Guidelines for extensive reading of ESP texts

Dr. Bernard Saint-Jacques is Linguistics Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia. His research of the last years has been about Intercultural understanding and communication. This essay discusses the impact of globalization on the study of culture and intercultural communication. Japan is selected as a case study to illustrate how culture is being transformed by the shrinking global community. The concept of identity and how it has been altered by globalization is also discussed in the essay. Professor Saint-Jacques sees people in modern society as “living at the same time within particular cultural settings on the one hand, and between different cultural environments on the other one,” which produces multiple identities. In the second part of his essay, Professor Saint-Jacques proposes an approach to teaching intercultural communication (ICC) in the globalized society. His method involves viewing culture as “ways of thinking, beliefs, and values,” and a greater incorporation of language into the teaching of ICC.

This essay is intended to show you that there are many ways of viewing culture, but also that your views should not become static. Culture and communication are influenced by societal changes, and these changes need to be acknowledged, both in theory development and in classroom instructional methods.