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14.11: Activities and Glossary

  • Page ID
    18620
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    Review questions

    1. List four reasons for learning how to speak to a global audience.

    2. Identify three barriers to achieving intercultural communication competence and give examples of each from your own or others’ experience.

    3. Explain Hall’s concept of high- and low-context cultures and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Drawing on examples from your experience, explain how these cultural patterns can help you tailor your speech to a diverse audience.

    4. Distinguish between monochronic and polychronic time orientations and discuss how these might affect a speech to an audience that is predominantly from a culture that follows polychronic time.

    5. Discuss ways in which you can make the supporting materials for your speech inclusive and culturally appropriate.

    6. Name and explain, with examples, any two holistic patterns of speech organization.

    7. What is the triangle of meaning? How does an understanding of this notion help you prepare to speak to a global audience?

    8. What is the difference between denotative and connotative meaning, and how does it affect speaking to a global audience?

    9. Explain two communication style preferences and discuss how these preferences would affect speaking to a global audience.

    10. What are the different aspects of body language that might affect speech delivery in a multi-cultural context? Explain, with examples.

    Activities

    1. As you prepare your speech for a multicultural audience, it is important to stay conscious of cultural patterns, yours as well as those of your audience. This will help you to become more aware of yourself and avoid notions of ethnocentrism while preparing your speech. Imagine you are giving a sales presentation to three groups, each consisting of Arabs, Japanese and British. How would you tailor your speech to each audience?

    2. The transcript of Martin Luther King’s speech “I have a dream” can be accessed at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3170387.stm. Analyze the organization pattern that has been used to structure the speech and discuss your findings in class.

    3. Watch a TED talk at http://www.ted.com/ in a language that you don’t understand. Analyze the nonverbal communication of the speaker and identify aspects of kinesics and paralanguage that the speaker uses to effectively add to the verbal message.

    Glossary

    Connotative Meaning

    A connotative meaning is the meaning you attach to a word based on your personal experiences and associations.

    Cultural Patterns

    Cultural patterns refer to common themes through which different cultures can be understood. They consist of beliefs, values and norms shared among a group of people and remain stable over long periods of time.

    Denotative Meaning

    A denotative meaning is the socially agreed conventional meaning found in a dictionary.

    Ethnocentrism

    Ethnocentrism is the notion that one’s own culture is superior to any other.

    High-context Message

    The meaning of the message is implied by the physical setting or is presumed to be part of the culture’s shared beliefs, values and norms.

    Holistic Pattern

    Holistic patterns, instead of directly and explicitly presenting key ideas, use examples and stories to convey the main idea and leave it to the audience to interpret the message encoded in the examples and stories told.

    Individualism-Collectivism

    The dimension of indivi- dualism-collectivism refers to the degree to which a culture relies on and has allegiance to the self or the group.

    Kinesics

    The study of body movement including gestures, hand, arm and leg movements, facial expressions, eye contact and stance or posture.

    Low-context Message

    A low-context message is one where the message is encoded in the words used or in the verbal expression and not as much in the context.

    Masculinity-Femininity

    The dimension of masculinity-femininity refers to the degree to which a culture values such behaviors as assertiveness and the acquisition of wealth or caring for others and the quality of others.

    Monochronic Time

    Monochronic time refers to linear time; is tangible and can be “saved, spent, lost wasted,” etc. People from monochronic cultures tend to focus on one thing at a time. Schedules and deadlines are sacrosanct, and punctuality is highly regarded.

    Paralanguage

    Paralanguage refers to the vocal cues that accompany spoken language such as volume, rate and pitch.

    Power Distance

    Power distance refers to the degree to which the culture believes that institutional and organizational power should be distributed unequally and the decisions of the power holders should be challenged or accepted.

    Prejudice

    Prejudice refers to a negative attitude toward a cultural group, often based on little or no experience.

    Polychronic Time

    Polychronic time refers to cyclical time. Time is less tangible and is seldom considered “wasted”. People from polychronic cultures can often be involved in multiple activities at the same time, with no strict division among the different activities.

    Spiral Pattern

    A type of holistic pattern in which the speaker builds up dramatic intensity by moving from smaller and less intense scenarios to bigger and more intense scenarios, in an upward spiral.

    Star Pattern

    A type of holistic pattern, the star pattern presents a set of main points connected by an underlying common theme. For different audiences, speakers will start with different main points. However, all main points will be united by one theme.

    Stereotype

    A standardized conception or image of a group of people, a stereotype forces a simple pattern upon a complex mass and assigns a limited number of characteristics to all members of a group. Stereotypes are simple, acquired, often erroneous and resistant to change.

    Triangle of Meaning

    Refers to the symbolic, arbitrary nature of language wherein the word spoken or the symbol of the actual object in nature (the referent), has no actual connection to the object it represents. The symbol and the referent are connected only by the thought in one’s mind.

    Uncertainty Avoidance

    Uncertainty avoidance index refers to the extent to which the culture feels threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations and tries to avoid them by establishing more structure.

    Wave Pattern

    A type of holistic pattern that follows a crest-trough wave pattern where speakers use examples and stories to slowly build up to the main point at the crest of the wave.


    This page titled 14.11: Activities and Glossary is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ganga S. Dhanesh@National University of Singapore (Public Speaking Project) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.