Dimensions of Culture 2. Individualism vs.

collectivism – whether a culture

What is Culture? focuses more on the group or individual
 Culture is communication - Edward T. Hail o Individualistic culture
 Culture is the collective programming of the mind  puts emphasis on individual
– Geert Hofstede happiness, wants, fulfillment,
 Culture is how things are done – John Mole initiative, and welfare
 All communication is more or less cross-cultural –  Assume that quality of life results
Debora Tannen from personal freedom and
 Culture is a kind of storehouse or library of individual development
possible meanings and symbols – Ron Scollon o Collectivism culture
Characteristic of Culture – Samiksha  Decides for the greater values for the
 Learned behavior community
 Culture is abstract  People believe that an individual’s
 Culture is a pattern of learned behavior quality of life improves when he
 Culture is the product of behavior takes care of his or her fellow man
 Culture includes attitudes, values, and knowledge 3. Neutral vs. affective – whether the person w/in a
 Culture include material objects culture expresses one’s emotion openly or not
 Culture is shared by the members of the society o Neutral – people make an effort to
 Culture is super organic conceal their feelings because they have
 Culture is pervasive been taught that way
 Culture is a way of life o Affective – people “wear their hearts on
 Culture is a human product their sleeves” and spend their time at
 Culture is idealistic work w/ laughter expressions of
 Culture is transmitted among members of society displeasure, happiness, bold gestures,
and dramatic expressions
 Culture is continually changing
4. Specific vs. diffuse – whether the public and
 Culture is variable
private life are closely linked or not
 Culture is an integrated system
o Specific culture
High-context cultures
 Views whole as the sum of its parts
 Communication tends to be indirect, harmoniously
 Considers work as a place where they
structured and understated
function as individuals
 People are expected to speak one after another
o Diffused culture
orderly
 Elements are synthesized into a
 Physical space is considered more communal
whole
 Verbal messages are indirect
 Encourages relationships and
 Accuracy is valued
camaraderie among co-workers
 Some states considered “high context” include
5. Achievement vs. ascription – whether a culture
Japan, Greece, and various Arab regions
rewards according to one’s performance or to
Low-context cultures
one’s age, status, or gender
 Communication tends to be linear, precise, and
o Achievement – regards on the account of
open
their education, ability, success in chosen
 Words are highly valued
career, competition, and so on.
 Disagreements are depersonalized
o Ascription – people value others
 Privacy and personal space are high valued
according to their social connections, age,
 Verbal messages are explicit and direct gender, origin, or religion
 Some countries considered “low context” include 6. Time (sequential) vs. synchronic – whether people
the US, Germany, and various Scandinavian tend to do one thing at a time or several things at
countries once
Trompenaars and Hampden (1997) o Sequential
1. Universalism vs. particularism – whether a culture
 View time as a series of passing
is based on rules and standards or relationship and
events
trust
 Prefer planning and keeping to plans
o Universalistic culture people adhere to
once they have been made
general rules, codes, values, and o Synchronic
obligations
 View past, present, and future as
o Particularistic culture people make
being interrelated
judgements according to their  Usually do several things at once
relationships
  Commitments are desirable but are
not absolute and plans are easily
changed
7. Inner-directed vs. outer-directed – to what extent
do we control our environment, or does our
environment control us
o Inner-directed
 People making conscious effort of
controlling the environment where
they are in
 Usually view themselves as the point
of departure for determining the
right action
o External
 Assume that man is controlled by
nature – orient their actions towards
others
 People tend to look into the
challenges of nature
Melting Pot
 Is the idea where different cultures and ideas
blend together and create one ultimate culture or
idea
Cultural Pluralism
 Focuses on society as a whole, and the uniqueness
of each part that makes up the diverse population
 A condition in w/c people are able to organize
communities regardless of difference of race, age
sex, religion, language, and cultural lifestyles
Tools of Technology for Communication
Creating a Multimodal Text
 Means the production of spoken, written, or texts
in print or digital forms. It is the business of
making meaning with the use of technology
 Multimodal texts can be delivered via different
media or technologies. They may be paper, digital,
or live
Paper
 Books
 School posters
 Newspaper
Digital
 Vlogs
 Websites
 Social media posts
 Short films
Live
 Performance
 Presentation/reporting
 Ted talks
 SONA
Transmedia
 Messages are conveyed through a combination of
multimedia platforms
To successfully create a multimodal text, you are required
to consider a few things
Purpose
 Message
 Reader
 Viewer
 Listener
Written/Linguistic
 Refers to spoken and written language through
vocabulary, structure, and grammar
Audio
 Refers to music, sound effects, noises or silences,
and the elements of volume, pitch and rhythm
Visual
 Refers to moving or still images with the utilization
of colors, layouts, screen formats, symbols, shot
framing, distance, angle, camera movement, and
subject movement
o Pacquiao vs Weather
o Pacquiao vs Weather
Gestural
 Refers to the body movement, hands and eyes,
facial expressions, demeanors, speed, stillness and
angles
Spatial
 Refers to environmental and architectural spaces ,
proximity ,direction and over-all organization of
objects in a given space
 Communicate to Care
Thesis Statement
 The main idea of the whole essay
Topic Sentence
 A statement that discusses the topic of each
paragraph
Transitional devices
 Words such as first, second, as a result, which
make transitions easy in the essay
Supporting Details
 Details that support the main ideas
What is a paragraph?
 The basic unit of composition. It consists of a Open with something that will draw readers in. Consider
group of related sentences that develop one main these options (remembering that they may not be suitable
idea for all kinds of papers):
 It has three main parts; an introduction, a body of a. An intriguing example—for example, Douglass
the paragraph and a conclusion. In other words, it writes about a mistress who initially teaches him
has a topic sentence, a few supporting sentences, but then ceases her instruction as she learns more
and a concluding sentence about slavery
What is unity in a paragraph? b. A provocative quotation that is closely related to
 Entire paragraph should focus on one single idea your argument—for example, Douglass writes that
 Supporting details should explain the main idea - “education and slavery were incompatible with
concluding sentence should end the paragraph each other.” (Quotes from famous people,
with the same idea inspirational quotes, etc. may not work well for an
 A unified paragraph presents a thought, supports academic paper; in this example, the quote is from
it with adequate details and completes it with a the author himself)
conclusion c. Include a strong quotation or a vivid, perhaps
What is cohesion in a paragraph? unexpected, anecdote – during your review of the
 Unity; making things link together (i.e. glue) literature, make note of any quotes or anecdotes
 Sentences to sentence; paragraphs to paragraphs that grab your attention because they can used in
(i.e. everything has to stick together) your introduction to highlight the research
 Use of cohesive devices problem in a captivating way
What is coherence in a paragraph? d. Pose a provocative or thought-provoking
 More general idea of clarity and balance; question – a provocative question can be
harmony, flow, logical progression (paragraphs) to presented in the beginning of your introduction
create a unified whole (big picture) that challenges an existing assumption or compels
 Making ideas logically connect and work with each the reader to consider an alternative viewpoint
other that helps establish the significance of your study
Introduction e. A puzzling scenario—for example, Frederick
 Draw the reader’s attention Douglass says of slaves that “Nothing has been left
 Provide an overview of the writing strategy at undone to cripple their intellects, darken their
hand by defining minds, debase their moral nature, obliterate all
 It consist of issues of issues of length tone and traces of their relationship to mankind; and yet
style and issues important throughout the writing how wonderfully they have sustained the mighty
 It provides an overview of the writing strategy at load of a most frightful bondage, under which they
hand and expression have been groaning for centuries!” Douglass
 It usually presents the thesis statement of the clearly asserts that slave owners went to great
writing lengths to destroy the mental capacities of slaves,
yet his own life story proves that these efforts
could be unsuccessful

Introductory Paragraph – Inverted Pyramid Sample introduction of an explanation essay

 o It is the glue of the composition
o Make use of the transitional device effectively
o Add your transition words:
 First, second, third, finally
 Furthermore
 However
 In Conclusion
Evidence and Examples
 Your evidence is the meat of the essay.
 You need to prove what you know.
 Remember the Es: -
o Examples
Body Paragraphs o Explanations
 Purpose of body paragraphs: To support your o Evidence
topic statement using direct quotations, specific o Elaboration
textual detail, and strong explanations Types? of body paragraphs
 Narration
 Description
 Illustration
 Classification
 Definition
 Exemplification
 Cause and Effect
 Process Analysis
 Comparison and contrast
Body of the composition
 Argumentation and Persuasion
 A paragraph is developed by giving details when
one states a fact or point of view in one’s topic
sentence and then provides details that will
convince the reader that what one say is true
 Presenting several details in support of your topic
sentence can use two or more sentences
 Apply different ways/method of paragraph
development
Elements of a body paragraph:
1. Topic Sentence
o The first sentence in each body paragraph
gives the reader specific information about
what will be explained in the body paragraph.
o It is best to use words from the TOPIC
STATEMENT in this sentence.
2. Textual Evidence
Conclusion
o Sentences in the body paragraph which use
 It reminds your reader what you wrote about –
the AUTHOR’S WORDS to help support your
subject, topic, and how you have achieved your
topic statement is evidence, gathered from
intentions
the original source or other texts, that
 The last words your readers read; hence, it is well-
supports an argument or thesis
worth to come up with something fresh and
o Such evidence can be found in the form of a
powerful
quotation, paraphrased material, and
 It leaves the final impression on the reader
descriptions of the text
3. Explanation of Evidence
o Sentences in the body paragraph which
explain to the reader how your textual
evidence supports your topic statement
4. Concluding/ Transition Sentence
Concluding paragraph
o Like shifting from one gear to the next in a car,
a transition shifts from one paragraph to the
next
 4. A topic sentence is now in order
o Topic sentence contains the main idea of
a paragraph
o It sets the tone of the entire composition
o Transitional expressions work within the
paragraph and perform well to smoothen
edges of the points discussed in an essay

Let’s explore this idea of caring with how to write an

excellent essay and consider the following in doing
so

1. What is your main goal?

o To inform
o To persuade
o To entertain
2. Am I ready to pour my thoughts on a piece of
paper?
o Get your ideas on paper
o Write anything that you think will support
your main goal or the arguments in mid
3. Present your arguments and explain them
o Necessary to make a point, prove a point
o Explain with conviction, with details
Summary
 One topic
 Reasons supporting that topic
 Details supporting the reasons
 A conclusion re-stating the reasons
 Transition words
 Clear, concise, logical and informative language