RGMTTC

Essentials of Spoken
and Presentation Skills
UOM-S003
for the Students of University of Madras

BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED

(A Government of India Enterprise)
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MEENAMBAKKAM, CHENNAI - 16

INDEX
Contents
UNIT I - THINKING AND ARTICULATION......................................................................................... 3
UNIT II - AURAL AND ORAL SKILLS................................................................................................ 20
UNIT III - COMMUNICATION BOOSTERS ....................................................................................... 42
UNIT IV - FUNCTION OF CULTURAL CODES IN PRESENTATION ....................................................... 58
UNIT V - MODELS OF PRESENTATION........................................................................................... 93

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UNIT I - THINKING AND ARTICULATION

Articulation and Reflection (A&R) are methods of instruction connected to Cognitive
Apprenticeship and fall under the umbrella of Situated Cognition Theory. In other
words, these methods are associated with a move away from viewing the learning
process as mechanistic and towards the conceptualization of learning as something
"emergent and social" (Brill, 2001). Situated Cognition Theory posits that
cooperative efforts result in the best acquisition of knowledge. Indeed, it follows
that only through interactions with one's peers and environment can a learner
negotiate comprehension
As we have learned, Cognitive Apprenticeship relies on social interaction, similar to
the environment in which masters and apprentices of skilled trades and crafts have
historically engaged in learning. The idea presumes that the newcomers should be
acculturated into an established community of practice by way of observation and
participation on the periphery. As learners become more confident in ability and
more skilled in practice, the teachers and communities gradually cede control,
resulting in the movement of novices from the fringes into the body of the
community where they can participate and produce as equals
As such, Articulation and Reflection work together as a pedagogical strategy.
Reflection skills promote critical thinking and students' construction of knowledge.
Articulation skills give students the ability to communicate that knowledge with
others. These methods of instruction give students the opportunity to express what
they are learning as it relates to their own learning experience and to self-evaluate
their process.
The ideal, as presented in the Cognitive Apprenticeship chapter, is that through
using the five teaching methods of modeling, coaching, scaffolding, reflection and
articulation, the teacher can guide the learner down the path of becoming an expert
by providing opportunities to succeed based on the individual need or previous
experiences of the learner. Ultimately the learner can take on the role as expert or
the more knowledgeable other. Because this learning process is somewhat cyclical
in nature, the order of the methods utilized is in flux. Articulation and Reflection of
the process or problem could take place many times before the learner becomes an
expert.

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What Does It Mean?

Articulation and Reflection focus on the importance of learners' abilities to express
their ideas either out-loud or in writing. For many who majored in writing and
reading intensive subjects in college, Reflection is a familiar, if somewhat dreaded,
process. Recall how many reflection papers you were asked to write or how many
"discussions" you participated in during college. This process is an old one, as even
Socrates demanded that his students be able to formulate answers to questions
and ask questions of themselves (Daudelin, 1996).
Yet, the question and answering need not take place only between teacher and
learner. As defined by Cognitive Apprenticeship, the collaboration between peers
provides varied opportunities for students to cultivate explanatory analysis as the
formation of an argument or explanation immediately lends itself to the opportunity
to examine one's own thought processes (Goodman, 1998). Meanwhile, as we will
discuss later, who or what can act as a peer is changing as technology introduces
new opportunities for learners.

What is Reflection?
And so, what is Reflection? At its most basic, Reflection enables students to
compare the route by which they find answers to the route taken by others. Those
"others" can include experts, peers, or even themselves in a different context.
Dewey divided the Reflection process into five stages, the first of which is "the
indeterminate situation," during which routine ways of doing things fail to meet the
needs of the problem solver (Miettinen, 2000, p.66). This starting point is a
disturbance in the normal flow of activity. During the second stage, the learners
define the problem. As the learners attempt to adequately define an issue, they can
inadvertently gain insight into the conditions by which she can remedy the
situation. This leads immediately to stage three, which involves consciously
studying the circumstances of the predicament and analyzing the means and
resources available for resolution. At this time the learner can construct possible
working hypotheses, searching her memory for similar situations or imagining how
someone else might handle the same situation. Stage four is the time for reasoning,
when the learner thinks through the hypotheses, testing and evaluating the
likelihood of their success. Finally, in stage five, the learner acts, testing a
hypothesis to see if it will work to resolve the problem.

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What is Articulation?
At its core, Articulation is the actual process that a learner goes through to explain
to other learners what problem solving activities have occurred. This explanation
can also include future recommendations and perceived consequences (Goodman,
Soller, Linton, & Gaimari, 1998). Like Batman needs his trusty sidekick Robin,
Reflection cannot exist without Articulation, for together they provide learners with
opportunities to be active participants in a "risk free environment" (Derrick, 2005,
p.5). Once learners become comfortable with the skills necessary for Reflection and
Articulation, they can find that Articulation can lead to a different level of
Reflection.
This cycle can occur repeatedly during a discussion or problem-solving event
among peers and teachers. For example, a student could develop a theory about
why the sky is blue and then explain the theory to another student. In turn that
second student might reflect on this theory and then articulate one of their own.
The focus of this activity would not necessarily lead to the correct scientific theory,
but it would provide an opportunity for the student to use abstract critical thinking
skills and practice communicating the process of arriving at their theory through
discourse with another student. Thus, Articulation not only helps learners retain
information, but it also "illuminates the coherence of current understanding"
(Koschmann, 1995, p. 93). By forcing the student to actually commit to her
knowledge of a subject, Articulation sets the stage for future opportunities of
assessing and evaluating that knowledge (Koschmann, 1995).
Some of the best activities for Articulation simply provide opportunities for learners
to participate in dialogue or discourse. Good Articulation requires time and
practice.
Although this seems rather natural, Articulation is a skill that must be developed.
Opportunities for Articulation in a safe educational environment with ample time to
explain ideas can help develop learners' Articulation skills.
After her students formed their opinions about the new law, the students will give
speeches articulating their position on the new driver's license law. Students will
have the opportunity to discuss the impact of the new law with each other in small
groups, creating a "community of practice" within the classroom. Mrs. Smart will
focus on creating a conducive environment for her students to continue the
reflection and articulation process.
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Benefits of Articulation & Reflection

Enhancing Learning
In any type of learning situation, Articulation and Reflection can enhance the
learning of every student. Articulation and Reflection force learners to examine the
learning experience and to verbalize what they have learned. Using this teaching
method in conjunction with modeling, coaching, scaffolding, and exploration can
enhance learning of the engaged student. The learning process can be enhanced by
encouraging students to reflect on what they have learned and be able to
communicate what they are thinking.
Improving Critical Thinking Skills
Articulation and Reflection can be used to improve learner's critical thinking skills.
Students should be able to ask questions, solve problems, investigate, analyze, and
develop new knowledge. Reflection and Articulation are methods which are
designed to help learners focus. By allowing them to focus, the teacher encourages
the learner to more closely observe expert problem solving and to understand their
own problem-solving strategies. This process encourages students to "develop a
'reflective practitioner' stance and to think critically about what they do" . (Kraus,
1996, p.20).
Improving Writing and Verbal Skills
Articulation and Reflection can be used to improve a learners' writing in many
different areas. There are several strategies in A&R that encourage learners to
express their knowledge and understanding of a topic. Students may gain
additional insight while participating in cooperative learning activities. Strategies
such as journaling, written problem-solving analyses, and critiquing others allow
students to compare knowledge in any context.
Improving Decision-Making Skills
In a cooperative learning environment, decision-making skills are crucial. A&R
provides a context for students to use decision-making skills when analyzing their
own performance as well as the performances of their peers, questioning what was
learned, and deciding what other alternatives to the problem are possible.

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Challenges of Articulation & Reflection

Insufficient Research:
There is negligible current research published about Articulation and Reflection as
a pertinent teaching method in education. Most existing research pertains to
Cognitive Apprenticeship. More research is needed to show the effect of A&R in
subjects such as math, social studies, and even in career-based programs. It would
be interesting to see the use of A&R in these programs and the insight given by the
teachers and the students. "The minimal amount of research on Articulation and
Reflection in mathematics opens the door for further research in this area. In
general, writing and Reflection are considered to worthwhile endeavors, but formal
research is difficult to find" (Derrick, 2005, p.5).
The Natural Learning Environment
Creating a natural learning environment also utilizes Articulation and Reflection.
According to Stein, a natural learning environment engages learners in solving
authentic, non-routine problems likely to be encountered back on the job. Problem
solving is collaborative, with participants contributing to the dialogue and
constructing novel solutions. Articulation and Reflection can occur in any type of
learning situation. It is very important for learners to be able to articulate what
they are learning and to be able to reflect on their learning process and their
learning outcomes. Cognitive apprenticeship, situated cognition, and natural
learning environments allow for Articulation and Reflection to exist as learning
strategies or approaches that are necessary to the learning environment.

Exercise 1:- Word and thought match exercise

Match the first part of each sentence in the List A with its second part in the
List B.
Use the words in BOLD to help you. Check that each sentence you put together is
grammatically correct. The objective of this exercise to know different words and
usage related with 'ENVIRONMENT'.It is useful for writing and speaking tests.
(You can click on some of the words given in the list B below to know its
meaning.Press back button to return to this page)

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List A
1. Some modern agricultural
methods have been heavily
criticized

List B
(A) ...in many countries poaching is
considered more serious than drug
smuggling.

2. If you wear a fur coat in public,..

(B) ...and rare breeds parks are very

popular with many.

3. It is illegal to kill pandas, tigers...

(C)

4. If we dont do more to protect

pandas,...

(D) ...the governments conservation

programme has been very successful.

5. A lot of people are interested in

unusual animals,...

(E)

6. National parks in Africa are currently

recruiting experts...

(F) ...with battery farming in particular

receiving a lot of condemnation.

7. In an attempt to preserve forests

around the country...

(G) ...it was fascinating to observe

their natural
behaviour.

8. We would like to carry out more

scientific study into rainforests...

(H)
...on
a
successful
panda breedingprogramme.

9. I dont like zoos because I think...

(I) ...keeping animals in captivity is

cruel.

...in wildlife

...theyII

management.

soon

be extinct.

10. I saw a fascinating documentary

(J) ...or any other endangered species
about the way animals live in Greenland
and thought...

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11. In order to increase the birth rate,
the Chinese government has spent a lot
of money...

(K) ...but it is often difficult to get people

to fund the research.

12. Hunters have killed so many

animals that...

(L) ...you risk coming under attack

from animal rights activists.

answers---1.F 2.L 3.J 4.E 5.B 6.C 7.D 8.K 9.I 10.G 11.H 12.A(can also say
hunting,but poaching means to hunt illegally)

Exercise 2:- Word and thought match exercise

Look at this essay and complete the gaps with one of the words or expressions
given in the list below. In some cases, more than one answer may be possible.
You may need to change the form of some of the words.The objective of this
exercise is to get learn new words related with 'ENVIRONMENT'',its meaning and
application.This is useful for writing(task 2 for both GT & AC),reading and
speaking.(You can click on some of the words given in the list below to know
its
meaning.Press
back
button
to
return
to
this
page)
[organic | unleaded petrol | environmentalists | poaching | acid rain |
contaminated | conservation programmes | green belts | endangered species |
genetically modified | recycle |biodegradable |global warming| battery farming |
emissions/gases | fossil fuels | greenhouse| rain forest | ecosystem ]
Environmental degradation is a major world problem. What causes this problem, and
what can we do to prevent it?
There is no doubt that the environment is in trouble. Factories burn
1_________which produce 2_________ , and this kills trees. At the same
time,3__________ gases rise into the air and contribute to 4__________which
threatens to melt the polar ice cap. Meanwhile farmers clear huge areas of
5 _____________ in places such as the Amazon to produce feeding land for cattle
to produce wood for building. Rivers and oceans are so heavily 6._____________ by

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industrial waste that it is no longer safe to go swimming. Cars pump out poisonous
7_____________which we all have to breathe in.8__________ and overfishing are
killing off millions of animals, including whales, elephants and other 9________. In
fact, all around us, all living things large and small which comprise our finely
balanced 10_________ are being systematically destroyed by human greed and
thoughtlessness.
There is a lot we can all do, however, to help prevent this. The easiest thing, of
course, is to 11.___________ waste material such as paper and glass so that we can
use it again. We should also check that the things we buy from supermarkets are
packaged in 12______ packaging which decomposes easily. At the same time, we
should make a conscious effort to avoid foods which are 13______________ (at least
until someone proves that they are safe both for us and for the environment). If you
are truly committed to protecting the environment, of course, you should only buy
14___________ fruit and vegetables, safe in the knowledge that they have been
naturally cultivated. Finally, of course,we should buy a small car that uses
15_____________ which is less harmful to the environment or, even better, make
more
use
of
public
transport.
The serious 16__________ , however, do much more. They are aware of the global
issues evolved and will actively involve themselves in 17__________ by making sure
our forests are kept safe for future generations. They will oppose activities which
are harmful to animals, such as 18________. And they will campaign to keep the
19____________ around our towns and cities free from new building.
We cannot all be as committed as them, but we can at least do our own little bit at
grass roots level.We, as humans, have inherited the earth, but that doesnt mean
we can do whatever we like with it.
***END OF THIS EXERCISE TYPE***
1.fossil fuels 2.acid rain 3.greenhouse 4.global warming 5.rain forest
6.contaminated 7.emissions/gases 8.Poaching 9. endangered species 10.ecosystem
11.recycle 12.biodegradable 13.genetically modified 14.organic 15.unleaded petrol
16.environmentalists 17.conservation programmes 18.battery farming 19.Green
Belts

Exercise3:- Word and thought match exercise

There are 5 questions and you need to select an appropriate word for each
sentences given from the word lists given to each pair of sentences.The
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objective of this section is to identify the difference between the words which look
similar in letters/pronunciation/meaning.This section is very useful for writing
tasks and for reading tests to really follow the meaning of sentences given.(You can
also click on some of the words to know the meaning of it).
1.A ___ trade embargo has badly affected the economic infrastructure.
The computer has given
it.[continual/continuous]

us____

problems

ever

since

we

installed

2.Environmental health officers regularly_____ kitchens and other food preparation

areas.
The government plans to_____ the price of meat to make sure it doesn't go up too
much.[control/inspect]
3.The didn't raise any _____ when we insisted on inspecting the figures.
The government's plan was met with severe_____[criticism(s)/objection(s)]
4.It was a severe_____which needed immediate hospital treatment.
A lot of____ was caused to buildings along the coast during the storm.
There's no____ in taking a break from your job now and
then.[damage/injury/harm]
5.When
did
he____
Did Alexander Fleming___penicillin.[discover/invent]

the

answers---1.continuous,continual
2.inspect,control
4.injury,damage,harm 5.invent,discover.

telephone?

3.objections,criticism

Exercise 4:- Word and thought match exercise

There are 5 questions and you need to find one spelling mistake in each
questions and then write the correct spelling.The objective of this section to
become familiar with different words,its spelling and usage which will help us in
writing,reading and speaking.
1.I respect the party's acknowledgment of defeat in the election.
2.It is argueable whether travel is faster now than it was fifty years ago.
3.Very few people are currently benefitting from social security.

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4.Many South-East Asian states are doing a lot of busness with European
countries.
5.The government's anti-smoking campain is having little effect.
answers---1.acknowledgment~~acknowledgement
2.argueable~~arguable
3.benefitting~~benefiting 4.busness~~business 5.campain~~campaign
Confusable Words

Introduction
There are many word sets that confuse people. To help you, each word of a
confusable set has been used in one or more sentences.
Think about each sentence to see the difference between the words in a set. If you
are still unsure of the difference between words and when they should be used,
look them up in a dictionary
You will see that in some cases the difference between words is that one is a noun
and one is a verb. You can determine whether a word is a noun by seeing whether
you can put an adjective (a describing word modifying a noun) in front of it. You
can determine whether a word is a verb by seeing whether you can modify the verb
by putting an adverb (a verb modifier telling you how something is done) after it.
Look at the following sentences and work out whether the words in
bold are verbs or nouns.
Practice makes perfect.
You can put the adjective good in front of practice. This shows you that practice is
a noun.
She will practise tomorrow.
You can modify the word practise by putting the adverb diligently after it. This
shows you that practise is a verb.
Word Sets
ability
She has the ability to be a great singer.
capacity
The hall will be filled to its capacity.
accept
I would love to accept your invitation.
Except
All of her friends, except Tom, are coming to the party.
These measures may affect savings.
(rollover: a verb meaning influence)
effect
I wonder what effect that will have on his grades.
(rollover: a noun meaning influence)
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The heat has a bad effect on my mood.
(rollover: a noun meaning influence)
The prisoner tried to effect an escape through the ventilation system.
(rollover: a verb meaning to do something to cause a result)
These measures may effect savings.
(rollover: effect meaning cause) allusion
An allusion was made to the role of women in the campaign.
illusion
She gave the illusion of being more confident than she was.
Alternately: the exercise program requires us to run and walk alternately.
Alternatively: You could pay the parking fine or, alternatively, you could go to
court.
Among: He divided the money among three people.
The money was found among the clothes.
The bomb landed among the houses.
(rollover: some houses may have been hit)
Between:
He divided the money between two people.
The money was found between two pages.
The bomb landed between the houses.
(rollover: no houses were hit)
Bare: The cupboard was bare.
Bear: She has a heavy load to bear.
Winnie-the-pooh is a friendly bear.
(rollover: from the verb to bring)
Break:
He will probably break that glass.
Brake:
He put his foot on the brake.
Breath:
He took a deep breath.
(rollover: a noun)
Breathe: I told him to breathe deeply.
(rollover: a verb)
Compliment: She was pleased with the compliment that she received from her
teacher.
After the compliment from her new friend she felt very happy.
Complement: That subject will complement the other subjects
you have studied.

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The red roses will complement the silver place settings.
Dessert: She enjoyed the dessert at the end of the meal.
Desert: He was lost in the desert.
He could not believe that his family would desert him.
Discreet: When you talk to Mary be very discreet because we do not want her to
become suspicious.
(rollover: prudent, tactful)
Discrete: The coarse is divided into two discrete units.
(rollover: separate, distinct)
Effect:
I wonder what effect that will have on his grades.
(rollover: a noun meaning influence)
The heat has a bad effect on my mood.
(rollover: a noun meaning influence)
The prisoner tried to effect an escape through the ventilation system.
(rollover: a verb meaning to do something to cause a
result)
These measures may effect savings.
(rollover: effect meaning cause)
Affect:
Does the music affect your mood?
(rollover: a verb meaning influence)
These measures may affect savings.
(rollover: a verb meaning influence)
Ensure: You should ensure that the program will meet your specifications.
(rollover: make sure)
Insure: You should insure your jewelry against theft.
(rollover: provide insurance)
Formally: After the meeting you will be formally recognized as a member of our
club.
She was formally called Ms. Smith, but informally she was called Smithy.
Hear: Can you hear the music?
Here: The envelope is over here.
illegible His handwriting is illegible.
(rollover: difficult to read)
Eligible: The test will determine if you are eligible for a study.
Legible: Make sure your writing is legible.

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(rollover: easy to read)illusion:
She gave the illusion of being more confident than she was.
Allusion:
An allusion was made to the role of women in the
campaign.
Incidence: The incidence of theft is lower than average here.
Incidents: Three incidents led to his dismissal.
Insure: You should insure your jewelry against theft.
(rollover: provide insurance)
Ensure: You should ensure that the program will meet your
specifications. (rollover: make sure)
knew: She said she knew french.
New: Learning new material requires time.
Know: I know what she is studying.
No: Please answer yes or no on the form.
Later: Jane and Sue will go to the movies later.
She was in the lead for most of the race.
(rollover: a noun that rhymes with bead).
They found a rich supply of lead.
(rollover: this is a noun and rhymes with bed).
(rollover: difficult to read)
(rollover: a verb)
The time passed quickly.
(rollover: a verb)
Quiet: The examination room must remain quiet.
Quite: You are quite good at spelling.
Revolve: The course will revolve around selected readings
and class discussions.
(rollover: to centre around)
The planets revolve around the sun.
(rollover: to centre around)
Evolve: A market will evolve for wireless devices.
(rollover: to develop gradually)

This bag _______ in the bus yesterday. (find)

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The dress __________ in hot water. (cannot wash)
Exercise
Passive Voice - Exercise with Auxiliary Verbs
Rewrite the sentences in passive voice.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I can answer the question. She would carry the box. You should open the window. Will the teacher test our English? Could Jenny lock the door? -

Phrasal Verbs List

Phrasal verbs are usually two-word phrases consisting of verb + adverb or verb +
preposition. Think of them as you would any other English vocabulary. Study
them as you come across them, rather than trying to memorize many at once. Use
the list below as a reference guide when you find an expression that you don't
recognize. The examples will help you understand the meanings. If you think of
each phrasal verb as a separate verb with a specific meaning, you will be able to
remember it more easily. Like many other verbs, phrasal verbs often have more
than one meaning.
As well as learning their meanings, you need to learn how to use phrasal verbs
properly. Some phrasal verbs require a direct object (someone/something), while
others do not. Some phrasal verbs can be separated by the object, while others
cannot. Review this phrasal verbs grammar from time to time so that you don't
forget the rules!
Verb

Meaning

Example

ask someone out

invite on a date

Brian asked Judy out to

and a movie.

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ask around

ask many people the I asked around but nobody has

same question
seen my wallet.

blow up

explode

The racing car blew up after it

crashed into the fence.

blow something up

add air

We
have
to blow 50
balloons up for the party.

break down

stop
functioning Our car broke down at the side of
(vehicle, machine)
the highway in the snowstorm.

break something in wear something a few I

need
to break these
times so that it shoes in before we run next week.
doesn't look/feel new
break in

interrupt

The TV station broke in to report

the news of the president's death.

break up

end a relationship

My
boyfriend and I broke
up before I moved to America.

call on someone

ask for an answer or The professor called on me for

opinion
question 1.

call on someone

visit someone

We called on you last night but

you weren't home.

call someone up

phone

Give me your phone number and I

willcall you up when we are in
town.

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Prepositional Verbs
Prepositional verbs are a group of multi-word verbs made from a verb plus another
word or words. Many people refer to all multi-word verbs as phrasal verbs. On
these pages we make a distinction between three types of multi-word verbs:
prepositional verbs, phrasal verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs. On this page we
look at prepositional verbs.
Prepositional verbs are made of:
verb + preposition
Because a preposition always has an object, all prepositional verbs have direct
objects. Here are some examples of prepositional verbs:
prepositional
verbs

meaning

Examples
direct
object

believe in

have faith in the

existence of

I believe in

God.

look after

take care of

He is looking
after

the dog.

talk about

discuss

Did you talk

about

me?

wait for

await

John is waiting
for

Mary.

Prepositional verbs cannot be separated. That means that we cannot put the direct
object between the two parts. For example, we must say "look after the baby". We
cannot say "look the baby after":
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prepositional
areinseparable

verbs

Who is looking after the This is possible.

baby?
Who
is looking the This
babyafter?
is notpossible.

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UNIT II - AURAL AND ORAL SKILLS

The two most basic language skills, listening and speaking, sound exactly alike
when we describe them as oral and aural skills. Aural language, of course, refers
to language as we hear it. Oral language is what we say.
These two words are homophones words spelled differently that sound alike.
There is no good reason why they should be homophones, but they are. Perhaps
that accident of spelling can serve as a reminder that, while these two skills cannot
be separated, they need to be developed in different ways.

Teaching Basic Skills:

According to a hoary adage, We are given two ears and one mouth so we can listen
twice as much as we talk. This is a maxim to remember when we plan our lessons
especially when we are dealing with a classroom of new learners.
Logically, listening should be the first skill you teach. In practice, however, most
teachers get their students talking on the first day of class, and many
make speech the major focus of their lessons. They tend to downplay the skill of
listening, as do most foreign language textbooks. Yet listening is probably the more
important skill involved in foreign language learning, as it certainly is in
the acquisition of ones native tongue.

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To use listening-focused learning, a communicative language teacher needs to
incorporate active listening into their classes. This is done with activities in which
the learners demonstrate that they understand, and receive gentle correction when
they err. More advanced students must be explicitly taught to recognize reduced
language formsheard in colloquial speech as in Whaddaya say? Also, of course,
part of aural comprehension is learning to decipher nonverbal clues.
Pure listening is rarely a good strategy for sustained language acquisition. Even if
students are still in their silent period a common phase for beginners, in which
they speak very little if at all, teachers should encourage active participation from
them. This is the only way to confirm that they have understood. Participation can
mean as little as a nod or a headshake, for example, or the words yes and no
in English or their native language. Listening without speaking is important for
foreign language learners, especially when their language learning has just begun,
but at some level that listening should be participatory.
Listening activities do not always involve some other skill, but they generally do;
the best classroom activities cross skill boundaries. Since the most typical pairing
for a listening activity is to combine it with speech practice, a focus on listening can
actually promote the effective development of speaking skills. To see how, let's turn
to the activation of speech.
Focus on Conversation: Speaking activities best occur in classrooms in which
learners feel comfortable and confident, free to take risks, and have plenty of
opportunities to speak. While there are countless kinds of activities teachers use to
develop speaking skills, they most commonly promote conversational speech. This,
of course, requires the use of both listening and speaking skills.
Conversational language has four characteristics. It is interactive, in the sense that
we talk back and forth in short bursts. Often, we do not even use complete
sentences nice day, eh? Conversation also has narrow time limits. We have to
listen and respond without the luxury of thinking much about what we want to
say. Conversation is also repetitive, in the sense that we tend to use a relatively
small amount of vocabulary and a relatively small repertory of language

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structures.. And finally, of course, it is error-prone. Because of time limits, we may
use the wrong word, pronounce something wrong or mangle structure. While we
may hear the mistake and back up and correct ourselves, often we dont.
Bearing in mind the earlier comments about listening, these characteristics of
conversation illustrate an important difference between listening activities and
speaking activities. Because listening is a learners primary source of
comprehensible input, aural activities depend heavily on accuracy. To understand,
learners must listen carefully, and their comprehension must be good. In many
listening activities, we play a short recording of speech repeatedly until we think
our learners understand it.
By contrast, learners shift heavily in the direction of fluency during conversation
practice, which combines both listening and speaking skills. At this portion of the
language class, the teacher kisses student accuracy goodbye. During speaking
activities, the focus is on interactive, time-limited, repetitive and error-prone
conversation. As is often the case in the language classroom, as we move from skill
to skill, or from language study to language activation, we willingly compromise
accuracy in the interest of fluency.

The How and Why of Language:

Language originated with the two linguistic skills we have just reviewed listening
and speaking. But why? What is the purpose of language? And how did it evolve to
play this role in our lives?
Whether we hear it or voice it, the purpose of language is to do the things that
speech can do. In no way is it abstract. Like an axe, language is a tool with which
we do things.
According to linguistic philosopher J.R. Searle, we use language to perform five
kinds of speech act. These are commissive, declarative, directive, expressive and
representative. Commissive speech commits the speaker to do something for
example, I promise to bring it tomorrow, or Watch out or I will report you.
Declarations change the state of things I now pronounce you husband and wife,
or Youre fired! Directive speech gets the listener to do something Please come

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in, Watch out! or Why dont you take your medicine? Expressive language
explains feelings and attitudes: Those roses are beautiful, or I hate broccoli.
Finally, representative speech describes states or events Rice is an important
Thai export, or The United States is at war again. All of our speech seems to do
one or more of these five things.

Introducing Sound-Spelling:
Write the spelling on the chalkboard or point to an alphabet card containing the
new sound-spelling.
State the sound-spelling correspondence as you point to the spelling and keyword
(or picture) on the card. For example, say The letter s stands for /s/ as in sock.
Write the key word (the pictured word on the card) on the chalkboard and circle
the spelling. For example, write the word sock on the chalkboard and circle the
letter s.
Point to the spelling and have children state the sound it stands for.
Write the letter on index card - just like word cards.
Phonics Maintenance - overlearn

Blending Words
Final blending - The whole word isnt blended until all the sounds in the word

have been identified and pronounced.

Successive blending - the sound that each spelling stands for is produced in
sequence, without pauses.
Teaching Phonics - Tips
1) Analytic Phonics - teachings sounds in context of words
2) Synthetic Phonics - teachings sounds in isolation
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English is based on Consonant-vowel-consonant sequences (C-V-C)
C-V-C is the basis of word attack strategy - Syllabication

Flash cards - make a "blend deck". Use right after doing the Reading Deck. Can
also do this with initial consonants, diagraphs, prefix, root and suffix cards to help
recognize these word "chunks".
"Spell Well" - can be made to look like a well. Fill with small cards on which are
written spelling/phonics rules. Student draws card and explains rule and/or gives
an example.
Put the vowels on a table, line up vertically. Put a consonant on each side of the
first vowel. Have student read the word as you slide the consonants down the table
keeping a vowel in the middle. Great for practicing the different sounds of "c" and
"g".
Modified scrabble - use only tiles for letters that have been introduced. Put in ABC
order; separate vowels and consonants; make list of words you find; add up points
from tiles; help one another - trade in tiles if stuck.
Syllables war - to practice syllables, put PICTURES of words on cards. Tutor and
student have their own deck. Take turns turning over a card. Clap out the
syllables as you say the word. The one who has the most syllables takes both
cards. If you tie, you can play "war" or allow the cards to accumulate until the tie
is broken. Winner of the tie takes all of the cards.
Use the following with any phoneme - /ow/ is used as an example.
Bingo -The cards can be teacher or child made, using words having /ow/ sounds.
The game can be played with the teacher or in a small group following teaching.
Scavenger Word Hunt -Activity done by having the child cut /ow/ words from
newspapers or old magazines.
Baseball Card Browse -The child finds and copies as many /ow/ words as possible
a stack of sports cards. This is an excellent center activity for children to do
following teaching.
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Concentration Game -/ow/ words can be written on index cards and the person
finding the most "pairs" is the winner. Be sure to include words having both
sounds for /ow/.

Phonemic awareness
Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to focus on and manipulate phonemes in
spoken words. The following tasks are commonly used to assess children 's PA or
to improve their PA through instruction and practice:
1. Phoneme isolation, which requires recognizing individual sounds in words, for
example, "Tell me the first sound in paste." (/p/)
2. Phoneme identity, which requires recognizing the common sound in different
words. For example,
"Tell me the sound that is the same in bike, boy, and bell." (/b/)
3. Phoneme categorization, which requires recognizing the word with the odd sound
in a sequence of three or four words, for example,
"Which word does not belong? bus, bun, rug." (rug)
4. Phoneme blending, which requires listening to a sequence of separately spoken
sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. For example,
"What word is /s//k//u//1/?" (school)
5. Phoneme segmentation, which requires breaking a word into its sounds by
tapping out or counting the sounds or by pronouncing and positioning a marker
for each sound. For example,
"How many phonemes are there in ship?" (three:/s//I//p/)

6. Phoneme deletion, which requires recognizing what word remains when a

specified phoneme is removed. For example, "What is smile without the / s/?"
(mile)

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Vowels and Consonants

Vowels are a,e,i,o,u (and y).
They are voiced letters. The rest (consonants) are made with the tongue, lips and
teeth. y is sometimes a consonant ( yet, yacht ) but more often a vowel (fancy, sky,
psychologist ).
Vowel sounds may have regional variations. For instance long and short u are the
same as long and short oo in northern England (So book and buck sound the
same in Yorkshire) . In Norfolk, eer is frequently pronounced air, so beer and
bare sound the same.
Only standard, southern English pronunciation. is considered here.
Hard and soft
Hardening vowels are a,o,u
Softening vowels are c,e (and y)
Hardening vowels make c say k (cup, cat, cot) and g say g (gap, gut, got )
Softening vowels make c say s (ceiling, rice, Cirencester, cycle) and g say j (George,
rage, gin, encouraging, gyrate).
As always in English, there are exceptions (get, gift, girl, begin).
Long and short
Briefly1, each of the five vowels has a principle long and short form. The long form
is the sound in the letter name. The short form is the first sound given in the
Alphabet Rap.
SHORT
LONG
cap
cape
pet
Pete
sit
site
hope
hope
cut
cute
foot
boot

There are other long forms of vowels. The a in past, for instance is long. The
forms above are the only ones children will need to know and not until they come
to the modifying e.
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Stress in the English Language

Introduction
The study of stress is an extremely complex area of linguistics to which it is
impossible to give adequate attention within the space of this paper, therefore our
aim here must be strictly limited to presenting an outline of these features in
English grammar. Although this subject is usually examined together with rhythm
and intonation, for they are all concerned with the perception of relative
prominence, these will not be included in this paper.2 However, a general overview
on stress might not be considered a thorough investigation, but since the subject is
still presented as an "appendix" to linguistic features, this summary might not be
completely useless.
The thorough physics of these phenomena cannot concern us here, though we
must utter a warning against simple equations such as regarding stress as
identical with loudness. Stress is closely associated with loudness or amplitude on
the one hand and articulatory force on the other, but other factors are or can be
involved - notably duration and pitch. Pitch seems to be the most important factor
when a stress is final in a phrase (or when a word is spoken in isolation); the stress
is then associated with, or realized by pitch prominence and often with pitch
movement. But what matters is that the hearer expects sharp contrasts of
prominence and expects peaks of prominence at particular places in a word or a
phrase. Understanding becomes rather difficult if these expectations are disturbed.
We speak of stress when we are considering the prominence, usually perceived as
greater loudness by the listener, with which one part of the word or longer
utterance is distinguished from the other parts. So we can say, that stress is the
relative degree of force used by a speaker on the various syllables he is uttering.
The relative prominence of a syllable within the word, or of a word within a phrase,
is indicated by relative stress. The familiar graphic devices of spaces between words
It should be noted that the three interrelated factors of stress, rhythm, and
intonation are not the only distinctions that are observed in the stream of speech
modifying an utterance while the grammar and vocabulary are held constant. Other
prosodic systems, as they are called (Quirk&Greenbaum p.21.), include for example
tempo, the relative speed of utterance. It is widely agreed, however, that stress,
rhythm, and intonation are the most important.
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and punctuation marks such as comma, colon, semi-colon, and period help us to
recover from writing how sentences would sound if spoken, but the correspondence
between punctuation and prosody is only partial (e.g.: in the case of words),
therefore we are to use 'prosodic transcription' in order to express the right values.
In transcription, we mark primary stress (the stressed segment), also called the
high level tone mark3 which represents a static tone usually pitched at or near the
top of the speaker's normal voice range by putting in front of the syllable carrying
the stress, a raised vertical stroke:
in'dignant

in the 'middle

An exceptionally heavy stress4 can be shown by a double vertical, and a secondary

stress (lover level stress)5 or low level tone mark2 which represents a static tone
usually pitched at or near the bottom of the speaker's normal voice range,
indicating a partially stressed syllable, can be marked by a lower vertical stroke:
It is abso'lutely in"credible
Linguists also differentiate between pre-, post- and kinetic-stresses, full- and
partial-stresses, and static-stress, and also the variants of these, but these terms
go far beyond the level of our discussion here.

Stress within the word

As soon as an utterance is longer than a single syllable, the syllables are
arranges in rhythmic patterns comprising a succession of strong-weak-strongweak, and so on. This is true whether the polysyllabic stretch is a sentence, a
phrase, or a single word. It is possible to distinguish several degrees of stress in a
sequence of syllables. But it would seem that what is most linguistically revelant is
a simple opposition: stress versus no stress.

Term used by Kingdon : Groundwork of English stress .

4 Heavy stress can be used to mark sharp contrasts to indicate relative stress in
phrases without recourse to indicating intonation.
5
Term used by Greenbaum and Quirk :A Student's Grammar of the English
Language .
3

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Although speakers of English have a good deal of freedom in assigning stresses in
utterances longer than a word, the placing of the stress within English word is so
rigorously invariant (except for relatively minor exceptions) that it is often difficult
for the hearer to understand a word where the accentuation is deviant. E.g.:
im'portant
* 'important
e'mergency
* 'emer gency
Moving the primary stress from the second syllable to the first, or from the first to
the second is enough to make the word incomprehensible or misunderstood.
But although the stresses are normally in a fixed position in a word, their
position is unpredictable in the sense that there is no single position where the
primary stress of the word can be expected to fall in English. For example, to count
from left to right, it may fall on the
1st syllable:'family
2nd syllable:fa'miliar
3rd syllable:
natio'nality

4th syllable:
fa mili'arity
5th syllable:
nationali'zation
6th syllable: in dustriali'zation

Thus, to a large extent, the stress pattern of each polysyllabic word has to be
learned separately, though we shall presently see that some valuable
generalizations can be made.6 We shall also see, that, with some classes of words, it
is helpful and revelant to count syllables from the end rather than from the
beginning.
The generalizations that can be made about the stress pattern of English are
complicated by the mixed nature of English vocabulary: the basic core of Germanic
words is surrounded by a much larger number of words from foreign languages
(French, Latin, and Greek). Native words and early French adoptions tend to have
the primary stress on the stem syllable and keep it there, regardless of the affixes
that word-formation may add. This is called fixed stress.:
'kingly
'kingliness
un'kingliness

'stand
under'stand
misunder'stand

passion
'passionately
dis'passionate

examples taken from Quirk and Greenbaum: A Comprehensive Grammar of the

English Language .
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By contrast, with more recent adoptions, and coinages, especially those based on
foreign and classical elements, the place of stress varies according to the affixation.
This is called movable stress.:
ANTEPENULTIMATE
te'legraphy
pho'tography
trans'portable
argu'mentative

'telegraph
'photo(graph)
'transport
'argument

PENULTIMATE
tele'graphic
photo'graphic
transpor'tation
argumen'tation

The items in the third column above exemplify two valuable generalizations: The
first: the stress falls on the syllable before adjectival -ic, for example in the case of
penultimate syllables:
'phoneme - pho'nemic
e'conomy - eco'nomic

'problem - proble'matic
'sympathy - sympa'thetic

The second: all abstract nouns ending in -ion are stressed on the syllable preceding
this ending.:
counter'action

sus'pition

tabu'lation

This stress remains even after further affixes are added after -ion.:
re'vision -

re'visional

re'visionist

There are numerous other comparable generalizations which help us to predict the
placing of English stress. Thus the stress falls on the last syllable in the case of
antepenultimate syllables with nominal -ity.:
u'nanimous - una'nimity

'curious - curi'osity

The stress also falls on the last syllable before the nominal and adjectival suffix ian.:

'library - lib'rarian
'grammar - gram'marian

u'tility - utili'tarian
'Cromwell - Crom'wellian

By contrast, the affix -ite leaves the place of the stress unchanged:
'Jefferson RGM TTC,BSNL

'Jeffersonite

Jeffer'sonian
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A fairly numerous set of words that can operate without affixal change as noun or
adjective on the one hand, and as verb on the other, have a stress difference in the
two functions:
NOUN
'attribute
'conduct
'contrast
'present
'perfect

ADJECTIVE

VERB
at'tribute
con'duct
con'vict

'present
per'fect

pre'sent

In the case of 'contrast' and in several of the other examples that might have been
cited (e.g.: export), there is a tendency to discontinue a separate verb form and to
use the form as stressed for the noun also in other functions.7
It is worthy to note, that in numerous words, interchange of primary and
secondary stress would produce a comprehensible pronunciation. This is especially
so with words where the native speakers themselves show variation (e.g.: 'abdomen
or ab'domen). In some words there are different stress patterns in the two major
standards of English, with a tendency for BrE, especially among younger speakers,
to adopt the AmE pattern. The two nouns adult and ally are examples of varying
usage, where stress is often on the first syllable in BrE but usually on the second in
AmE.

Stress in compounds
We have to recognize the existence in English of three types of compound
words, which we may call for convenience of reference Romanic-type compounds,
Greek-type compounds, and English-type compounds. The Romanic-type
compounds consist of clearly recognizable root to which prefixes or suffixes, or
both, have been added. Greek-type compounds consist of two clearly recognizable
roots which, though it is felt that they have an entity on their own, do not as rule
stand alone as complete words. English-type compounds consist of two (or more)
independent words combined to form a compound in the fashion of Teutonic
languages. Although there are severe differences between these different types of
words, especially concerning affixes, we can generate some general rules:
All examples are taken from Quirk and Greenbaum: A University Grammar of
English
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Compound nouns generally have a primary stress on the first element but with a
secondary stress on the second constituent:
'earth quake , 'life boat , 'waiting room , 'fire-ex tinguisher
Contrast here compounds with the corresponding noun phrases:
"That
sound
like
a
'black
bird
"A carrion crow is a completely black 'bird ." [noun phrase]

."

[compound]

Other examples:
COMPOUND
'black board
'green fly
'hot house

NOUN PHRASE
black 'board
green 'fly

hot 'house

When such a compound is made part of another compound, the primary stress and
the secondary stress are redistributed to give the same rhythm, for example:
'light house but 'lighthouse- keeper
A smaller number of compounds do not have the primary stress on the initial
element. These compounds include:
Nouns:
Verbs:
Adverbs:
Adjectives:

vice-'chancellor
back-'fire
hence'forth
knee-'deep , flat-'footed , first-'rate

In some cases we may be in doubt as to whether we should regard sequences with

this stress pattern as compounds or free syntactic phrases, and we vacillate
between writing them with hyphens or as separate words (e.g.: lawn(-)'tennis ,
country(-)'house). On the other hand, we vacillate in our stressing of some
examples which are apparently in the process of becoming recognized as
compounds of the 'black bird type:
field'marshal
over'seas
week'end
head'master
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or

'field marshal
'over seas
'week end
'head master
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In any case, the stress often shifts from the second to the first element when the
compound is being used attributively in a noun phrase. This is analogous to the
redistribution that occurs in compounds like lighthouse-keeper.:
"The room is down'stairs."
"His work is first 'class."
"The water is knee-'deep."

but

"a 'down stairs 'room"

"his 'first class 'work"
"'knee-deep in 'water"

Stress in phrases and other syntactic units

It is usual to emphasize the distinction between the word, where convention
and semantic integration tend to produce a fixed stress and rhythm which the
individual speaker cannot alter, and connected speech, where the disposition of
stress is subject to the speaker's will and the meaning he wishes to convey.
Although this holds much truth, in must not be pressed to far, since it depends on
a much sharper distinction between phrases and compound words than English
grammar and lexiology. It will not do to say that initial stressing (as in 'black bird)
indicates compounds, and final stressing (as in electric 'clock) the syntactic phrases
of connected speech. The compounds like down'stairs which (despite the similarity
with phrases like 'down the 'street) would not be analyzed as phrases. And still 'life,
which is usually stressed in BrE as though it were a phrase, shows that it is a
compound in having different plural (still lifes) from the noun life - lives. So too
there are initial-stressed phrases that linguists would not normally regard as
compounds, since - not like in word formation - we are free to form such sequences
as we are to form any other kind of syntactic unit, especially with 'general nouns'.
The stress distribution provides a firm basis for distinguishing between different
underlying relations; not so much between compound and phrase as between
different semantic relations:
" A 'bull- fight involves bulls. "
" A bull 'calf is a young bull. "
" A 'French teacher teaches French. " - " A French 'teacher is French. "
" A 'slate quarry yields slate. " " A slate 'roof is made of slate. "
" A 'toy factory produces toys. " - " A toy 'factory is a model of a factory used
as a toy. "
Thus the distribution of stresses in units higher than the word is subject to rule,
just as it is within the word. Apart from 'object' pre modifiers (as in 'French

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teacher), there is a heavier stress on the head of a noun phrase where the head is
the last item in the phrase:
" a rea'listic little toy "factory "
" 'several 'state half-'eaten 'currant "buns "
Post modified noun-phrases normally have the primary stress on the last stressable
item (generally an open-class lexical item) in the post modification:
" a toy 'factory he 'got for his "birthday "
" the 'currant 'buns that I 'tried to "eat "
With equal regularity a non contrastive primary stress falls on the main verb, or on
the subsequent particle if the head is a phrasal verb (e.g.: wash up), or on the
operator in an elliptical verb phrase:
A: " 'Will he have "gone? "
A: " He 'must be "working. "

B: " 'Yes, he "will. "

B: " Yes, he "must be. "

In these examples, the verb phrases come at the end of sentences. End position is a
point here, in any case, a climax of prominence is expected and normally occurs on
the last word unless it is a pronoun or a preposition.

Contrastive Stress
Since the language determines stress location almost as rigidly in phrases and
sentences as it does in individual words, we should not attempt to impose too
sharp distinctions between words and connected speech on these grounds.
However, the individual speakers of English have the possibility of placing stress
freely in units larger than the word by means of contrastive stress which is capable
of highlighting any word in a sentence. They can interfere with normal accentuation
to emphasize any word, again often realized by the means of intonation. This is
particularly striking in the case of some closed-class words8 which, when
unstressed, make use of the schwa vowel or other form of phonological reduction.
Under contrastive stress, they assume the form that they have as isolated
dictionary items:
UNSTRESSED
a
/ /

STRESSED
/ /

see Greenbaum and Quirk (2.39)* or (2.6)**

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an
and
but
not
he

/ n, n/
/ nd, n, n/
/ b t/
/ nt, n/
/h /

/ n/
/ nd/
/ b t/
/ n t/
/ hi: /

E.g.: " 'John "and his 'mother 'went. " , " Will "he have 'gone? "
The focus device of contrastive stress involves pitch prominence. We must observe
however, that contrastive stress is not limited to sequences longer than the word.
The normal accentuation within the word can also be distorted at the speaker's will
if he wanted to make a contrastive point.
Unstressed (or weak) forms represent phonological reduction where there may
be a wide range of variants, e.g.: / nd/, / n/, /n/ of a stressed (or strong) form /
nd/. Contraction, on the other hand, is a term used for institutionalized written
representations of reduction, e.g.: /a m/ represented in writing as I'm. Since
contraction is institutionalized, we do not find variation in writing corresponding to
the range of reduced forms in speech. The major types are:
1. Not-contraction : e.g.: don't, haven't, shouldn't

2. Auxiliary verb contraction : e.g.: I'm, you've, they're, we'll, she's, there's, you'd
3. Personal pronoun contraction of us in let's
In combination of two potential contractions, the writer has a choice between
alternatives. In general, have and will favor not-contraction, whereas the auxiliary
contraction predominates with are. Thus I haven't rather than I've not. Double
contractions are never allowed.
Diphthongs, Modified Vowels and Vowel Digraphs
A
diphthong
is two vowel
sounds
in one syllable.
diphthong ow and ou make the ow sound asin cow.

The

1. Words with diphthongs ow and ou

blouse

cow

dowel

out

crown

ouch

house

bow

towel

pout

clown

pouch

mouse

how

vowel

about

frown

couch

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found

now

growl

scout

down

tower

hound

wow

our

shout

gown

power

pound

plow

hour

snout

town

flower

round

owl

flour

sprout

mouth

shower

sound

fowl

loud

route

south

mountain

ground

howl

proud

brown

count

thousand

When the consonant r after the vowel a, it changes the sound of the vowel
as in ark.
2. Modified vowels: r words
bar

star

hark

cart

farmer

barber

car

bard

lark

dart

harm

garden

far

card

mark

mart

alarm

harbor

gar

guard

park

part

charm

harness

jar

hard

shark

tart

arch

harvest

mar

yard

spark

chart

march

market

par

ark

barn

start

carp

pardon

tar

bark

yarn

arm

harp

regard

spar

dark

art

farm

sharp

sparkle

A
diphthong
is two vowels
sounds
in one syllable.
diphthongs oi and oy make the oi sound as in oil.

The

3. Words with diphthongs oi and oy

oil

soil

point

moist

toy

enjoy

boil

broil

voice

noise

coin

destroy

coil

spoil

choice

boy

join

loyal

fail

joint

hoist

joy

poison

royalty

When the consonant r comes after the vowel o, it changes the sound of the
vowel as in for. The or sound is marked like this: crn.
4. Modified vowel r words
Lord

fort

core

snore

torch

north

door

port

more

store

born

acorn

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floor

short

sore

horse

corn

corner

fork

sport

tore

storm

horn

organ

stork

forty

score

porch

thorn

uniform

A vowel digraph has two vowels that

digraph oo makes the sound of oo as in zoo.

make one sound.

The

5. Words with the vowel digraph oo as in zoo

broom

moose

soon

pool

zoo

smooth

room

noodle

spoon

spool

shoot

food

hoop

poodle

roost

stool

roof

balloon

loop

too

rooster

school

proof

igloo

goose

moon

tool

boot

booth

raccoon

loose

moon

fool

root

tooth

snooze

A vowel digraph has two vowels that

digraph oo makes the sound of oo as in look.

make one sound.

The

6. Words with the vowel digraph oo as in book; o, u, and ou can say oo

book

brook

good

wool

wolf

bull

cook

crook

hood

woolen

wolves

full

hook

shook

stood

foot

put

pull

look

cookie

wood

soot

bush

could

nook

booklet

woody

unhook

push

would

took

brooklet

wooden

lookout

cushion

should

When the consonant r comes after the vowel e, it changes the sound of the
vowel as in herd. The er sound is a combination of the schwa ()
and r sounds.
7. Modified vowel er words
herd

sister

circle

birthday

turkey

early

germ

cracker

circus

thirteen

purple

earn

term

hammer

bird

thirty

hurry

learn

fern

pitcher

third

fur

nurse

earth

eternal

rocker

girl

curb

purse

word

verse

water

firm

church

burst

work

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serve

zipper

squirrel

injure

hurt

world

person

fir

dirt

sure

curtain

worm

father

sir

shirt

curl

turtle

worry

mother

stir

skirt

burn

heard

worship

brother

giraffe

first

turn

pearl

worth

The vowel o makes different sounds and one of them is the sound of as
in dg.
8. Words with the sound of as in dog
off

moth

claw

draw

crawl

taught

dog

belong

small

straw

shawl

fault

fog

strong

stall

thaw

sprawl

ought

hog

wrong

talk

dawn

faucet

brought

log

ball

walk

fawn

awning

fought

frog

call

stalk

lawn

awful

brought

smog

fall

salt

yawn

auto

thought

boss

hall

malt

brawn

because

autumn

toss

mall

law

drawn

caught

haughty

cross

tall

paw

hawk

daughter

laundry

cloth

wall

saw

brawl

naughty

cough (f)

You have learned the sound of r as in arm. These letters also make the
sound ofare as in squre.
9. Modified re words
bare

blare

fair

pear

cherry

aware

care

flare

hair

tear

their

barrel

dare

share

pair

wear

where

dairy

hare

carry

stair

berry

there

errand

rare

marry

chair

ferry

carrot

error

ware

air

bear

merry

parrot

square

The letter c usually has the sound of s when it is followed by the

vowels e, i, or y. This is called the soft sound of c. Likewise, the soft sound
of the letter g makes the j sound when it is followed by e, i, or y.
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10. The soft sounds of the letters c and g
ice

juice

glance

necklace

badge

hedge

dice

base

city

circle

large

pledge

lice

face

cymbals

circus

barge

engine

mice

lace

ounce

age

charge

giraffe

nice

pace

bounce

cage

gem

hinge

rice

race

pounce

gage

ridge

danger

vice

brace

fence

page

bridge

giant

slice

place

pencil

rage

gum

orange

spice

space

prince

sage

gypsy

range

price

trace

lettuce

stage

Egypt

change

twice

chance

celery

wage

wedge

manger

A vowel digraph has two vowels that

digraph ea makes the sound of e as in head.

makes one sound.

The

11. Words with the vowel digraph ea which has the short vowel e
sound
dead

dread

thread

meant

threat

sweater

head

spread

deaf

weapons

breath

weather

lead

stead

breakfast

peasant

death

headache

read

steady

health

pleasant

feather

treasure

ready

instead

wealth

pleasure

heather

measure

bread

tread

cleanser

sweat

leather

meadow

Speech rate
Speech rate is a big problem. The Ideal Rate of Speech is 90-140 words per
minute. The speaker either may have to repeat himself, or some information gets
ignored. Young children and senior citizens may also process information more
slowly. Their rate of speech is too low from the ideal rate of speech. If you are
listening to a fast speaker, and you do not understand the information more

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clearly. You missed out many words. If your rate of speech is ideal, then there is an
effective communication.

Rate of Speech Exercise: Here no. of words are given on the left side of the
sentence. Check your ROS by reading this paragraph for 1 minute. If your ROS is
above 140, then practice it and reduce your ROS and If your ROS is less than 90,
then try to increase it.
What is your rate of speech?
6 On dark nights, I sometimes dream
13 of little dwarfs who like to ride
19 through the woods and along country
25 rods on tiny donkeys. On cold
31 stabbing nights they try to invert
38 riddles to the sound of wind
44 They tend to find clear skies
50 disappointing and much prefer dark stormy
56 nights. One dark dismal night in
62 winter i observed a dozen of
68 these little men hunting for dandelions
74 in the woods; it was raining
80 hard but in the distance I
86 could see a little figure riding
92 away from me. I followed close
98 behind until the dwarf reached a
103 door through which he disappeared
109 I knocked hard on the door
115 hoping to catch a glimpse of
121 where he lived. All of sudden
127 I heard a dreadful drumming sound
133 behind me. A drunken dwarf dressed
139 in a diamond-encrusted cloak was
146 riding past me on a dappled donkey!
152 I tried to address him, but
158 with downcast eyes. He trundled down
163 the road into the distance

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169 As the day dawned, I woke
171 from my dream.

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UNIT III - COMMUNICATION BOOSTERS

Body Language - technically known as kinesics (pronounced
'kineesicks') - is a significant aspect of modern communications and
relationships.
Body Language is therefore very relevant to management and leadership, and to all
aspects of work and business where communications can be seen and physically
observed among people.
Body language is also very relevant to relationships outside of work, for example in
dating and mating, and in families and parenting.Communication includes
listening. In terms of observable body language, non-verbal (non-spoken) signals
are being exchanged whether these signals are accompanied by spoken words or
not.
Body language goes both ways:
Your own body language reveals your feelings and meanings to others.
Other people's body language reveals their feelings and meanings to you.
The sending and receiving of body language signals happens on conscious
and unconscious levels.

Body language - basics and introduction

Body language is a powerful concept which successful people tend to understand
well.
So can you.
The study and theory of body language has become popular in recent years
because psychologists have been able to understand what we 'say' through our
bodily gestures and facial expressions, so as to translate our body language,
revealing its underlying feelings and attitudes.
Body Language is also referred to as 'non-verbal communications', and less
commonly 'non-vocal communications'.

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The term 'non-verbal communications' tends to be used in a wider sense, and all
these terms are somewhat vague.
For the purposes of this article, the terms 'body language' and 'non-verbal
communications' are broadly interchangeable. This guide also takes the view that
body language/non-verbal communications is the study of how people
communicate face-to-face aside from the spoken words themselves, and in this
respect the treatment of the subject here is broader than typical body language
guides limited merely to body positions and gestures.
If you carry out any serious analysis or discussion you should clarify the
terminology in your own way to suit your purposes.
For example:
Does body language include facial expression and eye movement? - Usually, yes.
What about breathing and perspiration? - This depends on your definition of body
language.
And while tone and pitch of voice are part of verbal signals, are these part of body
language too? - Not normally, but arguably so, especially as you could ignore them
if considering only the spoken words and physical gestures/expressions.
There are no absolute right/wrong answers to these questions. It's a matter of
interpretation.
A good reason for broadening the scope of body language is to avoid missing
important signals which might not be considered within a narrow definition of body
language.
Nevertheless confusion easily arises if definitions and context are not properly
established, for example:
It is commonly and carelessly quoted that 'non-verbal communications' and/or
'body language' account for up to 93% of the meaning that people take from any
human communication.
Rsearch findings in fact focused on communications with a strong emotional or
'feelings' element. Moreover the 93% non-verbal proportion included vocal

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intonation (paralinguistics), which are regarded by many as falling outside of the
body language definition.
Care must therefore be exercised when stating specific figures relating to
percentages of meaning conveyed, or in making any firm claims in relation to body
language and non-verbal communications.
It is safe to say that body language represents a very significant proportion of
meaning that is conveyed and interpreted between people. Many body language
experts and sources seem to agree that that between 50-80% of all human
communications are non-verbal. So while body language statistics vary according
to situation, it is generally accepted that non-verbal communications are very
important in how we understand each other (or fail to), especially in face-to-face
and one-to-one communications, and most definitely when the communications
involve an emotional or attitudinal element.
Body language is especially crucial when we meet someone for the first time.
We form our opinions of someone we meet for the first time in just a few seconds,
and this initial instinctual assessment is based far more on what we see and feel
about the other person than on the words they speak. On many occasions we form
a strong view about a new person before they speak a single word.
Consequently body language is very influential in forming impressions on first
meeting someone.
The effect happens both ways - to and from:
When we meet someone for the first time, their body language, on
conscious and unconscious levels, largely determines our initial impression
of them.
In turn when someone meets us for the first time, they form their initial
impression of us largely from our body language and non-verbal signals.
And this two-way effect of body language continues throughout communications
and relationships between people.
Body language is constantly being exchanged and interpreted between people, even
though much of the time this is happening on an unconscious level.

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Remember - while you are interpreting (consciously or unconsciously) the body
language of other people, so other people are constantly interpreting yours.
The people with the most conscious awareness of, and capabilities to read, body
language tend to have an advantage over those whose appreciation is limited
largely to the unconscious.
You will shift your own awareness of body language from the unconscious into the
conscious by learning about the subject, and then by practising your reading of
non-verbal communications in your dealings with others.

Body language is more than body positions and movements

Body language is not just about how we hold and move our bodies.
Body language potentially (although not always, depending on the definition you
choose to apply) encompasses:
how we position our bodies
our closeness to and the space between us and other people (proxemics),
and how this changes
our facial expressions
our eyes especially and how our eyes move and focus, etc
how we touch ourselves and others
how our bodies connect with other non-bodily things, for instance, pens,
cigarettes, spectacles and clothing
our breathing, and other less noticeable physical effects, for example our
heartbeat and perspiration
Body language tends not to include:
the pace, pitch, and intonation, volume, variation, pauses, etc., of our
voice.
Arguably this last point should be encompassed by body language, because a lot
happens here which can easily be missed if we consider merely the spoken word
and the traditional narrow definition of body language or non-verbal
communications.

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Voice type and other audible signals are typically not included in body language
because they are audible 'verbal' signals rather than physical visual ones,
nevertheless the way the voice is used is a very significant (usually unconscious)
aspect of communication, aside from the bare words themselves.
Consequently, voice type is always important to consider alongside the usual body
language factors.
Similarly breathing and heartbeat, etc., are typically excluded from many general
descriptions of body language, but are certainly part of the range of non-verbal
bodily actions and signals which contribute to body language in its fullest sense.
More obviously, our eyes are a vital aspect of our body language.
Our reactions to other people's eyes - movement, focus, expression, etc - and their
reactions to our eyes - contribute greatly to mutual assessment and understanding,
consciously and unconsciously.
With no words at all, massive feeling can be conveyed in a single glance. The
metaphor which describes the eyes of two lovers meeting across a crowded room is
not only found in old romantic movies. It's based on scientific fact - the strong
powers of non-verbal communications.
These effects - and similar powerful examples - have existed in real human
experience and behaviour for thousands of years.
The human body and our instinctive reactions have evolved to an amazingly clever
degree, which many of us ignore or take for granted, and which we can all learn
how to recognize more clearly if we try.
Our interpretation of body language, notably eyes and facial expressions, is
instinctive, and with a little thought and knowledge we can significantly increase
our conscious awareness of these signals: both the signals we transmit, and the
signals in others that we observe.
Doing so gives us a significant advantage in life - professionally and personally - in
our dealings with others.
Body language is not just reading the signals in other people.

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Importantly, understanding body language enables better self-awareness and
self-control too.
We understand more about other people's feelings and meanings, and we also
understand more about these things in ourselves.
When we understand body language we become better able to refine and improve
what our body says about us, which generates a positive improvement in the way
we feel, the way we perform, and what we achieve.

Body language definitions

As explained, the terms body language and non-verbal communications are rather
vague.
So what is body language? And more usefully, what might we regard it to be, if we
are to make the most of studying and using it?
The Oxford English Dictionary (revised 2005) definition is:
"body language - noun - the conscious and unconscious movements and postures
by which attitudes and feelings are communicated [for example]: his intent was
clearly expressed in his body language."
The Oxford Business English Dictionary offers a slightly different definition.
Appropriately and interestingly the Oxford Business English Dictionary emphasizes
the sense that body language can be used as a tool, rather than it being an
involuntary effect with no particular purpose:
"body language - noun - the process of communicating what you are feeling or
thinking by the way you place and move your body rather than by words [for
example]: The course trains sales people in reading the customer's body language."
The OED dictionary definition of kinesics - the technical term for body language depends on the interpretation of 'non-verbal communication':
"kinesics - the study of the way in which certain body movements and gestures
serve as a form of non-verbal communication."

Body language is more than those brief descriptions.

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Body language certainly also encompasses where the body is in relation to
other bodies (often referred to as 'personal space').
Body language certainly also includes very small bodily movements such
as facial expressions and eye movements.
Body language also arguably covers all that we communicate through our
bodies apart from the spoken words (thereby encompassing breathing,
perspiration, pulse, blood-pressure, blushing, etc.)
In this respect, standard dictionary definitions don't always describe body language
fully and properly.
We could define body language more fully as:
"Body language is the unconscious and conscious transmission and
interpretation of feelings, attitudes, and moods, through:
body posture, movement, physical state, position and relationship to
other bodies, objects and surroundings,
facial expression and eye movement,
(and this transmission and interpretation can be quite different to the spoken
words)."
Words alone - especially emotional words (or words used in emotional situations) rarely reflect full or true meaning and motive.
We find clues to additional or true meaning in body language.
Being able to 'read' body language therefore helps us greatly:
to know how people feel and what they mean, and
to understand better how people might be perceiving our own non-verbal
signals, and (often overlooked)
to understand ourselves better, deeper than the words we hear ourselves
saying.

Eyes - body language

Our eyes are a very significant aspect of the non-verbal signals we send to others.

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To a lesser or greater extent we all 'read' people's eyes without knowing how or
why, and this ability seems to be inborn.
Eyes - and especially our highly developed awareness of what we see in other
people's eyes - are incredible.
For example we know if we have eye contact with someone at an almost
unbelievable distance. Far too far away to be able to see the detail of a person's
eyes - 30-40 metres away or more sometimes - we know when there is eye contact.
This is an absolutely awesome capability when you think about it.
Incredibly also, we can see whether another person's eyes are focused on us or not,
and we can detect easily the differences between a 'glazed over' blank stare, a
piercing look, a moistening eye long before tears come, and an awkward or secret
glance.
We probably cannot describe these and many other eye signals, but we recognise
them when we see them and we know what they mean.
When we additionally consider the eyelids, and the flexibility of the eyes to widen
and close, and for the pupils to enlarge or contract, it becomes easier to
understand how the eyes have developed such potency in human communications.

A note about eyes looking right and left..

(Left and right are for the person giving the signals and making the movements)
Eyes tend to look right when the brain is imagining or creating, and left when the
brain is recalling or remembering. This relates to right and left sides of the brain in this context broadly the parts of the brain handling creativity/feelings (right) and
facts/memory (left). Under certain circumstances 'creating' can mean fabrication
or lying, especially (but not always - beware), when the person is supposed to be
recalling facts. Looking right when stating facts does not necessarily mean lying - it
could for example mean that the person does not know the answer, and is talking
hypothetically or speculating or guessing.
There are five distinct space zones, which were originally identified by
Edward T Hall, and which remain the basis of personal space analysis today.
The first zone is sometimes shown as a single zone comprising two subzones.

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zone

distance For

detail

1. Close 0-15cm
intimate 0-6in

lovers, and
physical
touching
relationships

Sometimes included with the 2nd zone below,

this is a markedly different zone in certain
situations, for example face-to-face contact with
close friends rarely encroaches within 6 inches,
but commonly does with a lover.

2.
Intimate

15-45cm
6-18in

physical
Usually reserved for intimate relationships and
touching
close friendships, but also applies during
relationships consenting close activities such as contact
sports, and crowded places such as parties,
bars, concerts, public transport, queues and
entertainment and sports spectating events.
Non-consenting intrusion into this space is
normally felt to be uncomfortable at best, or very
threatening and upsetting at worst. Within the
intimate zone a person's senses of smell and
touch (being touched) become especially
exercised.

3.
Personal

45-120cm family and Touching is possible in this zone, but intimacy is

18in-4ft close friends off-limits. Hence touching other than handshaking is potentially uncomfortable.

4. Social- 1.2-3.6m non-touch

consultati 4-12ft
interaction,
ve
social,
business

Significantly hand-shaking is only possible

within this zone only if both people reach out to
do it. Touching is not possible unless both
people reach to do it.

5. Public

People establish this zonal space when they seek

to avoid interaction with others nearby. When
this space is intruded by another person is
creates a discomfort or an expectation of
interaction.

3.6m+
12ft+

no
interaction,
ignoring

Dress codes are written and, more often, unwritten rules with regard to
clothing. Clothing like other aspects of human physical appearance has a
social significance, with different rules and expectations being valid
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depending on circumstance and occasion. Even within a single day an
individual may need to navigate between two or more dress codes, at a
minimum these are those that apply at their place of work and those at
home, usually this ability is a result of cultural acclimatization. Different
societies and cultures will have different dress norms although Western
styles are commonly accepted as valid.
The dress code has built in rules or signals indicating the message being given by a
person's clothing and how it is worn. This message may include indications of the
person's gender, income, occupation and social class, political, ethnic and religious
affiliation, attitude and attitude towards comfort, fashion, traditions, gender
expression, marital status, sexual availability and sexual orientation, etc. Clothes
convey other social messages including the stating or claiming personal or cultural
identity, the establishing, maintaining, or defying social group norms, and
appreciating comfort and functionality.
For example, wearing expensive clothes
can communicate wealth, the image of
wealth, or cheaper access to quality
clothing. All factors apply inversely to
the wearing of inexpensive clothing and
similar goods. The observer sees the
resultant, expensive clothes, but may
incorrectly perceive the extent to which
these factors apply to the person
observed. Clothing can convey a social
message, even if none is intended.
If the receiver's code of interpretation differs from the sender's code of
communication, misinterpretation follows. In every culture, current fashion governs
the manner of consciously constructing, assembling, and wearing clothing to
convey a social message. The rate of change of fashion varies, and so modifies the
style in wearing clothes and its accessories within months or days, especially in
small social groups or in communications media-influenced modern societies. More
extensive changes, requiring more time, money, and effort to effect, may span
generations. When fashion changes, the messages communicated by clothing
change.

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Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of measurable distances between people as they interact
with one another. The distance between people in a social situation often discloses
information about the type of relationship between the people involved. Proximity
may also reveal the type of social setting taking place.
1.Intimate distance ranges from touching to about 18 inches (46 cm) apart,
and is reserved for lovers, children, as well as close family members and
friends, and also pet animals.
2.Personal distance begins about an arm's length away; starting around 18
inches (46 cm) from the person and ending about 4 feet (122 cm) away. This
space is used in conversations with friends, to chat with associates, and in
group discussions.
3.Social distance ranges from 4 to 8 feet (1.2 m - 2.4 m) away from the
person and is reserved for strangers, newly formed groups, and new
acquaintances.

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4.Public distance includes anything more than 8 feet (2.4 m) away, and is
used for speeches, lectures, and theater. Public distance is essentially that
range reserved for larger audiences.
Proximity range changes between cultures.

Verbal Crutches
Um, uh, yknow, like, and, and-um, basically
This is what we say when we are thinking, lost, checking our notes or just any time
we want to fill the silence.
Most of us use these verbal crutches more than we should, and they can very easily
distract our listeners from our message. The two most effective means of
eradicating these distracters are:
Watch yourself speak on video so you can see and hear what you are
saying
Pause and take a breath instead
The biggest challenge we face as speakers is getting and keeping our listeners
attention. And one of the most powerful tools we have is our voice. So breathe, use
lots of vocal variety, pause and keep the feared Um Counter at bay.
Leadership occurs in communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Verbal
communication, however, does not mean just talking. Talking is not the same as
communicating and not all talking is equally effective. If it were, all of us would
have a much easier time doing the things with other people.
One aspect of leadership communication is creating a context for other people. By
context I mean a container, a frame, or a point of view that allows people to
understand and make sense of things. As Gail Fairhurst, a professor of
communication at the University of Cincinnati points out in her book on the Art of
Framing, leaders, particularly those involved in change, create frames alternative
views of the world that help people give meaning to things that are happening or
that they are doing.
Framing is evident in the story of the traveler who comes upon three stonemasons
hard at work on blocks of marble and asks each in turn what he is doing.
I am sanding down this block of marble, said the first;
I am preparing a foundation, replied the second;

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I am building a cathedral, declared the third.
The three statements create a different context and put what each mason is doing
in a different light. Although each mason is doing what appears to be the same
thing, how the work occurs to them and what it means is different by virtue of the
context they have created.
Leaders create contexts through the use of what we call initiative and
understanding conversations. In initiative conversations, leaders say the future
they want to accomplish, why its accomplishment is important or the difference it
will make, and the time frame in which they would like to accomplish it. Of
particular importance for people in this conversation is the why accomplishing
the future is important. Understanding conversations then allow the leader and
those who may follow the opportunity to more fully explore the nature of what is
being proposed, how it might be accomplished, what will be required, etc. thereby
clarifying and developing a context for them.
the focus is on the need to be aware of the specific language within that context.
That is, the awareness, the attention, and the noticing of the particular features of
language that add to learning. This means that it is important to pay attention to
language form, for example, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. However,
teaching these formal aspects of language through rules, exercises, memorization,
and drills does not appear to be entirely effective. Research shows that selectively
focusing on aspects of language use within a given context can be even more
effective. Language awareness is the name for this kind of focus. And, because
language awareness is a focus on the pragmatic uses of language, the language
input must be in context. Two additional requirements of language awareness are
that: * The context should reflect language that learners are most likely to use. *
And, language practice in context should be accompanied by conscious effort and
reflection on that practice.

Physical expression
Physical expressions like waving, pointing, touching and slouching are all forms
of nonverbal communication. The study of body movement and expression is
known as kinesics. Humans move their bodies when communicating because, as
research has shown, it helps "ease the mental effort when communication is
difficult." Physical expressions reveal many things about the person using them.

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For example, gestures can emphasize a point or relay a message, posture can
reveal boredom or great interest, and touch can convey encouragement or caution.
One of the most basic and powerful body-language signals is when a
person crosses his or her arms across the chest. This can indicate that a
person is putting up an unconscious barrier between themselves and others.
However, it can also indicate that the person's arms are cold, which would
be clarified by rubbing the arms or huddling. When the overall situation is
amicable, it can mean that a person is thinking deeply about what is being
discussed, but in a serious or confrontational situation, it can mean that a
person is expressing opposition. This is especially so if the person is leaning
away from the speaker. A harsh or blank facial expression often indicates
outright hostility.
Consistent eye contact can indicate that a person is thinking positively of
what the speaker is saying. It can also mean that the other person doesn't
trust the speaker enough to "take their eyes off" the speaker. Lack of eye
contact can indicate negativity. On the other hand, individuals with anxiety
disorders are often unable to make eye contact without discomfort. Eye
contact can also be a secondary and misleading gesture because cultural
norms about it vary widely. If a person is looking at you, but is making the
arms-across-chest signal, the eye contact could be indicative that something
is bothering the person, and that he wants to talk about it. Or if while
making direct eye contact, a person is fiddling with something, even while
directly looking at you, it could indicate that the attention is elsewhere. Also,
there are three standard areas that a person will look which represent
different states of being. If the person looks from one eye to the other, then
to the forehead, it is a sign that they are taking an authoritative position. If
they move from one eye to the other, then to the nose, that signals that they
are engaging in what they consider to be a "level conversation" with neither
party holding superiority. The last case is from one eye to the other and then
down to the lips. This is a strong indication of romantic feelings.
Disbelief is often indicated by averted gaze, or by touching
the ear or scratching the chin. When a person is not being convinced by
what someone is saying, the attention invariably wanders, and the eyes will
stare away for an extended period.

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Boredom is indicated by the head tilting to one side, or by the eyes looking
straight at the speaker but becoming slightly unfocused. A head tilt may also
indicate a sore neck, trust or a feeling of safety (part of the neck becomes
uncovered, hence vulnerable; It's virtually impossible to tilt our head in front
of someone we don't trust or are scared of) or Amblyopia, and unfocused
eyes may indicate ocular problems in the listener.
Interest can be indicated through posture or extended eye contact, such as
standing and listening properly.
Deceit or the act of withholding information can sometimes be indicated by
touching the face during conversation. Excessive blinking is a well-known
indicator of someone who is lying. Recently[when?], evidence has surfaced
that the absence of blinking can also represent lying as a more reliable factor
than excessive blinking.
Some people use and understand body language differently, or not at
all. Interpreting their gestures and facial expressions (or lack thereof) in the context
of normal body language usually leads to misunderstandings and
misinterpretations (especially if body language is given priority over spoken
language). It should also be stated that people from different cultures can
interpretate body language in different ways.
Prevalence of non-verbal communication in humans
put the level of nonverbal communication as high as 80 percent of all
communication when others state the figures could be at or around 50-65 percent.
Different studies have found differing amounts, with some studies showing that
facial communication is believed 4.3 times more often than verbal meaning, and
another finding that verbal communication in a flat tone is 4 times more likely to
be understood than a pure facial expression. Albert Mehrabian is noted for finding
a 7%-38%-55% rule, supposedly denoting how much communication was conferred
by words, tone, and body language. However he was only referring to cases of
expressing feelings or attitudes.

Unintentional gestures
Beginning in the 1960's, there has been huge interest in studying human
behavioral clues that could be useful for developing an interactive and adaptive
human-machine system.Unintentional human gestures such as making an eye
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rub, a chin rest, a lip touch, a nose itch, a head scratch, an ear scratch, crossing
arms, and a finger lock have been found conveying some useful information in
specific context. Some researchers have tried to extract such gestures in a specific
context for educational applications. In poker games, such gestures are referred to
as "tells" and are useful to players for detecting deception or behavioral patterns in
an opponent(s).
There is also a huge interest in learning to avoid any unintentional gesture that
might leave a negative impression on the onlookers. A large number of people are
starting to attend special sessions on controlled body behaviour and take advice
from expert sociologists. Learning good body language, such as living styles of
foreign people, is important during interaction in any sort of global community.

Contextualisation
Contextualisation is putting language items into a meaningful and real context
rather than being treated as isolated items of language for language manipulation
practice only. Contextualising language tries to give real communicative value to
the language that learners meet. The context can help learners remember the
language and recall it at a later date. Learners can use natural learning strategies
to help them understand contextualised language, such as guessing meaning from
context.

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UNIT IV - FUNCTION OF CULTURAL CODES IN PRESENTATION

Intercultural communication
Practising intercultural communication
In this chapter we show that when practising intercultural communication to
achieve our goals as students and as professionals we must consider a range of
perspectives. We need to be sensitive to possible effects on communication of
differences between cultures, explained by researchers as relating to: high-context
and low-context cultures; power distance, individualismcollectivism and
masculinityfemininity; and non-verbal cues such as tone of voice, appearance and
use of space. Since culture can be defined to include attitudes, expectations, family
roles, history, language, non-verbal communication, socialisation, traditions and
world view, intercultural communication has a very broad meaning. To practise
intercultural communication effectively requires us to be adequately informed
about how to use verbal and non-verbal signals and to be open to checking our
understanding with others in intercultural, and indeed any, communication
contexts.

Introduction to intercultural communication

Here is a straightforward, everyday conversation between Hong Kong businessman
Mr Lau, and his Australian counterpart Mr Clarke.
Mr Clarke:

Gday mate. Im Robert Clarke. My friends call me Bob. Heres my

card.

Mr Lau:

Hello, Mr Clarke. I am William Lau. Very glad to meet you. How

was your trip? (exchanges business cards)

Mr Clarke:

Call me Bob. Good, thanks. (reading card: Lau Wing-Leung) Oh,

its Wing-Leung! Nice to meet you. Ill call you tomorrow, WingLeung, OK?

Mr Lau (smiling): Yes, I will expect your call. (both men depart)
Meetings like this take place every day all over the world in offices, airports,
restaurants and the street. But this ordinary exchange between members of
different cultures has unforeseen problems that create tension and uneasiness,
ultimately leading to intercultural miscommunication. According to Scollon and

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Scollon (2001), the reasons for this lie in the rules and regulations of the
participants own cultures.
Mr Lau prefers initial business meetings to be formal and polite; thus the
use of the titles Mr Clarke and Mr Lau is a natural sign of respect for the
occasion. The Australian, Mr Clarke, is uncomfortable with using formal titles, and
also wishes to show his friendship by using first names. Mr Clarke correctly
distinguishes Mr Laus surname on his business card and then rashly uses his
given name. In Chinese culture, the decision to use given names is complex and is
influenced by kinship, past relationships and current situations. Mr Lau feels
uncomfortable at being addressed as Wing-Leung and so smiles (an acceptable
form of displaying embarrassment in Chinese cultures). Mr Clarke, however, feels
secure in his cultural sensitivity and his egalitarian gesture of goodwill. Mr Clarke
also wants to show he is considerate of Chinese culture and so avoids the English
name in favour of the Chinese name. He is surprised when his follow-up telephone
call receives a cooler reception from Mr Lau than he expected.
This short dialogue illustrates the problems faced in intercultural
communication. Firstly real cultural differences are encountered, and secondly
these issues must be dealt with in order to communicate successfully. In the above
case, both parties make intercultural mistakes even though both men try to be
culturally sensitive. Mr Clarkes partial knowledge of Chinese culture leads to his
making the situation more awkward, and if Mr Lau wished to be addressed as
William Lau, then perhaps his business card should have indicated this. Both
mens expectations of the other are coloured by their own cultural norms, which
they cannot escape.

The importance of intercultural communication

Many consultants, distinguished authors and writers of textbooks discuss the need
to understand other cultures because we live in a global village. In 1870 Jules
Verne wrote Around the world in eighty days; astronauts can now make the trip in
under eighty minutes, while the Internet user takes a mere eight seconds. The
media has given us a taste for other countries, and the cost of modern air travel is
within the budget of many people, so we are travelling overseas more regularly than
ever before. Holiday travel, business trips, family reunions and conferences in other
parts of the world are now commonplace for business travellers and tourists, with
the big trip overseas a rite of passage for many young people. The closeness of
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South-East Asia means that Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia
are favourite destinations for many Australians and New Zealanders, while
Japanese frequently holiday on the Barrier Reef. We need to understand global
cultures because we are increasingly interacting with them in person or through
technology.
But there is another reason why intercultural communication is important.
Australians live in one of the most multicultural societies in the world. Officially,
Australias population comprises a large mixture of ethnicities, with 23.3 per cent
(from the 1999 census) of Australians born overseas. If you add second- and thirdgeneration migrants, who were born in Australia, and the large number of tourists,
overseas students and visitors for short periods, then this figure is much higher.
Thus Australians frequently communicate with people whose cultures originate in
other parts of the world. However, many of us are totally unaware of our own
uniquely different cultural backgrounds when we ourselves communicate. Our
deeply held cultural norms or attitudes may not be conscious ones: the only time
we are aware of them is when other people break certain rules, disappoint us or
even offend us. The situation is similar with sub cultures within the one culture:
football fans, teenagers, senior citizens, company managers and yuppies all have
their own ways of communicating and behaving.

What is intercultural communication?

The study of intercultural communication is a relatively young field, which forms a
part of communication research. The starting point is usually said to be the book
The silent language (1959) by the anthropologist, Edward T. Hall, who studied Hopi
and Navajo Indians, as well as other cultures. Hall developed several key concepts
with which he attempted to explain the problematic nature of non-verbal
communication in non- Western cultures. In particular, Hall popularised the field
of proxemics, or the study of interpersonal distance and its effects on
communication in different cultures. Halls main contribution to the field was to
highlight the role that culture plays in influencing human behaviour.

Defining culture
Culture is one of the most used but misunderstood concepts of recent times. It is
used by politicians, academics, managers, schoolteachers and students all the
time, usually as an explanation for abnormal behaviour. Linguists, anthropologists,
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sociologists and organisational theorists have variously attempted to define culture
and the lesser term subculture. While we all seem to have some idea of what is
meant by culture, Defining it precisely is difficult. Informally, the word culture refers
to a way of thinking and acting that is somewhat related to people speaking a
common language (but not always). It encompasses traditions, family roles,
expectations, attitudes and non-verbal communication. The English-speaking
communities of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America,
for example, have distinct cultures, while speaking the same language.
There is another meaning of culture, which refers to activities of an artistic or
intellectual nature, such as attending the ballet, the opera or art galleries. This
meaning of culture is used when academics discuss artefacts of high culture and
low culture, such as chamber music versus pop songs. However, this second
meaning of culture is seldom used when discussing intercultural communication.
Many researchers break up culture into a series of constituent, sometimes
overlapping, parts, in order to better understand how culture affects
communication and vice versa, how communication can affect culture. One of the
overlooked aspects in such approaches is the impact that communication
technologies such as the Internet have had on intercultural communication (see
You talkin to moi? Computer-mediated communication with other cultures pp.
959). We believe culture can be best understood if it is broken up into four main
dimensions:
1 history and world view, including values, beliefs and religion
2 socialisation, including education, enculturation and personal growth
3 language
4 non-verbal communication.
We take the view that it is these (and other) aspects of specific cultures that
affect the quality and outcomes of intercultural communication. We will focus on
the effects of these four dimensions on intercultural professional activities between
Westerners and other cultures. In particular, many of our examples will compare
Asian and Western cultures, since many Western researchers view Asian cultures
as being the most dissimilar to their own.

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The effect of history and world view

All of us have a world view. This is our perspective on how we stand in relation to
everyone else. For example, Australians seldom ask Who am I as an Australian? or
Where do I stand as an Australian with respect to other races? Instead,
Australians (and most other cultures) usually display ethnocentrism by evaluating
other cultures from their own cultures value system. Almost every culture acts the
same way. Past evidence of ethnocentrism in Australia can be found in the socalled White Australia Policy: a documented history of racism. Overseas, some
Australian tourists have acquired the label the ugly Australian. They may have
been protected within the Australian world view, but their behaviour seems rather
crude and obnoxious to people in other cultures.

Many cultures respect their history, but some more than others. For
example, it has been said that Australians are not very mindful of their convict or
Indigenous past, preferring to concentrate on sporting prowess and a relaxed way
of life. Asian cultures, on the other hand, often have a deep regard for their
countrys or cultures heritage and past. This is seen in religion, art and respect for
ancestors, elders and family. For example, if an Australian visits Korea, he or she
will almost certainly be told that Korea has a five-thousand-year-old history. In
Westernised Hong Kong, locals may still talk about the glory of Ancient China to
emphasise a conservative position. A long and continuous history forms an
important part of the world view of most of the Asian cultures, much of the Middle
East, Russia, and many European nations.
In general, in professional situations Australians of non-Asian backgrounds
are unlikely to stress their lineage from the Celts or Ancient Greece or Rome.
Rather, Australian professionals often desire short negotiations or a quick decision,
and they emphasise expediency in order to keep up with political, social and
technological change. Work happens now, and the organisation needs a decision in
order to move on to the next project. Work is linear and tied to the immediate
present or not-too-distant past. We are talking here of last week.
In comparison, the historically centred Asian professional is likely to need a
slowerpaced meeting, or series of meetings. Work is an ongoing part of a persons
social life, family context and employment, and decisions are likely to be influenced

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by the effect on a persons reputation and the good of the company, including its
future growth potential. Thus, an Australian might view a Japanese person as
ponderously slow and overly careful, while the Japanese person views the
Australian as rushing headlong into a decision and ignoring a range of important
factors.

The effect of socialisation

Socialisation is the process by which we learn, are educated and grow into socially
responsible human beings. Beginning at birth, we learn ways of behaving from our
parents, our siblings, our friends, our teachers and the media. In totalitarian
countries, the government also plays a part in dictating the guidelines by which
children are raised and encultured. Enculturation is the term for the process of
bringing up a child informally without institutional input, while education is the
official system of schooling, usually starting around five years of age. There is yet
another term, acculturation, which is used by anthropologists to describe the way
in which a dominant culture imposes itself on a weaker culture, so that its
members eventually lose most of their culture. Because of the loss of culture,
acculturation has strong negative connotations for most researchers.
During a persons lifetime, enculturation is not only provided by a childs
family and relatives, but also by neighbours, peers and work colleagues. Children
carefully observe the behaviour being enacted around them and typically model
that behaviour unless told otherwise. The process does not stop with childhood,
but continues into the teenage years and adulthood. These patterns of learned
social behaviour include relating to those of higher and lower status, those older,
younger and the same age, and both boys and girls. The person learns how to be a
boy or girl, and eventually a man or woman in that culture. A persons identity as a
functioning human being is also learned by this complex process of socialisation,
which may include certain rituals along the way. Rituals include such events as
circumcision, tattooing, body piercing, baptism and other religious ceremonies.

The effect of language

Language and culture
Language is probably the single most important dimension of a speakers culture.
When asked what distinguishes culture, a Chinese person will usually point to the
Chinese language, even though their place of residence may be Hong Kong, Taiwan

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or other parts of the Chinese diaspora spread around the world. But an Englishspeaking Westerner will seldom say that English is what distinguishes his or her
culture. In fact, many people claim to have quite distinct cultures, even though
they share English as their mother tongue. One need only compare middle-class
Australians, upper-class English and African-American cultures who share a
mother tongue with distinct linguistic variations.
Language may be used for many reasons, but there is general consensus
that language has at least two main functions: an information function and a
relationship function. Scollon and Scollon (2001) stress that language usually
serves both functions in any context, but that different culture give different
weightings to the importance of one function over the other. For example, Japanese
culture places great importance on the use of language to convey subtle aspects of
feeling and relationships, while Western culture emphasizes its use to convey
information. A European exception is the Polish language, in which subtle forms of
nouns and verbs are used to convey highly personal aspects of a relationship.
International education, a global phenomenon, places great emphasis on the use of
electronic technologies such as email, videoconferencing, Internet bulletin boards
and chat systems. These technologies provide near-instant communication and
stress the informational nature of the message, with the relationship function
almost disappearing.

Language subtleties
There is a tradition of communicating without language, strongly influenced by Zen
Buddhism. In Japanese, Korean and Chinese cultures it is believed that nothing
important can be communicated solely through verbal language. This is in stark
contrast to Western traditions of language usage, where the effective use of
language is seen as highly beneficial and is often the basis on which students pass
exams, managers are promoted and politicians are elected. In intercultural
meetings, the inscrutable silence of the Asian person is often misinterpreted as a
negotiation trick or a device to gain extra bargaining power, whereas it may simply
be an indication of contemplation and reflection.

Language relativity and the problems of translation

Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf were two American ethnolinguists who
noted that in different cultures there existed several words for key concepts that
did not have parallel translations in other languages. Sapir and Whorf proposed the
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theory that language evolves to reflect the culture in which it is used, and that the
linguistic choices in part determine a particular cultures ways of thinking and
what is actually observed in nature. Sapir said:
No two languages are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing
the same social reality. The worlds in which different societies live are distinct
worlds, not merely the same world with different labels attached We see and
hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language
habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.
(Sapir 1929, p. 69)
Whorf, who was Sapirs protg, analysed the concept this way:
the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which has to be
organised by our minds and this means largely by the linguistic systems in
our minds. We cut nature up, organize it into concepts, and ascribe
significances as we do, largely because we are parties to an agreement to
organize it this way an agreement that holds throughout our speech
community and is codifed in the patterns of our language.
(Whorf 1940, pp. 21314).
Few researchers have been able to demonstrate the SapirWhorf hypothesis,
namely that language moulds cognition, convincingly, although some new research
(cited by Skoyles 1999) has been carried out that appears to lend it support.
From the point of view of intercultural communication, the significance of
the SapirWhorf hypothesis is that between cultures and languages, there may be
impenetrable barriers of understanding simply because one language has been
developed to deal with situations and information quite different from those of
another language.
Fortunately, few linguists agree completely with the hypothesis. Rather than
linguistic determinism, the notion that language determines thought and that
people can think only about objects, events and processes through the symbolised
language that they speak, they prefer to discuss linguistic relativity: the notion that
language influences thought but does not determine it. Thus although some terms
in one language are virtually untranslatable, most ideas can be translated from one
language to another.
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The relationship between language and experience is also dealt with in
Chapter 2 of this text and is of course important as a way of looking at language
within any one culture, even the culture of professional speech and writing (see
pages 324). You will find that the two treatments of this topic complement each
other.

The effects of non-verbal communication

In Chapter 3 we discussed non-verbal communication, especially in relation to
professional activities such as discussions, meetings, interviews and speeches. Our
argument in that chapter is that the more conscious we are of our own and other
peoples nonverbal cues as they relate to verbal messages, the more we will
maximise effective communication and narrow the communication gap.
In this chapter we highlight the role played in cultural and national
differences by non-verbal communication. Needless to say, the professional person
who travels internationally is constantly confronted with differences in manner,
social behaviour, workplace protocols and negotiation techniques. These may be
embarrassing, even intimidating, and may reduce the clarity of communication
necessary for effective practice.
Non-verbal communication can be conceptualised as any form of
communication that does not use the written or spoken word. It is more than just
body language, since it includes use of time, space, furniture and clothing. Nonverbal communication accompanies verbal communication more often than not.
Try imagining a nod or smile that was not a reaction to some verbal signal, or a
rude hand sign that did not accompany a swearword. Non-verbal communication is
integrally related to language use, and as such forms a distinctive part of
intercultural communication.
There are many different forms of non-verbal communication, and many
ways of categorising this behaviour. In Chapter 3 we classify non-verbal
communication into five main categories:

1.kinesics (or movements of our bodies and body language)

2.proxemics (or use of space and territory to communicate)
3.chronemics (or time as communication)

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4.haptics (or touching behaviour).
5.vocalics/paralanguage (or variations in our voices to create or reveal mood and
attitude)
In Chapter 3 we made some generalisations about cultural differences in
non-verbal behaviour. In this chapter we analyse more closely the potential for this
form of communication to help or hinder effective communication between cultural
and language communities, especially in professional contexts.

Kinesics
Kinesics is what we commonly call body language and refers to those movements of
our body that communicate meaning. Our eyes and face convey a wide range of
meanings in interpersonal meetings. In the opening scene of this chapter, Mr Lau
uses a smile to convey his embarrassment, but this smile is interpreted incorrectly
by Mr Clarke. According to psychologists, smiles are universally recognised in every
culture in the world. But while smiles may be easily recognised, their true purpose
may not be understood, as is the case with Mr Lau, who uses a smile to mask his
embarrassment.
Asian people tend to smile or even laugh more easily than Westerners in
response to minor embarrassments or anxieties. Westerners sometimes
misinterpret this behaviour as agreement and are therefore ignorant about the
source of subsequent difficulties. One interpretation of this so-called nervous
smiling or laughter is that Asian people are trying to preserve the interpersonal
harmony of the situation. Many Australians have no such need since their culture
reinforces individualism rather than group welfare. Thus, in any given social
situation, an Australian who smiles or laughs is usually expressing emotion, not
unconsciously covering up an awkward situation.
The accepted form of greeting new acquaintances, colleagues or friends is
very different around the world. In the West, shaking hands is the most common
form of greeting for males, with the cheek kiss commonplace between females and
sometimes between males and females. In Asia, the bow is a very commonplace
greeting between people from all walks of life. However, bowing is not the same in
each country, with Japanese and Korean people exhibiting more frequent and
deeper bows compared to Chinese people. Shaking hands is also practised,
especially in Japan, where there is considerable Western influence as more and
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more Westerners make contact with previously traditional companies and
institutions. Even within Australian culture, the practice of handshaking is
changing, particularly with respect to women, whose hands were seldom shaken 20
years ago. In France, Italy, Spain and Latin American countries, the handshake
between men and women often gives way to a double-cheeked kiss. This level of
familiarity is not normally practised in Asian or English-speaking countries, but
given the multicultural nature of Australia, it is becoming more popular with
younger people.

Dress and appearance

The way in which we dress, the hairstyles we adopt, and the make-up and jewellery
that we choose to wear are all indicators of our status and our socio-economic
class. Dress and appearance are important signifiers of our social identities, but we
are constrained by the acceptable limits of our culture. We can think of dress and
appearance as a sort of uniform that we choose to adopt in order to belong to a
particular group of people in society. Thus, some professional people wear suits in
the workplace. In fact such people are called suits by some students and nonprofessionals. Even within the business subculture of business people, there are
classification systems based on the limited alternatives of business attire. Someone
wearing a designer-label suit instead of an off-the-rack suit may indicate that they
are of particular status within the company. In some workplaces professional
women have a wider palette of attire to choose from, including choices of hairstyles,
make-up, accessories and jewellery. Even the choices of shirt colour, shoes or brief
case can be signifiers of the professional status of the individual.
Hairstyles and the wearing of tattoos and body piercings are yet another area
of wide variability even within English-speaking nations and at different periods in
time. For example, short-cropped, spiky hair for men was very fashionable in the
50s and during World War II. Strangely, short hair is not as popular in Latin
America and Spain at present, with male long hair still signifying machismo
throughout much of the Spanish-speaking world. Tattoos and piercings became
very popular among young people in the late 90s, due to many pop stars being
tattooed and/or pierced. Given many UK celebrities being tattooed or pierced, the
acceptability of tattoos and/or piercings is somewhat higher in England as opposed
to Australia.

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Proxemics
Proxemics studies the use of space: both interpersonal space and the space within
rooms, buildings, precincts and cities. The use of space varies enormously between
different cultures and is a constant source of confusion in intercultural
communication. The leading researcher in this field was Edward T. Hall, whose
work we discussed in Chapter 3 (pages 624).
Edward T. Hall was the first scholar to categorise the interpersonal distances
used by Americans. Obviously none of our family and friends use any one distance
all the time with us. Everyone constantly moves in and out of different spatial
zones. Hall was in fact depicting an average distance, but the problem with Halls
zones is that they really only apply to Anglo-Americans during the 1950s. If we
were to examine Latin American or Japanese cultures, then their relative distances
are typically smaller than Halls four interpersonal zones. Mediterranean
Europeans, Asians, females and equal-status professionals (e.g. a group of doctors,
a group of lawyers) also tend to stand nearer to each other than Halls categories
would have us believe.
Halls categories are useful in order to describe relationships, which may be
symbolically represented by distance between people. The categories are also able
to explain the discomfort experienced, for example, when an Australians
interpersonal space is violated by a member of another culture, say an Italian, who
expects a smaller interpersonal distance. When the Italian keeps moving closer to
feel comfortable, the Australian unconsciously backs away. Similarly, in
population-dense, crowded areas of Asia, such as Hong Kong and Bangkok, the
overcrowding a farmer from outback Australia feels will not be experienced to the
same degree by the locals.
Proxemics may also be applied to furniture; the way that it is arranged
around a room reflects cultural attitudes towards family life. For example, space is
a scarce resource in Japanese homes, hence much furniture is hidden from sight
or arranged around the edges of a room to allow for a multiplicity of room
functions. Western furniture tends to be organised around the middle of rooms,
endowing each room with a single function. In most Australian living rooms, for
example, the furniture is arranged around the television set, which is on the same
level as the seated family members. The television set (and its related peripherals
such as the video or DVD player) therefore constitutes the rooms main focus, while
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in other cultures the television may be disguised in a closet or lowered on to the
floor level, giving it a less conspicuous status. Similar intercultural analyses can be
made about differences in the location of the computer, both at work and in the
home.
The study of proxemics extends to examining organisational distribution of
rooms, staff, hardware and office furniture. The position of the managing directors
office at the top of the building; the arrangement of chairs at a business meeting or
in a school classroom; the use of space in an apartment complex or even a whole
city these are all indicative of a cultures prevailing attitudes and values towards
the users and/or owners of that space. The sense of strangeness that is often
termed culture shock, and which occurs when we travel to exotic locations, is due,
in part, to these intercultural differences in the use of space.
Chronemics
English-speaking Westerners generally regard time as an inflexible entity, with only
a small degree of latitude. When business people make appointments in Australia,
they are normally expected to be on time, give or take five minutes: a generally
allowable period of lateness. Other cultures are much more flexible about time,
with business people sometimes being up to 30 to 45 minutes late for meetings.
It is important to be aware of cultural norms about the use of time because
people make judgements about others attitudes, credibility and reliability based on
being on time. In Western contexts people usually apologise if they are more than
five minutes late for an appointment as a sign of respect with a view to restoring
any damage to their reputation. So in Western cultures professionals are expected
to keep to the scheduled times for appointments, meetings and leave taking. If time
rules are broken by being late or using the set time inefficiently, professionals may
be judged to be incompetent or unreliable. As professionals in global contexts, we
need to be aware of the variety of expectations and uses of time throughout the
world.

Haptics
The term haptics in its broadest sense relates to the sense of touch and derives
from the Greek term haptikos, able to touch. The study of haptics forms a part of
psychology which has developed a sense of touch. We rely on our sense of touch to
do everyday tasks such as using a touch-tone phone, finding second gear in a
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manual car, or playing a musical instrument like a guitar or a piano, which all rely
heavily on the tactile cues we receive. Much research comprises finding the best
way to use these tactile cues and so become a better driver or guitar player.
Haptics is also applied to compare different cultures. Anglo-Saxons are a
low- to non-contact culture in the professional setting. Australians, the British and
Americans tend not to touch each other in normal conversation. Asian cultures are
somewhat similar. On the other hand, African, Mediterranean, Arab, Russian and
South American cultures are high-contact. It is common for Latino friends to kiss
each other on the cheek to say hello, and to touch or grab the arm or hand of their
friend while talking. It is common for Latinos to hug, to shake hands and touch the
arm, or to place a hand on the others shoulder while communicating. The crosscultural result of this difference in the use of touch is that Australians often feel
that high-contact cultures touch to a degree that is uncomfortable, threatening or
insulting to them. Italians and Latinos may feel that Australians are cold,
unfriendly or rejecting. As professional communicators, we need to be aware of
these culturally sensitive differences in touch behaviour.

Paralanguage
Paralanguage or paralinguistics is the study of how we use tonal variation of our
voices to emphasise certain words or phrases. Paralinguistic behaviour is always
concurrent with language usage and includes vocalisations such as um and ah,
loudness, speed, intonation, rhythm, pronunciation, use of pauses, and vocal
accent or timbre. The main problem for intercultural communicators is that often
non-native speakers will accompany a language such as English with the
paralanguage that is more suitable for the speakers mother tongue, thus giving a
false impression of the speakers emotional state of mind.
For example, the instructional video Crosstalk at work (BBC, 1991) depicts
the speech and intonation patterns of an Indian speaker using the English
language to ask questions of an English clerk. The paralanguage, which expresses
questioning behaviour in Hindi, sounds very aggressive when heard by native
English speakers. The rhythm and intonation of the voice communicate the wrong
message, even though the words are quite meaningful and acceptable. Westerners
hearing the paralanguage ignore the meaning of the words and wrongly attribute to
the speaker the emotion of irritation. So they may respond in either a conciliatory

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or equally irritable fashion. The Indian speaker receives an unexpected response to
his questions and thinks all Westerners are rude.
A similar situation has been experienced by one of the authors of this book,
when confronted by an Arabic student who was asking in English for clarification
of the marks for an assignment. Using a typical Arabic intonation pattern, the
student seemed to be hostile and needing to be placated. The only way to disprove
this assumption was to actually ask the student how she was feeling at the time.
To our surprise the student replied that she was very happy with her mark, but
was attempting clarification of the lecturers handwritten comments, which she
could not decipher.
There are no rights or wrongs in these intercultural communication
incidents. We could blame the Indian or Arabic person for not using the correct
paralanguage, or we could blame ourselves for misinterpreting the exact meaning.
Similarly, we could blame either Mr Lau or Mr Clarke from the example at the start
of this chapter for their cultural insensitivity. But blame is not the appropriate
attitude in many cases. Understanding all possible cultural factors in such
meetings is an impossible task unless one is born and raised in all possible
cultures. We believe that we need to withhold judgements that are based on nonverbal communication until we have confirmed these judgements by using
language. Thus, if you are feeling irritation about the nonverbal responses of
another person, you should investigate whether your feelings are justified or merely
a response to non-English paralanguage.

Case Study 1: The Ugly Australian

Having traveled in Europe and Great Britain during the seventies and eighties we
discovered a certain term to describe Australians who tended to congregate
together overseas the Ugly Australian. The origin of the term is unimportant, yet it
fairly accurately describes some young Australian males and females who live
together in Earls Court, London, who take Contiki bus tours, and who inhabit
European camping grounds. There are definitely ugly American and ugly German
equivalents to the loud Australian. His antisocial behaviour includes drinking to
excess, singing, vomiting, and sometimes the baring the buttocks from out of the
window of moving vehicles. The strange thing is that the Ugly Australian is most
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usually an ordinary ocker at home ugly behaviour manifests itself most
noticeably overseas but not so much in Australia. Thus, many young Aussies who
go abroad for the very first time tend to be viewed with some disdain by some
foreigners.

Activity: In the classroom break up into small groups according to nationality.

Australians should role-play the Ugly Australian. Other nationalities may role-play
other characteristics. The Australian groups should try to script a short play that
epitomises drunken behaviour in a setting such as an overseas pub or camping
ground. Other nationality groups may also try to enact an embarrassing part of
their particular culture.

Discussion: Why is there a need for this behaviour by some young Australians on
their first trip overseas? Is this behaviour isolated to overseas locations? (See end
of chapter for one possible explanation.)

High-context and low-context cultures Edward T. Hall

In his book Beyond culture (1997), Hall divided all cultures into high-context or
low-context cultures. He maintained that all behaviour, including verbal and nonverbal communication, was either affected by the cultural context (high-context) or
minimally affected by such context (low-context). Americans, Australians, the
British, Scandinavians, Swiss and Germans all come from low-context cultures;
they react directly to verbal and non-verbal messages. However, for people from
Mediterranean, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Middle Eastern and Latin
American cultures, the context of the message is just as important as, and in some
cases more important than, the message itself. Some researchers have said that
Halls two categories are really a continuum of context and there are middle-of-theroad cultures that seem to fit both high- and low-context definitions. African
cultures are an example of these.

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High- and low-context cultures differ in their approaches to power
hierarchies, social relationships, work ethics, business practices and time
management. The dominant values of high- and low-context cultures are
significantly diverse (see Exhibit 4.1) and may be the source of many intercultural
problems and conflict.

EXHIBIT 4.1 Dominant values of high-context and low-context cultures

High-context (group orientation) Low-context (individual orientation)
Harmony with nature

Mastery over nature

Fate

Personal control over the environment

Being

Doing

Past or present orientation

Future orientation

Tradition

Change

Focus on relationships

Time dominates

Hierarchy/status

Human equality

Elders

Youth

Cooperation

Competition

Formality

Informality

Indirectness/ritual

Directness/openness

Spiritualism/detachment

Practicality/efficiency

Knowledge of high- and low-context cultures is important to our understanding of

how culture can influence ones own and other peoples style of communication.
For example, the dominant style of communication in the Australian (low-context)
culture has the following characteristics:
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1. The vast majority of information is explicitly stated; for example, an apology

needs to be clearly articulated. In a high-context culture the same message can
be communicated through a variety of non-verbal gestures, such as a smile, a
sigh, a shrug or a frown.
2. Australians prefer directness and openness, with some degree of freedom of
emotional expression. Spontaneity and casualness characterise informal
relationships. Within this context, successful communication mainly requires
an understanding of the explicit norms of behavior. In such low-context
cultures, success also requires knowledge of implicit norms and expectations.
3. Within reason, Australians expect others to challenge the status quo. Polite
questioning of the boss or authority figures suggests one is perceptive, has
personal power and may help bring about change. Independence, selfdetermination, and personal confidence are highly prized whatever the level of
employment. As a contrast, in high-context Japan subordinates tend to defer
to the bosss decision. Of course, in all cultures, personal dynamics affect what
is regarded as the rule.
4. Non-verbal communication cues such as posture, gestures and facial
expressions are very useful communication tools and are encouraged. For
example, eye contact is perceived to be important in validating recognition and
communicating interest. It is also seen as assertive and shows that one has
nothing to hide. The exact opposite is true of high-context cultures where
expressions of emotion are often hidden from view.

Hofstedes four dimensions of culture

Probably the most extensive intercultural study was performed by the Dutch
researcher Geert Hofstede (1984), who studied employees of the multinational
company IBM. Hofstede surveyed 117 000 participants from 53 separate cultures
and then re- surveyed 29 000 of these people several years later to check on the
validity and reliability of his findings. He theorised that people have mental ways of
behaving, like internal programs, which are developed during childhood and then
reinforced by the culture.
Through statistical analysis and reasoning, Hofstede identified four
dimensions that can be used to distinguish cultures around the world: power
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distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualismcollectivism, and masculinity
femininity. However, one should view Hofstedes findings with some scepticism
because his sampling methods were not random. Most of his participants were
male, of a particular social class, and all worked for one large multinational
company. Hofstedes results may simply be a descriptive map based on gender,
level of education and organisational factors. The data was also collected more than
thirty years ago and cultures may have changed since then due to developments in
media, global travel and information technology.

Power distance
Power distance refers to the fact that in various cultures people react differently to
status differences and social power. Some cultures, e.g. New Zealand, Denmark,
Israel and Austria, prefer low power distance indexes (PDIs) and minimise
inequalities in terms of job status, social class or wealth. Managers in these
cultures typically want to be one of the group and be addressed by first names.
Decisions may be questioned and challenged in these cultures, resulting in fl at
organisational structures with relatively few hierarchical levels. As a contrast, the
cultures of Arab countries, Guatemala, Malaysia and the Philippines have high
PDIs and believe that individuals have rightful places in society and that authority
figures should not be challenged. Interestingly, although China was not
represented in the survey, Hong Kong recorded higher PDIs than Japan.

Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance refers to how certain cultures adapt to change and cope with
uncertainties in their societies. How much a culture avoids uncertainty becomes a
measure of cultural anxiety or fear with respect to unpredictable events. In
countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Hong Kong, the cultures seem to have
low uncertainty avoidance indexes (UAIs), meaning that they cope very easily with
unexpected problems and also have a relatively small number of rituals and rules
that govern social conduct and human behaviour. These cultures, according to
Hofstede, are more tolerant of dissent and social deviance, and encourage new
ideas and innovation in work. High-UAI countries include Greece, Guatemala,
Portugal, Uruguay and Japan. These cultures promote or even demand consensus
in terms of social goals and disapprove of any deviant behaviour. Australia has a
relatively low UAI, appearing near the middle of the whole range of this dimension.

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Individualismcollectivism
Individualismcollectivitism refers to the extent a culture values individual
autonomy as opposed to collective teamwork. Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands
and the USA have high scores on the individualism index (IDV), which translates
into an individualistic culture that looks after family but little else. Privacy,
independence and the self are all-important characteristics of these cultures.
Decision-making is based on the individual, with competition being the norm in
terms of job selection and promotion. Low-IDV countries include Hong Kong,
Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand and Mexico. These countries have a strong
collectivist orientation, which values the group over the individual. Such cultures
have a we consciousness and emphasise belonging to a group or many groups.

Masculinityfemininity
Masculinityfemininity refers to the way that cultures prefer assertiveness and
achievement (masculinity) to nurturance and social support (femininity). The
alternative label for this dimension is achievementnurturance. The cultures of
Austria, Italy, Japan and Mexico have high masculinity indexes (MASs) and
strongly believe in achievement and ambition. In these cultures business and
professional people tend to judge others according to their level of performance and
the amount of material goods that they possess. People in high-MAS cultures also
believe in ostentatious shows of manliness or machismo. Low-MAS cultures such
as Chile, Portugal, Sweden and Thailand adhere less to external achievement and
shows of manliness and more to things like quality of life and empathy for the less
fortunate. The term feminine is somewhat misleading, since these cultures prefer
equality between the sexes and less-prescriptive gender-based roles.

Patterns of dimensions
One of Hofstedes most controversial findings was that there were patterns to how
the four dimensions appeared around the world. Hofstede suggested climatic,
geographic and economic reasons for these cultural differences. Climate, measured
by latitude, was shown to have a correlation with certain power-distance scores
and masculinity femininity scores. For example, people who live in warmer
climates tend to prefer high power-distance and masculine behaviour. People who
live further from the equator tend to have lower power-distance scores and a more
feminine outlook on life.
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Exhibit 4.2 contains a summary of points of difference between mainstream
Australian cultural values and those of other cultures. The statements are not
prescriptive, and the reader is invited to discuss them.

EXHIBIT 4.2 A comparison of intercultural behaviours in Australia and other

cultures
Behaviour

In Australia

Legal contracts Contracts are legally binding

and enforceable by law.

In other cultures
Contracts may not always be
regarded highly. They may not be
enforceable under international
law. Caveat emptor (let the buyer
beware) may be the response.

Social customs Australians tend to be forgiving Other cultures may be more

of violations of their own social unforgiving than Australians, e.g.
customs by foreigners.

a gift may be seen as a bribe in

some cultures. Informal attire
may be viewed as disrespectful.

Use of space

Use of time

Friendships

Australians prefer lots of

Other cultures may not require the

personal space.

same amount of personal space.

Australians prefer to be on

Other cultures may view time

time and quickly get down to

flexibly. They may start meetings

business in a meeting.

slowly, with social discourse.

Australians try to make friends Other cultures may not make

very quickly, and regard their friends easily. They may view

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business acquaintances as

all business acquaintances with

possible friends.

a degree of social distance.

Class systems Class is not a predominant

issue in Australia.

Other cultures may have a strict

social hierarchy that cannot be
violated.

Dress

Formal business attire is

While important, dress

important. An exception would expectations may not be the same

be academic settings.
Religion

in other cultures.

Many
Australians
are
Other cultures are likely to be more

not

deeply

religious and lack knowledge of religious than their Australian

other religious beliefs.
Practicality

counterparts.

Most Australians are practicallyOther cultures retain practices that

oriented. If something has no

have little practical value but are

practical value, it is usually

integral to their heritage.

thrown out.
Efficiency/

Efficiency is usually measured Other cultures may not see profits

materialism

in terms of costs and benefits. as the main measure of success.

Enjoyment or satisfaction may be
more highly regarded.

Change

While resistant to change,

Other cultures may be totally

Australians will accommodate itresistant to any kind of change.

eventually.
Competition
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Other cultures may not be

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competition in business.

accustomed to competition at all,

e.g. State-controlled monopolies.

Formality

While ostensibly formal in their Other cultures may have strict

dress, Australia is among the

rules governing dress, language

least-formal cultures in the

usage and behaviour.

world.
Equality of

Australians still have a long

opportunity

way to go, but Australians are practise discrimination based on

closer to equal opportunity

Many other cultures openly

age, sex, religion and ethnicity.

than many other cultures.

Written

Using a standard written

communication document is usually seen as

the best medium. Reports,

Written communication is not

universally seen as the medium
of business. The content or the

memorandums and letters have writing style of Western documents

a standard recognisable format. may be offensive to some cultures,
e.g. most Japanese documents are
apologetic and place the writers in
inferior positions to the readers.
Thus Western documents are seen
as too bold or direct.
Source: Adapted fromSprinks & Wells 1997.

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Case Study 2: Customs of other cultures
It is an obvious fact that different cultures have very different customs to ours.
What is often perplexing is how to act appropriately when we are with someone
from another culture. The following is funny look at how Europeans act at lunch
time.
A group of Italian, Hungarian, Polish, German, Spanish and English tourists went
to a caf in a small Italian town at lunchtime. They were all on their way to catch a
bus to visit another town. As the Italians were hungry, they ordered bruschetta,
pasta and wine; the Spaniards ordered sandwiches and short black coffees. In
contrast, the Hungarians and Poles started eating home-made sandwiches and
ordered cappuccino. The Germans did not even go inside to eat their neatlywrapped, store-bought sandwiches. Everybody wanted to hurry the Italians. The
Italians responded that the other nationalities ruined their 'eating culture'. The
Englishman sat at the table with the others, and to everyones horror, pulled out a
newspaper and started reading. The Poles and Hungarians were very speedy except
at paying, but in the end it was thanks to the Germans that they all managed to
catch the bus, since the Germans kept track of the time!

Activity: S. Paul Verluy (University of Antwerp) has contributed a series of

intercultural scenarios, which have been reprinted below. Break up into small
groups, each group take one scenario, and discuss the possible causes of
intercultural conflict.
Scenario 1: In 1991, I was a student at a university in Pennsylvania, USA. I lived on
campus and I shared a room with an girl from India. Many times at night, while we
were studying, she asked me: Petra, do you feel like drinking a Coke? And I replied
yes or no. But invariably, her next question always was: Could you get me one?
So whether I wanted something from the vending machine or not, I went four floors
downstairs, and brought her what she wanted. It didnt bother me, it just surprised
me that someone would ask for this on regular basis instead of helping herself.
(Petra K, Czech Republic)
Scenario 2: Valentina and I went looking for my cousin Paola on campus where she
was taking her classes. There we met Yuko and a Japanese friend of hers.
SinceYuko lived in the same house as Paola and they were also in the same class, I

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asked her whether she had recently seen Paola. She said no. I gently asked her to
say to Paola that we were looking for her, if she happened to meet her. I noticed
that after this request Yuko and her friend stood there instead of continuing their
walk, but I did not pay much attention and walked away. After fifteen minutes we
came back the same way. From afar, I noticed that Yuko and her friend were still
standing exactly in the same place as before. They were still waiting for Paola!
(Raffaella P., Italy)
Scenario 3: In my class there are some thirty Americans, and four Indonesians
including me. When the professor asks questions in class, none of the Indonesians
will raise their hands and volunteer for an answer, even if they know it. Typically,
only the Americans participate in the classroom discussion. The professor called
one of us one day and asked why we were not participating in the discussions. He
attributed our passiveness to a lack of interest in the subject. (Omar H., Indonesia)
Scenario 4: I met a Hungarian girl the first week I got here in Europe. When we
introduced ourselves she kissed me on the cheek. It felt strange to me that
someone I did not know would show so much affection. We met on two more
occasions, and each time she kissed me. Some time later I arrived back from a long
vacation and met her again. I gave her a big hug, but she froze like a statue. The
rest of the conversation seemed a little uncomfortable, although the next day things
were back to normal. (Brad D., USA)
Scenario 5: Kei, a Chinese friend I met in England, announced that she was coming
over to Spain for a visit, and I wanted to introduce her to my parents also. I liked
the idea of her visit but I was worried about the behavior she might exhibit in front
of my fairly conservative parents. After her arrival she had her first meal with me
alone, and again she did not mind burping or farting in front of me, and even if she
used to say excuse me I found it terribly rude. Thinking of a polite way to express
my dissatisfaction without hurting her, I started shaking my legs like one does
when one is nervous or upset. Kei said: Ana, dont shake your legs like that, dont
you know this is really impolite? (Ana S., Spain)
Scenario 6: The new teacher was exasperated when he came to marking the essays
from her multinational class. The Australian and American students had all written
focused essays which related directly to set essay topic. They had mostly
successfully argued for or against the topic. The Korean and Japanese student

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essays however were all over the place. In many cases the topic was not even
mentioned in the essay. How could these students have gotten through the
selection process to attend the university in the first place? (Ray Archee., Sydney).

You talkin to moi? Computer-mediated communication with other cultures

Online communication between cultural and national groups is increasing. In this
section we discuss the importance of being competent at intercultural
communication using electronic channels of communication.
Here is a typical interchange in an international chat room.
<Bruce>
university.

Greetings from Sydney. Wanna chat? I work for an Australian

<Yoko>

Greetings from Honolulu. Yes, I work at the University of Hawaii as a

graduate tutor. I am in my final year of my doctoral dissertation.

<Bruce>

Great :-), what area of research?

<Yoko>

I am studying oceanography.

<Bruce>

I would like to ask you a question.

<Yoko>

Yes?

<Bruce>

I am doing some research can you tell me the Japanese word for
start on a computer?

PAUSE

<Yoko>
to

You are very rude. I think you are taking advantage of me. If you want

know the answer to this question, then you should consult a dictionary!
<Bruce>

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I am sorry I offended you, good-bye.

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This is a fictitious re-enactment of a real chat discussion that occurred on
the Internet chat system called ICQ (short for I Seek You). Thousands of such
discussions occur daily on dozens of global chat systems, such as MSN Messenger,
AOL, IRC, Yahoo! Chat and CU-SeeMe. What is remarkable about the excerpt is the
unresolved misunderstanding that terminates the conversation. The underlying
causes of the conflict are perplexing. A possible cause might be the cultural
differences between the two participants. Another explanation could be the
mismatch between the perceived social context of ICQ and the unexpected workrelated question. A third explanation is that Japanese expatriates are often isolated
in foreign countries and are much more sensitive than Japanese people on their
own soil.
Most professionals would agree that the Internet has enabled us to
communicate more effectively with our professional colleagues, both locally and
overseas. The ease, the speed and the convenience of email, bulletin boards, chat
systems and instant messaging have revolutionised our professional practice. But
there is one area of concern that gets overlooked: how does online communication
affect intercultural communication? Does our Western, informal and very direct
use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies conflict with the way
other cultures use these technologies? Or has the whole world become a
homogenous community, each country indistinguishable in terms of their online
communication behaviour?
Five thousand years of civilisation cannot be changed by a mere decade and
a half of Internet usage. Enthusiasm for online communication can sometimes be
nave and misplaced when it comes to communicating with members of other
cultures. With vastly increased opportunities for communication to take place, we
believe that there is an equivalent increase in the amount of miscommunication
that is occurring between cultures. However, we cannot be certain of this, because
there is very little research that has studied the intersection of communication
technology and intercultural communication.
The Internet enables us to communicate effectively with professional
colleagues, locally and overseas but what are the problems involved?

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Case Study 3: Using the Internet to communicate across cultures
Thorne (2003) studied cross-cultural communication between American students
and French students and teachers using a variety of mediated communication
tools.
In the first scenario, there was misunderstanding between an American student
and a French correspondent concerning the style and tone of responses. Thorne
notes that these messages are characterized by different discourse styles that play
themselves out on national, institutional and personal levels. There are cultural
expectations around how people should communicate in the medium of e-mail.
Americans, in their search for understanding the lives of the French, expected trust
and solidarity to develop through direct contact with French counterparts on the
basis of shared personal experience. This was not shared by French respondents.
This illusion of familiarity was given by their everyday use of the Internet and
created somewhat false expectations of what those exchanges would be like.
The second scenario highlighted how significant instant messaging (or IM) is for
American students. The students were asked to use e-mail with their keypals but
students who changed to IM to communicate found their conversations and
confidence improved while those who stuck with e-mail found that the
conversations became stagnant. IM allowed for naturalistic conversations leading to
the
development
of
genuine
interpersonal
relationships.
In the third scenario, Thorne explicitly addressed how American students do not
prefer to use e-mail, and usually only speak with their friends via IM. E-mail is said
to be a tool for communication between organisational power levels and different
generations. E-mail is assumed to take effort while IM is much easier, and more
natural communication.
Discussion topics:
1. Is e-mail or IM, in fact illusory when it comes to forming friendships or
relationships online?
2. Have you ever been surprised when you met someone you had previously only
known online?
3. Do you prefer IM or e-mail or perhaps SMS? Why?
4. Is e-mail really only useful for business people, or oldies?
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World view
For many anthropologists and sociologists, a persons world view is an important
determiner of their communication expectations. Because work happens in the
immediate present, Australian or other English-speaking organisations emphasise
fast decisions and negotiations, before moving on to the next project. Thus, when
we use email we prefer fast turnarounds and equally quick decisions. This
expectation may be totally at odds with Asian partners, who may feel pressured to
make premature decisions due to the demands of the technology, or who may
simply defer answering our demanding emails.
On the Internet, our true identities are most often hidden, unless we choose
to reveal who we really are. Celebrities, politicians, CEOs and professionals all have
email addresses that disguise their real identities. However, in many cultures,
understanding the identity of the other person is imperative to understanding how
to act towards that person. The status of that person, their role in the organisation,
their decision-making power and their personality are all, to some extent,
important considerations that are usually totally absent in mediated
communication.

Context
As discussed earlier (page 89), in the 1960s Edward T. Hall divided the worlds
cultures into two categories: high-context and low-context. If this theory is also
applicable to online communication, this may explain why CMC technologies are
problematic for some cultures. Low-context cultures such as those of America,
Britain and Australia do not usually use social contexts as a way of determining
the most appropriate way of replying to messages. But in high-context cultures
such as those of Japan, Russia and Latin America, the context conveys as much
information as, or even more than, the exact meaning of the message being
discussed. When we receive an email message, participate on a listserv or peruse a
bulletin board, we are not usually looking for context. The identities of other
participants are almost unimportant, compared to their words argument, ideas
and prose style are more important than who they are. This is exactly the opposite
approach to that of someone from a high-context culture, whose whole upbringing
requires a clear, unambiguous social structure in order for any communication to
occur. Without the context, the high-context person is lost for words.

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Language
Probably the most obvious feature of intercultural CMC is the strong likelihood that
Australians will be writing in English; this will be a foreign language for most of our
international colleagues. Difficulties with English grammar will lead to mistakes,
which may give us a less than favourable impression of our overseas colleagues.
Moreover, while we might proclaim the wonders of email, our informal manner of
writing email messages may contribute to the interpretation burden on our nonEnglish-speaking partners: the use of English colloquial expressions should be
avoided at all costs.
Our use of language has other problems. Given that language has an
informative function and a relationship function, what happens when we use CMC
with a foreign colleague who is attuned to the social functions of the language, not
the information provided? Westerners do not normally ask about family and health
in business meetings or professional online communication. We tend to get to the
point very quickly, express our individual viewpoints, and expect a prompt reply
that affirms or contradicts our conclusions. We do not expect our local colleagues
to talk about the weather, their health or their fathers or mothers well-being.
Could it be the case that online, we are tacitly seen as rude and uncaring, devoid of
humanity and only worried about individual gain, by many of our overseas
partners?

Non-verbal (mis) communication

A persons use of non-verbal communication is a highly visible feature of their
cultural identity. A persons body language, their use of personal space and their
appearance are obvious differences when we physically encounter people from
other cultures. A less obvious difference is their speech patterns, and features such
as tone of voice, vocal inflections, rhythmic phrasing, accent and word choices,
which are strong indicators of their culture, class and socio-economic group. Apart
from the simplest devices, such as emoticons, paralinguistic features are usually
completely missing in online communication. Thus, when professionals
communicate solely via technology, their relationships are entirely based on the
written word.
Using CMC, we create a persona via the keyboard, with eventual problems
occurring when there is a considerable mismatch between our screen identity and
our real selves. Synchronous chat systems are especially prone to this kind of
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distortion and exaggeration because we are severely limited in the kinds of nonverbal emotion we can portray. Attempts at linguistic subtlety such as sarcasm or
irony may simply be viewed as criticism. In the introductory transcript, an ordinary
question was interpreted by a Japanese expatriate as inappropriate for the
relationship. Yokos description of the mistake was to call the simple question
rude. Bruce is surprised since he cannot escape the accusation, and without the
availability of non-verbal communication any explanation would be brutally longwinded and self-defeating. Once the accusation was made on the chat system, the
fledgling relationship was unable to be rescued.

Humour
Humour is often used by Westerners as a way of breaking the ice in tension-filled
situations or achieving group cohesion, and is thus sometimes used in online
communication. Unfortunately, humour is not a universally accepted way of doing
business; with many cultures having very specific ideas about what is humorous
and what is not. Humour may even be viewed as disrespectful in certain situations.
In China it is disrespectful to make fun of ones colleagues or superiors; in Slovakia
humour is inappropriate until after the meeting; in Denmark sarcasm is a preferred
method of joke-making; in Mexico jokes about ones family are totally off-limits. Any
attempt at levity in intercultural exchanges is a highly risky behaviour, and
probably should not be attempted when using CMC technologies.

Problems and solutions

These complex problems are not easy to solve. One solution is to try to adopt the
other persons style of online writing, their way of thinking or joking, and to
undervalue your own natural tendencies. We think this solution is misguided and
bound to fail. A better solution is to be less extreme in your own cultural
inclinations, and to be more sensitive to the possible alternative explanations
inherent in the electronic message.
If given the choice of a real-time online meeting, a bulletin board post or an
email, Asian people would probably choose the slower medium, since it allows for a
more deliberate, more considered reply or even series of replies. Thus, we can
model our collaborative partners potential responses by leaving the discussion
open, by asking open-ended questions and not necessarily asking for a decision as
soon as possible. CMC is devoid of non-verbal communication, but we can add
bracketed actions (laughs), ellipses (...) and emoticons (e.g. :-) ) to our email. If in
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doubt, one should always courteously ask for clarification, perhaps using a nonCMC medium. Communication theory extols the virtues of two-way
communication. We think withholding judgment and sensitively questioning
overseas colleagues about their points of view is the only way to fully understand
their online ideas. Unfortunately, it is too late for Bruce and Yoko.

Communication competence: a Western concept?

One of the key concepts that this book encourages is the notion of communication
competence. Thus we have been describing and explaining a variety of ways of
communicating appropriately, both in writing and in speech, to achieve our
professional goals in the most efficient way. This notion of communication
competence is very much a Western idea, which probably began with the Greek
philosophers Socrates and Aristotle.
In Asia, it was Confucius whose writings and ideas have had such a great
influence, not only on China, but also on Japan, Korea and SouthEast Asia.
Confucianism is not about communicating with your audience or persuading
anyone to change their mind, but about individual and group spiritual
enlightenment. While communication competence is a necessary part of many
Western university students degrees, and an expected skill in the real world, this is
not necessarily the case in many other countries, whose cultures and work ethics
depend more on kinship ties and traditional values of family, respect and honour.

Discussion questions and exercises

1

On the Web, look up a well-known brand such as Coca-Cola or McDonalds or

a product such as jeans or trainers. Using Google, do a search for different
countries websites, e.g. American sites, Australian sites and Japanese sites.

How are the websites presented differently?

What colours are predominantly used in different countries?

Why do different nationalities create different-looking websites for the

same product?

When you are on a trip in a foreign country, how much about that countrys
culture should you know? Conversely, how much of a culture should a new
immigrant know when he or she arrives in a country? For example, how much
of Australian culture should a new immigrant to Australia know on arrival?

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3

Are there any cultural practices that are reprehensible in your culture? For
example, what cultural practices are reprehensible to Australians? Are there
any Australian cultural practices that may be difficult for a foreigner to
understand? How would you deal with this in terms of intercultural
communication?

If someone comes to your home country to live, should they entirely give up
their own culture? If not, how much should they retain? For example, should a
new immigrant to Australia be required to learn English? Why, or why not?
What are possible implications for implementing such a requirement:
a

for the immigrant?

for the Australian government?

for education providers?

Are there any universal cultural values that transcend particular cultures?

Ask your class members if they know of words for surfing or barbecue in
languages other than English. Ask them if they have more than one word for
particularly important concepts in their own cultures. Share these with the
whole class and identify similarities and differences across cultures. Discuss
whether such differences might affect communication and professional
practice.

Use the Internet to study intercultural differences on the Usenet via Googles
Groups, or on ICQ, IRC or a webchat channel.

Culture can also be applied to companies and organisations. Describe the

culture of the organisation you work for or the institution you are studying
with. Use categories introduced in this chapter to structure your description.
Explain which categories were most useful or valuable for your investigation.

Explanations to Case Study exercises

Case Study 1: There is no known reason why the Ugly Australian or Ugly American
exists. However, many Australians and Americans are very nave and inexperienced
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with traveling. The requisite big trip overseas for many Australians is the first time
they have left their country and is undeniably nerve-wracking. Culture shock could
result in anxious Aussies resorting to those crass behaviours that were once used
when leaving the family home for the first time.

Case Study 2:
Scenario 1: My Indian friend came from a wealthy Indian family living in Nepal.
Their house was full of young Nepali girls and boys who lived with them as
servants. And now she was in America, on her own, doing her own laundry, tidying
up her room, so at least she found someone to bring her a can of Coke, to keep a
trace of her old living standard. People from high Power Distance, low Individualism
countries have no qualms issuing orders to others and being obeyed. People from low
Power Distance, high Individualism cultures are used to helping themselves rather
than ordering others around.

Scenario 2: We realised that Yuko would not leave unless we did something. So I
went to them and gently told them that it was OK, now Valentina and I would wait
for Paola and thanked them for their patience. They thanked us profusely (for
releasing them from their duty, I suppose) and then they walked away. Japanese
communications patterns are based on understatements and reading indirect
messages. Therefore, if you formulate a vague request, a Japanese person may
interpret it as an indirect way of issuing a formal command. Add to that possible
language problems and the fact that waiting does have the same connotations
universally: you have the necessary ingredients for this minor, but embarrassing
intercultural misunderstanding.

Scenario 3: In Indonesia, raising our hands to participate in a class discussion is

not our custom. However, we are more than willing to answer questions when the
teacher points to us or calls our name in class. In some cultures, a class is mainly a
lecture by the professor with the students learning through listening; in other cultures
interaction and discussion is felt to be an essential part of the learning process.

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Scenario 4: It seems that a kiss was to her what a handshake is to me; and a hug
was too intimate for her, yet I feel that it is less intimate than a kiss. Codes of
conduct that regulate touching, hugging and kissing behavior are obviously culturespecific. Is there any way to know in advance which greeting rituals are appropriate
in a given culture? Who should adapt to whom? Is Brad supposed to adapt to the
Hungarian girls habits and expectations, or the other way around?

Scenario 5: What is polite or impolite is not universally the same in every culture. Do
you tolerate Keis behavior or would you try to change it?

Scenario 6: Essay writing is a cultural activity. Westerners learn to write in a linear

fashion, usually employing inductive reasoning and ending up with a stated
conclusion. Eastern cultures, and some European cultures, employ different
strategies, which may resemble a circle or spiral, with the conclusion never stated,
only implied. Sources of authority, referencing procedures, citations, and quoting are
viewed very differently throughout the world (see Kaplan 1966).

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UNIT V - MODELS OF PRESENTATION

How to create an impromptu presentation
According to Mark Twain it usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a
good impromptu speech. Most of us however, when called on at short notice to give
a brief presentation in a meeting (for example) probably dont even have the luxury
of 5 minutes preparation time let alone 3 weeks!
So how can you still deliver a reasonably successful presentation if youve got just
about ZERO preparation time?

Presentation structure is key

In a situation like this, you need to have some form of standard structures in your
head that you can call upon at very short notice.
One example structure with three areas that you can use quickly (if its relevent) is:1. whats the issue?
2. how is it affecting things?
3. and what is being done about it?
Using the Power of Three is a useful tool as well here so 3 main points and then if
needed break down each of the points into 3.
Chronological structures
Another structure you can use for impromptu presentations is:1. Past
2. Present
3. Future
Another similar structure is based on:1. What was it like before
2. What was the event
3. Whats the result now
Three Ws structure
1. What
2. Which
3. Who
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eg Buying a car What sort should I buy? Which brand should I purchase? Who
should I buy it from?
More conventional structure
Introduction
Main Body
Point 1 with 3 sub points in support
Point 2 with 3 sub points in support
Point 3 with 3 sub points in support
Conclusion and call to action if relevant
Conclusions
As with most things, the more you practise something the better you can become at
it. And impromptu speaking is no exception!
Give yourself some topics to speak on and then allow say 2-3 minutes of
preparation time for each one. Then try presenting on each of about 5 minutes.
Learn as you go on. Get someone to watch you and then give you some feedback
on how it went. Alternatively, try and record yourself on video then watch the
video and see how you might improve the next time.

PREP Method
When asked to express an opinion - to inform, persuade or inspire
Point - Make your point (Opening)
Reason - State your reason for making the point (Body)
Example - Give an example to justify your previous remarks (Body)
Point - Drive home the point again. Links the conclusion back to the opening.
Past, Present, Future Method (Body)
When asked for your comment on a particular topic
Point
Make your point (Opening). Be brief.
Past
What happened in the past. Reflect on a past issue. (Body)

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Present
What is happening today (Body)
Future
What will/could happen in the future (Body)
Point
Drive home your opening point. Reminds audience what the point of your
speech was all about. (Conclusion) Be brief
Who, What, How, When, Where (Body)
When asked to role play or to use your imagination
Other Methods (Body)
Cause, Effect, Remedy
Before, The Event, The Result
Local, State, Federal
Good, Bad, Indifferent
Be Prepared
There is a good chance that you will be unexpectedly called upon to give an
impromptu speech at a
Toastmasters (Table Topics) or other (business, club or P&F etc) meeting. Try and
pre-empt possible topics
that may arise, such as those from current events or contentious issues. Have an
emergency speech available.
Speech Time
In Toastmasters:
Club level (Table Topics)
Competition level
Speechcraft
Elsewhere
90 secs
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2 minutes
60 secs
3 to 5 mins (whatever seems appropriate to occasion)
Summary
Deliberately rise from your chair very slowly and pause for a moment. Use this
time to decide on the purpose and plan of your speech
Keep the focus on the subject while talking, and don't think about any negatives
such as being unprepared or that you will look or sound foolish. Rather, think
about the subject. Look for opportunities to bring in humour.
Talk directly to the audience and adapt to audience feedback.
Be brief and to the point. Guard against rambling and the temptation to say too
much about the subject.
Remember, this is a mini speech so try to have an opening, a body and a
conclusion. The conclusion should reflect back to the comments in the opening.
Always try to speak and act in a confident manner.
Dont rush
Address the Chairman before and after the speech

What Are the Problems of Public Speaking?

Preparation and practice build the confidence and
credibility necessary for effective public speaking.
Even though many people routinely give speeches or
presentations for work or school, they may still experience
fear at the idea of having to stand in front of others and
talk. Some speakers can become nerves. to overcoming the most common problems of
public speaking.
Confidence, explains that some forms of shyness are inherited but, more often,
shyness is reinforced through society and culture. In some cases, social shyness is
a minor problem. In other situations, it can be debilitating, keeping individuals
from achieving their true potential in their jobs and social lives.

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Signs of Social Shyness in Public Speaking

When presenting in front of large groups, shyness manifests itself in a variety of
ways. One example is the avoidance of eye contact; this may be not looking people
in the eye at all or doing so for only short moments. While in some cultures
avoiding eye contact is a social norm, in societies where eye contact is viewed as a
sign of respect, avoidance may be perceived as rude.

Demonstrating Good Eye Contact When Presenting

Krasne observes that effective presenters engage in a great deal of practice and
rehearsal. This is especially good advice for shy people. Knowing what skills need
strengthening and practicing those skills repeatedly helps to build confidence over
time.
To improve eye contact when presenting, a shy person needs to practice
maintaining prolonged eye contact. It is difficult to know when good eye contact
has been achieved. Krasne observes that presenters, especially shy people, assume
that gazing for a moment at someone in the audience is considered good eye
contact. She argues that a presenter must not only see the eyes of an audience
member but really "see" the people.
Communications coaches offer innovative exercises that reinforce good eye contact.
The most important takeaway, however, is identifying intent; the intent for
presenting should be connecting with the audience, assessing needs and gauging
whether the message has been received. Good eye contact in this context is less
about arbitrary gazing and more about looking at people and building
relationships.

Effective Presentation Skills: Engaging Facial Expressions

Everyone has seen a presenter who is so shy that his face is frozen while his mouth
moves. This same person may be quite engaging and animated when speaking to a
loved one. Krasne's advice here is to practice the speech ahead of time, moving the
facial muscles, even if the expressions seem meaningless. While this may feel
strange at first, it creates awareness that facial movement is a necessary part of an
effective presentation. When a shy person avoids a bland expression and is more
animated, he/she puts the audience at ease and invites social engagement.
In conclusion, overcoming shyness in the context of public speaking is definitely
possible. Shy people need to know that they can tackle their fears and develop the

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art of public speaking. Good eye contact and authentic facial expressions are skills
that can be mastered. Over time, repeated practice can transform a shy speaker
into an effective presenter.
Your nervousness in public speaking is merely the by product of some deeper
seeded fear you have. Most people are not aware of this, but oftentimes when you
experience nervousness before speaking in public it is just your body's fight or
flight response to the situation. On some level you're feeling like this is a life or
death situation, get over the feeling of this being life and death and you'll ease some
of the nervousness you feel before a public speaking function, but if your
nervousness is severe it may be full blown anxiety as supposed to just nervousness
or a simple fear.
Lack of Confidence
If you don't have confidence in yourself, you'll risk alienating the audience. Being
obviously nervous is especially problematic because "when we are nervous,
listeners are more likely to focus on negative vocal and visual cues," says author
Cheryl Hamilton in "Essentials of Public Speaking." Allowing time to prepare and
practice beforehand helps speakers gain the sense of control necessary for the
audience to trust and believe the message.
Lack of Attention to Audience
Make sure you know the audience, or the presentation will be unsuccessful.
Researching their ages, culture, values and current level of knowledge is essential
to shaping the speech's tone and content. Failing to relate the material to the
audience, to maintain eye contact and to read their expressions can negatively
affect how your speech will be interpreted. Explaining how the material benefits
listeners personally and using anecdotes attracts the audience's attention.
Lack of Organization
You can lose credibility by not spending enough time gathering and organizing
material. Conducting research about the audience, topic and sources are
preliminary steps. Arrange the information into an attention-getting introduction,
craft a paragraph for each of the three most important points, follow them with a
conclusion. Attempting to speak on the fly invites disaster. It's standard practice to
create an outline or put information on note cards to refer to as you speak. This
method helps both the speaker and audience stay on track.

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Lack of Preparedness
Practice the speech in full before delivery. Saying the words helps speakers hear:
where they are rushing words; where to improve word flow and voice intonation;
and how to project enthusiasm. Using technology or other visuals beforehand
makes it possible to catch glitches that could otherwise disrupt the actual speaking
event. Rehearsal also improves familiarity with the material, enabling speakers to
field questions and maintain credibility.

How to Overcome Presentation Nerves

Were now going to look at anything that might stop you being confident in your
presentation. ie those nerves that can kick in the minute you start to think about
having to present.
Its important to think about why people get nervous and the effects nerves can
have on you when you present. There are all sorts of symptoms that can be created
through nerves. And sometimes they can manifest themselves quite a lot when
people present.
So the more you are aware of them and aware of the fact that its quite normal to
feel nervous then the more that you can actually start to overcome them.
Preparing yourself to present
The first thing is to think about is preparing yourself for your presentation.
Weve already covered preparing your presentation ie the planning, structuring,
the visual aids etc but theres also you the presenter and how best to prepare
yourself.
Obviously the benefits of proper planning are very important and will certainly
help to reduce nerves. However there are other things that you can do to fully take
control of the nerves before you present.
Physical techniques
The benefits of breathing are often overlooked but this one simple technique can
reall help to calm you and slow you down. Have a look at our article on breathing
techniques to overcome presentation nerves for some more background on this.
When you are nervous you probably also speed up your speech. So controlling the
speed that you speak at is a good way to help control your nerves.

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There are lots of other physical strategies that people employ to help reduce nerves
and focus their minds and well cover several more in a later article.
Psychological techniques
There are also some key pyschological techniques that you can apply to help you to
kick out those negative thoughts that can creep into your mind and reduce your
confidence.
These techniques can help you to maintin a positive mental attitude towards your
presentation and help you remain in control if any negative thoughts start to creep
into your mind.
One technique is to imagine that the presentation has just taken place and it that
was successful.
Spend time imagining that success and how you feel at that time. Imagine the
voices and other sounds that you hear at the end of the presentation and what the
audiences faces look like and what else you can see in the room. Take time to
imagine all of the positives about the presentation that made it a success.
A lot of the time our imagination focuses on the negatives so forcing it to focus on
the positive can help to turn things around and will help build your confidence.
Rehearsing the presentation
Well also look at the practical techniques of how to rehearse and to actually apply
the techniques you have developed to all sorts of presentations that you might
actually do without even realising it because experience is obviously one of the best
ways to get rid of your nerves. The more presentation experience you have the
more confident you will feel.
Finally well look at how to control that nervous energy just before you present
what you can do that 3 minutes before you present, what you can do 20 seconds
before you start and also what you can do during your presentation if the nerves
start to kick in again and how to try and control things.
Understand that severe nervousness when it comes to public speaking can be
classified as a phobia known as Glossophobia. Glossophobia is an extreme case of
anxiety that comes with the fear of speaking in public, the symptoms include heavy
breathing and a rushed heart beat that feels like it's going to beat out of your
chess. Your nervousness may not be this severe, but it can definitely become this

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severe if you don't take measures to get it under control now before it has the
chance to progress into the more serious form.
Luckily for you there is a group dedicated to helping people master the art of public
speaking and overcoming their fears as it concerns this, the group is called
Toastmasters. Toastmasters is an organization that's been around since 1924, they
help people gain skills and confidence as it concerns public speaking. You may
want to consider joining this organization as it could serve to help you get over a lot
of the fear you might have about public speaking. You can join and find a meeting
place near you for your convenience.
Using medications may also serve you well in helping you to overcome your
nervousness when it comes to speaking in public. Your body is set up to protect
you from certain situations where it feels like death is a possibility. You have
internal mechanisms in you called beta adrenergic receptors which are activated by
certain types of chemicals released by the brain, when these chemicals are released
they cause intense anxiety related feelings and symptoms like sweating and fast
heart beating. Taking a beta blocker drug helps to stop this rush of chemicals there
fore controlling your nervousness.
Overcoming your nervousness when it comes to public speaking is easy once you
decide to take the appropriate action to do so. Taking a beta blocker to block some
of the chemicals released by the brain can help control these feelings of anxiety.
Joining organizations like Toastmasters can help you master the art of public
speaking and give you unstoppable confidence, and knowing how to identify
whether or not you have Glossophobia which is the term used for extreme cases of
public speaking anxiety can all help you take control of this problem and speak in
public with no fear. Take these methods seriously and you should be on your way.
Effective speaking is a lot like preparing for a wedding. All the planning in the world
can't assure there will not be problems. But preparing speaking disasters and
knowing in advance how to tackle speaking disasters means they do not have to
ruin your presentation.
A facilitator is someone who helps a group of people understand their common
objectives and assists them to plan to achieve them without taking a particular
position in the discussion. Some facilitator tools will try to assist the group in
achieving a consensus on any disagreements that preexist or emerge in the meeting
so that it has a strong basis for future action.
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Group Discussion Situations

To Explore: Group discussions designed to explore one's own views and
views of others.
To Raise Awareness: Group discussions designed to share specific
information and to hear about the views and perspectives of others.
To Decide: Group discussions designed to lead to a group decision.

Facilitation Goals
Create an environment for effective communication (the achievement of
mutual understanding)
Keep discussion focused
Keep people engaged.
Advance and deepen discussion.
Provide opportunity for all voices to be heard.
Create environment of trust and support so disagreement and
understanding can surface.
Leave participants challenged and willing to engage in follow-up
conversations.

Preparation
Decide who should facilitate the discussion. Consider who knows the
topic, can assume an "objective" role, will be accepted by the group and has
group experience. Consider what you know about the topic, whether your
views are known to students, and whether that makes your role as a
facilitator too difficult.
Consider co-facilitating with another person. Whenever possible, use
co-facilitators who represent different gender, racial or cultural
backgrounds, especially when discussing personal or emotional issues.
Know yourself before you begin as a facilitator. Consider:

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What are my personal beliefs, values and stereotypes about the

issue?

Can I assume an objective role in the discussion?

What role should I assume as a facilitator?

How do I establish trust and openness among the group?

How do I show respect for the opinions of others?

How do I tactfully mediate conflict?

How do I keep discussion flowing smoothly?

How do I encourage the participation of everyone and avoid

domination by a few?

How do I deal with someone showing disrespect for another?

What should I do when I don't know how to respond to a

comment or question?

Will I feel comfortable facilitating a group discussion on this

issue?
Identify the goals of the session. What are you trying to accomplish?
Plan the format of the discussion. Will it be a small group? a large
group? a group of people who know each other well? only somewhat? not at
all? Will it be formal (see the suggested discussion models attached in
Appendix B) or informal?
Schedule tentative time blocks, so that the introduction and key points
will be covered before the end of the discussiion.
Plan the physical environment so that participants can talk to each other
(not just to you) without visual or height barriers. Hint: people sitting in
circles tend to talk more with each other, rather than focus on the
facilitation.
Be prepared with some interesting/challenging questions to get
discussion started and to keep moving.
Plan for any materials or help you will need. Will you need a writing
surface such as a blackboard, or newsprint and marker pens. If it is an
event where you will be writing down information, ideas, choose someone
else to be the recorder. Hint: It is very hard to facilitate a discussion and be
the one doing the recording.

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Starting Off
Introduce the purpose of the discussion and ensure that the participants
have the same understanding.
Explain the organization and structure (including the time line) of the
discussion, when it will end, and whether or not there are formal follow-up
plans. ("We'll speak in small groups for an hour then spend a half-hour in
general discussion. We will end at 9 p.m. and anyone who wants to continue
the discussion can stay in the lounge. Depending on interest we will have a
follow-up discussion on Thursday night.")
Explain your role as facilitator - a person whose role it is to remain
neutral or objective, to keep the discussion focused and energized and to
create an environment for all to have a chance to participate. This does not
mean that you are neutral and have no opinions, but as a facilitator you
need to play an objective role.
Set the appropriate tone. Show your comfort with the topic so that others
feel comfortable. Create a safe and open environment so that the
participants will feel comfortable and share their views openly and honestly.

Do introductions. How you do the introductions will help set the tone for
the discussion--the amount of information and the degree of self-disclosure
that will occur.
Establish groundrules for the discussion so that the participants feel the
environment is safe to speak about their ideas and feelings. Groundrules
should be explicit. You need to take a little time to discuss the cultural
relativity of these groundrules. Groundrules may not fit everyone because we
have different cultural backgrounds. Ask the group if these rules make sense
and if everyone can honor them. The following are some suggestions (add
your own):
We ask that you speak from your own perspective; personal "I"
statements are useful ways for keeping your view points
personalized, and keep you from generalizing about what others think
or feel
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We ask that you respect the viewpoints of others--that you listen
respectfully and attentively, and that you withhold judgment about
other's views. Our goal here is not to persuade each other of our ideas,
but to get ideas out on the table so people can make their own
decision.
We ask that you maintain confidentiality about what is said in the
room during this discussion--that you don't talk about what others
say here to others who are not part of this discussion.
To show your respect for others in the room, we ask that you stay
focused on the discussion and avoid side conversations. We ask that
you make a conscious effort to listen actively to hear what is being
said.
We expect that everyone here will try to make this experience a good
one; that we are all responsible for how this discussion goes.
We ask that you be willing to voice disagreements, but we ask that if
you disagree with someone's idea that you criticize the idea, not the
person. With sensitive issues, people make take things personally.
Please try to be sensitive to each other's needs and concerns. Try to
speak up if you feel hurt in anyway. Avoid derogatory or sarcastic
comments at the expense of others.
We ask that you don't interrupt each other.
All questions are good ones. We encourage you to ask questions of
each other no matter how simplistic you might think they are.
Chances are there are others who have the same question. The goal of
the discussion is to learn and explore.
We ask that you limit your exchanges with one person to no more
than 3 exchanges. If it goes beyond three then others need the chance
to express their opinion.
We ask that you don't make assumptions about what others think
or mean. Remember that others will not always attach the same
meanings to words that you do or perceive the world the same way
you do.

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(A useful ground rule for managing hurt) We will establish an
"ouch" list as we go along. We ask that you write down any
statements that hurt you and post them on the wall. We will agree to
discuss the "ouches" at some point in the discussion.
Find out if some people are leaving early or coming late and decide how
you want to deal with that.

Getting the Discussion Started

Pose an interesting question or set of questions. Remember to come to the
discussion with some prepared questions.
Open questions requiring more than a "yes" or "no" response (as opposed
to closed questions which lead to a one word response) generate discussion
and stimulate thinking. (keywords: "how", "why", "what", "what if", "tell us
about")
"How do you feel about the points made in the presentation?"
"What in your experience has led you to the view that you just
expressed?"
Group oriented questions encourage group participation and tend to
stimulate everyone's thinking. (keywords: "who", "anyone")
"Would anyone be willing to share their reactions to the program?"
"Does anyone have any ideas about how we should start this
discussion?"
"Does anyone have an issue or concern that they would like to raise to
get us started?"
"What experiences have any of you had with this issue?"
Individual oriented questions encourage individual response (but may put
people on the spot) and can tap known resources of a "expert" in the group:
"Tom, what do you think about the issues raised in the article?"
"Allison, how do you feel about what is happening in the dorm now, on
the topic of X?"
" Eric, you have done a lot of reading in this area, how do you see the
issue?"
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Factual questions seek information. (keywords: "what", "which", "how
much")
"What are some of the major pros and cons from your perspective?"
"What statements did you actually hear made during the presentation
that made you upset?"
"Who on campus is best suited to talk further about this issue?"
During the Discussion

Checking Yourself
Remain neutral (objective and open). This does not mean that you don't
have opinions, but facilitators usually do not offer their own views; they help
group members share theirs. Your role is to facilitate the group's discussion.
If you have valuable ideas or opinions that are essential to what is being
discussed, put your facilitator role aside and ask someone else to act as
facilitator while you give your inp
"How do some of the rest of you feel about that?"
"That may be your experience, but others may see things differently. Do
any of you have a counter example or opinion.?"
"I have an opinion I would like to share, so I am taking my facilitator hat
off for a comment."
Stay off the soapbox. Successful facilitators listen rather than talk. Watch
for danger signals:
- Talking too much
- Feeling the need to address all questions
- Talking more than your co-facilitator(s)
- Seeing the group interacting more with you rather than with each other
- Engaging in dialogue with individual members of the group
Avoid being put in the position of the "expert". Some may look to you to
provide the answers to challenging questions or situations. Refrain from
immediately providing "your answer" to the issue at hand. Turn the situation
back to the questioner or ask the question of the whole group. If you are
stuck or lost, admit it honestly to the group; someone is almost always likely
to come to your rescue.
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" How would you handle that?"
Stay aware of your own "hot buttons". Know where you stand on the
issues, where your own prejudices/biases lie and where you are in your own
personal discovery. If you feel you won't shut down discussion you could
own up to them at the very beginning of the discussion and say that
although you have deep feelings about the issue, you are committed to
creating an environment where all feelings can be heard and respected.

Gatekeeping
Acknowledge contributions, validate people's ideas, and give credit where
credit is due.
"Thanks for saying that Linda. No one had mentioned that before."
"Thanks for that helpful contribution. It is not easy to share such a
personal experience. That was very courageous."
"Dave, I appreciate your offering a different view."
"You made a strong general statement, Mary. Is that what you think (or
feel)?"
"Could you restate your point using 'I' instead of 'we' or 'you' or 'people
think'?
Keep the focus on ideas not individuals. Some ways to do this are:
- Ask the group to brainstorm ideas - Ask the group to identify pros and
cons of a position rather than having individuals explain or defend a
position
- Divide the group in half, being sure each half includes representatives
of different viewpoints and ask each group to develop one side of the
argument
- Go around the circle asking everyone to say something about the topic
and indicate in what ways they agree with previous speakers. Then ask a
recorder to summarize the primary feelings expressed by the group
- Create small groups, each with a reporter who will bring ideas of the
small group back to the whole group
- Redirect people who make personal comments about others.

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Try to keep the discussion concrete rather than abstract. People tend to
talk abstractly especially when dealing with uncomfortable topics.
Suggesting that people share real experiences can be effective.
"Can you give an example of what you are talking about from your own
experience?"
Keep the focus on the subject without restraining free expression of
ideas.
"You have made an interesting point, but how would you say that relates
to X (the topic under discussion)?"
"It seems that we have started another topic without finishing the first.
Should we return to the issue we were discussing before going on?"
Get participants to "own" their comments rather than speaking in
generalizations about what others think.
Summarize or synthesize statements as a way of keeping track and
bringing focus on where the discussion is going/has gone.
"Some of the main points I have heard are..."
"What were some of the main themes here tonight?"
"Can someone give a brief distillation of the discussion that we just
had?"
Be patient with silences. Don't jump to fill in silence. Silence can be an
important time for some and may spur others to talk.
Know and emphasize the importance of pause time. Encourage each
person to be aware of their own pause time before jumping in. As a facilitator
don't jump in too quickly.
Read non-verbal cues. Are a few people dominating the discussion? Are
there many interruptions? Observe who is participating and who is not? Are
people looking bored? Angry? Impatient? What is the level of energy in the
discussion?
"People seem a little restless, why don't we take a break."
"It looks as if people are uncomfortable with what we have just been
discussing."
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"The energy of this discussion seems low, should we wind this up for
now?"
Pose disagreement constructively. If there is disagreement and the
discussion is stuck, have the participants agree to disagree and move on to
another subject.
"Can we explore each of the viewpoints as a group and try to understand
them rather than having one or to persons defend each view."
"It's clear that there is not agreement on this issue which is perfectly
fine. Can we all agree not to be in agreement on this and move on to
consider another facet of this issue.."
Minimize attacks. Protect individuals and their ideas from attack by other
members of the group.
"Let's remember our groundrule about not attacking each other."
Minimize disruptions such as inappropriate humor, people walking in
and out, private/side conversations, etc. Confront other problem behaviors
that interfere with the progress of the discussion. (See Troubleshooting
below)
"It is really hard to focus on what is being said here. There are so many
side conversations."

Encouraging Participation
Create (and recreate) a safe and trusting environment. Monitor
excessive talkers (see Troubleshooting below) and prompt the quieter
members. - Consider breaking up into smaller groups or pairs(dyads) or trios
for mini-discussions as a way to involve the quieter people
"We hope that you will say what is on your mind. What we say here
today is for the group and will not go beyond the group."
Set and reinforce a pattern for participants to talk to each other, not
to you. Keep reminding the group that this is conversation/questioning
focuses on you.

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Notice silences. Who is talking a lot, who is not talking? Is there any
pattern?
"The men in the group have been pretty quiet. We'd be interested in what
you think."
"I have noticed that some of you have not said what you think. I hope
you will find a way to let us hear from you at some point" (be careful of
this kind of statement; it may put people on the spot)."
" I have noticed that some of you haven't said anything. Please feel free
to jump in at any point."
"John, you made some good points; let's hear from someone else."
Acknowledge the feelings of people in the group.
"Sam, I can see how upset you are. what would you like to hear from the
group?"
"I bet you are not the only one here who has that reaction. Has anyone
else ever felt the same way?"
Ask individuals and the group how to respond to expressions of
emotions.
"It seems to me that the discussion has brought up painful feelings for
several people. What shall we do at this point? Would you like to talk
about feelings that have been expressed? do you want to keep going?
Shall we take a break?"
"This seems to be where a lot of discussions on this issue break down-how can we keep going and get past this point?"
"When I see people angry it is hard for me to listen because I am worried
about people getting (emotionally/physically) hurt. Could we just take a
minute here to breathe, and make sure we can talk about this
respectfully"
Reaffirm that the group is trying to deal with emotionally difficult
issues.
"People are expressing many different and deep emotions here which
may feel hard and uncomfortable, but that is the reason we are all here,
to try to come to grips with emotionally difficult issues."
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"It's not easy to share such a deeply held beliefs"
Advancing and Deepening the Discussion
Invite amplification of new points. Encourage the contributors to
explain the background behind their ideas/opinions. o Help "fact spouters"
get more personal.
"What is your opinion, given the facts as you have said them?"
"When I here those facts, it makes me feel like.....?"
"These are interesting facts; would you like to share how you feel about
them?."
Encourage people to take risks
- Take some risks yourself, including admitting your mistakes
- Take a risk yourself and be vulnerable by sharing a personal
experience or risky feeling
Ask open-ended questions. (What?, How?, Why?)
Ask follow-up and/or probing questions (if others don't).
"Can you say a little more about that?"
"What do you mean by that?" "Can you give us an example?"
"How did you come to this view?."
"What convinced you of your opinion?"
Paraphrase (or getting others to paraphrase) what people say;
paraphrasing can help legitimize people's views, and is especially useful in
legitimizing an unpopular or risky opinion/idea.
"As I understand what you are saying, ..."
"Let me see if I understand what you are saying, ..."
Clarify, without interpreting.
"Can you clarify that last comment, I am not sure that I understood what
you were saying."
"Can I try to clarify what I think you just said."
"Can you restate that in a different way?"
"What do you mean by that?"
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Call attention to alternative viewpoints. Beware of "group think"
Sometimes a group will discuss a topic without awareness of a different
approach to the same problem.

Encourage feelings as well as ideas. Remember that "I feel like..." and "I
feel that ..." are not statements of feelings. Feelings are expressions of
emotions
-anger,
frustration,
joy,
happiness,
etc.

Troubleshooting During the Discussion

No one responds.
- Ask for any comments
- Suggest an answer and ask for agreement or disagreement
Someone who doesn't take the discussion seriously or gives silly
comments.
- Find something in their answer that is close to a serious answer and in
a serious tone repeat it to the group.
- Ask them if they can think of another answer
- Compliment them when they give a serious answer
"I think most people are here because they think the topic is a valuable
one. Does anyone feel differently about this?"
"Please try to respect other people's feelings here; this is a serious issue."
"I know that laughter can mean that people are nervous or feeling
uncomfortable. Does anyone have any special concerns?"
People monopolize the discussion.
- Say, "I'd like to hear what the rest of the group has to say."
- Ask another person a question just as soon as they pause.
- Ask for agreement or disagreement from others.
- Explain that you appreciate their comments, but it is important for
everyone to have a chance to talk.
- Establish ground rules at the beginning (or mid-stream) that one of the
goals is to provide everyone an opportunity to share.

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Someone keeps changing the subject or goes on tangents.
-Say, "That is very interesting but how do you feel about .....?"
-Refocus their attention by saying "I know you are enjoying sharing your
experience with each other, but there are some issues I would like to
share with you now."
- Say, "In order to accomplish our goal today, we really need to move on.
Perhaps we can go back to this topic later."
People keep interrupting.
"Could we remember just to have one person talk at a time and let
people finish their statements."
"Okay..first Sarah, then Randy, then Marie."
"Jim, you have got a lot of god point, but it is important to let Renee
finish, and then I know that Tom is dying to say something as well."
Hostile or belligerent group members
-Keep your cool. Try to incorporate negative comments in a positive way.
"That's an (interesting, unique, different) way to look at this situation. I
appreciate your contributing that different point of view."
-If it continues, try to meet with the person at a break and confront them
on their behavior. If it is really disruptive, tell them that if they choose to
stay, you would like their cooperation. o Someone puts another person
down.
-Remind the group that there are no wrong answers. Everyone has the
right to his/her opinion.
The group gets stuck (lacks sufficient information to go on) Refer to
resources. Suggest the need for further information if you or someone else in
the discussion does not know the answer.
Inappropriate humor
- Don't let inappropriate humor go by.
" I realize that you may not have intended it, but this is a pretty sensitive
topic, and that kind of humor makes a lot of people very uncomfortable."

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"I don't find that remark very funny personally. Were you aware that
some people might find that remark offensive?"
You are running out of time.
- Don't panic or start rushing. Get as far as you can. - Prioritize
questions/points. Try to address the important ones
- Decide on a time for a follow-up session o Someone challenges your
role as group leader.
- Don't become defensive. Let the group air their dissatisfactions.
Express your feelings after they have cooled off. Discuss solutions with
the group.
People keep addressing their questions to you.
- Redirect the question to the group
- If no one in the group has a response, defer the question by having
someone in the group come back with pertinent information at a later
time.
Conflict occurs
- Don't take sides
- Remind people of the areas of agreement - Ask people in conflict to
agree to restate what they heard before they state their arguments.
- Remind people that they are not there to judge others or to persuade
others of their views, but to further mutual understanding.
- Summarize the conflict and ask for ideas from the whole group as to
how to proceed.
- Acknowledge the disagreement and agree to move on. Tell the group
that conflict is a healthy part of group dynamics, and can enhance
learning.
- Try to put yourself in each person's position and try to understand the
emotional impact that the situation is creating for them. Empathize
verbally with each side.
- Acknowledge each persons concerns and needs.
- Try to elicit where each persons ideas may have come from in their
experience.

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Inability to move to another topic because people are overly engaged

in a lively discussion
- Try to be flexible about time. If something good is happening, assess
the value of leaving that discussion in favor of completing an agenda. Get
the group to help make this decision.
- Give a two-minute warning or some other transition time to prepare the
group to change direction.
- Acknowledge at the beginning of the session that time will be a factor
and that some issues may not be discussed.
- Acknowledge the difficulty of leaving a good discussion and get the
group to decide how to proceed, or set up another time to finish the
agenda.
Something inappropriate is stated, i.e., something offensive,
misinformation
- Legitimize dissenting opinions/ideas. Don't let misinformation stand. It
implies that you agree with it. Ask for other opinions/ideas ("Are there
other views?" "Does everyone agree?"
- Agree to disagree to give people space to object without destroying the
discussion.
- Acknowledge discomfort over a comment...but own it as your
discomfort. Don't speak for the group.

Wrapping Up
Keep to the committed ending time, unless you ask the group if they
would like to continue for a specified period of time. (Remember, ending a
little too soon is better than discussing a topic to death. Ending on a high
note will encourage the discussion to continue at a later time.) Indicate that
you will stay around for a while if anyone else wishes to continue the
discussion.
Summarize (or have a participant summarize) the major thrust of the
discussion.
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- The major points of agreement and disagreement, if appropriate.
- Issues that were discussed but not resolved
- Where action has been agreed on, the decision should be stated and
the next steps and person responsible should be identified.
Comment on (or have the group comment on) how the discussion went
- How do participants feel about their own participation? - What was
good about the discussion and what could have been better?
- Did people feel free to express their opinions?
- Do they have suggestions for better facilitation?
- Did people feel free to express their opinions?
If appropriate, help the group decide what the next steps should be if any.
Decide if people want to continue the discussion at a later time. Determine a
starting point for the next discussion. Decide if people who did not attend
the first discussion should attend the second.
Emphasize the commitment to confidentiality and sensitivity to the
comments shared by members of the group.
Indicate that you (and other residence staff members) will also be
available to discuss related issues at another time, especially if this
discussion has brought up difficult or painful experiences.
Thank everyone for the discussion...for their honest participation, etc.

Post Discussion Review

After the discussion is over, take a few minutes (with your co-facilitator) to reflect
on the content and process of the discussion; a few written notes for future
reference might be helpful. Consider:
How well did the group stay focused on the topic? What contributed to
this?
How did the structure and timing contribute to the discussion? What
changes, if any, would you make?
How involved were individuals in the discussion? Were there any
individuals noticeably silent, angry or upset? Usually, it is best to avoid
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questioning or confronting the behavior afterwards, but it may be important
to keep your eye on the individual. Sometime the behavior you observed in
the discussion might indicate serious personal difficulties. If in doubt what
to do consult with your RF or RD.
Seek feedback from others (other staff members present or participants). You will
learn much from seeking feedback from others, especially from your co-facilitator
or other staff members. Ask what you did that went well (what you did to keep the
discussion moving, motivate others to take risks and set the appropriate tone., etc.)
and what improvements they would recommend.

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