Level I

Chapter10
Reading

English | Vietnamese Section

English | Vietnamese
IC3, IT, TOEFL, Best Answer
Self- and Teacher Evaluation

Topic:Globalization
Toàn cầu hoá

Guiding Question

What is the more likely effect of globalization on your community and culture:
a threat or a benefit?

Câu hỏi hướng dẫn:
Ảnh hưởng có thể của toàn cầu hóa đối với văn hóa và cộng
đồng của bạn là gì: có hại hay có lợi?

Skills:  

In this chapter you will do these things:  

English Language Skills:

• Globalization Vocabulary
• A Strategy for Reading Textbooks, Essays and Articles
• Reassessing Beliefs, Abilities and Attitudes About Reading: How have these changed with this curriculum?

Vietnamese Language Skills:

Reading Words in Context

English Language Lesson

Back to Top

Globalization Quotes

In small groups, read the quotes about globalization in the box below. Discuss whether or not the speaker of these quotes thinks of globalization as a benefit or threat in the world today. If you think that the speaker believes that globalization is a benefit, mark the first box labeled “is a benefit.” If your group decides that the speaker believes that globalization is a threat, mark the second box labeled “is a threat.” And if your group decides that the speaker thinks that globalization makes no difference or that it creates no change, good or bad, mark the last box labeled “makes no difference.”

Quote                                                                                    Globalization . . .	is a Benefit	is a Threat	makes no difference
1 It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity. -- Kofi Annan
2 Globalization, as defined by rich people like us, is a very nice thing... you are talking about the Internet, you are talking about cell phones, you are talking about computers. This doesn't affect two-thirds of the people of the world. -- Jimmy Carter
3 We must ensure that the global market is embedded in broadly shared values and practices that reflect global social needs, and that all the world's people share the benefits of globalization. -- Kofi Annan
4 This is a very exciting time in the world of information. It's not just that the personal computer has come along as a great tool. The whole pace of business is moving faster. Globalization is forcing companies to do things in new ways. -- Bill Gates (American entrepreneur and founder of Microsoft Co., b.1955)
5 If you're totally illiterate and living on one dollar a day, the benefits of globalization never come to you. -- Jimmy Carter
6 To realize the full possibilities of this economy, we must reach beyond our own borders, to shape the revolution that is tearing down barriers and building new networks among nations and individuals, and economies and cultures: globalization. It's the central reality of our time. -- William J. Clinton
7 The more we taught about issues of globalization, the more we found ourselves telling our students: "Everything is connected. You can't really understand what's going on in one part of the world without looking at how it's related to everything else." – Rethinking Globalization (http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/rg/RGIntro.shtml)
8 The essence of globalization is a subordination of human rights, of labor rights, consumer, environmental rights, democracy rights, to the imperatives of global trade and investment.—Ralph Nader
9 In this universe, a state choosing to stay closed invariably faces decline and growing discontent among its subjects, who are eager for material progress. But if it opens up, it must accept a reduced role that is mainly limited to social protection, physical protection against aggression or civil war and maintaining national identity. – Stanley Hoffman in “Clash of Globalizations” in Foreign Affairs, July/August 2002)
10 Our ancestors have warned us that the Chinese are cunning and dangerous. We all know that. But we also know that we have to put development before everything else. I just hope that the peace will last. - Nguyen Minh Toan, who resides at the Chinese border in the trading town of Lang Son (found in Michael Sullivan 2005 Vietnam: 30 Years Later, Morning Edition NPR, April 25, 2005).
11We have no interest in spreading our culture. —George W. Bush, from State of the Union address, January 2002
12We want a world where many worlds are possible.—Subcomandante Marcos, Zapatista National Liberation Army, Chiapas, Mexico
13 Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, economic, social and cultural characteristics, as well as their legal systems, while retaining their rights to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.—Article 4, from Draft Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1993)
14 Modern industrial societies and their overwhelming superiority in technology and dynamic expansion are totally reorganizing the world. All traditional cultures that are alien to these technologically 'homogeneous' societies are doomed to extinction. —website of the Gâyan Uttjak Society, dedicated to preserving the traditional music of Hungary
15Globalization does not necessarily or even frequently imply homogenization or Americanization... [D]ifferent societies appropriate the materials of modernity differently.—Arjun Appadurai, anthropologist, from Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization
16Being digital is positive. It can flatten organizations, globalize society, decentralize control, and help harmonize people. The nation-state may go away.—Nicholas Negroponte, from Being Digital
17The planet is falling precipitately apart AND coming reluctantly together at the very same moment.—Benjamin Barber, from Jihad vs. McWorld
18 Insert your own statement here: What is the most likely effect of globalization on your community and culture—a threat or a benefit? __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________

Vocabulary Words & Exercises:

Most likely, as you were discussing the quotations above, you were also struggling with trying to define the word “globalization.” It is a word that is used often, but does not have a precise definition that is understood by everyone who uses the word.

In your small groups, define “globalization.” You may discuss the word first in your native language. Then translate it into English. Each group can then write their definitions on the the board.

• Did the whole class come up with the same definition?
• Why or why not?
• Here are some definitions by experts:

From Encyclopedia Britannica:

the process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, can foster a standardization of cultural expressions around the world.

An extreme interpretation of this process, often referred to as globalism, sees advanced capitalism, boosted by wireless and Internet communications and electronic business transactions, …

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9344667?query=globalism&ct=

People who use the word “globalization” don’t always mean the same thing. Jan Aart Scholte, in his book, Globalization: A Critical Introduction, identified five broad definitions of what “globalization” can mean:

1. Gbalization as Internationalization. Here globalization is viewed simply as another adjective to describe cross-border relations between countries. It describes international exchange and interdependence. We talk about the “globalized economy” referring to international processes and transactions that are bigger than and envelope national economies.
2. Globalization as Liberalization. This definition refers to a process of removing restrictions imposed by governments in order to create an open and borderless world economy.
3. Globalization as Universalization. In this use, globalization becomes “the process of spreading various objects and experiences to people at all corners of the earth.” A classic example of this would be the worldwide use of computers and television.
4. Globalization as Westernization or Modernization (especially an “Americanized” form). This concept of globalization implies that pre-existing cultures and local self-determination is over-run by modernity (capitalism, rationalism, industrialism, etc.).
5. Globalization as Deterritorialization. Local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa. Social relations and transactions become transcontinental. Social space is no longer geographic regions. Social relations link distant localities immediately.

Scholte, J. A. (2000) Globalization. A critical introduction, London: Palgrave. 361 + xx pages.

The remainder of this chapter will attempt to further define “globalization.”

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Explanation of Reading Study Skill A (Academic Reading Skill):

A Strategy for Reading Textbooks, Essays and Articles
(Combining strategies from www.how-to-study.com and
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/sq3r.html)

Here is a strategy for reading and taking notes from chapters in a textbook, essay or article. In Chapter 9 we used a strategy that focused on the skimming and scanning aspects in more detail. In this chapter we use these strategies plus add the note-taking strategies to help you remember what you have read. These strategies will help you to understand what you read and to prepare a written record of what you learned. The written record will be valuable when you have to participate in a class discussion and again when you study for a test.

Take a pencil in your hand. Use the pencil to underline and write notes in margins.

Skim and Scan. Skimming and scanning brings to mind what you already know about the topic of a chapter and prepares you for learning more. To survey a chapter, read the title, introduction, headings, and the summary or conclusion. Also, examine all visuals such as pictures, tables, maps, and/or graphs and read the caption that goes with each. By surveying a chapter, you will quickly learn what the chapter is about.

Read the Text Once Quickly. Look for the main idea, for what the essay is about in general, and for what the author seems to be saying. Don't get bogged down in details. (If you come to an unfamiliar word, circle it but go on reading).

Question. You need to have questions in your mind as you read. Questions give you a purpose for reading and help you stay focused on the reading assignment. Form questions by changing each chapter heading into a question. Use the words who, what, when, where, why, or how to form questions. For example, for the heading "Uses of Electricity" in a chapter about how science improves lives, you might form the question "What are some uses of electricity?" If a heading is stated as a question, use that question. When a heading contains more than one idea, form a question for each idea. Do not form questions for the Introduction, Summary, or Conclusion.

Check the meaning of unfamiliar words. If they seem to be key words, i.e., if the author uses them more than once, scribble a brief definition at the bottom of the page or at the end of the essay.

Re-Read. Read the information that follows each heading to find the answer to each question you formed. As you do this, you may decide you need to change a question or turn it into several questions to be answered. Stay focused and flexible so you can gather as much information as you need to answer each question.

Now re-read more slowly and carefully, this time making a conscious attempt to begin to isolate the single most important generalization the author makes: his thesis. Follow his line of thought; try to get some sense of structure. The thesis determines the structure, so the structure, once you begin to sense it, can lead you to the thesis. What is the main point the author is making: Where is it? Remember, examples or "for instances" are not main points.

The thesis is the generalization the author is attempting to prove valid. Your job, then is to ask yourself, "What is the author trying to prove"?

Another way of identifying the thesis is to ask yourself, "What is the unifying principle of this essay"? or "What idea does everything in this essay talk about"? or "Under what single main statement could all the subdivisions fit"?

Write. Write each question and its answer in your notebook. Reread each of your written answers to be sure each answer is legible and contains all the important information needed to answer the question.

As you practice using these strategies, you will find you learn more and have good study notes to use to prepare for class participation and tests.

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Exercises and Activities for Skill A:

Use the following question to guide you through the reading strategies. Read the article below using these questions:

Skim and Scan.

1. What is the title?

2. Where does this article come from?

3. What does the italicized preview say?

4. Read the introductory paragraph.

5. What are the other sub-headings?

6. Look at pictures, graphs, maps or other visual aids.

7. Read the concluding paragraph.

Read the Text Once Quickly.

1. Look for the main idea.

2. Circle unfamiliar words.

Question.

1. Define some words that you have circled especially if they seem to be very important. For example, the word “campesino” has been used several times. Looking it up on an online dictionary, we find:

From http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/campesino

Pronunciation: "kam-p&-'sE-(")nO
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural-nos
Etymology: Spanish, from campo field, country, from Latin campus field
: a native of a Latin-American rural area; especially: a Latin-American Indian farmer or farm laborer

2. What do I already know about this topic?

3. Who is the author? What can I guess about what she is writing about? For example, I might guess that the author’s name is an Indian name. Therefore, I may ask, is the author a citizen of India? Is the author an expatriate? What point of view might she be writing from?

4. What questions do I have from reading the title? For example, What is a globalized village? How does a village become globalized?

5. What question do I have from reading the subtitles? For example, in the first subtitle, the word “progress” is in quotations. Why? Is a village globalized with progress?

Re-Read.

1. What is the thesis of this article? Read the article with this in mind.

2. How does the author support the thesis?

3. How does the author organize the support of the thesis?

4. Find answers to the questions you were asking in the section above.

Write.

1. Write down the words you have learned from this article.

2. Write down the thesis of this article.

3. Write your best questions down and how the article answered these questions.

4. Reread your notes to make sure that they are legible and understandable.

Reading :

The Globalized Village
By Lila Rajiva, AlterNet. Posted October 23, 2003.
http://www.alternet.org/story/17018/

An Indian immigrant's trip to her small hometown in India becomes a lesson in the fallout of globalization

The road from Madras to my hometown Vellore in the southern part of India makes for a bumpy ride, regardless of one's choice of transportation -- be it a sturdy socialist-era Ambassador car or a newer lightweight import, a crowded dirty bus or an air-conditioned taxi. There are no lanes and the traffic moves erratically and at will, as the black tar fades indistinguishably into the neighboring sand and thorn bushes.

Signs of “Progress”

One side of the road has been dug up as part of the preliminary work for the Golden Quadrilateral. Hundred-year-old trees have been cut down to make way for this ambitious national highway that is expected to span the length and breadth of the country. My mother claims that this summer feels a lot hotter thanks to the ceaseless construction. But to what avail this additional three degrees of boiling heat in July when the monsoon fails? Nobody pays attention to the two lanes we have now; why should they care about getting four more?

Another sign of "progress" along the way is the Hyundai factory. It is one of the many gleaming new buildings -- including medical colleges catering to non-resident Indians (Indians who have emigrated outside their country) -- dotting the road in this part of the country. Globalization is alive and well in the villages of India.

The meals on the trains used to be served in moistened banana leaves that were plucked in front of you and thrown away after; today they are wrapped in tin foil or come in plastic or cardboard containers like the cheerfully colored juice packs. The Suzuki-owned Marutis have been joined by a wide array of foreign makes. I read of high-flying elite and their Porsches and Mercedes Benz -- although why anyone would risk taking them out on an Indian road is hard to imagine. I see the plastic knives and forks and cloth napkins in a small town restaurant, internet access in little shops and booths everywhere you go, a small but well stocked air-conditioned supermarket with shopping carts, bored store girls and wide empty aisles.

For a foreign-returned Indian, these symbols of "progress" soothe one's guilt for leaving behind the millions who live an attenuated existence in these paddy fields, huts and impoverished villages. It makes us feel that, finally, the world is getting better thanks to technology and capitalism. The campesino and the conglomerate are working hand in hand as the free market triumphs again.

The Other Side of “Progress”

But the gaudy veneer of liberalization is wafer-thin. Lurking beneath is a darker picture, easily visible to anyone who truly wants to see.

Let's take the Hyundai factory as an example. Ever since it opened for business, water has been in short supply for miles around. The locals don't have the water to drink, cook or bathe. In the scorching heat, this shortage is not an inconvenience but a death sentence. This past year, the death toll from an unexpectedly hot dry summer reached the thousands.

How does globalization feel when you have to walk a mile to the well with a squalling infant tugging at your sari and nothing to cover your head from the ferocious sun except a thin piece of old cotton? The Hyundai factory guzzles water, electricity and land. But it's good to have something more than the trundling old Ambassadors to drive around. People tell me it's a fine place to work. And won't it be splendid to see the Hyundais zip up and down the Golden Quadrilateral when it's completed.

Jobs, transportation and industry are what globalization brings with it for some, but who stands by to measure the immense fallout borne by everyone else? The collateral damage of multinational companies cannot compete with the devastation inflicted by war. Cancun can't compete with Iraq for the media's attention. But is death from dehydration any less painful than being killed by a bullet?

In the state of Karnataka, small farmers like the campesinos at Cancun have committed ritual suicide to express their outrage at the destruction of their lives by multinationals. They are the immediate and dramatic victims of globalization but the damage is far more widespread if less visible. Some indigenous medicines and herbs used for centuries are now in the danger of becoming the exclusive property of corporations eager to patent them.

A recent case involved turmeric, the yellow spice used to color rice and other foods in India. In 1995, two expatriate Indians at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Suman Das and HariHar Cohly, applied for a patent for the use of turmeric as a salve for wounds -- an age-old Indian remedy. The Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research promptly challenged the patent, even producing an article written in 1953 in the Journal of the Indian Medical Association that quoted ancient Sanskrit texts that referred to such use. The patent was eventually withdrawn. But nine other such patents on turmeric have since been filed. Patents have also been granted for specific uses of other indigenous products like basmati rice and neem leaves.

Intellectual property rights are at the core of the World Trade Organization debate between the developed and underdeveloped countries. American trade lawyers argue that since patent laws are not frequently used in poorer countries, their governments do not understand them. They claim that only new applications of traditional foods and herbs are being patented, not pre-existing practices. They argue that without patent protection, drug companies have little incentive to undertake long-term and expensive research.

Humane Globalization

Hidden behind the rhetoric is of the free market is a demand for the state to protect the corporation and grant it monopoly rights. And contrary to the rhetoric of the competitive market, it is the biggest companies -- such as the pharmaceutical mega-corporations with their wealthy executives and fat profit margins -- that that will profit most from this type of state protection. Meanwhile, millions of children are deprived of the simple vitamins that could save them from disease and death. If the market really worked as it should, freely, the campesinos would win much more frequently than they do now.

But to frame the debate as one between campesino and conglomerate, between the countryside and commerce is to have already lost the war. For capital-G Globalization -- like Modernity, Science, Progress, or any other capitalized abstraction -- casts itself as irresistible and irreversible. Only Luddites, medievalists, agrarian romantics and the Birkenstock brigade are foolish enough to stand in its way. These are the straw men created by corporate apologists in order to dismiss the anti-globalization movement as irrational or adolescent.

We need new ways of speaking. Modernity is not the enemy. It is the relentless nature of a certain type of economic production, which is propagandized and supported by the state. Without agricultural subsidies, the big farmers would be out of business, beaten out by the small farmers. The conglomerates would be routed by the campesinos.

The resistance to multinationals is not a resistance to globalization. It is a demand to retain the perspective of the village, the perspective of all that is human. What we need today are activists for globalization -- but a humane globalization, not an inhuman one.

L. Rajiva teaches at the University of Maryland and is working on a book on propaganda.

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Exercises and Practice of Past Reading Skills:

In Level 1 Chapter 1, you filled out the questionnaire below about what you believed about reading. Answer the questions again and compare your answers to the answers you gave in Chapter 1.

Below are beliefs that some people have about reading. Read each statement and then decide if you:

• (1) strongly agree
• (2) agree
• (3) neither agree nor disagree
• (4) disagree
• (5) strongly disagree.

There are no right-or-wrong answers. We are simply going to compare our opinions.

	1	2	3	4	5
Reading is a passive process: a text must be "absorbed" by the reader.
Reading is mainly a visual activity: our eyes must identify letter by letter, word by word.
There isn't just one way of reading a text: there are many ways according to the circumstances.
To decide how to read a text we must check what kind of text it is and why we want to read it.
Reading efficiently depends mostly on personal abilities which we can't control or improve.
Comprehension depends on what the reader already knows about the topic.
To understand a text you must understand every single word in it.
If you don't want to lose your concentration, you should start reading a text from the beginning and then carry on, line after line, without stopping until you reach the end.
It is possible to choose a strategy before reading a text and use that strategy while you read.
The only way to find out the meaning of a new word is to look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody.

In Small Groups: Compare the answers you have from the questionnaires. Describe what you now believe the skill to read entails. You may use some of the statements in the questionnaire as part of your description. How has your understanding of the reading process changed?

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