Critical Reflection (Final)

Before entering university, it had been a long time since I wrote an academic essay. The latest academic essay before studying ES1102 was during Qualifying English Test (QET) which gave me a great shock as the essay was too challenging to construct, making me understand the limited knowledge of English that I had.

In the course of study in ES1102, I learnt researching, paraphrasing, essay structuring, academic vocabulary and APA referencing through the task given on the problem-solution essay of globalisation. The research skill results a more in-depth content; paraphrasing helps to prevent plagiarism; essay structuring allows presenting the ideas in a logical manner; academic vocabulary gives proper vocabulary usage in the specific discipline; and APA referencing style provides the guide of acknowledging the source of information. These different aspects have made exasperating writing process become simpler. 

However, the improvement is only to certain extent as we were mostly taught the skills of composing an essay in this course. In order to construct a more comprehensive essay, further reading such as newspapers and journals is necessary to increase knowledge and familiarise with the different sentence structures in expressing the ideas. Furthermore, the practice of writing essays in various disciplines is also important to improve the standard of English consistently. 

In conclusion, learning English is a long-term process. ES1102 only provided the fundamentals of English. How to master English still depends on the individual’s effort upon the completion of this course.  

Critical Reflection

Before entering in university, it has been a long time for me to write an academic essay. The latest academic essay before studying ES1102 was during Qualifying English Test (QET) which gave me a great shock as the essay was too challenging to construct, making me understand the limited knowledge of English that I had. 

In the course of study in ES1102, I learnt the research skill, paraphrase, essay structure, academic vocabulary and APA referencing style through the task given on the problem-solution essay of globalisation. Research skill results a more in-depth content; paraphrase helps to prevent the plagiarism; essay structure allows presenting the ideas in a logical manner; academic vocabulary gives a proper vocabulary usage of specific discipline; and APA referencing style provides the guide of acknowledging the source of information. These different aspects have transferred exasperating writing process to a simpler one. 

However, the improvement is only to certain extent as we were mostly taught the skills of composing an essay in this course. In order to construct a more comprehensive essay, further reading such as newspaper and journal is necessary to increase the knowledge and familiarise with different sentence structures of expressing the ideas. Furthermore, practicing of writing essays in various disciplines is also important to improve the standard of English consistently. 

In conclusion, learning English is a long-term process. ES1102 only guided the fundamentals of English. How to master English still depends on individual’s effort after stepping out from this course.  

Problem-Solution Essay (Final)

Globalisation can be defined as the increasing cross-border interaction and integration of various aspects of human activity. Based on this view of globalisation, identify one problematic area of the phenomenon and discuss its influence on contemporary society. What actual or possible means are there to ameliorate the issue you have highlighted?

“The World Is Flat” (Friedman, 2005) is in response to the effects of globalisation which promotes the flow of goods, labour, investments and services across international boundaries. It stimulates the increasingly interconnected community, on social, cultural and economic levels, which is commonly known as the global village. Although the formation of global village has emerged many beneficial outcomes in terms of economic growth and international cooperation, the highly interconnectedness and interdependency has also been the cause of cultural homogenisation and cultural loss. Cultural homogenisation occurs when different cultures are brought too closely together creates domination of world culture by either a single culture of a few dominant cultures. Furthermore, one culture might diminish and loss its significance when it is eroded and weakened with the dissemination of cultures and information around the world.

Americanization is a form of cultural homogenisation. According to Friedman (1995), globalisation is the “globalisation of America and the American culture”. As evidence, it is found that almost one language dies every 14 days with English emerges as the lingua franca of the world. Languages are considered the roots of most culture which provide identity. Thus, the dying of languages also reflects the loss in culture. To tackle this issue, governments propose measures to minimize the effect. One example is the compulsory mother tongue education in Singapore from Grade 1 to 12. Similar measure can also be found in Taiwan whereby every student is required to learn the native language in Elementary school, such as Hokkien and Hakka. By imposing the compulsory education scheme, it allows every citizen to learn and understand his or her culture and tradition. However, this measure is only effective on a micro level. As most people do not further study or keep in touch with these languages after graduation, the ability to use and practice them reduces drastically. As such, governments should not merely focus on education alone, but create an environment which cultivates the culture. For example, campaigns can be held to raise awareness of the importance of non-English languages and monthly or annual festive celebrations of different cultures and practices. Thus, a consistent effort is required to continuously remind and educate the locals to prevent any loss of identity or cultural behaviour. 

“McDonalization” (Ritzer, 1993) is also another term used to discuss cultural homogenisation. The interconnectedness promotes American fast food culture with whopping 34,000 McDonald’s outlets worldwide (Chalabi & Burn-MurDoch, 2013). The efficient food preparing time and average pricing are widely accepted in today’s competitive society. In compromise, there is a loss of local cuisine due to its complicated making procedure.  Moreover, the Wal-mart culture also causes local grocery shops to loss their competitive edge as big firm has greater comparative advantage over small firms. The examples can be found in developed countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore where there was a drastic decrease in number of grocery shops. With foresight, countries, like Japan, have already implemented protectionist measures to prevent Multi-National Corporation (MNC) from monopolizing local markets. Protectionist measures include tariffs, import quotas and subsidies, which are normally used to protect local firms and prevent dumping. In Singapore, the government use subsidies, such as SPRING Startup Enterprise Development Scheme (SPRING SEEDS) which the incentives are also provided for Singapore based start-ups to innovate and develop local related products to protect local firms. Thus, these measures help to counter the negative effects of MNCs to a certain extent. Nonetheless, the use of protectionism measures needs to be adopted to fully maximize the benefits. 

Globalisation encourages migration which is further catalysed by advanced technology - airplane. The inter-countries migration has resulted in much loss of historical heritages due to overpopulation. In many developed countries, such as Singapore, traditional architecture was demolished to build high-rise housings, like Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats. For example, Kampungs in Yishun and Choa Chu Kang were replaced by numerous flats to deal with the increase in immigrants. In Beijing, China, many Si He Yuan, a classical Chinese style of the architectures, were demolished to build skyscrapers. These losses in cultural heritage sites therefore cause the vanishing of traditional culture. Nevertheless, with the rising awareness of this issue, some measures are taken to reduce the effect. One measure is the gentrification of the architecture instead of the removal of buildings. Gentrification is a process by which run-down houses in an inner city are redeveloped into higher-end businesses and houses. The architecture’s function is changed without drastically altering its outlook. One example is CHIJMES, which was converted into an entertainment quarter from an old church.  The measure is effective as it achieves both goals of creating space for usage and the preservation of culture. Nonetheless, the use of gentrification should be used together with city plans to maximize the beneficial outcomes as a whole. Moreover, governments can also pass regulations to prevent private demolish of cultural heritage sites and preserve the architecture.

In conclusion, a consistent effort by governments and individuals should be made to prevent cultures homogenising and diminishing from globalisation. Measures such as education, protectionism and gentrification can be used to minimize the loss of culture due to globalisation. Everyone plays a role in preserving his or her identity and culture. Although the globalisation might cause some loss of culture, the tremendous benefits accompanied should still be acknowledged.  

Reference

1. Friedman, T. (2005). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. United State: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2. Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonalization of Society. Thousand Oaks, United State: SAGE Publications, Inc.
3. Chalabi, M., Burn-Murdoch, J. (2013). McDonald’s 34,492 Restaurants: Where are They? Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/17/mcdonalds-restaurants-where-are-they#data

Problem-Solution Essay (Draft)

Globalisation can be defined as the increasing cross-border interaction and integration of various aspects of human activity. Based on this view of globalisation, identify one problematic area of the phenomenon and discuss its influence on contemporary society. What actual or possible means are there to ameliorate the issue you have highlighted?

“The World Is Flat” (Friedman, 2005) is in response to the effects of globalisation that it promotes flows of goods, labours, investments and services across international boundaries. It stimulates the increasingly interconnected community, on social, cultural and economic levels, which commonly known as the global village. Although the formation of global village has emerged many beneficial outcomes for mankind in terms of economic growth and international humanity cooperation, the highly interconnectedness and interdependency has also been the cause of cultural homogenisation and cultural diminish. Cultural homogenisation occurs when different cultures are brought too closely together and top down domination of world culture by either a single culture of a few dominant cultures. One culture might diminish and loss its significance when it is eroded and weakened with the dissemination of cultures and information around the world.

Americanization is a form of cultural homogenisation. According to Friedman (1995), globalization is the “globalization of America and the American culture”. As evidence, it is found that almost one language dies every 14 days with English emerges as the lingua franca of the world. Languages are considered the roots of most culture which provide ones with identity. Thus, the dying of languages also reflects the loss in culture. To tackle this issue, governments proposed measures to minimize the effect. One example is the compulsory mother tongue education in Singapore from Grade 1 to 12. Similar measure can also be found in Taiwan whereby every student is required to learn native language in Elementary school, such as Hokkien and Hakka. By imposing compulsory education scheme, it allows every citizen to learn and understand his culture and tradition. However, this measure is only effective on a micro level. As most people do not further study or keep in touch with these languages after graduation, the ability to use and practice them reduces drastically. As such, governments should not merely focus on education alone, but create an environment which cultivates the culture. For example, campaigns can be held to raise awareness of the importance of non-English languages and monthly or annual festive celebration of different culture and practices. Thus, a consistent effort is required to continuously remind and educate the locals to prevent any loss of identity or cultural behaviours. 

“McDonalization” (Ritzer, 1993) is also another term used to discuss cultural homogenisation. The interconnectedness promotes American fast food culture with whopping 34,000 McDonald’s outlets worldwide (Chalabi & Burn-MurDoch, 2013). The efficient and average pricing is widely accepted in today’s competitive society. In compromise, there is a loss of local cuisine due to its complication making process.  Moreover, the Wal-mart culture also caused local grocery shops to loss their competitive edge as big firm has greater comparative advantage over small firms. Examples can be found in developed countries, such as Hong Kong and Singapore whereby there was a drastic decrease in number of grocery shops. With foresight of this problem, countries, like Japan, have already implemented protectionist measures to prevent Multi-National Corporation (MNC) from monopolizing local markets. Protectionist measures include tariffs, import quotas and subsidies, which are normally used to protect local firms and prevent dumping. In Singapore, the government use subsidies, such as SPRING Startup Fund, to protect local firms. Moreover, incentives are also provided for firms to innovate and develop cultural related products. Thus, these measures help to counter the negative effects of MNCs to a certain extent. Nonetheless, the use of protectionism measures needs to be carefully adopted to fully maximize the benefits. 

Globalization encourages migration which is further catalysed by advanced technology. The inter-countries migration has resulted in much loss of historical heritages due to overpopulation. In many developed countries, such as Singapore, traditional architecture was demolished to build high-rise housings, like Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats. For example, Kampungs in Yishun and Choa Chu Kang were replaced by numerous flats to deal with the increase of immigrants in Singapore. In Beijing, China, many Si He Yuan, a classical Chinese architecture style, were demolished to build skyscraper. These losses in cultural heritages site therefore cause the vanishing of traditional culture. With the rising awareness of this issue, some measures are taken to reduce the effect. One measure is the gentrified the architecture instead of removal of buildings. Gentrification is a process by which run-down houses in an inner city are redeveloped into higher-end businesses and houses. The architecture’s function is changed without drastically altering its outlook. One example is CHIJMES, which is converted into an entertainment quarter from an old church.  The measure is effective as it achieves both goals of creating space for usage and preservation of culture. Nonetheless, the use of gentrification should be used together with city plan to maximize the beneficial outcomes as a whole. Moreover, government can also pass down regulations to prevent private demolishment of cultural heritages and preserve the architecture.

In conclusion, a consistent effort by governments and individuals should be put in to prevent cultural homogenisation and diminishing from globalization. Measures such as education, protectionism and gentrification can be used to minimize the loss of culture due to globalization. Everyone plays a role in preserving our identity and culture. Though globalization might cause some loss of culture, we should still acknowledge the tremendous benefits it brings about. 

Reference

1. Friedman, T. (2005). The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. United State: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2. Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonalization of Society. Thousand Oaks, United State: SAGE Publications, Inc.
3. Chalabi, M., Burn-Murdoch, J. (2013). McDonald’s 34,492 Restaurants: Where are They? Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jul/17/mcdonalds-restaurants-where-are-they#data

Reader Response to "The Effects of Media Globalization"

In Hickman’s article, The Effects of Media Globalization, the concepts presented by the author are about the drawbacks of media globalization. It includes the reliability of the information on internet, negative impacts to the cultural barriers, limitation for the freedom of speech, decrease of the quality of media content and distinctive regulation of the media.

Most of the consequences written by Hickman are based on multinational corporations. Many local media has merged with the multinational corporations from irrelevant field, resulting in the restriction of speech. Moreover, it also affects the economic structure such as American middle class is losing with jobs. This shows that the production line has shifted to the countries like Vietnam and India due to the low wages and rich resources.

Apart from the negative effects by multinational corporations that are mentioned in the article, they also influence the mentality and thinking of the kids. For example, one of the largest animation production companies, Walt Disney, launches various animations around the world. The animations, “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty”, express the values of social status and differentiation between rich and poor. The princes with wealth, reputation and power allow them to get rid of the realistic issues. The moral values are then implanted to the kids and would cause discrimination in the future that everything can be solved with higher financial ability and power while the poor cannot. This proves that “many of the movies and characters created by Disney are far more of an unacceptably bad influence on children than we realize.” (Castillo, 2006)

In overall, the message about the impacts of media globalization by Hickman is clear and well-explained with examples given. Everything comes with pros and cons. Although media globalization brings many benefits, its drawbacks also occur at the same time.

Summary of "The Effects of Media Globalization" (Final Draft)

Media globalization is a part of globalization which fetches benefits in various ways, but it also has its drawbacks. Although the internet allows an immeasurable amount of information to be shared, the reliability of information can never be assured. Moreover, in reality, media globalization can deteriorate diplomatic relations instead of uniting people from different cultures. Local media is being annexed by the corporations from irrelevant field due to mitigation of governmental regulation, restricting the freedom of speech. With media globalization, the American middle class is replaced by the lower wage production line outsourced internationally. With regards to multinational media corporations, despite enhancing the quality of the media content, profit ability holds precedence through increasing advertising contracts. Apart from the wealthiest minority in the most developed countries, advertising agencies also exercise significant influence over the media content because the media is largely funded by them. This illustrates the fact that media plays a vital role in the aspect of influencing social perspectives, so distinctive regulation will be the most welcomed unlike standard consumer goods.

Summary of "The Effects of Media Globalization"

Media globalization is the fundamental of globalization which brings benefits in various ways, but it also has its drawbacks. Although the internet allows immeasurable amount of information to be shared, it does not assure that the information is reliable. Moreover, in reality, media globalization can worsen diplomatic relations instead of bringing people with different cultures together. As local media is annexed by the companies with irrelevant field due to decrease of governmental regulation, the freedom of speech is intimidated. With media globalization, American middle class is replaced by the lower production line internationally. Despite enhancing the quality of the media content, maximizing the profits through increasing advertisements is the main objective for multi-national media corporations. Apart from the wealthiest minority in the most developed countries, advertising agencies also have significant influence to the media content because media is funded largely by them. This shows that media plays a vital role of social influence, so it should be regulated in a distinct way unlike other consumer goods.