined threshold, which is usually in the range of 85%-95%, of the weighted average RevPAR of the subject property’s mutually agreed competitive set. The main difficulties of RevPAR test are defining the right competitive set along with obtaining reliable data regarding the RevPAR of that competitive set.  Gross Operating Profit (GOP) parameter typically expects the operator to achieve a GOP level that is equal to or more than the pre-defined threshold, which is also in the range of 85%-95%, of the mutually agreed budgeted GOP.  “Dual” and “collective” testing. The most agreed performance tests in the reviewed contracts are “dual” and “collective” testing, whereby the operator is considered to have failed when it fails both RevPAR and GOP test for two years consecutively from the commencement date. In rare cases, the agreements included either GOP or RevPAR as single tests. Usually, all contracts which include a performance test also provide an automatic right to cure to the operator in case of a failed performance. Generally, the longer the initial term, the higher are the cure rights. However, based on the Middle East sample set, an average of 2 cure rights are granted during the initial term, with one additional cure right in each renewal term; some of which are subject to owners’ approval. The cure amount equals to the difference between the actual performance and the approved budgeted GOP. In some cases, the management company provides the cure amount in cash or alternatively sets off the cure amount from the next management fee due. Although the cure amount is usually the last year of the failed test period, current trends indicate that the higher of the two years can be cured as well. Mostly, the cure amount will be the variation of GOP and budgeted GOP, as curing the RevPAR test would include several hypothetical variables. Once the operator uses its right to cure, the contract remains in effect and the owner’s termination notice regarding the failed test period is no longer valid. Only if the operator does not cure its failure or exceeds the maximum number of rights to cure, then the owner can terminate the contract. These parameters can be set in motion independently, separately, or collectively. Although the collective tests are the most common, which makes it more difficult for operators to fail and owners to terminate, owners are pushing for single and separate tests while the operators are resisting the same. In the latter, failing either one of the test parameters would grant the owner’s termination notice to hold merit. To date, there have been only few instances in the Middle East region in which the owner was able to enforce the performance test and terminate an operator for failing the tests. The changes in market dynamics also present an opportunity to explore whether the RevPAR remains a good indicator of the operator’s ability to manage efficiently and create value. Key Money Contribution With growing competition among the hotel operators in the Middle East, especially for existing projects, there are increasing number of operators offering key money contribution to obtain the rights to manage strategic hotel projects. Key money can be offered in a variety of formats, including;  An absolute monetary amount estimated as a percentage of the Net Present Value (NPV) of the operator’s fees that it expects to earn over the life of the contract, or not exceeding two to three times the stabilized year’s management fees anticipated to be earned by the operator. The amortized key money is often claimed back by the operator if the management contract is terminated prematurely on a pro-rated basis.  A waiver of the technical services fee or making it reimbursable after the hotel opens in the form of key money.  Foregoing base and / or incentive fees for a specified number of years with or without a claw back provision as a key money incentive. We are of the opinion that the key money contribution will become more prevalent in the region in the upcoming years particularly for the strategic assets that are in AAA locations and the hotel conversion opportunities that provide immediate fee generation prospects for the operators. Instruction In this unit, your assignment will be to write an essay about hotel management contracts which have to consider risks and rewards between owners and operators, based on the two combined texts of Unit 18. As an interim step approaching you to coping with this assignment you will have to discuss what the Middle East hotel business evolution in 2005-2019, express your understanding of the base management and license fees, revenues and profits. Even if you don’t think of going into hotel management business in Middle East you may have some ideas for your essay to be shared with your teacher and fellow students. Identify where to find information: Step 1. Survey introductory and concluding paragraphs and identify the core ideas of the passage. Step 2. Skim the rest of the passage to make sure. Step 3. Scan the text to find the correct wording of its main idea, the topic, and the purpose, write out the key words from each paragraph. Formulate the field of research, the topic, the main idea, the purpose of the author (what he wants to inform the reader about). What circumstantial evidence can be inferred from the last paragraph “Key Money Contribution”: With growing competition among the hotel operators in the Middle East, especially for existing projects, there are increasing number of operators offering key money contribution to obtain the rights to manage strategic hotel projects. Key money can be offered in a variety of formats, including;  An absolute monetary amount estimated as a percentage of the Net Present Value (NPV) of the operator’s fees that it expects to earn over the life of the contract, or not exceeding two to three times the stabilized year’s management fees anticipated to be earned by the operator. The amortized key money is often claimed back by the operator if the management contract is terminated prematurely on a pro-rated basis.  A waiver of the technical services fee or making it reimbursable after the hotel opens in the form of key money.  Foregoing base and / or incentive fees for a specified number of years with or without a claw back provision as a key money incentive. Take 5-6 minutes to review and recite the main points of the text with the help of the paragraph headings. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING FEES FOR MANAGING HOSPITALITY BUSINESS Guidelines for reading DOE texts on competitiveness in hospitality management This is an interdisciplinary study on the junction of accounting, economics, management and investment business. Hotel management is complex, and the value of the property is highly dependent on the operating performance of the asset and the achievable levels of service. As such, evaluating the most suitable hotel operating model for a hotel investment is crucial to ensure that the owner’s return is optimized. There is no one-model that fits all and therefore hotel owners should investigate, evaluate, negotiate, and assess the most suitable operating model and brand that will allow them to successfully operate in the ever-changing hospitality market Text 18-2. HOTEL MANAGEMENT AGREEMENTS. Part 2. (Abridged after H. M. Choufany’s, E. Yildirim’s. Evolution of hotel management agreements and rise of alternative agreements. Thursday, 8th October 2020) Franchise Agreements In recent years, the franchising model has become more attractive with established hotel owners in the Middle East region. Our internal research suggests that franchise agreements will account for 20% of signed agreements by end of 2020 and this could further increase to 25% by the end of 2025. This shift also stems from owners' convictions that they have a stronger ability to manage and reduce the operating costs of running a hotel when compared to the international operators ability to create efficiencies and reduce costs in the local market, especially in emerging and secondary cities. Equally, operators recognize the opportunity to expand the brand footprint in growing economies while mitigating some of the commercial risks and significant capital investment. Major international hotel operators such as Hilton, Marriott, IHG and Accor amongst others are entertaining and accepting this operating model as an option to grow further subject to the owners’ ability to maintain brand standards and expect owners to have a management team experienced in hotel operations or hire a qualified third-party manager. Brand attributes play a crucial role in a hotel investor’s choice of franchise affiliation. When evaluating a potential hotel franchise, one of the important economic considerations is the structure and amount of the franchise fees. Second only to payroll, franchise fees are among the largest operating expenses for most hotels. Hotel franchise fees are compensation paid by the franchisee to the franchisor for the use of the brand’s name, logo, marketing, and referral and reservation systems. Franchise fees normally include an initial fee with the franchise application, plus ongoing fees paid periodically throughout the term of the agreement. The typical term of a franchise agreement ranges from 10 to 15 years and the franchisor would typically have the rights to terminate in case the franchisee fails to meet brand standards service requirements. In certain instances, especially with existing hotels, the Franchisor may also require property investment plan and expenditure to align the hotel quality and offering with the brand image. The Initial Fee Typically consists of a minimum dollar amount based on the hotel’s room count. For example, the initial fee may be a minimum of USD 45,000 plus USD 300 per room for each room over 150. Thus, a hotel with 125 rooms would pay USD 360 per room, and a hotel with 200 rooms would pay USD 300 per room. In cases of re-flagging an existing hotel, the initial fee structure is occasionally reduced or waived. Some franchisors will return the initial fee if the franchise is not approved, while others will retain approximately 5% to 20% to cover administrative costs. Ongoing Fees Fees commence when the hotel assumes the franchise affiliation, and fees are usually paid monthly over the term of the agreement. Continuing costs generally include a royalty fee, an advertising or marketing contribution fee, and a reservation fee. In addition, ongoing fees may include loyalty memberships fees and miscellaneous fees. Royalty Fee A royalty fee represents compensation for the use of the brand’s trade name, services marks and associated logos, goodwill, and other franchise services. Royalty fees represent the major source of revenue for the franchisor. These fees are characteristically subject to negotiations between both parties, and can vary by brand, but typically range from 3.0% to 5.0% of rooms revenues. In some instances, franchisors require an additional percentage of other revenue streams, most commonly food and beverage revenue. In these cases, the average amount is 1.0% to 2.0% of total food and beverage revenue (or sometimes all non-rooms revenue), and this is payable on top of the room revenue in certain agreements. If included in the contract at all, F&B and non-rooms revenue fees are more often found in upscale and luxury brands rather than midscale and budget brands. Advertising or Marketing Contribution Fee Brand-wide advertising and marketing consists of national or regional advertising in various types of media, including the Internet, the development and distribution of a brand directory, and marketing geared toward specific groups and segments. In many instances, the advertising or marketing contribution fee goes into a fund that is administered by the franchisor on behalf of all members of the brand. Like the Group Services Fee in hotel management agreement, franchisees ideally want their contribution to impact their region, which may not always be the case. These fees normally range from 1.0 to 2.0% of total revenue. These fees typically vary by market and in some instances are paired with the reservation fee. Third Party Operator Fee Owners equally may be required to hire a third-party operator to manage the day to day operations. Hiring a third-party manager with local market knowledge gives assurance to the franchisor on one hand and allows hotel owners with limited or no hotel experience to manage efficiently. Third party operator fees typically range between 4% and 6% of total revenues and are structured in a similar fashion to the traditional hotel brands (base fee and incentive fee). Additional details on third party managers is included in the section below. Clearly, franchise agreements have become more established in mature markets across the US and Europe and are increasing in popularity and acceptance in the Middle East region. While this operating model is expected to replace some of the old contracts and allow owners more control to optimize the value of the asset through top line enhancements and reduced costs, owners need to evaluate the depth to which a franchise agreement can provide a hotel with recognition, operational support, return on investment, and success. In addition to the franchise model, described above, which at times will require the hotel owner to adhere to a stringent Property Investment Plan “PIP” for certain established brands, the evolution and popularity of independently operated hotels has given way to “soft brands” which are backed by leading hotel chains but have lenient programming and design standards. Soft- branded properties benefit from the reservation and marketing platforms of a large hotel company (often with international recognition), while maintaining nearly total control of business strategy, management, amenity offering, and creative design elements. Soft-branded hotels have different fee structures that are, in most cases, less costly, but the exposure and “brand reach” may be more limited. Independent hotel collections offer the marketing and reservation platform of their parent company, but the development standards and facility programming tend to be more defined and rigorous. The fee structure for these collections appears to be in line with those of similar chainscale-ranked hotels within the respective parent company. Such hotel companies offer a flexible option for owners who seek to maintain the independent positioning of their property but affiliate with a group boasting national or international recognition and corporate accounts. The properties that comprise these “independent” and “soft brands” portfolios are typically firstclass, full-service hotels, often with a smaller guestroom inventory than the norm. One of the largest discrepancies between independent hotels and the traditional franchise model is the application of fees toward revenues. While a typical franchise applies stipulated fees to total rooms revenue, independent hotel companies only apply fees to reservations that stream through their channels. This is typically a reduced portion of total reservations, which can vary greatly per hotel depending on the product or market type (e.g., resort-style hotels, urban markets etc.). However, the overall “franchise” cost to an owner for an independent hotel would consider only those reservations and revenues derived from the independent hotel company. Third Party Management Agreements Third-party or white-label management companies direct the day-to-day operations of hotels on behalf of hotel owners and manage the assets either as independent properties or under a franchise with hotel chains. In turn, they are compensated with management fees (base and incentive fees) and charges for services such as technical fees. The concept of a third-party manager was established decades ago. Its growth has been fueled by increasing number of hotel owners without the expertise or appetite of running hotels and by major hotel chains focusing on franchising as the choice method of expansion in certain markets. While this business model is very well-established in North America and growing rapidly in Europe, it is still in its early stages in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Africa. Third-party management companies are loyal to the owner, where branded operators are loyal first and foremost to the brand. While it is not implied that branded operators ignore the owners’ interests entirely, they do have different priorities. Brand managers will aim to present their brands in the best possible light and may omit to achieve the type of bottom-line profitability that third-party operators are more concerned of. Flexibility is another key strength of third-party operators. As hotel chains impose certain restrictions and brand standards that a hotel must conform to such as property size, facilities, location etc., third-party operators offer more flexibility and adapt more easily to the specific needs and requirements of the owner especially when it comes to independent properties. Owners would also have more influence and control on the operation with a third-party than with a branded operator. The terms of a third-party management agreement are also characteristically more competitive and flexible than those of the brands. Typically, management fees, both base and incentive fees, are lower for independent operators. The initial term of the management agreement is much shorter (starting at a minimum lock in of five to ten years) and exit options are more flexible (including termination at will). A third-party management agreement is an obvious choice for unbranded, independent properties, but can also be a valuable inclusion for franchised hotels, as there remains a gap between owners that are unable or unwilling to control the daily operations of the hotel and the hotel chains who are focusing on expanding their presence via the franchise model. Due to the challenge of hotel owners and franchisors to ensure that their mutual interests are in capable hands, the third-party management model has come into prominence. Although implementing a franchise agreement and a third-party management agreement moves hotels into a double fee scenario (owners would have to pay franchise fees to hotel brands on top of management fees paid to third-party operators), owners are willing to accept this business model for the flexibility of the management contract and more control over the operations. The flexibility also adds to the value proposition when it comes to the sale of the property. For owners of multiple hotels under different brands, selecting a single third-party operator allows for homogenous reporting across all properties, increasing the ease of comparing performance across the portfolio. Manchise Agreements Although this type of agreement only represents a few of the signed agreements in the Middle East region, recent trends suggest that this could be a win-win proposal for both parties. On one hand it provides the operators with further growth opportunities in the region while hotel owners acquire the know-how and experience in running hotels for a limited number of years without being tied to continuous costs and limitations of a management contract. Manchising could be considered as a bridge between management and a franchise agreement. It is becoming ever more prevalent in the region as some owners who have built operational know-how over the years intend to develop a portfolio of hotels under different brands with central management teams. While manchising provides the owners more control over their property and potentially lower fees after a certain number of years, the cost of building capable management teams and the potential risks of underperformance under a franchise operating model remain important factors to be considered. From the operators’ perspective, manchising minimizes the risk of diluting the brand equity as opposed to franchise agreements since it enables the operator to establish strict operating controls in the initial years. Hence, some luxury, upper-upscale and lifestyle brands which may not be immediately available for franchising due to the operators’ concerns on maintaining the brand standards can be acquired through manchising agreements. It should also be noted that some of the Tier 1 operators accept manchising agreement on the condition that the owner accepts to appoint a third-party operator who has extensive experience in managing branded hotel operations. A manchise is a complex agreement where the right to execute to convert into a franchise is typically granted to the owner by the Operator, unless negotiated to be guaranteed after a specified period. Aligning the objectives between the two parties also increase the legal complexity of the agreements. Typically, two sets of agreements are signed between the owner and operator with a typical length of the management agreement being 5 to 7 years. It is also common that the fees payable to the operator are higher during the management term to compensate for the shorter length of the agreement. Despite the complexity of entering into two sets of agreements, this model is considered to be advantageous to owners who require a greater control of the operations of their hotel and may not be ready to enter into a franchise agreement from the early start. As discussed previously, the “Manchise: Management-Franchise” concept is gaining popularity though it is too early to comment on issues arising at the end of the management term and the start of the franchise term. Lease Agreements Lease agreements are arguably the least common contract type between hotel owners and operators in the Middle East. Nonetheless, we have observed an increasing number of owners showing interest to explore this option for their assets in recent years. Under a lease agreement, the owner is the landlord and has no operational responsibilities. The lease agreements provide the most risk-averse operating model for owners with minimum financial risk and a relatively stable income stream. In addition, predictability of the lease income over a certain period provides the owners with the ability to seek financing at more favorable terms. The main disadvantages of the lease agreements for the owners are the opportunity cost of higher potential returns if the hotels perform well and the lack of control over the operation of the asset. On the other hand, the majority of the hotel operators do not have the same appetite for lease agreements due to their asset-light business model. Under a lease agreement, the operator incurs all operating financial risk. Fixed lease expenses for the operators are considered as liabilities in their balance sheet which do not bode well with their risk-averse strategy. Nevertheless, some operators within the economy segment as well as new operators that are yet to establish their brand in the region consider lease agreements as opportunities to expand their footprint in the Middle East. While the model has not been tested by most of the operators in the region, we are of the opinion that the lease agreements provide an appealing alternative model for the operators who are willing to take risks for higher returns and strategic expansion of their brands. The length of the lease agreements are typically shorter as opposed to management and franchise agreements. Under a lease agreement, there are different rent structures depending on both the owner’s and the operator’s risk appetites. These structures include fixed fee, share of revenue, and share of net operating income.  Fixed fee is a fixed rental payment with indexed growth over a certain period. Under the fixed fee structure, the owner bears the minimum risk as the income stream is not contingent upon the performance of the property.  Share of revenue is a variable lease structure wherein the rent is calculated based on the revenue generated in a year. Both operator and owner share similar level of risk under this structure as the rent is linked to top-line performance of the hotel.  Share of Net Operating Income is another variable lease structure wherein the rent is calculated as a percentage of the net operating income. Under this structure, the risk for the hotel owner is relatively higher since the income stream is not only dependent on the top line but also operator’s ability to manage expenses and drive bottom-line performance. Variable leases may include a fixed base rent in addition to the variable component which would reduce the owner’s risk in case of a potential underperformance by the operator. We are of the opinion that such a hybrid lease model is the most balanced structure in terms of risk and reward for both the operators and the owners. In conclusion, while the interest in lease agreements have been mainly from the owners with little enthusiasm from the operators, we believe the lease model has the potential to offer significant benefits to both owners and operators in the Middle East. . Instruction In this unit, your assignment is to produce an essay based on the two combined texts: Text 18-1 “Hotel management agreements. Part 1.” and text 18-2 “Hotel management agreements. part 2.” Try hard to itemize the management contracts and awards in two ore three types and avoid enumerating all of them. Have you ever started writing an essay then realized you have run out of ideas to talk about? This can make you feel deflated and you start to hate your essay! The best way to avoid this mid-essay disaster is to plan ahead. Essay planning is one of the most important skills to teach students who should have an essay plan and clear goals about what to write. Essay planning isn’t as dull as you think. In fact, it really does only take a short amount of time and can make you feel relieved that you know what you’re doing! Use an essay planning sheet: https://www.sites.google.com/site/essafterschooltutoring/home/writing/essay-planningsheet A good essay plan helps you arrange your ideas logically and stay on track during the writing process. Your plan should state how you're going to prove your argument, including the evidence you're going to use. Structure your plan around the different parts of an essay. To do this:  Write your argument in one sentence at the top of the page – you'll flesh this out into your introduction.  Write three or four key points that you think will support your argument. Try to write each point in one sentence. These will become your topic sentences.  Under each point, write down one or two examples from your research that support your point. These can be quotes, paraphrased text from reliable authors, etc. Remember to reference your examples when you write up your essay.  Finally, write the main point you want to leave in your reader's mind – that's your conclusion. Use an essay planning sheet: http://www.anderson.k12.ky.us/Downloads/Essay_outline_worksheet(1).pdf How much time will you have to allot to write your essay? Here is your time scheme: 8. Figure out your Essay Topic (5 minutes) 9. Gather your Sources and take Quick Notes (20 minutes) 10. Brainstorm using a Mind-Map (10 minutes) 11. Arrange your Topics (2 minutes) 12. Write your topic Sentences (5 minutes) 13. Write a No-Pressure Draft in 3 Hours (3 hours) 14. Edit your Draft Once every Few Days until Submission (30 minutes) UNIT 19. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AS A SCIENCE Guidelines for reading DOE texts on landscape architecture This is an interdisciplinary study on the junction of landscape design, architecture, nature environment, conservation biology and quantum mechanics. Landscape architecture is a profession that is unknown or misunderstood as gardening by many. Its value to society is greater than many can imagine and should be celebrated by the population of every town, city, and country. The profession is so broad and encompassing that there is enough scope and breadth in it to accommodate varying views and to remember that landscape architects have a wide range of expertise, skills and talents. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 19-1. INTERDISCIPLINARY CHARACTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AS A SCIENCE (Abridged after B. Davis’ and Th. Oles’ “From Architecture to Landscape,” Places Journal, October 2014) Introduction Landscape architecture is the study and practice of designing environments (outdoors & indoors) of varying scale that encompasses elements of art, environment, architecture, engineering, and sociology. Landscape architects analyze, plan, design, manage, and nurture the built and natural environments. Landscape architects have a significant impact on communities and quality of life. They design parks, campuses, streetscapes, trails, plazas, and other projects that help define a community. The involvement of landscape architects can be seen in streets, roads, shared paths, housing estates, apartment compounds, shopping malls, squares, plazas, gardens, pocket parks, playgrounds, cemeteries, memorials, museums, schools, universities, transport networks, regional parks, national parks, forests, waterways and across towns, cities and countries. Landscape architects often go beyond design creating frameworks and policies for place and city shaping that enable citizens and government to create better places for all. Landscape architecture is remaking itself from the confines of garden, park, and plaza into strange and difficult territory, where it faces challenges of a greater order. How will our cities adapt to rising seas? How do we respond to the mass extinction of our fellow species? How can we build places that are more just? Such questions mock the very notion of disciplinary boundaries. Many practitioners and scholars are transgressing the bounds of landscape architecture, adapting methods from fields as diverse as conservation biology and quantum mechanics, as they pursue more syncretic ways of understanding and shaping environments. These changes correspond to a growing interest in landscape, broadly defined, which is more prominent in contemporary culture than at any time since the 18th century. Architects, especially, have been drawn to the theme, as demonstrated by recent conferences of the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture, that identified “landscape research” as “a fundamental, integrated research field”. And yet landscape architecture remains in thrall to the discipline whose name it has borne for over a century. But most landscape practitioners know the name doesn’t quite fit, though few give it further thought. If it hasn’t stopped the production of innovative work, they reason, where is the harm? The crucial question is whether the apparent alliance of landscape and architecture conceals other possibilities for how these two parties might relate to each other, and how they might relate to the world. The origin of the term “landscape architecture” First, we must remember that the English term landscape architecture in its modern sense dates to 1840, when the landscape gardener John Claudius Loudon, fresh from the commercial success of his Suburban Gardener, published an anthology of the complete writings of his friend and teacher Humphry Repton, who had died in 1818. Loudon gave the volume an unusual title: The Landscape Gardening and Landscape Architecture of the Late Humphry Repton, Esq. Repton was the first landscape professional. The first American practitioner of this art was Andrew Jackson Downing, whose Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841) was a translation of Loudon and Repton for an American audience. Although he worked closely with architects, particularly Alexander Jackson Davis and Calvert Vaux (later the partner of Frederick Law Olmsted), Downing never saw fit to adopt Loudon’s novel formulation. In fact, he repeatedly emphasized differences between the landscape and its buildings; the latter he understood as “component parts of the general scene.” Landscape and architecture were certainly related (those houses contained, after all, his clients), but the relation was one of adjacency rather than affinity. Loudon’s neologism did not catch on in North America until the 1860s, when Olmsted and Vaux took up the title as “Landscape Architects” for Central Park. Olmsted explained his thinking: “I prefer that we should call ourselves Landscape Architects … rather than landscape gardeners … because the former title better carries the professional idea.” The early years of the American Society of Landscape Architects (founded in 1899) and Landscape Architecture Magazine (founded in 1910) were filled with discussions. Despite growing awareness of landscape issues most people did not understand what landscape architects do and why they are necessary. The name helped legitimize the field at the moment of its definition, but that social standing came at the cost of imposing technical, aesthetic, and statutory boundaries that constrain landscape architecture even today. Over the decades, many practitioners have proposed alternate names. Some have fled from “landscape” altogether (“land architecture,” which had many adherents at mid-century, lives on), while others have tried to highlight the discipline’s horticultural origins (landscape architecture at Cornell began as a program in “rural arts”). Few practitioners have fully embraced “landscape” on its own terms, and those who have done so (one thinks of “landscape design” and “landscaping”) define those terms so narrowly that their adherents find themselves banished to an extra-professional (though still profitable) realm of lawns, flagstones, and wood chips. Alternative terms Landscape urbanism — one of the most vigorous subfields to have emerged in the last 20 years — has engendered productive discussions and opened up new lines of inquiry in the related fields of landscape, architecture, and planning. This is not to say that landscape urbanism reduces landscape to a mere programmable surface. As Stan Allen observes, “landscape has traditionally been defined as the art of organizing horizontal surfaces … but the surface in landscape is more particular than the abstract surfaces currently proliferating in architectural design. … In fact, it is slightly misleading to refer to ‘surface’ in landscape. Landscape’s matter is spread out in the horizontal dimension, but landscapes are never, strictly speaking, pure surfaces.” These ideas have been important in the development of landscape urbanism and at times are powerful and useful. But they also represent a privileging of architectural terms and concepts over those of soil science, anthropology, and civil engineering. When taken as the whole project of landscape architecture, they represent a narrowing of the possible with respect to conceiving, experiencing, and making landscapes. Indeed, rather than constantly reformulating landscape-asarchitecture, or changing it to landscape-as-something, we should endeavor to locate a more fundamental and capacious understanding of landscape, something that gets to the root of these formulations. So what are the alternatives? Simply landscape might be better, though we hesitate to add yet another meaning to an already contested word. But the main problem with all these alternatives is that they lack the capacity to command social legitimacy and economic resources, or exactly those things that architecture offered in the late 19th century. We need a term that is both broader and more specific, a term that can help simultaneously expand and focus the field. And for that there is only one real candidate. We therefore propose that landscape architecture become landscape science. Landscape science Now we have opened a world of problems, not least that the word science brings its own conflicting associations. The high value placed on “data” and “efficiency” in our current political-economic situation (as seen, for example, in the discourse on smart cities and ecosystem services) have contributed to a popular understanding of scientific inquiry as the cold pursuit of quantifiable phenomena and material effects, devoid of creativity and divorced from artistic production. This has crowded out the original, more exciting definition: Science // a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws; knowledge gained by systematic study. This definition points the way toward the new landscape science. A landscape is not mere surface; it cannot be defined and understood by outward appearance alone. Landscape science will fundamentally endeavor to investigate the difference between surface and substance, or appearance and essence. Landscape architecture and other processes of landscape-making are forms of artistic production, that they are fundamentally creative acts. Yet science is not devoid of creativity and we should not be so quick to judge it so. Conceiving the practice of landscape science as a process of creative fitting, we should establish our own integrated science, with its own specific methods, concepts, and techniques, including archaeology, ecology, environmental studies, history, planning, psychology and sociology. Many methods and techniques are interchangeable across disciplines [and] it is the way they are used, combined, and linked to theoretical propositions and practical actions in a coherent overarching strategy that gives them a distinctive disciplinary character. Landscape science is the organization of this work into a systematic study of landscapes themselves, and of processes of landscape-making, in an effort to discern the difference between surface and substance, appearance and essence. Building from these roots in the history of landscape architecture, as well as contemporary work by scholars we might take up the European Science Foundation’s call to “establish landscape research as an integrated research field both in terms of its interdisciplinary character and its potential to produce substantial social, economic, and environmental benefits.” Allied fields such as forestry and geography have already laid claims on the term landscape science, but that should be no deterrent . To the contrary: it strengthens the general insight, that there is no reason architectural concerns should be understood as more basic or fundamental than those of geography and forestry. What we must now uncover is how the normative dimension that is fundamental to landscape design relates to and integrates with more descriptive sciences such as geography or forestry. This brings us to the point about the new landscape science: it is a normative science, concerned with developing a systematic knowledge of what should be. It requires testing limits and evaluating, not merely describing or generalizing facts. Inherent to the normative sciences is a critical dimension intimately related to values and desired outcomes. Normative sciences investigate the relations between empirical relation and ends, and may be divided into three categories: aesthetics, ethics, and logic. More simply, normative science “distinguishes what ought to be from what ought not to be.” The subject matter of landscape architecture It is common now in landscape architectural practice to work in and with formerly marginal landscapes: not just parks and promenades, but mine sites, active rail corridors, marine ports, landfills, interstate overpasses, river spillways, and old factory sites. Often this work (built and speculative) involves developing possible futures for these sites, relying on well-worn typologies and aesthetic tropes — usually by making them park-like. However, there are exceptions: projects by practioners investigating novel possibilities, new sets of relations, and alternative organizational structures and experiences as a response to dereliction, toxicity, shifting cultural values, or changing climate. If we aim to continue and further these projects under the mantle of landscape science, we must ask two primary questions: “What can landscape practice learn from this situation? And what can we bring to the table?” For too long, a dependence on architecture has enabled landscape architects to take for granted our role as actors in landscape-making. We work on highly valued social landscapes, such as parks, playgrounds, and the immediate surroundings of important buildings, and we have developed a set of conventional techniques for the design of these boutique environments. Yet just as it is possible to work with a diverse array of landscapes, it is also possible to conceive diverse modes of practice. Imagine landscape forensics as a subfield of landscape science that could systematically extend the professional practice of site analysis. Forensics might be most powerfully applied to landscapes of extraction, post-industrial landscapes, sites of ongoing social conflict, or places where violence predominates, but it could also be used to change the way we work within more traditional recreation landscapes, and to suggest ways of interpreting, constructing, and otherwise contributing to the everyday, prosaic landscapes that constitute most of our environment. What can we learn? What can we bring? With these two questions, landscape practice is fundamentally positioned as a process of inquiry. If we undertake that process systematically, it is a science. The articulation of a new landscape science will also benefit those designers who have classified some of their production as research in an effort to compete for legitimacy and funding. The Landscape Morphologies Lab at the University of Southern California offers an instructive case. Building from a foundation of landscape architecture and computer science, the lab “explores the intersection of landscape form and infrastructural performance” through rigorous, integrated research projects with engineers, planners, policy-makers, and architects. In this effort, architecture is often an important contributing discipline. Cultures with rich traditions of landscape-making are often excluded from the modern canon of landscape architectural history, theory, and practice. In Argentina, for instance, significant landscapes built by alliances of agronomists, architects, gardeners, and engineers are not part of landscape architecture discourse because they do not fit neatly within the Northern European tradition. And around the world, the inventive, appropriate concepts and projects of vernacular and indigenous landscape-makers are often left to the realm of anthropology or archaeology, if they are acknowledged at all. People who study landscape science might be known as landscape architects, but also landscape geographers, landscape engineers, and landscape anthropologists (just as they have already started to claim titles such as landscape ecologist, landscape archaeologist, and landscape urbanist), or they might call themselves, more generally, landscape scientists. The new landscape science will also give space at the table to related practices that are fundamentally important but often ignored or denigrated. Maintenance workers, tree pruners, landscapers, and heavy machine operators should be seen not as imperfect executors of design intent, but rather as collaborators in the process of making and studying landscapes, just as clients, users, inhabitants are sometimes understood today. Subfields such as chorology (study of land) or landscape metrology (study of metrics) could emerge to address broader, systemic questions in specific ways. The metaphor of landscape-as-architecture is historical, not ontological. It was made, and it can be remade or unmade to meet new demands and new realities Instruction: Now you know that landscape architecture is much more than the art of organizing horizontal surfaces, landscape-making or creating frameworks for places and cities. You can demonstrate the inadequacy and inappropriateness of such a view of landscape architecture, paying attention to the ways in which practitioners and scholars are transgressing the bounds of landscape architecture, adapting methods from fields as diverse as conservation biology and quantum mechanics, as they pursue more syncretic ways of understanding and shaping environments. Keep this fact in mind while reading and discussing the text. You should begin by asking and answering overview questions about the research field, the subject matter, or the main purpose of the text. These questions will help you identify most important points, the essence of the field of landscape architecture and write a good abstract of the text. What is the research field of the text? What is the subject matter and main topic of the passage? What is the author's purpose in writing this passage? What is the main point of this passage? What news is emphasized in the passage? In what lines is the most significant information given? Caution: The correct answers for main idea, main topic, and main purpose questions summarize the main points of the passage; they must be more general than any of the supporting ideas or details, but not so general that they include ideas outside the scope of the text. Now you are well prepared to write a half-page abstract of the text. An abstract is a 120- to 500-word paragraph that provides readers with a quick overview of your essay or report and its organization. It should express your thesis (or central idea) and your key points; it should also suggest any implications or applications of the research you discuss in the paper. An abstract is a concise summary of the entire text.  The function of an abstract is to describe, not to evaluate or defend, the paper.  The abstract should begin with a brief but precise statement of the problem or issue, followed by a description of the research method and design, the major findings, and the conclusions reached.  The abstract should contain the most important key words referring to method and content: these facilitate access to the abstract by computer search and enable a reader to decide whether to read the entire dissertation. Note: Your abstract should read like an overview of your paper, not a proposal for what you intended to study or accomplish. Avoid beginning your sentences with phrases like, “This essay will examine...” or “In this research paper I will attempt to prove...” Abstracts usually spend  25% of their space on the purpose and importance of the research (Introduction)  25% of their space on what you did (Methods)  35% of their space on what you found (Results)  15% of their space on the implications of the research PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FOR URBAN AND RURAL AREAS Guidelines for reading DOE texts on landscape architecture for planning urban and rural areas. The text highlights the relationship between the process of planning urban and rural areas and the specialisation of landscape architecture. This is a relatively new field of professional and resesearch activities. It is an artistic, professional and scientific field that is focused on the theoretical foundations of shaping landscapes and the development of practical methods of designing them. It is a process of the internal renewal of degraded urban or rural spaces, determining the natural and cultural values which define the identity of an area. Landscape architecture plays a remarkable role in the practice of urban design, and practitioners and students of landscape architecture continuously embrace this important dimension of the profession. Real places are perceived and seen as landscapes, dependent on physical and mental points of view, with foregrounds and backgrounds always switching positions. Text 19-2. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN AS A PROFESSION AND SCIENCE (Abridged after “Geography and Environmental Science”. Southhampton university, 2020) 1. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS PLAN, DESIGN, CREATE AND MANAGE LANDSCAPES AND OPEN SPACES, IN BOTH NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS Your role as a landscape architect will be to provide innovative and aesthetically-pleasing environments for people to enjoy, while ensuring that changes to the natural environment are appropriate, sensitive and sustainable. Collaborating closely with other professionals, you'll work on a range of projects in both urban and rural settings - from parks, gardens and housing estates to city centre design, sporting sites and motorway construction. Types of landscape architect You may work across one or all five of the main areas of landscape architecture:  landscape design  landscape management  landscape planning  landscape science  urban design. Landscape architects work in teams of town planners, architects, engineers and surveyors to plan, design and manage the landscape around us. Planning our towns and cities The work of a landscape architect tends to cover both urban and rural areas, creating environments for people to enjoy, while ensuring that the projects are appropriate and sustainable. Landscape architects shape the world we live in, with responsibility for parks, nature reserves and industrial landscapes. Typical work activities:  Overseeing the design of projects in urban regeneration, road, retail or natural  Creating plans, designs and drawings  Conducting site studies and monitoring progress  Presenting proposals and dealing with enquiries  Preparing detailed plans and working drawings using computer aided design (CAD) and similar software.  Ensuring the ecological health of landscapes  Supporting biodiversity  Researching climate change, food shortages and increased energy demands alongside relevant policy, and adapt to respond  Generating new business  Discussing requirements with clients  Producing contracts and cost estimates Travel can be a major part of the job, as many landscape architects live and work abroad, or have overseas clients. Landscape architecture addresses concerns such as climate change, sustainability, water and housing. The role involves a lot of collaborating with landscape contractors, environmentalists, surveyors and engineers. Qualifying as a landscape architect Landscape architecture is likely to require further study on top of your geography degree. It is sometimes possible to combine this study with gaining experience, so be sure to research the sort of course you want to take. Qualifications 1. A degree in a relevant subject, such as geography. 2. A postgraduate qualification in landscape architecture. These are usually very competitive, so having a relevant degree is helpful. Make sure to take a course which is accredited by the Landscape Institute 3. Gaining membership of the Landscape Institute, which requires two years of practical experience and a practical exam. 4. Responsibilities As a landscape architect, you'll need to:  oversee the design of a variety of projects, including urban regeneration schemes, pedestrian schemes, road or retail schemes and maintain the character of sites of natural beauty  establish general landscape requirements with clients  conduct preliminary studies of the site (including contours, soil, ecology, buildings, roads, heritage)  assess a site's potential to meet the client's specifications  carry out environmental impact assessments  seek and take into account the views of local residents, potential users, and parties with a vested interest in the project  accurately prepare and present detailed plans and working drawings of the redesign of the new site, including applications, construction details and specifications for the project using computer-aided design (CAD) packages or similar design software  present proposals to clients, deal with enquiries and negotiate any amendments to the final design  match the client's wishes with your knowledge of what will work best  contact and coordinate manufacturers and suppliers  put work out to tender, select a contractor and manager (mainly for larger projects), and lead cross-functional teams  carry out site visits  ensure deadlines are met  liaise with other professionals on the project  monitor and check work on site (on large projects, landscape managers may do this type of supervisory work)  authorise payment once work has been satisfactorily completed  attend public inquiries to give evidence if necessary  generate new business opportunities. Salary    As a graduate landscape architect, you'll earn in the region of £20,000 to £24,000. Once chartered, you’ll earn between £30,000 and £45,000. Salaries may be higher for very senior positions. For experienced landscape architects, financial rewards may be higher in the private sector, especially if partner status is obtained. Income figures are intended as a guide only. Working hours Your working hours may fluctuate. There is a standard 37-hour, five-day week, but evening and weekend working is not unusual. Hours are likely to be particularly irregular when working to a tight deadline. Shift work is rare. What to expect  Your time will be split between the office and site visits. Site visits involve working in all weather conditions, so protective clothing may be required on some occasions.  A large proportion of landscape architecture jobs are in private practices, with a smaller percentage of professionals working for local authorities.  Landscape architecture is one of the few built environment professions made up of an equal number of men and women.  There are opportunities to work overseas, often in Europe and the Middle East.  With excellent design and business skills, plenty of experience and an established list of clients and contacts, self-employment could be an option. Qualifications Landscape architecture is a chartered profession and the first step towards getting chartered status is to ensure that you have reached Masters level on a higher education course accredited by the LI (Landscape Institute). Courses are available in areas such as:  conservation management  garden design  landscape architecture  landscape design and ecology  landscape management  urban planning or design. Undergraduate degree courses typically last three or four years and usually include an option for work experience placements in industry. If you already have an undergraduate degree that isn't accredited by the LI, you can still enter the profession by completing an LI-accredited postgraduate conversion course. These courses generally last between 18 months and two years full time, or longer if part time. For a place on the conversion course you do not need to have studied a related undergraduate degree, but should have a keen interest in design and the environment. All students on LI-accredited courses are encouraged to sign up to be a student member of the LI. Membership gives you access to events and professional networks and the chance to enter the Student Travel Awards competition. You'll also receive a Student News quarterly email and industry update. Student members on accredited courses receive an automatic upgrade to licentiate membership when they graduate. Skills You'll need to have:  good design/drawing skills, including computer-aided design (CAD)  excellent communication and negotiating skills  creative ability, imagination and enthusiasm  a concern for the environment and an understanding of conservation issues  a practical outlook  good observation skills and an eye for detail. Work experience Relevant pre-entry experience is desirable as it shows your interest and commitment to the landscape profession. Most courses include industrial placements, but if yours doesn't, consider finding vacation or part-time work. Anything in a landscape-based area will be useful, as will any work that involves design or creative skills. Volunteering projects linked to the environment can also help. To organise a work placement or visit to an organisation, use the LI Practice Directory to locate practices in your area and get in touch about available opportunities. Employers Typical employers of landscape architects include:  the construction industry  local authorities  private practices  public bodies  water companies. In the public sector, landscape architects tend to work for environmental agencies, local authorities and government agencies. There are also opportunities within voluntary organisations. In the private sector, landscape architects are largely employed by architect and landscape architect companies, or by companies specialising in landscape engineering. A number of recruitment agencies specialising in architecture, environment and construction advertise vacancies for landscape architects. These include: Professional development After successfully completing an accredited undergraduate or postgraduate course you'll be eligible for Licentiate Membership of the LI. This is followed by a period of mentored experience, which is carried out while you work, as part of the Pathway to Chartership (P2C). Successful completion of the P2C leads to chartered status and full membership of the LI. Once you have full membership, you'll be known as a Chartered Member of the Landscape Institute and can use the letters CMLI after your name. The P2C develops your knowledge, understanding and professionalism in landscape architecture and ensures that you have the required competencies for chartered status. Most people need between one to three years working on the P2C in professional practice before moving on to the final stage, which is an oral examination, but everyone progresses at their own pace. When you become chartered you are required to carry out a minimum of 25 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) a year. This can be gained in a variety of ways and the LI has details of CPD days and other useful events on its website. For those at the top of the profession, there is the opportunity to apply for Fellowship-level membership with the LI. Career prospects You can progress your career as a landscape architect in a number of ways; by taking on greater responsibility, taking charge of projects, managing a team, or becoming a specialist in a certain area. The rate of progression will depend on how ambitious you are and how quickly you acquire additional knowledge and skills. The most important landmark in your career is obtaining chartered membership, as this demonstrates that you are a fully qualified landscape architect. With substantial experience and strong commercial awareness, you may progress to leading consultancy roles, become a partner in private practice, or set up your own business. To be successful in private practice, you'll need a good client and contact base as well as excellent experience, knowledge and skills. Lecturing at higher education institutions is an alternative career option, or possibly something you could pursue part time to complement other work. 2. URBAN DESIGNERS CREATE PRACTICAL AND VISUALLY PLEASING PLACES, INCLUDING BUILDINGS, OPEN SPACES AND LANDSCAPES Working as a vital part of a much bigger team, your role as an urban designer will be to help to bring viable developments to life, ensuring that the environments you create are both useful and enjoyable. Urban design has grown considerably as a career path and a career in this field offers an interesting and varied environment with good opportunities for progression. The sector continues to grow at a steady rate in line with growing populations. Types of urban design work You would usually specialise in one area, such as:  urban environments - towns and cities  rural environments - villages  spatial - parks, open landscapes  generalist - working on projects that range across all of the above. Responsibilities As an urban designer, you'll need to:  survey land and buildings, analyse their current use and make recommendations for their future development  work under your own initiative and direction, as part of a large and multi-skilled team, including architects, local government, building contractors, material suppliers and local communities  be creative and innovative in your ability to picture buildings and landscapes in your mind before creating them on paper  apply your vision to designing a variety of built spaces, either creating brand new designs or revising and improving existing ones – these could range from small individual streets, parks and squares to major towns, housing areas and cities  work on projects as diverse as airports or hospitals  create detailed drawings using your artistic or graphic skills, converting your vision into a technical drawing, using specific programmes and software such as computer-aided design (CAD)  develop excellent relationships with people - both colleagues and wider groups such as planners, architects, politicians and local communities  understand the needs of people who will be using the space you design; through research and analysis you will consider political, environmental, social, economic, spatial, psychological and physical factors  use your communication skills, empathy and knowledge to negotiate with and influence people to make better informed decisions about successfully planned spaces  educate communities involved with the planning of their local region or neighbourhood  work with the wider planning team to ensure policies and guidance are followed. Salary  Starting salaries for junior urban designers are between £22,000 and £25,000.  Experienced urban designers can earn between £29,000 and £40,000.  Senior urban designers, or those in the position of partner or associate within a firm, could earn £45,000 to £55,000+ depending on the types and size of projects undertaken. Most urban designers are employed by an organisation, rather than working on a freelance basis, though some go on to launch their own urban design consultancies. Depending on the type and size of organisation you work for, you may be given some benefits such as a mobile phone or company car, as the role requires regular site visits. Income figures are intended as a guide only. Working hours You can expect a varied and busy career as an urban designer which is reflected in the working hours and environment. While some of your time will be office based and Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, there will also be plenty of on-site visits to check on the progress of your work and help deal with any challenges that arise. Meetings with local communities often occur during the evenings, so some evening and weekend work is to be expected. Although paid overtime isn't usually offered for work done outside your usual hours, organisations often offer time off in lieu. Taking annual leave usually takes place outside of peak times or deadline periods within a project. Part-time work and job share are possible. What to expect  The work can be stressful, particularly when project deadlines are due, so you'll need to enjoy a fast-paced and constantly evolving work environment and be able to work under pressure.  Urban design can be hugely rewarding work. You'll be involved in creating places and spaces that improve peoples' lives and will create a legacy across towns, cities, villages and open spaces, often working for greater sustainability and positive environmental impact.  It's essential to be self-motivated and highly organised for this role. You'll be looked to as the expert in your field of urban design and will need to help to lead the project, ensuring it's delivered on time and within budget.  You may find that for formal meetings with officials or community groups you'll be required to wear smart or business dress. Casual, practical clothes are worn for site visits. When on site you'll also be required to wear the appropriate safety garments, such as a hard hat, high-visibility jacket or steel toe-capped boots. Qualifications As an urban designer, you'll have completed a Bachelors degree in a related subject or a foundation degree that enables you to progress with further undergraduate study. Suitable subjects include:  architecture  built environment  civil engineering  construction management  economics  geography  graphic design  human geography  urban design  urban planning. Unlike other sectors, such as architecture, urban design is not an accredited profession and there is no professional body governing the content of higher education courses in the field. You may therefore find that course content varies from one university to another. Many employers look for a Masters level qualification in a relevant subject, plus additional work experience. So, if you have for example studied architecture as an undergraduate, you could consider completing a Masters qualification in urban design in addition. A less common route into urban design could be moving across from a related role, such as town planning. This would most likely involve completing a part-time Masters in a related subject as part of your professional development. As populations grow, the need for suitable living spaces created by urban and rural planning increases. As a result, the urban design sector continues to expand with good opportunities and prospects. In addition to the relevant qualifications, work experience is absolutely key in securing your first post. Skills You'll need to have:  a keen interest in both design and the built environment  an ability to work on complex projects which are prone to change  good technical and artistic skills  a strong analytical and problem-solving mindset  a resilient approach  good communication skills, including the ability to listen, educate and empathize  the ability to juggle multiple priorities  excellent organization skills, needed to meet deadlines  a good head for figures so that you can understand budgets, keep track of costs and provide estimates of costings for design work to be done  an interest in working independently and as part of a multi-skilled team  excellent attention to detail  skills in the relevant software technological programs, or the aptitude to learn from appropriate training  a willingness to present to groups of people at all levels  a strong desire to make changes to the built environment for the better  passion for the complex and changeable scope and future of cities, towns, villages and landscapes. Work experience Urban design is a highly practical and skilled profession, so previous work experience either in a voluntary capacity or as part of a program of study is essential. Many courses offer the opportunity to engage with relevant placements or internships, but the focus will be on you to source and secure these. The type of work experience you get will depend on the type of organization, you work for - from public sector to private sector and small to large firms. The more work experience you can complete, the better. Try to obtain experience with a variety of employers, covering a range of project sizes and types. A breadth of experience will give you a strong advantage and a very useful insight. Employers Urban designers are employed by both the private and public sector. Employers include consultancies, developers and local authorities. The types of design projects you'll work on will largely depend on the type and size of organization you are employed by and whether the organization has a specialism. For example, a consultancy that specializes in sustainability or green builds, or a local authority with a mandate for the growth of schools in the region. Employment within an organization is common, but with enough experience, you may go on to start your own business or consultancy. To pursue the self-employed option, you'll need to be highly motivated and have a good understanding of what is entailed in running a business. Setting up your own consultancy would give you the chance to specialize within a particular area of interest or take a generalist approach to projects undertaken. Professional development As your urban design career grows, there are plenty of opportunities for professional development. Since there is currently no governing professional body, you'll need to explore training and development options based on your own interests and skills. This can be done in partnership with your employer. You could, for example, decide you'd like to undertake additional training in a niche area such as design for sustainable cities, or to undertake training on policy developments in urban planning. You may want to consider blending this approach with skills development in leadership and management. Most often, training will take place through external courses, conferences or workshops and seminars, such as those listed on Urban Design Group. Due to the growth in the sector there are continual advances in the technology, so it's important to keep your knowledge up to date. Depending on your route into urban design, you may also find your professional development grows in line with your original subject of study. For example, if you studied architecture as an undergraduate, you would have registered as a free member of RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects) for stages 1 and 2, and will continue to benefit from their continuing professional development (CPD) courses for the duration of your membership. Career prospects With your qualifications and work experience in place, you could expect to begin your career in urban design in a junior entry-level role. This should give you plenty of opportunity to gain experience, build your portfolio of work and increase your understanding of which way you'd like to develop your career. After five or so years, you could expect to move into more senior urban design roles, receiving a higher salary and undertaking more complex or larger-scale projects, for which you would have increased responsibility. Typically, after approximately ten to fifteen years and depending on the experience you have gained and skills you have developed, you could be working at associate or partner level (in a consultancy based environment), or as a head of department within a local authority, or private sector company such as Arup. At this level it's likely that you'll have overall responsibility for large-scale design projects, including budget and team management. Instruction: This text is a brief description of responsibilities, duties and perspectives that will await a person planning to become a landscape architect and urban designer. Landscape architecture is remaking itself and its adherents are venturing from the confines of garden, park, and plaza into strange and difficult territory, where they face challenges of a greater order. How will our cities adapt to overpopulation? How can we build places that are more just? Such questions mock the very notion of disciplinary boundaries. These changes correspond to a growing interest in broadly identified “landscape research” worthy of sustained attention. Most landscape practitioners know the name doesn’t quite fit, though few give it further thought. The crucial question is whether the apparent alliance of landscape and architecture conceals other possibilities for how these two parties might relate to each other, and how they might relate to the world. Write a one/two-page summary of the text. Ask and answer overview questions: What is the field of research of this text? What is the purpose of writing it? What is the author's main point in the passage? What is the main topic of this passage? What is the main idea of the passage? What does the passage mainly discuss? Why was this passage written? Write a "stand-alone" summary to show the teacher and fellow students that you you are prepared to cope with this assignment: 1.Outline the article. Start your summary with a clear identification of the type of work, title, author, and main point in the present tense. Note the major points. 2.Write a first draft of the summary without looking at the article. Target your first draft for approximately 1/4 the length of the original. 3. Check with your outline and your original to make sure you have covered the important points. 4. Always use paraphrase when writing a summary. If you do copy a phrase from the original be sure it is a very important phrase that cannot be paraphrased. In this case put "quotation marks" around the phrase. 5. Never put any of your own ideas, opinions, or interpretations into the summary. This means you have to be very careful of your word choice. 4. Periodically remind your reader that this is a summary by using phrases such as the article claims, the author suggests, etc. Write a complete bibliographic citation at the beginning of your summary. A complete bibliographic citation includes as a minimum, the title of the work, the author, the source. UNIT 20. PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR BUILDING PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT Guidelines for reading DOE texts on public speaking No matter what your professional and research field may be you need to master skills of public speaking, which is a great way of building personal development on many levels, since improving communication skills is helpful in almost every area of life. Whether your goal is to engage in political debate, make a career as a motivational speaker or gain confidence in front of an audience, public speaking can help you meet your goal. Public speaking can significantly boost your confidence. Overcoming the fears and insecurities that accompany public speaking is empowering. Furthermore, connecting with audiences can be a strong reminder that you have valuable insights and opinions to share with the world. Your confidence levels will grow as you go from speaking to small groups of people up to large audiences. This will benefit you not just on stage, but in everyday life as well, whether it be in a meeting or on a date. PART 1. THE SKILLS OF INTENSIVE READING Text 20-1. WHAT IS PUBLIC SPEAKING? AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? (Abridged after Fundamentals of Public Speaking. Introduction Guide. 18 Jun 2018) A Public Speaking Definition What is public speaking? Basically, it's a presentation that's given live before an audience. Public speeches can cover a wide variety of different topics. The goal of the speech may be to educate, entertain, or influence the listeners. Often, visual aids in the form of an electronic slideshow are used to supplement the speech and make it more interesting to the listeners. A public speaking presentation is different from an online presentation because the online presentation may be viewed and/or listened to at the viewer's convenience, while a public speech is typically limited to a specific time or place. Online presentations are often comprised of slideshows or pre-recorded videos of a speaker (including recordings of a live public speaking presentation). When you write a speech, you have to think carefully about the best framework, persuasive strategy, and diction to communicate your message to the audience. This type of thinking can help you improve your communication skills in other areas of your life. Personal relationships, social interactions and work situations require you to communicate ideas to other people. Public speaking focuses on communicating ideas. You can learn to calmly take up an opposing view, to present your ideas in an organized and coherent manner, and to defend your views to others. Because public speaking is done before a live audience, there are some special factors the speaker needs to take into consideration. We'll touch on those shortly, but first let's take a quick look at the history of public speaking. A History of Public Speaking What is the history of public speaking? There's a good chance that there's been public speaking, in one form or another, as long as there've been people. But most academics and others involved with public speaking, including those at The Public Speaking Project, trace the origins of modern public speaking back to ancient Greece and Rome. Of course, those societies didn't have any of the electronic conveniences we've got today to help with public speaking (no slideshows). But they did have a need for public speaking and developed public speaking methods that are still studied today. The ancient Greeks, in particular, used public speaking primarily to praise or persuade others. At one point, all Greek citizens had the right to suggest or oppose laws during their assemblies, which resulted in a need for skilled public speakers. Public speaking became a desirable skill and was taught. Public speaking in the time of the Greeks was called rhetoric. Later, when Rome came to power, public speaking was used during the sessions of the governing body—the Roman senate. The Romans adopted the public speaking rhetoric methods of the Greeks. In fact, most public speaking teachers of the time were Greek. If you fast forward to modern times, what was known as the Latin style of public speaking was popular in the U.S. and Europe until the mid-20th century. After World War II, however, a less formal and more conversational style of speaking started to become popular. Also, electronic tools became available to enhance public presentations. Towards the end of the 20th century, those electronic tools migrated to the computer and evolved into the computer software tools, such as PowerPoint, that we know and use today. Don't be fooled, though. Even though today's public speeches are less formal, it's still important that they're well organized. More on that later. Now let's take a look at the importance of public speaking. The Importance of Public Speaking If you ask most people, they'll probably say they don't like public speaking. They may even admit to being afraid of it, since fear of public speaking is a very common fear. Or they may just be shy or introverted. For those reasons, many people avoid public speaking if they can. If you're one of those people who avoid public speaking, you're missing out. Over the years, public speaking has played a major role in education, government, and business. Words have the power to inform, persuade, educate, and even entertain. And the spoken word can be even more powerful than the written word in the hands of the right speaker. Whether you're a small business owner, a student, or just someone who's passionate about something—you'll benefit if you improve your public speaking skills, both personally and professionally. Some benefits to public speaking include:  Improves confidence  Better research skills  Stronger deductive skills  Ability to advocate for causes  And more Public speaking is especially important for businesses since they've got a need to get their message before potential customers and market their business. Sales people and executives alike are often expected to have good public speaking skills. If you let others do your talking for you in the past or found it hard to express what you wanted to say, that will fade. Not only will you be able to fluently speak your mind but you'll find yourself doing it for others too. In standing up and speaking in a way that is powerful, you're speaking in a way that will change people’s minds about something. If you're able to master that skill, changing hearts and minds and learning how to persuade, you will be already honing one of the major aspects of leadership. If you're able to do it in public to a group of people, chances are you'll be able to do it in a more individualized setting. Leaders require the capacity to drive change, public speaking skills are vital in learning that ability. When you want to highlight your public speaking skills in your cover letter, resume, or even during an interview, be sure to go beyond stating that you have "public speaking skills." Go into detail about which aspects of public speaking you are good at, and provide specific examples of your skills and expertise.  Clear Articulation: Of course, public speakers must be able to speak well. This includes enunciating clearly, speaking loudly enough, and using proper grammar without a lot of verbal crutches such as "um." It helps to be able to talk well in ordinary conversation, but public speaking is a kind of performance and as such, requires practice and preparation. Memorization itself is usually not necessary, because most people can speak extemporaneously to some degree, but you must be familiar enough with your material that you don't pause excessively, repeat yourself, or stumble over your words. You also need to be able to pace yourself so that you finish on time, rather than early or late.  Engaging Presentation Style: Presentation style includes vocal tone, body language, facial expression, and timing. The right style can make a talk that could have been boring become exciting and engaging—even funny.  Assessing the Needs of the Audience: Some audiences want a lot of technical detail; others don't. Some enjoy humor; others won't. There are jokes that work in some crowds but not others. To draft a successful talk and to adopt the appropriate presentation style, you need to be able to assess the needs of your audience.  PowerPoint Skills: PowerPoint is a popular software used for creating slides. Not all public speakers use slides, but slides are so common that doing without them is sometimes called "speaking naked." You must not only understand the technical aspects of using the software, but also have the artistic ability to create slides that are aesthetically pleasing and easy to understand—or, you must work with a collaborator who can do so. Either way, you must know how to integrate your slides smoothly into the other aspects of your presentations.  Composition Skills: Whether you compose your talk ahead of time or work extemporaneously, you must be able to construct talks that are rational, coherent, easy to understand, and cover all the points you want to hit. Storytelling and humor help, and you must know how to use them. Public speaking is not only a form of performance art, but it also requires writing skills. Next, let's explore the methods you can use to become better at public speaking. How to Become Better at Public Speaking Okay, so now that you understand the benefits of public speaking, you might be a little more interested. Still, you might think it's not for you. Maybe you gave a speech once and it didn't go well. Maybe you're afraid of public speaking. Or maybe you think you don't have a natural ability for giving speeches. The truth is that public speaking is a skill. It can be learned. While some people may have more natural speaking ability than others, or a more pleasing voice, or are more charismatic— anyone who can speak can learn to be a better public speaker than they are right now. It just takes some know-how and some effort. To help you become better at public speaking, we'll take a look at these four areas: 1. Writing the speech 2. Overcoming a fear of speaking 3. Practicing the speech 4. Giving the speech We'll start with writing the speech. 1. Write an Effective Speech The first thing you'll want to do is work on writing a well-organized, engaging speech. Because even if you've got a great speaking voice or a great deal of charisma, you won't give a good speech if your material isn't any good. 2. Overcome the Fear of Speaking Fear of public speaking is very real and can hold you back if you let it. If you don't feel confident when giving your speech, your listeners may pick up on that, making your presentation less effective. Fortunately, there are some techniques that'll help most people manage their fear of public speaking and become more confident. First, let's tackle fear of public speaking. Next, let's work on improving your confidence. 3. Practice the Speech Even if you're not afraid of public speaking, practicing your speech is still an important step to having an effective speech. If you're in a rush, you may be tempted to skip practicing your speech to save time. While skipping practice may seem like a good idea, it's really not. By practicing your speech not only do you improve your public speaking skills, but you also increase your familiarity with the presentation—making it more likely that your speech will go smoothly. 4. Give the Speech Now that you've written a good speech, feel more confident about public speaking, and have practiced—you're ready to actually give the speech. There are some tips and tricks you can use on the day of your speech to make it go more smoothly, though. Remember, you're giving a presentation before a live audience at a specific place and time. So, you've got some concerns about the speaking venue that those who give online presentations don't have to worry about. Some common concerns for public speakers include:  Will the audience be able the hear me?  Does the venue have the equipment I need?  Are there enough seats for all of my listeners? More Public Speaking Skills  Articulating clearly  Assessing the needs and priorities of a potential audience of conference attendees  Controlling performance anxiety  Creating attractive PowerPoint slides with the right amount of detail  Drafting an evaluation form that attendees are likely to complete  Grabbing the attention of the audience with a powerful opening  Handing out copies of slides in advance to minimize note-taking demands on the audience  Maintaining eye contact with the audience and providing an energetic, animated physical presence  Memorizing enough content so that the speech does not come off as a reading of notes  Modulating vocal tone to emphasize important points and avoid monotonous presentation  Organizing a logical flow to a speech  Preparing examples that are relevant to the experience of the expected audience  Providing compelling evidence to support themes  Rehearsing the presentation and revising rough spots  Restating critical points at the end of a speech to cement key concepts  Reviewing feedback and modifying the approach for talks in the future  Summarizing the topics to be covered at the beginning of a lecture to provide context for attendees  Telling stories to illustrate points  Timing the speech in advance to make sure it meets the allotted time  Using humor to enliven a talk Relying on the above analysis of public speaking take 10 minutes to think over and give a 3-5-minute impromptu speech on the importance of public speaking for your personal development. PART 2. THE SKILLS OF EXTENSIVE READING PUBLIC SPEAKING AS COMMUNICATION PRACTICE Guidelines for reading DOE texts on on public speaking If you've been asked to give a public speech, you may wonder: what is public speaking and why is public speaking important? Those questions are quite logical if you've never thought much before about the way of public speaking in your country. Ethnographic analysis in the article “Public speaking as cultural ideal” highlights the cultural gap between Anglo-American and non-Anglo interpretations of public speaking. It is claimed that societies impacted by globalization often respond to the combined forces of international trade, politics, and cultural exchange by internationalizing their institutes of higher education and adding an element of cultural reflection to curriculum design. The article provides a vivid example of adoption of Anglo-American public speaking curriculum at national institutes of higher education in Kenya. It may give you a clue for marking out some features of public speaking in different countries. Text 20-2. PUBLIC SPEAKING IN CULTURAL CONTEXTS (Abridged after D. Boromisza-Habashi et al. Public speaking as cultural ideal: Internationalizing the public speaking curriculum // Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2015) Basic college-level public speaking instruction Internationalization, understood as “the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and service functions of the institution”, serves as an engine of the cross-border flow of knowledge generated and taught at institutes of higher education. One example of a body of knowledge routinely exported from the United States to the rest of the world is the basic college-level public speaking curriculum, in particular, the public speaking textbook. Such textbooks published in the United States are available for purchase and are used around the world. Their adoption in public speaking courses at non-U.S. institutes of higher education is an important advance toward internationalization. More could be done to internationalize the public speaking curriculum both within and beyond the borders of the United States. In spite of its global presence, the context-bound communication practice labeled “public speaking” and taught to students in the public speaking curriculum is far from universal. As a culturally specific form of expression, and as a resource for public participation, AngloAmerican public speaking as represented in U.S. public speaking textbooks may or may not resonate with the experiences of students socialized in non-Anglo speech communities. Kenyan university students, for example, who only had access to U.S. public speaking textbooks, and their instructors of Kenyan and Ugandan origin had little difficulty pointing out ways in which the representation of public speaking in their textbooks differed from local ways of understanding, and doing, public speaking. Students found doing research during the preparation process odd and somewhat pedantic. They noted that speaker credibility in Kenya is often determined by factors like wealth, social status, age, education, ethnicity, and marital status. Instructors emphasized that Kenyan public speaking mobilized a greater variety of supporting materials beyond, and often instead of, extensive research such as proverbs, personal stories, or songs. One instructor reported that African speeches are often circular, perhaps resembling a bicycle wheel with spokes wandering out repeatedly to the rim to make a point or tell a story and then returning back to the center, the thesis. They are actually one-point speeches with a great deal of supporting material. Americans listening to such a speech might feel bewildered and even bored because they are unable to follow the logic that ties all the points together, whereas Kenyan listeners would be absorbed in the stories and delighted with their subtle convergence back into the central theme. Systematic reflection on locally relevant cultural differences could contribute significantly to the internationalization of the public speaking curriculum at Kenyan institutes of higher education and elsewhere. Reflection on cultural differences between dominant and local interpretations of public speaking as a communicative practice can advance the internationalization of the public speaking curriculum in the U.S. as well. We hold that “internationalization is not only oriented to countries or nation states but also includes the different cultural/ethnic groups within a country.” One need not look beyond the borders of the United States to experience gaps between the dominant cultural interpretation of public speaking in the U.S. American classroom and the local view In the process of teaching public speaking as a genre of context-bound communication some students express their inability to give speeches in front of their peers, others opt for alternative forms of public expression. Actual performances prove that it is not a universal but a culturally variable communication practice—a patterned, context-bound, locally meaningful communicative activity. From a cultural perspective, public speaking textbooks can be regarded as texts written to socialize students into culturally competent public speakers. From that perspective, the cultural ideal of public speaking circulated via textbooks can be regarded as a pedagogical resource used to that end. In order to reconstruct that ideal we would like to emphasize that in the early stages of public speaking education, textbooks focused on training students in the “expression of ideas.” Such “expression” required nearly exclusive focus on “eloquence,” “technique,” and “delivery.” “Expression” was imagined as a unidirectional process, proceeding from speaker to audience. Its effect on the audience was thought to be predictable: as long as the speaker deployed the correct technique, she or he was expected to elicit the desired audience response. Contemporary textbooks are organized according to the code of “communication.” This code suggests that “conversation” should be the ideal of public speaking. The most immediately relevant physical setting of public speaking is, of course, the “high school” or “college” classroom, but textbooks treat the classroom as a stand-in for a wide range of contexts. The representation of public speaking in contemporary public speaking textbooks has extended the range of physical settings in which public speaking may occur. Public speaking highlights two types of participants, a “speaker” and an “audience.” Modern textbooks imagine the relationship between the two as an “I-speaking-to-you” association, a relationship that is “intimate,” “direct,” and “personal.” The speaker chooses a purpose, designs the speech specifically for an intended audience, and speaks in an “audienceadapted” or “audience-sensitive” manner. The relationship between audience and speaker is best described as “democratic”: The two sides are portrayed as having equal social status. Unlike speakers portrayed in older textbooks, not only is the speaker sensitive to the perspective and interests of the audience, but she or he sees an audience as an agent of a “response” that is not determined by the structure, contents, or delivery of the speech. In the dominant ideal, the audience is seen as the speaker’s conversational partner whose agency becomes visible in the “response” and the “oral discussion” following the speech. Besides the physical setting of Anglo-American public speaking its ends and outcomes have also become more diverse in contemporary textbooks. As to personal success, textbooks promise public speakers the ability to “make a good impression” and attain “advancement,” “self-confidence,” “self-improvement,” “individual efficiency,” and “leadership.” In general, public speaking opens the door to “advancing one’s reputation and perceived business acumen.” Modern public speaking textbooks tightly regiment the act sequence of public speaking. Public speaking must be “grounded on research and evidence,” and therefore begins with “analyzing the topic,” “testing and analyzing the pros and cons of an issue,” and “identifying purposive audience outcomes.” Next come “library research,” the development of “notecards” and the development of an “outline” which involves “adapting the material to the audience.” On the day of giving the speech, the speaker performs “original extemporaneous speaking” aided by “brief notes that are, ideally, held in reserve.” She or he begins with a “conversational opening,” provides a “modest body of major points” (each with “strong illustration”) and arrives at a “prompt and decisive conclusion.” The speaker’s linguistic choices are marked by “audience-based standards of pronunciation and usage.” Individual statements are “plain,” “common sense,” “pointed,” and “original.” Textbooks suggest that the speaker use “common sense in gesture” and achieve the “integration of content and delivery.” Finally, the speech—if it is intended to “set up a fair context for debate”—is followed by “oral discussion.” The key or emotional tone of public speaking arises from holding public speakers to the ideal of speaking in a “conversationalcommunicative manner.” Ideal public speaking is “eloquent” but “democratic,” “low-key” and “sincere,” “calm” but delivered with “energy,” “clear” and “focused” but “spontaneous” and marked by “ease of manner.” Public speakers should aim to perform an “informative speech” that fosters “intimate audience contact.” The instruments used to accomplish public speaking include face-to-face or mediated interaction between speaker and audience, an “outline” and “notecards.” There are four norms audiences apply to particular performances of public speaking: the norms of “richness,” “originality,” “adaptation,” and “intimacy.” The norm of richness suggests that the public speaker should offer her or his audience content that is well supported by careful research and strikes the audience as interesting and practical. The norm of originality extends to content and presentation. Both should be original artifacts crafted for the specific audience listening to the speech. The textbooks suggest that the speaker’s every act of preparation, performance, and audience engagement should be adapted to the audience’s interests and desires. The norm of intimacy calls on the speaker to seek a relationship of intimacy with her or his audience. The norm of adaptation prompts the speaker not only to speak in an authentic manner but also to be the type of authentic person to whom the audience can easily relate. Finally, the overarching speech genres to which modern public speaking textbooks expect public speaking to conform are “communication” and “conversation.” “Communication,” as a genre, often stands in opposition to “expressing ideas.” Whereas “communication” implies a “conversational manner” seen to “spring chiefly from ideas and audience,” “expression” entails a “dominant emphasis upon techniques of artistic presentation.” The secondary genres of (classroom) “speeches,” are “oratorical contests,” “discussion,” “reports,” “lectures,” “parliamentary procedure,” “special-occasion speaking.” The cultural meaningfulness of observable communicative conduct can be captured in the form of cultural discourses, or premises for interpreting and performing such conduct. These premises are the analyst’s formulation of fundamental cultural assumptions about the nature of personhood (being), communication (acting), social relations (relating), emotions (feeling), and living in the world (dwelling). Premises answer the question: What do members of this speech community have to believe in order to communicate that way? Such premises are immanent in the ways members of speech communities communicate with one another, and communicative conduct fosters the sharing of premises among communal members. From this purview, all public speakers are to be considered equal, and as in possession of a voice, and therefore everyone should respect everyone else’s right to speak in public. All elements and aspects of our world can be the subject of public speaking, and although novice public speakers are likely to experience anxiety, they are thought to be capable of developing a feeling of confidence. Because public speakers hold a high position in society, they deserve community members’ respect. Everyone should respect others’ right to act as a discerning audience member who may or may not be critical of a given speech. Finally, speaker confidence matters, but “intimate audience contact” is assigned an equal amount of importance. Public speaking in other cultural contexts The patterns and cultural discourses highlighted above constitute the cultural ideal of public speaking circulated via U.S.-style public speaking textbooks. Our reconstruction of the ideal is likely to ring quite familiar to readers socialized in the Anglo public speaking classroom. How exotic this ideal may seem to readers who lack familiarity with it. Ethnographic accounts of speaking in public in other cultural contexts point to very different expectations about public speaking in non-Anglo speech communities. Much like modern public speaking textbooks, non-Anglo speech communities associate public speaking with a wide variety of physical settings. The choice of setting is closely related to the type of speech event to be staged. Public speakers in legislative meetings may attend to “civic affairs” in spaces recognized as “public.” Speeches given during “special occasions” like funerals, public prayer, “celebratory” events and wedding ceremonies are also understood as having a public dimension owing to the spaces in which they occur. While the Anglo ideal highlights the role of two types of participants, “speakers” and “audiences,” who are on relatively equal footing in terms of social status, public speaking practices in non-Anglo speech communities generally involve a more stratified set of participants with differently defined social roles and privileges. In many of the speech communities investigated, speaking in public is an activity performed by men who are high status social actors. While in Anglo public speaking models speakers are treated as autonomous individual agents fully accountable for what they say, non-Anglo contexts often cast participants in more complex and interrelated interactional roles. Audience members often take more active roles in non-Anglo events marked by public speaking. They use speaking in public for “making things clear,” “making things impressive,” “inducing belief,” “entertaining,” and “inducing action.” This difference may also be connected to the focus on public speaking as a collective, rather than individual, endeavor in non-Anglo contexts. Collective decision-making is achieved through public discourse that signifies the value of the communal voice over the voice of the individual. The key or emotional tone of public speaking in non-Anglo speech communities studied by anthropologists is generally more “formal” than “conversational.” Some non-Anglo public speech is characterized by emotional tones that would be seen as unacceptable in other speech contexts. Speakers in many non-Anglo contexts are expected to follow particular scripts rather than engage in creative speech. Speaking appropriately in many non-Anglo contexts establishes social authority for the speaker and often works to maintain social hierarchies within speech communities. While Anglo textbooks place a large emphasis on the role of the speaker as an individual, many non-Anglo ways of speaking in public emphasize community over individuality by placing value on speakers’ abilities to speak on behalf of the group as a whole, or to represent subgroups within the larger community. The above representation of public speaking practices should help our readers understand and appreciate similarities, differences, and connections between Anglo and nonAnglo styles of public speaking. Although we highlight cultural variability we do not call into question the increasing influence of the Anglo cultural ideal around the world and the fact that in some cases non-Anglo speakers are willing, or are forced, to use Anglo patterns instead of locally recognized ones in speech situations dominated by Anglo norms of public speaking. Our discussion is meant simply to highlight the broad range of cultural patterns evident in public speaking practices. Comparing the dominant ideal of public speaking evident in U.S. classrooms to other cultural contexts can be useful for teaching, learning, and doing public speaking. Anglo “communication culture” is a culture that is particularly self-conscious and reflexive about communication, and that generates large quantities of metadiscourse about it. For the members of such cultures it is axiomatically “good to talk”—but at the same time it is natural to make judgments about which kinds of talk are good and which are less good. People aspire, or think they ought to aspire, to communicate “better”; and they are highly receptive to expert advice. Communication training manuals are designed to teach individuals to communicate better in interpersonal interaction, and thus become better persons. People living in contemporary Anglo societies are motivated to read and write such manuals within the framework of the reflexive project of late modernity, a permanent quest for authentic, integrated, and presentable selves. According to this logic, the self becomes an enterprise, and communication the means of entrepreneurial success. Hence, public speaking training prepares students to deliver speeches to large crowds or to engage in debate, but not to “communicate” with others. “Communication,” according to U.S. speakers, is a form of interpersonal interaction marked by closeness, supportiveness, and flexibility. It also involves partners committed to “working” on and improving their “core selves” in the process of thoughtful and intimate “communication.” In ideal acts of public speaking, this unique, core self is revealed to the audience as the speaker relaxes and “sheds unnecessary impediments to the experience”. Public speaking usually involves less interaction between speaker and audience than interpersonal communication. If public speaking is indeed a cultural ideal, with deep intellectual roots descending into the Anglo-American cultural terrain, how do we explain the global influence of that ideal? Western-style public speaking may be a somewhat quaint exercise but “in an age of globalization it is necessary”. The cultural reflections presented here can be directly useful for educators interested in internationalizing the public speaking curriculum. In particular, the cultural ideal of public speaking can be used as a starting point for critical reflection on divergent cultural patterns of communication in the public speaking classroom. We suggest that instructors faced with cultural diversity in their classrooms explore one or more of four possible avenues of internationalization. First, if they find it advantageous to do so, instructors can turn their classrooms into hybrid discourse communities where Anglo-American ideals and practices of public speaking are combined with the ideals and practices of the non-Anglo communities of instructors and/or students. Second, instructors can use the cultural ideal to make the communication norms of the Anglo public speaking curriculum explicit for non-Anglo students. They can share with students their own struggles and culture shocks regarding norms of speaking, and thereby model the acquisition of those speaking norms. Third, students can utilize the cultural ideal in activities designed to raise their awareness about culturally variable communication norms relevant to speaking in public and learning to speak in public. Fourth, the cultural ideal can be used in the professional development of instructors teaching culturally diverse public speaking classes. Additionally, the cultural ideal can inspire a different type of critical reflection that centers on the questions: Can the Anglo-American ideal of public speaking, an ideal shaped by the emergence of various forms of participatory democracy in the United States, benefit nonAnglo speech communities? Can this ideal serve as a cultural resource for public participation in communities of non-Anglo speakers? We believe in the value of carefully investigating whether cultural reflection in and beyond the classroom might pave the way toward the promotion of public speaking as an emancipatory practice used to articulate, advance, and defend human rights and responsibilities across the globe. Relying on the ethnographic analysis of public speaking in D. Boromisza-Habashi’s article “Public speaking as cultural ideal”, what would you recommend to your university instructors? Prepare a 10-15 minute speech on the specific points of public speaking in Russian cultural contexts. . GRAMMAR SUPPLEMENT Your best chance for refreshing your grammar in a short time is to be making a list of your habitual errors along with working on the units. Although a wide range of grammar patterns are potentially vulnerable in DOE communication, there are certain points that appear again and again, and you can work out on these points with the information and practice this Supplement provides. Grammar Supplement may seem less stressful for you because it is easier to cope with the problems if you have learned how to. Text passages are generally about public and academic matters, social sciences and interdisciplinary issues. Any cultural references in the sentences are to the culture of transnational interaction. Some sentences contain references to people, places, and institutions that you will not be familiar with. It is not necessary to know these references; you should simply concentrate on the grammar structure of the sentences. Nor is it necessary to understand all the words in a sentence; you can often determine a grammar structure or pattern correctly without complete understanding of that sentence. There are two possible approaches to grammar problems: an analytical approach and an intuitive approach. A non-native speaker who uses the analytical approach quickly analyzes the grammar structure of a sentence to see what element is missing or which element is incorrect. Someone who uses the second approach simply chooses the answer that "sounds right" or rejects the one that "sounds wrong". Although the first approach is recommended for graduate students, the second can be useful too, especially for DOE learners. If you are not sure which approach works best for you, keep in mind that you can combine both: if you get "stuck" using one, you switch to the other. A Tip: An excellent way to refresh your grammar is to write your own grammar pattern items. Write several items for each of the sections in this part of the book. There is no better way to start thinking like a proficient DOE speaker. 1. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH ARTICLES Errors with articles are very often hard to notice. There are some specific rules for using (or not using) articles that you should be aware of. An indefinite article can be used to mean "one." It is also used to mean "per": a half, a quarter, a third, a tenth, a mile a minute (one mile per minute), an apple a day (one apple per day) A definite article is used when there is only one example of the thing or person, or when the identity of the thing or person is clear: Thе Moon went behind some clouds. (There's only one moon.) Please open the door. (You know which door I mean.) A definite article is usually used before these expressions of time and position: the morning, the afternoon, the evening; the front, the back, the center; the beginning, the middle, the end; the past, the present, the future, the bottom, the top. No article is used in the expression "at night." A definite article comes before a singular noun that is used as a representative of an entire class of things. This is especially common with the names of animals, trees, inventions, musical instruments, and parts of the body: The tiger is the largest cat. My favorite tree is the oak. The Wright brothers invented the airplane. The oboe is a woodwind instrument. Тhе heart pumps blood. A definite article is used before expressions with an ordinal number. No article is used before expressions with cardinal numbers: the first, the fourth chapter, the seventh volume; Part one, Chapter Four, Volume Seven. A definite article is used before decades and centuries: the 1930s, the 1800s, the fifties, the twentyfirst century. A definite article is usually used before superlative forms of adjectives:the widest river, the most important decision. A definite article is used in quantity expressions in this pattern: quantifier + of + the + noun: many of the textbooks, not much of the paper, some of the water, most of the students, all of the people, a few of the photographs. These expressions can also be used without the phrase of the: many textbooks, not much paper, some water, most students, all people, a few photographs. A definite article is used before the name of a group of people or a nationality. No article is used before the name of a language: The Americans are proud of their ancestors, the Pioneers. She learned to speak English when she lived in London. A definite article is used when an adjective is used without a noun to mean "people who are…" Both the young and the old will enjoy this movie. The poor have many problems. A definite article is used before an uncountable noun or a plural noun when it is followed by a modifier. No article is used when these nouns appear alone. The rice that I bought today is in the bag. Rice is a staple in many countries. Trees provide shade. The trees in this park are mostly evergreens. A definite article is used before the name of a field of study followed by an of-phrase. If a field is used alone, or is preceded by an adjective, no article is used: the European genetics of the twentieth century – European genetics; the economics of Ukraine – Ukrainian economics. Definite articles are used before the "formal" names of nations, states, and cities. (These usually contain ofphrases.) No articles are used before the common names of nations, states, and cities: the United States of America – America; the Republic of Ukraine – Ukraine; the city of Simferopol – Simferopol. Definite articles are used before most plural geographic names: the names of groups of lakes, mountains, and islands. No article is used before the names of individual lakes, mountains, and islands: the Great Lakes but Lake Baikal; the Crimean Mountains but Mount Chatyr Dag; the Marshall Islands but Bird Island. There are three main types of errors involving articles: Incorrect article choice A/an is used in place of the, or the in place of a/an. Angela Merkel was a first woman in the history of Germany to be elected Chancellor. In a phrase with an ordinal number (such as first) the definite article the must be used. It’s a wrong choice. In a phrase with the words right and wrong the definite article the must be used. Incorrect omission or inclusion of articles Sometimes an article is used when none is needed, or one is omitted when one is required. EU management personnel consists of nationals of all member states who can rise to top of the EU infrastructure. The definite article the should not be omitted from the phrase the top of. The most non-native English speakers in Finland are beyond the A1 level. Definite articles are used only before quantity expressions that contain of phrases. (Most non-native English speakers or Most of the non-native English speakers are both correct in this sentence.) Use of a definite article in place of a possessive pronoun A definite article may be incorrectly used in place of a possessive word its, his, her, or their. The Crimean Mountains are famous for the rugged beauty. The should correctly be replaced with their because the sentence refers to the beauty belonging to the definite mountains. Find explanations for the use of no article, the indefinite article and the definite article in the following sentences: How is English for special purposes (ESP) different from English as a Second Language (ESL), or general English? The major difference between ESP and ESL lies in the learners and their purposes for learning English. ESP students are adults who already have familiarity with English and are learning the language in order to communicate a set of professional skills and to perform particular job-related functions. An ESP program is therefore built on an assessment of purposes and needs and the functions for which English is required. As a matter of fact, ESP is part of a shift from traditional concentration on teaching grammar and language structures to an emphasis on language in context. ESP covers subjects ranging from accounting or computer science to tourism and business management. For students specializing in the English language and literature the field of professional activity covers all kinds of transnational communication ranging from teaching ESL to interpreting or translation in international tourism and business servicing. The ESP focus means that English is not taught as a subject divorced from the students' future jobs; instead, it is integrated into a subject matter area important to the learners. 2. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH THE PLURAL OF COMBINATIONS “NUMBER + MEASUREMENT WORD” Some errors involve numbers + measurements: They went for a 6-mile walk. They walked 6 miles. In the first sentence, the number + measurement is used as an adjective, and the measurement is singular. In the second, the measurement is a noun, and is therefore plural. Numbers like hundred, thousand, and million may be pluralized when they are used before the preposition of: Seven (many, a few, several) thousand acres but (many, a few, several) thousands of acres five (many, a few, several) million dollars but (many, a few, several) millions of dollars Example The U.S. president serves a maximum of two four-years terms. Incorrect – When used before a noun, a number + measurement is singular. Thousand of antibiotics have been developed, but only about thirty are in common use today. Incorrect – The plural form thousands should be used. Some errors involve many + nouns: Many artists come here but Many an artist comes here. 3. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH VERBS Tense and aspect forms Most tense and aspect errors involve the Simple (Indefinite) Present Tense, the Simple Past Tense, and the Present Perfect Tense. The Simple Present Tense is a general-time tense. It usually indicates that a condition is always true or that an action always occurs. It may also indicate that an action regularly occurs. The Earth rotates round the Sun. The atmosphere surrounds the Earth. John often stays at this hotel. Generally, the lectures of this professor are very interesting. The Simple Past Tense indicates that an action took place at a specific time in the past. They moved to Simferopol five years ago. This house was built in the 1990s. Dinosaurs lived millions of years ago. The Present Perfect Tense usually indicates that an action began at some time in the past and continues to the present. It may also indicate that an action took place at an unspecified time in the past. Mr. Brandon has worked for this company since 1990. Mary hasn't been to a doctor for a year. Nick has recently returned from the US. For a Ukrainian/Russian speaker it is often difficult to see the difference between the Simple (Indefinite) Tense and the Progressive (Continuous) Tense. Compare the following sentences: John often stays at this hotel (in general). John is staying at this hotel (now, this week, this summer). John drives to his office (usually). John is driving to his office (now, today, in the immediate future). If you want to state a fact you will say: The Earth rotates round the Sun. If you want to emphasize that it is an everlasting process you will say: The Earth is permanently rotating round the Sun (with the adverbs always, constantly, ever, permanently). If you want to state a fact you will say: Jennifer is beautiful. If you want to sound humorous or critical about much effort she takes at the moment to try and look beautiful you will say: Jennifer is being beautiful. Common verbs that take verbal objects Verbs used exclusively with Gerunds: admit, avoid, deny, enjoy, finish, justify, quit, recommend, suggest, understand doing something. Verbs used with infinitives: agree, allow, arrange, attempt, cause, choose, decide, enable, hope, instruct, know (how), learn (how), permit, persuade, require, seem, teach (how), tell, use, warn to do something. Infinitives are used with have, and bare infinitives are used with let and make: I have to do my research paper by next Monday. The professor won’t let us waste time on this experiment. Necessity makes you look for options. Gerunds, by their meaning, are verbal nouns and, as such, are generally used as subjects or objects of verbs or as objects of prepositions. Infinitives can also be subjects and objects. Playing (to play) cards is enjoyable, (gerund as subject of a verb). He enjoys going to good restaurants, (gerund as object of a verb). He avoids eating junk food, (gerund as object of a verb). He passes the time by playing cards, (gerund as object of a preposition). You can solve this problem by using a computer, (gerund as object of a preposition). Note: All two- and three-word verb phrases that can be followed by verbals are used with gerunds, not infinitives. This is true even when the verb phrase ends with the word to. I am looking forward to visiting with you next summer. I cannot agree to going to New Orleans. My partner is opposed to our participating in this deal. Problems with the verbals Any of these verbals – gerund, or infinitive – may be incorrectly used when another one of them is required, depending on the meaning. Take, for example, two sentences:  I stopped to talk with my friend. The infinitive expresses purpose – I stopped because I wanted to talk with my friend.  I stopped talking with my friend. The gerund is an object – I stopped this action because I was pressed for time and had to go. Incorrect verb forms Some of the verb errors are errors in form. Most verb form problems involve main verb forms: An -ing form may be used in place of a past participle, a past participle in place of a past tense form, a simple form in place of an ing form, etc. Some involve irregular verbs that have different forms for the past tense and the past participle—took and taken—for example. The following information may help you choose the correct form of the main verb. The bare infinitive (without “to”) follows all modal verbs. might be can remember should study must know could go may follow (Certain similar modal verbs and word combinations require infinitives with “to”.) ought to attend used to play have to hurry The past participle is used after a form of have in all perfect forms of the verb, has done had called should have said have run will have read could have made The -ing form is used after a form of be in all progressive forms of the verb. is sleeping has been writing should have been wearing was working had been painting will be waiting The past participle is used after a form of be in all passive forms of the verb. is worn has been shown would have been lost is being considered had been promised might have been canceled were told will have been missed Verb form problems may also involve auxiliary verbs: has may be used in place of did, is in place of does, and so on. Problems involving subject-verb agreement. Underline the form that correctly completes each sentence. Then circle the subject with which the underlined verb agrees. The first one is done as an example: The first bridge to be built with electric lights (was/were) the Brooklyn Bridge. . Ethics (is/are) the study of moral duties, principles, and values There (is/are) two types of calculus, differential and integral. George Gershwin, together with his brother Ira, (was/were) the creator of the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize. In a chess game, the player with the white pieces always (moves/move) first. The Earth and Pluto (is/are) the only two planets believed to have a single moon. A number of special conditions (is/are) necessary for the formation of a geyser. Each of the Ice Ages (was/were) more than a million years long. The battery, along with the alternator and starter, (makes/make) up the electrical system of a car. Teeth (is/are) covered with a hard substance called enamel. The more-or-less rhythmic succession of economic booms and busts (is/are) referred to as the business cycle. The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom (varies/vary) from element to element. All trees, except for the tree fern, (is/are) seed-bearing plants. Fifteen hundred dollars a year (was/were) the per capita income in the United States in 1950. Everyone who (goes/go) into the woods should recognize common poisonous plants such as poison ivy and poison oak. Different forms of the same verb. From the context of the sentence stem, you'll have to decide which form works best in the sentence. Used alone, an infinitive, gerund, or participle cannot be a main verb. The verb is active, but it should be passive, or it is passive but it should be active. If the subject of the sentence performs an action, the verb must be in the active voice. If the subject of the sentence receives the action, the verb must be in the passive.  The architect designed the building, (active verb).  The building was designed by the architect, (passive verb). The verb does not agree with its subject. Singular subjects require singular verbs; plural subjects require plural verbs. The verb is not in the right tense. According to the time words or ideas in the sentence, the appropriate tense must be used. An unnecessary element comes before the verb. Personal pronouns {he, she, it), relative pronouns {who, which, that, and so on), or conjunctions (and, but, and so on) may be used unnecessarily before verbs in some sentences. Example Before the late eighteenth century, most textiles _____ at home. (A) produced (B) was produced (C) producing (D) were produced Choice (D) is the best answer. (A) can be considered either an active verb in the past tense or a past participle; both are incorrect. An active verb is incorrect because a passive verb is needed; a past participle is incorrect because a past participle cannot serve as a main verb. (B) is incorrect because the plural subject textiles requires a plural verb, were. (C) is incorrect because, by itself, an -ing form can never be a main verb. Identify and correct errors involving verbs and verbals As national education systems (create/are creating/are created/will create/have created) suitable employees, transnational corporations (shift/are shifting/are shifted/will shift/have shifted) their research and development centres to developing countries The wind (are carried/carry/carries/is carried) pollen spores in Earth's upper atmosphere. These problems may (to create/create/creating/ will create) an increase in human diseases. They may also lead to (dwindle/dwindling/dwindled) supplies of food, (put/putting/to put) greater strains on governments. Humanity (destroy/ destroyed/is destroying) the natural systems upon which it (depending/depend/depends). Improvements in medicine (propels/propel/has propelled) population growth by enabling people to live longer. Economic development is the key to (slow/slowing/how to slow) down population growth. The demographic transition has helped (reducing/reduce/to reduce) the growth of population. One of the problems (to have/having/of having) an increasing world population is the difficulty (to feed/feeding/of feeding) everyone. Unfortunately, a rapidly expanding population can by itself (preventing/prevent/to prevent) a developing nation from (improve/to improve/improving/improving of) its economy. Loss of farmlands (are, were, is, was) a major cause of the decline in agricultural production. Usable farmland (lost/is lost/will lost) for many reasons, but erosion and salinization (are, were, is, was) the major cause. Modern agricultural techniques (do/make) it possible (producing/to produce/produce) the same amount of food (to use/ using/by using) the labor of fewer people. 3 percent (are, were, is, was) insignificant for population growth difference between advanced and poor nations. Errors with parallel structures Structures that are often involved in parallelism are nouns, adjectives, verbs, prepositional phrases, gerunds, and infinitives. Some problems with parallelism are actually word form problems similar to previously discussed: As a young man, George Washington liked boating, to hunt, and fishing. In general, errors involving parallelism are easy to identify. Identify and correct errors involving parallelism. If the underlined form is parallel to other forms in the sentence, mark the sentence C (Correct). If the underlined form is not parallel, mark the sentence I (Incorrect), and write a correction for the underlined form in the blank at the end of the sentence. A languaging perspective regards boundaries between languages as (1) arbitrary and historically contingent, as the result of particular histories of (2) standard and regulation. (3) Standardizing language means compartmentalization the free and unbounded languaging of a particular geographical area and class of people as the language for that particular geographical area and its people and freezing its evolution. (4) Standardizing language also means enregister particular linguistic features as normative: selecting particular phonemes, morphemes, words, syntax, etc. as normal, as the norms for the language while designating all variation to those norms as (5) sub-standard, dialect, or even deficit language. 3. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH PREPOSITIONS Errors with prepositions are among the most difficult errors to catch. Preposition use in English is very complex. For every rule, there seems to be an exception. There are many errors involving prepositions, and they are more difficult to spot. Prepositions are used in the following ways: In adverbial phrases that show time, place, and other relationships: in the morning, on Central Avenue, to the park, by a student After certain nouns: a cause of, a reason for, a solution to. After certain adjectives and participles: different from, aware of, disappointed in. After certain verbs: combine with, rely on, refer to. In phrasal prepositions (two- or three-word prepositions): according to, together with, instead of. In certain set expressions: by far, by and large (in general), at large, on occasion, on and off, at last, to boot, from now on, etc. There are two main types of preposition errors that you may come across: Errors in preposition choice Such errors take place when the wrong preposition is used according to the context of the sentence. Some of the rules for choosing the correct prepositions are given below, but you will never be able to memorize all the rules for preposition use in English. The more you practice, though, the more you will develop a "feel" for determining which preposition is correct in any given situation. There are two particular situations involving preposition choice: Errors with from (here) to (eternity) and between (Scylla) and (Charybdis). Both these expressions are used to give the starting time/point and ending time/point. They can also be used to show relationships of place and various other relationships. E.g.:  He lived in Seattle from 1992 to 1997.  He lived in Seattle between 1992 and 1997.  Route 66 ran from Chicago to Los Angeles.  Route 66 ran between Chicago and Los Angeles. It will be a mistake to say: The highway runs between Simferopol to the port of Yalta, a distance of 60 miles. The correct pattern is from…to. Errors usually involve an incorrect pairing of those words, or the incorrect use of other prepositions. E.g.: between A to В from X and Y between A with В since X to Y Errors with since, for, and in Since is used before a point in time with the present perfect tense—but never with the past tense. For is used before a period of time with the present perfect and other tenses. In is used before certain moments in time (years, centuries, decades) with the past tense and other tenses—but never with the present perfect tense. E.g.:  He's lived here since 1995.  He's lived here for two years.  He moved here in 1995. Errors involve the use of one of these prepositions for another. E.g.: He's lived here in 1995. He's lived here since two years. He moved here since 1995. Corn was the population’s main item of food since at least 2,000 years. Before a period of time (2,000 years) the preposition for should be used. Errors with on The pitch of a tuning fork depends of the size and shape of its arms. The correct preposition after the verb depend is on, not of. Incorrect inclusion or omission of prepositions A preposition is often used when one is not needed, or not used when one is needed. According many critics, Mark Twain's novel Huckleberry Finn is his greatest work and is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The preposition to has been omitted from the phrase according to. Some of the most of spectacular caves are found in the Crimean mountains. The preposition of should not be used in this phrase. (When most means "majority," it can be used in the phrase most of the. "Most of the people agree...," for example. However, in this sentence, most is part of the superlative form of the adjective spectacular, and so cannot be used with of. Identify correct and incorrect preposition choice. Underline the prepositions that correctly complete the sentences below. Wage rates depend (in/on) part (from/on) the general prosperity (of/for) the economy. (For/To) an injection to be effective (on/against) tetanus, it must be administered (by/within) 72 hours (of/for) the injury. The invention (of/for) the hand-cranked freezer opened the door (for/to) commercial ice-cream production, and (for/since) then, the ice-cream industry has grown (in/into) a four-billion-dollar-a-year industry. (At/On) the time (of/in) the Revolutionary War, the North American colonies were merely a long string (with/of) settlements (along/among) the Atlantic Coast (between/from) Maine and Georgia. The probability (of/for) two people (in/on) a group (of/for) ten people having birthdays (in/on) the same day is about one (in/of) twenty. Showboats were floating theaters that tied up (at/to) towns (in/on) the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to bring entertainment and culture (to/at) the people (on/in) the frontier. Scrimshaw, the practice (of/for) carving ornate designs (in/on) ivory, was first practiced (by/of) sailors working (by/with) sail needles while (in/on) long sea voyages. Bird Island, (off/of) the coast (off/of) the Crimea, is famous (for/to) its flocks (of/with) wild geese. (In/On) order (for/to) an object to be visible, light must travel (from/for) that object (at/to) a person's eves. Identify and correct errors involving prepositions Chemical pollutants produced by human activity are destroying the protective layer of ozone between Earth's surface to upper atmosphere. Ozone concentrations above the United States decreased by 5 to 6 per cent from 1990 and 2000. Ultraviolet radiation causes a range of health problems – between skin cancer with blindness. United Nations scientists reported ozone losses since 1991 to 2001 above temperate areas of Earth between the tropics to the poles. NASA scientists announce that levels of chlorine monoxide resulting from the breakdown of CFC's have been at record levels since 10 years. 24 nations, including the United States, signed an agreement since September 1987 planning to limit the production of CFC's. They promised to limit the production of CFC's since at least 20 years. This agreement has been validated in 1991. Depending of their measurements a 40 per cent reduction in ozone concentrations over Antarctica took place between the mid-1970's to 1984. On March 1974, scientists first proposed about the idea that manufactured chemicals could threaten to the ozone layer. 4. PREPOSITION USE IN STABLE WORD COMBINATIONS WITH ADJECTIVES AND PARTICIPLES, NOUNS AND VERBS It is important that you be familiar with the correct usage of prepositions and practice these prepositions in sentences: Adjectives/Participles + Prepositions (1) acceptable to, accustomed to, adequate for, afraid of, aware of, based on, capable of, characteristic of, close to, composed of, contrary to, dependent on, different from, disappointed in/with, eligible for equipped with equal to essential to/for familiar with famous for. Adjectives/Participles + Prepositions (2) free of next to related to independent of opposed to relevant to inferior to opposite of satisfied with married to perfect for suitable for native to possible for surprised at/by necessary for/to preferable to typical of Opposite of is used for words or concepts that are completely different, such as "large" and "small." When opposite means "across from," it is not used with of. "The bank is opposite the post office on Cedar Street." Nouns + Prepositions approach to exception to origin of attention to experience with price of because of expert on probability of contribution to form of quality of component of group of reason for cure for improvement in reliance on increase in increase in result of demand for influence on solution to effect of/on* interest in supply of example of native of *effect + of + cause effect + on + thing or person affected (The effect o/heat on rocks...) Verbs + Prepositions account for compete with insist on adjust to concentrate on interfere with agree with/on* consist of plan on attach to contribute to participate in attribute to cooperate with refer to begin with deal with rely on believe in depend on result in belong to devote to search for combine with engage in *agree with is used with people agree on is used with an issue, plan, etc. (I agreed with Mary on that issue.) Phrasal Prepositions according to due to on account of ahead of except for prior to along with in favor of regardless of because of in spite of thanks to bу means of instead of together with In, On, and At (1) Expressions of time + century (in the eighteenth century) + decade (in the 1990s) + year (in 1975) in + season (in the summer) + month (in July) + parts of the day (in the morning, in the evening, in the afternoon) + days of the week (on Wednesday) + dates (on October 7) + time of day (at 6pm; at noon) + night Expressions of place + continent (in Africa) + country (in Mexico) + state (in Pennsylvania) + city (in Los Angeles) + building (in the bank) + room (in the auditorium) + in the world + street (on Maxwell Street) on + floor of a building (on the fourth floor) + on Earth at + address (at 123 Commonwealth Avenue) In, On, and At, (2) The prepositions in, on, and at are also used in a number of set expressions: in a book/magazine/newspaper on a bus/train/etc. at best/worst in charge (o0 on fire at first/last in common (with) on the other hand at once in danger (of) on purpose at the peak (of) in detail on radio/television at present in existence on the whole at the moment in the front/middle/back at birth in general at death in practice at random in the past/future in a row in style in theory Other Prepositions By is often used with forms of communication and transportation: by car, by plane, by phone, by express mail (Note: if the noun is plural or is preceded by a determiner, the prepositions in or on must be used: in cars, on a boat, on the telephone, in a taxi). By is also used with gerunds to show how an action happened: How did you get an appointment with the President? By calling his secretary. With is used to indicate the idea of accompaniment or possession: Melanie came to the party with her friend. He wanted a house with a garage. Without indicates the opposite relationship: Melanie came to the party without her friend. He bought a house without a garage. With also indicates that an instrument was used to perform an action: He opened the door with a key. Without indicates the opposite relationship: He opened the door without a key. By and for are also used in the following expressions: by chance for example by far for free by hand for now For is sometimes used to show purpose; it means "to get." She went to the store for toothpaste and shampoo. 5. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH CONJUNCTIONS Missing conjunctions Conjunctions are connecting words; they join parts of a sentence. Coordinate conjunctions are used to join equal sentence parts: single words, phrases, and independent clauses. When two full clauses are joined, they are usually separated by a comma. The coordinate conjunctions you will most often see are listed in below. And (addition), or (choice, possibility), but (contrast), nor (opposition)  Hereford cows are brown and white.  He washed his car and cleaned up the garage.  This plant can be grown in a house or in a garden. Her action was very brave or very foolish.  Charlie brought his wallet but forgot his checkbook. The book discussed some interesting ideas but it wasn't very well written.  He's never taken a class in sociology, nor does he intend to. 1 didn't have breakfast nor lunch. (The conjunction so is used to join only clauses—not single words or phrases.) Conjunctive adverbs (moreover, therefore, however, nevertheless, and so on) are also used to join clauses: It was a bright day, so she put on her sunglasses. (negation effect) Correlative conjunctions are two-part conjunctions. Like coordinate conjunctions, they are used to join clauses, phrases, and words: Both…and, not only…but also (addition) Both wolves and coyotes are members of the dog family. Dominic studied not only mathematics but also computer science. Either…or (choice, possibility), neither…nor (negation) We need either a nail nor a screw to hang up this picture. Neither the television nor the stereo had been turned off. Errors with correlative conjunctions Correlative conjunctions are two-part adjectives. Errors usually involve an incorrect combination of their parts, such as neither ... or or not only . . . and. Anytime you see a sentence containing correlative conjunctions you should be on the lookout for this type of error. This is an easy error to spot! Another error is the use of both . . . and to join three elements. E.g.: The air that surrounds the plant is both odorless, colorless, and invisible. Both…and can be used to join two elements. In this sentence the word both must be eliminated. Identify errors involving conjunctions. If the underlined form is correct, mark the sentence C. If the underlined form is incorrect, mark the sentence I, and write a correction for the underlined form at the end of the sentence.  Model airplanes can be guided both by control wires or by radio transmitters.  Information in a computer can be lost because it is no longer stored or because it is stored but cannot be retrieved.  Martin Luther was not only a religious leader and also a social reformer.  Although fish can hear, they have neither external ears or eardrums.  In all animals, whether simple and complex, enzymes aid in the digestion of food.  The two most common methods florists use to tint flowers are the spray method or the absorption method.  Beekeepers can sell either the honey and the beeswax that their bees produce.  The alloys brass and bronze both contain copper as their principle metals.  The human brain is often compared to a computer, and such an analogy can be misleading.  Rust both corrodes the surface of metal but also weakens its structure. Choose the correct conjunction Some people are smart in music, (and/or/but/nor) they are not so smart in mathematics, (and/or/but/nor) are they smart in computer science. Many people cannot fix their cars (however/or/so/nor) they have to ask car repair workers. (However/ Or/So/Nor) car mechanics cannot teach languages, (however/or/so/nor) can they bake bread. John can memorize everything in a book, (moreover/therefore/however/nevertheless) he can be a good student. (But/ Or/So/Nor) he is not. Everybody was exhausted after a day-long walking tour, (moreover/therefore/nor/nevertheless) no one wanted to go to bed. When you realize what you’re good at, you can figure out the best way to study, (moreover/therefore/however/nevertheless) you can help others to study. 6. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH WORD CHOICE Wrong word choice Word choice errors involve the incorrect use of one word in place of another. The two words may have related forms (other and another, for example) or they may be completely different (do and make, for example). Descriptions of some of the most common word choice errors are given below: Wrong choice of make or do The verb to do is often used in place of to make, and to make in place of to do. In its basic sense, make means to produce, to create, to construct, while to do means to perform, to act, to accomplish, these verbs are also used in a number of set expressions: Set expressions with Make: make advances, make an attempt, make a comparison, make a contribution, make a decision, make a distinction, make a forecast, make a law, make a point, be made of (= be composed of), make up (= compose), make an investment, make a plan, make a prediction, make a profit, make a promise, make an offer, make a suggestion. To make is also used in this pattern: make + someone +adjective (The gift made her happy.) Common Expressions with Do: do an assignment, do business with, do one's duty, do someone a favor, do a job (errand, chore) do research, do one's work. The auxiliary verb do is used rather than repeat main verbs: (My computer doesn't operate as fast as theirs does.) Wrong choice of like or alike and like or as The word alike is incorrectly used in place of like, or like is used in place of alike. These words are used correctly in the following patterns: Like А, В ... Like birds, mammals are warm-blooded. A, like B, ... Birds, like mammals, are warm-blooded. A is like В ... Birds are like mammals in that they are both warm-blooded. A and В are alike ... Birds and mammals are alike in that they are both warm-blooded. The word like is also sometimes confused with the word as. When like is used in a comparison, it is followed by a noun or pronoun. When as is used in a comparison, it is followed by a clause containing a subject and a verb. I did my experiment just as Paul did. My results were much like Paul's. The word as is also used before nouns when it means in place of or in the role of. This is particularly common after certain verbs: serve, function, and use, among others. The vice-president served as president when the president was sick Wrong choice of other or another Another means "one more, an additional one." It can be used as an adjective before a singular noun or alone as a pronoun. He needs another piece of paper. I have one class in that building and another in the building across the quadrangle. An understudy is an actor who can substitute for another actor in case of an emergency. Other is used as an adjective before a plural noun. It is also used as an adjective before a singular noun when preceded by a determiner such as the, some, any, one, no, etc. It can also be used alone as a pronoun when preceded by a determiner. There are other matters I'd like to discuss with you. One of the books was a novel; the other was a collection of essays. There's no other place I'd rather visit. Wrong choice of because/because of, despite/inspite of or although, when/while or during Certain expressions, such as because, are adverb clause markers and are used only before clauses, other expressions, such as because of, are prepositions and are used before noun phrases or pronouns. Adverb-clause Markers Prepositions (Used with clauses) (Used with noun phrases) because because of although despite, in spite of when, while during Because of migration to the suburbs, the population of many large American cities declined between 1950 and 1960. Although most people consider the tomato a vegetable, botanists classify it as a fruit. Wrong choice of much and many and similar expressions Certain expressions can only be used in phrases with plural nouns (many, few, a few, fewer, the fewest, number); others can be used in expressions with uncountable nouns (much, little, a little, less, the least, amount). Pearls are found in many colors, including cream, blue, lavender, and black. Even during economic booms, there is a small amount of unemployment. Wrong choice of negative words The answer choices for this type of item are negative expressions, such as the ones listed below: no (adjective) not any none (pronoun) not one nothing (pronoun) not anything no one (pronoun) not anyone nor (conjunction) and . . . not without (preposition) not having never (adverb) at no time There was no milk in the refrigerator. They took a lot of pictures, but almost none of them turned out. There was nothing in his briefcase. No one arrived at the meeting on time. He's never been fishing, nor does he plan to go. She likes her coffee without milk or sugar. I've never been to Alaska. The negative word not is used to make almost any kind of word or phrase negative: verbs, prepositional phrases, infinitives, adjectives, etc. Both no and not can be used before nouns, depending on meaning: There is no coffee in the pot. (It's empty.) This is not coffee. (It's tea.) The adjective no is also used before the word longer to mean "not anymore": I no longer read the afternoon paper. Note: without + -ing is an adverbial modifier of cause; not + -ing is an adverbial modifier of condition: You cannot write a good diploma paper without reading a lot of works in your field. (You won’t write ... because you haven’t read ...) You cannot write a good diploma paper not reading a lot of works in your field. (If you want to write ... you will have to read ...) Identify and correct errors involving the wrong word choice If you are making a research in your field, you will have to do a contribution of an article to academic and professional journals at some point. To make a good job of a literature review for a paper you are writing, it is essential that you understand what you are reading. Your instructor may ask you to make another assignment or even ask you to write a critique of an article. Whatever the reason, do an attempt and find ways to render the content in your own words. Research articles can be complex, especially to beginners, therefore if you have no experience reading or writing this type of paper do a plan for utilizing a few simple tactics that can make this process much easier. Choose the right word Write down important points, (alike/like/as) terminology or concepts that you do not understand. You look (alike/like/as) you have seen a ghost. Did you read the entire article, (alike/like/as) you are supposed to have done? The twins are so much (alike/like/as) that even their mother sometimes takes one for (other/another/the other). Who did I see coming back home? No (other/another/the other) than Little Dorrit. It’s neither (either/neither/or/nor) expected (either/neither/or/nor) necessary to read every word of the text (when/while/during) preparing to answer at the exam. (Despite/In spite of/Although) the articles in these journals are written by the people who did the studies or by experts who have studied a topic for decades, they are not always very informative. You only have to read the best information about your subject (because/because of) primary sources are considered the best place to gather academic research. There wasn’t (many/much/none) useful information in this article. Government websites (no/never/not/never) longer publish confidential information. You cannot write a good literature review (without/never/not having) addressing these sources. (Much/Many/A great amount) of information can be found in academic magazines. Your teachers probably (not/no/never) mind if you used secondary sources in your research projects. Now, though, they are (not/no/never) more acceptable. You may use their lists of references to find (any amount of/much/many) names of the scholarly journals that you should use for your research. 7. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH SENTENCE STRUCTURE Identify and correct errors involving sentence structure (There is only/Only you have/You have only/You only have) to read the best information. These are the journals and books (what you expect/these you are expected/that you are expected/which expect you) to use for academic research. They (usual quotation/usually have been quoted/have usual quoting of/usually quote) the scholarly journals or books that published the information originally. You may use their lists of references (in finding scholarly journals name/for to find a scholarly journals names/to find the names of the scholarly journals/for finding scholarly journal’s names) that you should use for your research, but you don't have to use them at all. (By choosing your school carefully/When choosing your school carefully/If you choose your school carefully/Although you will choose your school carefully), though, you'll have an online library that gives students free access to several databases. Happily, most scholarly journals and popular magazines (can find/can have found/can be finding/can be found) online. You will be able to search articles and (have read abstracts for free/can read abstracts for free/read abstracts for free/to be reading abstracts freely), but (without an affiliation with a university library/having not affiliation with a university library/not to have affiliation with a university library/not to be affiliated with a university library), you may have to pay to read the articles (what you choose to use/when you will choose to use/you choose to use/you are using to choose) in your paper. The horizontal dimension is of tremendous importance, (since/when/although/however) individual students and staff (that/ which/what/because) do not get along, nor understand each other, are not able to maximize their greatest potential for optimal excellence. Here is (because/why/when/where) workshops on prejudice, cultural awareness, cross-cultural communication and conflict resolution are most helpful. However, if this is all (that/ which/what/because) is done such efforts will come to naught, (because/why/for/since) the individual interactional dimension is only one dimension of change. Schools have a specific purpose for existing, (very much to implement/to implement that/not much to implement that/ to implement) their mission through whatever product or service they provide. Clauses with there and it. Some clauses begin with the introductory words there or it rather than with the subject of the sentence. These introductory words are sometimes called expletives. The expletive there shows that someone or something exists, usually at a particular time or place, these sentences generally follow the pattern there + verb to be + subject: There are languages marginalised as regards the transmission of scientific results. The expletive it is used in a number of different situations and patterns: It is rarer for the less widely used languages to transmit scientific information, (with the verb to be + adjective + infinitive). It takes a long time to learn a language, (with the verb to take + time phrase + infinitive). It takes two to make a quarrel, (with the verb to take + numeral phrase + infinitive). It is these journals that receive priority indexing in computerised files, i.e. in databases set up for the collection and circulation of scientific information., (with the verb to be + noun + relative clause). Incomplete adjective clauses Adjective clauses – also called relative clauses – are a way of joining two sentences. In the joined sentence, the adjective clause modifies (describes) a noun (called the head noun) in another clause of the sentence. It begins with an adjective clause marker: Example: I wanted the book. The book had already been checked out. The book that I wanted had already been checked out. The adjective clause in this example begins with the marker that and modifies the head noun book. Adjective clause markers are relative pronouns such as who, that, or which or the relative adverbs when or where. Examples: A neurologist is a doctor who specializes in the nervous system. This is the patient whom the doctor treated. Mr. Collins is the man whose house I rented. That is a topic which interests me. (which as subject) That is the topic on which I will write, (which as object of preposition) Art that is in public places can be enjoyed by everyone. (that as subject) The painting that Ms. Wallace bought was very expensive. (that as object) Here is the site where the bank plans to build its new headquarters. This is the hour when the children usually go to bed. Like all clauses, adjective clauses must have a subject and a verb. In some cases the adjective-clause marker itself is the subject; in some cases, there is another subject. Examples: The painting was very expensive. Ms. Wallace bought it. The painting which Ms. Wallace bought was very expensive. The adjective-clause marker in the joined sentence replaces it, the object of the verb bought. In the joined sentence, the adjective clause keeps the subject—Ms. Wallace—that it had in the original sentence. This is a topic. It interests me. This is a topic that interests me. The adjective-clause marker in the joined sentence replaces it, the subject of the second original sentence. In the joined sentence, the marker itself is the subject of the adjective clause. Notice that the inclusion of the pronoun it in the joined sentences above would be an error Incorrect: The painting which Ms. Wallace bought it was very expensive. This is a topic which it interests me. This type of mistake is sometimes seen in distractors. When the markers which, that, and whom are used as objects in relative clauses, they can correctly be omitted. Example: The painting Ms. Wallace bought is very expensive, (which is omitted). The adjective-clause markers which and whom can also be used as objects of prepositions: Example: That is the topic. I will write on it. That is the topic on which I will write. You may also see sentences with adjective clauses used in this pattern: quantity word + of + relative clause. Examples: He met with two advisers. He had known both of them for years. He met with two advisers, both of whom he had known for years. I read a number of articles. Most of them were very useful. I read a number of articles, most of which were very useful. Any part of a relative clause can be missing from the stem, but most often, the marker and the subject (if there is one) and the verb are missing. Any word or phrase from another clause—usually the head noun—may also be missing from the stem. Example: Cable cars are moved by cables ______underground and are powered by a stationary engine. (A) they run (B) that they run (C) run (D) that run Choice (A) is incorrect because the pronoun they cannot be used to join two clauses. Choice (B) is not appropriate because the subject they is not needed in the adjective clause; the marker that serves as the subject of the clause. Choice (C) is incorrect because there is no marker to join the adjective clause to the main clause. Identify and correct errors involving types of clauses (By growing the body of literature/There is a growing body of literature/With a growing body of literature/It is a growing body of literature), (having suggested/that suggests/by suggesting/to suggest) that languages (who marginalize publications/ marginalizing/whose publications are marginalized/which publications are marginalized) are negatively stereotyped and discriminated against. Researchers asked undergraduate students to fill out questionnaires (describing English lingua franca/to describe English lingua franca /that describes English lingua franca /for to describing English lingua franca), (that is replacing German and French/who was replacing German and French/which was replacing German and French/whom was replacing German and French) both in education and business. Adverb clauses An adverb clause consists of a connecting word, called an adverb clause marker (or subordinate conjunction), and at least a subject and a verb. An adverb clause can precede the main clause or follow it. When the adverb clause comes first, it is separated from the main clause by a comma. Example: The demand for economical cars increases when gasoline becomes more expensive. When gasoline becomes more expensive, the demand for economical cars increases. In this example, the adverb clause marker when joins the adverb clause to the main clause. The verb clause contains a subject (gasoline) and a verb (becomes). The following markers are commonly used: Examples: Time: Your heart rate increases when you exercise. Time: Some people like to listen to music while they are studying. Time: Some people arrived in taxis while others took the subway. Time: One train was arriving as another was departing. Time: We haven't seen Professor Hill since she returned from her trip. Time: Don't put off going to the dentist until you have a problem. Time: Once the dean arrives, the meeting can begin. Time: Before he left the country, he bought some traveler's checks. Time: She will give a short speech after she is presented with the award. Cause: Because the speaker was sick, the program was canceled. Opposition (contrary cause): Since credit cards are so convenient, many people use them. Contrast: Although he earns a good salary, he never saves any money. Contrast: Even though she was tired, she stayed up late. Condition: If the automobile had not been invented, what would people use for basic transportation? Condition: I won't go unless you do. In structure items, any part of a full adverb clause – the marker, the subject, the verb, and so on – can be missing from the stem. Clause markers with ever: Words that end with -ever are sometimes used as adverb clause markers: whoever, whatever, whenever, wherever, whichever, however. In some sentences, these words are actually nounclause markers. Examples: Put that box wherever you can find room for it. They stay at that hotel whenever they're in Boston. No matter how/ Whatever way/However you solve the problem, you'll get the same answer. Reduced adverb clauses When the subject of the main clause and the subject of the adverb clause are the same person or thing, the adverb clause can be reduced (shortened). Reduced adverb clauses do not contain a main verb or a subject. They consist of a marker and a participle (either a present or a past participle) or a marker and an adjective. Examples: When linguists are studying a minority language, they don't neglect its social functions, (full adverb clause). When studying a minority language, linguists don't neglect its social functions, (reduced clause with present participle). Although it had been limited, the regional language was still operational, (full adverb clause). Although limited, the regional language was still operational, (reduced clause with a past participle). Although he was nervous, the lecturer gave a wonderful speech, (full adverb clause) Although nervous, the lecturer gave a wonderful speech, (reduced clause with an adjective). You will most often see reduced adverb clauses with the markers although, while, if, when, before, after, and until. Reduced adverb clauses are NEVER used after because. Identify and correct errors involving adverb clauses (When human rights are the equal rights of everyone/Even though human rights are the equal rights of everyone/If human rights are the equal rights of everyone/Because human rights are the equal rights of everyone), I don’t think criminals and terrorists can be included. No one has less or more rights (if the next person does/than the next person does/because the next person does/when the next person does). It’s not (when someone committed a crime/because someone committed a crime/though someone committed a crime/if someone committed a crime) (who are allowed to take away/when we are allowed to take away/that we are allowed to take away/which we are allowed to take away) his or her rights, to torture, to silence, to indoctrinate. But all of the rights (to have/which all of us have/because of all of us have/when of all of us have) (though limited/when limited/if limited/because limited) to some extent and in some circumstances belong to criminals as well. We have freedom of movement (although it does not/when does not/that it does not/if it does not) entail the right to enter the private property (because it belongs/that belongs/if it who belongs/that belongs) to our neighbors. So the fact (when criminals’ rights are limited/of criminals’ rights are limited/that criminals’ rights are limited/as criminals’ rights are limited) does not set them apart from ordinary citizens. It does not mean (whose human rights/which human rights/that human rights/more than human rights) are not equal anymore. Human rights are equal (as soon as they are/with the purpose that they are/because they are/if they are) the unconditional property of us all. We do not have to fulfil certain conditions – such as respect (because we must have for the law/though we must have for the law/as we must have for the law/we must have for the law) – (wherever we have them/since that we have them/in order that we have them/because we have them). Incomplete noun clauses Noun clauses are the third type of subordinate clause. They begin with noun-clause markers. Noun clauses that are formed from statements begin with the noun-clause marker that. Noun clauses formed from yes/no questions begin with the noun-clause markers whether or if. Those formed from information questions begin with wh- words: what, where, when, and so on. Examples: Dr. Hopkins' office is in this building, (statement). I'm sure that Dr. Hopkins' office is in this building. Is Dr. Hopkins' office on this floor? (yes/no question). I don't know if (whether) Dr. Hopkins' office is on this floor. Where is Dr. Hopkins' office? (information question). Please tell me where Dr. Hopkins' office is. Notice that the word order in direct questions is not the same as it is in noun clauses. The noun clause follows statement word order (subject + verb), not question word order (auxiliary + subject + main verb). Often one of the distractors for noun-clause items will incorrectly follow question word order. Examples: I don't know what is her name, (incorrect use of question word order). I don't know what her name is, (correct word order) She called him to ask what time did his party start, (incorrect use of question word order). She called him to ask what time his party started, (correct word order). Noun clauses function exactly as nouns do: as subjects, as direct objects, or after the verb to be. Examples: When the meeting will be held has not been decided, (noun clause as subject). The weather announcer said that there will be thunderstorms, (noun clause as direct object). This is what you need, (noun clause after to be). Notice that when the noun clause is the subject of a sentence the verb in the main clause does not have a noun or pronoun subject. In structure items, the noun-clause marker, along with any other part of the noun clause –subject, verb, and so on – may be missing from the stem, or the whole noun clause may be missing. Identify and correct errors involving noun clauses: One basic question psycholinguists have tried to answer is (children acquire language/how do children acquire language/that children acquire language/how children acquire language). (Language policy in the European Union is/If language policy in the European Union is/When language policy in the European Union is/That language policy in the European Union is) both ineffective and hypocritical, doesn’t help to promote ideas of linguistic equality and multilingualism in Europe. (Why has English become a lingua franca/Why English has become a lingua franca/If English has become a lingua franca/By what causes has English become a lingua franca) is obvious and clear. The traditionally superior position of French in Europe explains (what the French cannot accept in the decline/that the French cannot accept the decline/how the French cannot accept the decline/whether the French cannot accept the decline) of their own linguistic power. (There is the politically-correct ideologies/It is the politically-correct ideologies/What are the politicallycorrect ideologies/The politically-correct ideologies) of some sociolinguists, (constantly fuel opposition against/that constantly fuel opposition against/what if constantly fuel opposition against/because they constantly fuel opposition against) the idea of English as a European lingua franca. 8. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH INCOPLETE PHRASES Incomplete participial phrases Participial phrases generally occur after nouns. They are actually reduced (shortened) relative clauses. Present participles (which always end in -ing) are used to reduce adjective clauses that contain active verbs. Example: Scotland, which joined England in in 1603 became a part of the United Kingdom, (adjective clause with active verb). Scotland, joining England in 1603, became a British territory, (participial phrase with a present participle). Past participles are used to reduce adjective clauses with passive verbs. Example: Oxford University, which was founded in 1096, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world (adjective clause with a passive verb). Oxford University, founded in 1096, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world (participial phrase with a past participle). Participial phrases can also come before the subject of a sentence. Examples: Joining England in 1603, Scotland became a British territory. Founded in 1096, Oxford University is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Incomplete appositives An appositive is a noun phrase that explains or rephrases another noun phrase. It usually comes after the noun that it rephrases. It may also come before the subject of a sentence. Example: Yuri Nikulin, a famous actor and clown, operated his own Circus Show, (appositive following a noun). A famous actor and clown, Yuri Nikulin operated his own Circus Show, (appositive before the subject). Appositives are actually reduced adjective clauses that contain the verb to be. However, unlike adjective clauses, they do not contain a marker or a verb. Example: Oak, which is one of the most durable hard woods, is often used to make furniture, (adjective clause). Oak, one of the most durable hard woods, is often used to make furniture, (appositive). Appositives are usually separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, but short appositives (usually names) are not. Example: Economist Paul Samuelson won a Nobel Prize in 1970. Incomplete/missing prepositional phrase A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition (in, at, with, for, until, and so on) followed by a noun or a pronoun, which is called the prepositional object. Prepositional phrases often describe time and location, among others. Examples: In autumn maple leaves turn red. Gaitshill is one of the most famous neighborhoods in Boston. After that, there won't be any more problems. The house was built by John's grandfather. Prepositional phrases come at the beginning of sentences, but they may appear in other parts as well. Remember, the preposition cannot correctly be the subject of a sentence, as in these examples: In autumn is my favorite season. Without a pencil is no way to come to a test. Prepositional phrases with the same meaning as adverb clauses There are also certain prepositions that have essentially the same meaning as adverb-clause markers but are used before noun phrases or pronouns, not with clauses. Examples: He chose that university because of its fine reputation. (because/since it has fine reputation). The accident was due to mechanical failure. (because/since there was mechanical falure). Visibility is poor today on account of air pollution. (because/since there is air pollution). He enjoys motorcycle riding in spite of the danger. (although/even though it is dangerous). Despite its loss, the team is still in first place. (although/even though it has lost). Her father lived in England during the war. (when/while there was the war). Identify and correct errors involving incomplete phrases (Despite powerful translators' lobbies fight/Fighting powerful translators' lobbies/Powerful translators' lobbies are fighting/Powerful translators' lobbies fighting) in the name of the high ideal of linguistic equality, a time-consuming, and expensive translation machinery is maintained (that is doing its best/it is doing its best/even though it is doing its best/doing its best) to translate the illusion of equality into illusions of multilingualism. The translations (what are produced in the world's largest translation bureau/produced in the world's largest translation bureau/producing in the world's largest translation bureau/while produced in the world's largest translation bureau) are taken as tokens for equality. No one can tell (that the process of translation counts more/though the process of translation counts more/why the process of translation counts more/why counts more the process of translation) than ability to read the more reliable English and French originals. (The supposed linguistic equality/Although the supposed linguistic equality/Because the supposed linguistic equality/Linguistic equality as supposed) in the EU is a relative one: some languages are (clearly more equal than others/clearly more equal before others/more clearly equal as others/more clearly than others equal). Minority languages (to use inside the member states/inside the member states/are used inside the member states/there are inside the member states) do not count at all. (Though easily accessible for an Internet user/Although it is easily accessible for an Internet user/Despite easily accessible for an Internet user/Even though it easily accessible for an Internet user) these articles do not contain any valuable information. No one knows what race the Incas were (because of/because that/it is because/because) no one of these people has survived. John Glenn, (he was the first American astronaut/who was the first American astronaut/the first American astronaut/being the first American astronaut), became a national hero immediately after his flight. 9. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH WORD ORDER Errors in word order Most word order errors consist of two words in reverse order. Some of the most common examples of this type of error are given below. Examples: Visitors to Vancouver often comment on how beautiful is its setting and on how clean. The correct word order is subject + verb: how beautiful and clean its setting is. A special type of word order problem involves inversions. This type of sentence uses question word order even though the sentence is not a question. When are inversions used? When the negative words listed below are placed at the beginning of a clause for emphasis. E.g.: not only, not until, not once, at no time, by no means, nowhere never, seldom, rarely scarcely, no sooner Examples: Not only do trees provide shade and beauty, but they also reduce carbon dioxide. Not once was he on time. Seldom have I heard such beautiful music. Not only did the company lose profits, but it also had to lay off workers. When the following expressions beginning with only occur at the beginning of a sentence (with these expressions, the subject and verb in that clause are inverted): only in (on, at, by, etc.), only once, only recently Examples: Only in an emergency should you use this exit. Only recently did she return from abroad. When the following expressions beginning with only occur at the beginning of a sentence (with these expressions, the subject and verb of the second clause are inverted): only if, only when, only because, only after, only until Examples: Only if you have a serious problem should you call Mr. Franklin at home. Only when you are satisfied is the sale considered final. When clauses beginning with the word so + an adjective or participle occur at the beginning of a sentence Examples: So rare is this coin that it belongs in a museum. So confusing was the map that we had to ask a police officer for directions. When clauses beginning with expressions of place or order occur at the beginning of a sentence (in these cases, the subject and main verb are inverted since auxiliary verbs are not used as they would be in most questions) Examples: In front of the museum is a statue. Off the coast of California lie the Channel Islands. First came a police car, then came an ambulance. Identify and correct errors involving word order It is said that (from the Pacific the first refugees of climate change will come/the first refugees of climate change from the Pacific will come/the first will come refugees of climate change from the Pacific/the first refugees of climate change will come from the Pacific). In the midst of this ocean's tropical regions (far away from/away so far from/from so far away/away from so far) populated continents (small 50,000 islands are scattered/are scattered 50,000 small islands/50,000 small islands are scattered/scattered are 50,000 small islands), 8,000 of them inhabited. (Particularly vulnerable they are/Particularly vulnerable are they/They are particularly vulnerable/Vulnerable they are particularly) to the impacts of global warming. (With the objective of understanding the processes/To objectively understand the processes/Understanding the processes with the objective of /Should they understand the processes objectively) of the use of English, as mother tongue, second language and international language in Europe the linguists have modified Kachru’s concentric circles framework of world English use (as the model suggested/as the model suggesting/like the model suggested/as the suggested model) to take into account the various, dynamic roles of English in different European countries. (However democratic citizenship in Europe is to be internationally based/ Since democratic citizenship in Europe is to be internationally based/ If democratic citizenship in Europe is to be internationally based/ Although democratic citizenship in Europe is to be internationally based), it is crucial to ensure diversification in language teaching so that citizens in Europe can interact in their own languages, rather than through English as a lingua franca. Items involving parallel structures In certain structure items, the correct use of parallel structures is tested. Parallel structures have: the same grammatical form and function. Look at the following sentences: She spends her leisure time hiking, camping, and fishing. He changed the oil, checked the tire pressure, and filled the tank with gas. Nancy plans to either study sociology or major in sociolinguistics. Nancy plans to study either medicine or biology. All of the structures in italics are parallel. In the first, three gerunds are parallel; in the second, three main verbs; in the third, two simple forms; and in the fourth, two nouns. Many other structures may be parallel in certain sentences: adjectives, adverbs, infinitives, prepositional phrases, noun clauses, and others. The most common situation in which parallel structures are required is in a sequence in the first two sentences above. Parallel structures are also required with correlative conjunctions such as either...or, not only...but also, both ...and, as well ...as. Examples: Yalta has not only a pleasant climate, (but also exciting scenery/ but also has exciting scenery/ but also the scenery is exciting/but the scenery is also exciting), and many fascinating neighborhoods. Until recently, most of the research on intercultural communication has focussed on native /non-native speaker interaction (both in the context of immigration and minorities and/either in the context of immigration and minorities or/not only in the context of immigration minorities but also) in intercultural politics and business. 10. GRAMMAR WORKOUT WITH SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT Subject/verb agreement There are some special rules about subject-verb agreement that you should be familiar with: A sentence with two subjects joined by and takes a plural verb. E.g.:The chemistry lab and the physics lab are . . . Some words end in -s but are singular in form. Many of these words are the names of fields of study {economics, physics, etc). News is another word of this kind. E.g.: Economics is . . . The news was . . . When a clause begins with the expletive there, the verb may be singular or plural, depending on the grammatical subject. Subjects with each and every take singular verbs. (This includes compound words like everyone and everything.) E.g.: Each state has . . . Each of the representatives was . . . Every person was . . . Everyone wants . . . The verb in relative clauses depends on the noun that the relative pronoun refers to. E.g.: The house that was built . . . The students who were selected . . . The phrase the number of + plural noun takes a singular verb. The phrase a number of + plural noun takes a plural verb. E.g.: The number of trees is . . . A number of important matters have . . . Singular subjects used with phrases such as along with, accompanied by, together with, as well as, and in addition to take singular verbs. E.g.: The mayor, along with the city council, is . . . Together with his friends, Mark has . . . Quantities of time, money, distance, and so on usually take a singular verb. E.g.: Five hundred dollars was . . . Two years has . . . Ten miles is . . . Problems involving subject-verb agreement. Underline the form that correctly completes each sentence. Then circle the subject with which the underlined verb agrees. The first one is done as an example. The first bridge to be built with electric lights (was/were) the Brooklyn Bridge. . Ethics (is/are) the study of moral duties, principles, and values. There (is/are) two types of calculus, differential and integral. George Gershwin, together with his brother Ira, (was/were) the creator of the first musical comedy to win a Pulitzer Prize. In a chess game, the player with the white pieces always (moves/move) first. The Earth and Pluto (is/are) the only two planets believed to have a single moon. A number of special conditions (is/are) necessary for the formation of a lingua franca. Each of the Ice Ages (was/were) more than a million years long. The national language, along with regional and minority languages, (makes/make) up the linguistic situation in a country. A lingua franca may be any natural or any artificial language which (is/are) used among speakers of different mother tongues. Sheep (is/are) covered with thick fur. The more-or-less rhythmic succession of economic booms and busts (is/are) referred to as the business cycle. The number of migrants in developed countries (depends/depend) on its economic conditions. All trees, except for the tree fern, (is/are) seed-bearing plants. Fifteen hundred dollars a year (was/were) the per capita income in the United States in 1950. Everyone who (goes/go) into the woods should recognize common poisonous plants such as poison ivy and poison oak. Identify and correct errors involving subject-verb agreement The experimental site, islands off Noumea in New Caledonia, (is remote from any human activity/are remote from any human activity/remote from any human activity/both are remote from any human activity). Contrary to the results of the experiment (fresh water prove to be intensively concentrated/fresh water proves to be intensively concentrated/fresh waters are intensively concentrated/prove fresh water is to be intensively concentrated) in the middle of the island rather than on its edges(that is the usual zones/which are the usual zones/it are the usual zones/there are the usual zones) of sea water-freshwater interaction. Complementary (analyses/analysis) derived from dialect study findings (have revealed/is revealed/are revealed)the importance of on-site research. The density of the vowel changes and the greater degree of consonant development (is maximal in London suburbs area/are maximal in London suburbs area/it is maximal in London suburbs area/they are maximal in London suburbs area). On the area margins(the phenomenon is observed/are observed the phenomenon/there are the phenomenon/it is the phenomenon), with mixture of phonetic variables. A number of special conditions (is/are) necessary for the phonetic change sources to form. There (is/are) two types of urban dialects in England. Two years (is/are) a long time when you have to wait. The number of trees in the National Park is not great. Each of the students (is/are) to submit their papers. No news (is/are) good news. The President along with his advisers (is/are) expected to arrive in an hour. Misplaced modifiers A misplaced modifier is a participial phrase or other modifier that comes before the subject, but does NOT refer to the subject. Look at this sentence: Driving down the road, a herd of sheep suddenly crossed the road in front of Liza's car. (INCORRECT;) This sentence is incorrect because it seems to say that a herd of sheep – rather than Liza – was driving down the road. The participial phrase is misplaced. The sentence could be corrected as shown: As Liza was driving down the road, a herd of sheep suddenly crossed the road in front of her. (CORRECT), This sentence now correctly has Liza in the driver's seat instead of the sheep. The following sentence structures are often misplaced. Present participle.Walking along the beach, the ship was spotted by the men. Correction: Walking along the beach, the men spotted the ship. Past participle. Based on this study, the scientist could make several conclusions. Correction: Based on this study, several conclusions could be made by the scientist. Appositive. A resort city in Arkansas, the population of Hot Springs is about 35,000. Correction: A resort city in Arkansas, Hot Springs has a population of about 35,000. Reduced adjective clause. While peeling onions, his eyes began to water. Correction: While he was peeling onions, his eyes began to water. Adjective phrases. Warm and mild, everyone enjoys the climate of the Virgin Islands. Correction: Everyone enjoys the warm, mild climate of the Virgin Islands. Expressions with like or unlike. Like most cities, parking is a problem in San Francisco. Correction: Like most cities, San Francisco has a parking problem Structure items with misplaced modifiers are usually easy to spot. They generally consist of a modifying element at the beginning of the sentence followed by a comma, with the rest or most of the rest of the sentence missing. The answer choices tend to be long. To find the answer, you must decide what subject the modifier correctly refers to. Examples: Using a device called a cloud chamber, ____________ (A) experimental proof for the atomic theory was found by Robert Millikin. (B) Rober t Millikin's experimental proof for the atomic theory was found. (C) Rober t Millikin found experimental proof for the atomic theory. (D) there was experimental proof found for the atomic theory by Robert Millikin. Choices (A) and (B) are incorrect because the modifier (Using a device called a cloud chamber) could not logically refer to the subjects (experimental proof and Robert Millikin's experimental proof). (D) is incorrect because a modifier can never properly refer to the introductory words there or it. 1. Fearing economic hardship, _____ (A) many Ukrainians emigrated to other countries in the 1990s. (B) emigration from Ukraine to other countries took place in the 1990s. (C) it was in the 1990s that many Ukrainians emigrated to other countries. (D) an emigration took place in the 1990s from Ukraine to other countries. 2. Rich and distinctive in flavor, ____ (A) there is in the United States a very important nut crop, the pecan. (B) the most important nut crop in the United States, the pecan. (C) farmers in the United States raise pecans, a very important nut crop. (D) pecans are the most important nut crop in the United States. 3.____________ orbiting from 2.7 to 3.6 billion miles from the sun. (A) The astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930 (B) Pluto was discovered by the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 (C) It was in 1930 that the astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto (D) The discovery of Pluto was made by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 4. A popular instrument,____. (A) only a limited role has been available to the accordion in classical music. (B) there is only a limited role for the accordion in popular music. (C) classical music provides only a limited role for the accordion. (D) the accordion has played only a limited role in classical music. Missing or incomplete comparisons Many sentences contain comparisons, some of these involve the comparative forms of adjectives. Examples: Sea bass__________ freshwater bass. (A) are larger than (correct) (B) are larger the (C) are as large (D) are larger On the average, the Pacific Ocean is deeper than the Atlantic. Rhonda is a more experienced performer than Theresa. This show is less interesting than the one we watched last night. Be sure that the sentence compares similar things or concepts. The ears of African elephants are bigger than Indian elephants. (INCORRECT) The ears of African elephants are bigger than those of Indian elephants. (CORRECT) The first sentence above is incorrect because it compares two dissimilar things: an African elephant's ears and an Indian elephant. In the second, the word those refers to ears, so the comparison is between similar things. Another type of comparison involves the phrase as...as; not so…as. Examples: The lab lasted as long as the class did. There weren't as many people at the meeting as I had thought there would be. Wild strawberries are ___________as cultivated strawberries. (A) not so sweet (correct) (B) not as sweet (C) less sweeter (D) not as sweeter The words like/alike and unlike/not alike can also be used to express comparison: Like A, B, …; A, like B, …; A is like B; A and В are alike. Unlike X, Y, …; X, unlike Y…;. X is unlike Y; X and Y are not alike Other phrases can be used in making comparisons: A is the same as В; A and В are the same; A is similar to В. X is different from Y; X and Y are different; X differs from Y. A special kind of comparison is called a proportional statement. A proportional statement follows this pattern: The more A.., the more B. Example: The higher the humidity, the more uncomfortable people feel. Identify and correct errors involving misplaced modifiers __________air pollution is a big problem in Simferopol. (A) Like in most Russian cities (B) Like most Russian cities (C) Alike most Russian cities (D) As most Russian cities __________, everyone wants to be friends with John. (A) Kind and cooperative (B) As he is kind and cooperative (C) Being kind and cooperative (D)Also kind and cooperative __________for his exam his computer broke. (A) While sitting (B) While he was sitting (C) On sitting (D) He was sitting __________is constantly growing. (A) The center of the Crimea, the population of Simferopol (B) In Simferopol, the center of the Crimea, the population (C) The center of the Crimea, Simferopol, the population (D) Simferopol, the center of the Crimea, the population _________he decided to drop his research. (A) Resulting in a failure (B) Resulting in a failure of his research (C) As his research resulted in a failure (D) Because a failure __________a car accident happened. (A) Walking down the street (B) When I was walking down the street (C) I was walking down the street (D) Walked down the street __________can help assess the prerequisites for a new urban dialect. (A) Mapping the sociophonetic variables this analysis (B) This analysis of mapping the sociophonetic variables (C) Mapping this analysis of the sociophonetic variables (D) When mapping the sociophonetic variables this analysis (Based on the hypothesis/Basing on the hypothesis/It is based on the hypothesis/There is based on the hypothesis) that family enterprises aim at humane objectives (to a greater extent/on a greater extent/with a greater extent/at a greater extent) and at financial objectives (to a lesser extent/on a lesser extent/with a lesser extent/at a lesser extent) than non-family enterprises (the results of an empirical study for the region Upper-Austria are presented/are presented the PDFresults of an empirical study for the region Upper-Austria/an empirical study for the region Upper-Austria results are presented/the results are presented of an empirical study for the region UpperAustria).

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