Unit-9-Culture

Unit9CultureComparisonandContrastIntroduction“ComparisonandContrast”isausefulmeanstoexplainourthoughts,ideas,opinions,etc.Weoftenneedtocompareorcontrastplaces,people,features,advantagesordisadvantages,etc,.Therefore,howtousecomparisonandcontrasteffectivelyiscrucialtomeaningfulcommunication.Theteachingfocusinthisunitisonthefeaturesandorganizationalpatternsofcomparisonandcontrastandtheuseofrelevantlinkingdevices.Attheendoftheunitstudentsareexpectedtobeabletobeabletousetechniquesofcomparisonandcontrastinparagraphwriting.ObjectivesAttheendoftheUnit,studentswillbeabletobecomefamiliarwithfeaturesandorganizationalpatternsofcomparisonandcontrastinparagraphwriting;knowhowtouserelevantlinkingdevicesincomparisonandcontrast;beabletowriteparagraphsofcomparisonandcontrastaccordingtotheinstructionsgiven;andgainsomecross-culturalknowledgeprovidesinthisunit.OrganizationalStructuretopicsentenceThetwobasicelementsofthetopicsentence:thecomparedsubjectsthecomparedpointsAskthestudentstoreadthesample2onpage101andmakecommentsonthestructureoftheparagraph.Therearesomeconsistentresponsetrendswhichrevealculturallycharacteristicpatternsoffamilystructure,rolerelations,aswellasvalueorientations.TopicSentenceThistopicsentencehasveryclearcomparedpoints:familystructure,rolerelationsandvalueorientations,butthereisnocomparedsubjects.Forthelongerwritingthereisnoproblemtobringupthecomparedpoints,buttheparagraphof150words,thewritershouldattheverybeginninginthetopicsentencestateveryclearlythecomparedsubjects.Thefollowingisthesuggestedrevisedone.KoreanfamilyandAmericanfamilyhavesomeconsistentresponsetrendswhichrevealculturallycharacteristicpatternsoffamilystructure,rolerelations,aswellasvalueorientations.TopicSentenceAskthestudentstomakecommentsonthefollowingtopicsentenceintheparagraphofJapanesehomesandwesternhomes.Withtheexceptionofsomeapartmentsandverysmalllivingquarters,most“Westernhomes”clearlydistinguishbetweenalivingroom,adinningroom,andabedroom.Thesuggestedrevisedone:Addtheothercomparedsubjectintheparagraphandmakethetopicsentenceclearandcomplete.Withtheexceptionofsomeapartmentsandverysmalllivingquarters,most“Westernhomes”clearlydistinguishedfrom“Japanesehomes”BTwopatternsoforganizationusedincomparisonandcontrast:*.thesubject-by-subjectpattern*thepoint-by-pointpatternThesubject-by-subjectpatternrequiresthewritertocoverallthecharacteristicsorpointsofasubjectbeforediscussingthoseoftheother;Whilethepoint-by-pointpatternthewriterstructurehisessayorparagrapharoundpointsandthencomparesorcontrastssubjectsoneachofthepoints.SampleAnalysisSampleAnalysisonBritishpeopleandAmericanpeopleStep1Readthroughallthesentencesanddecidethetopicsentenceandconcludingsentence.（5and1）Step2Putthesentencesintotwodifferentgroups:AmericanpeopleandBritishpeople,inanotherword,whichsentencesareaboutBritishpeople,whichareaboutAmericanpeople.Americanpeople:3and6Britishpeople:2and4SpecialfocusonNo4andguidethestudentstoguesswhat“they”refertohere.Step3judgethepatternofcomparisonandcontrast-subject-by-subjectStep4Catchthekeywordslike“ontheotherhand”,togetthewritertalksabouttheAmericanpeopleandthenBritishpeople.(3and6firstandthen2and4)Afterthisanalysis,thelogicalsequenceisveryclear:5,3,6,2,4,8,7,1LinkingDevices:Thefollowingisalistofexpressionsthatarecommonlyusedtoindicatecomparisonandcontrast:againalsoaswellasbothboth…andincommonwithinlikemannerinthesamewithlikelikewiseneither…notsimilarlytooalthoughatthesametimebutbycontrastconverselyforallthathoweverincontrasttoinoppositiontoinsteadneverthelessonthecontraryontheonehand…ontheotherhandotherwisestillunlikewhereaswhileyetUnitSummaryInthisunitwehavediscussedtwopatternsoforganizationusedincomparisonandcontrast:thesubject-bysubjectpatternandthepoint-by-pointpattern.Thesubject-by-subjectpatternrequiresthewritertocoverallthecharacteristicsorpointsofasubjectbeforediscussingthoseoftheother,whereasinthepoint-by-pointpatternthewriterstructureshisessayorparagrapharoundpointsandthencomparesorcontrastssubjectsoneachorthepoints.Bothpatternsareusefulmeanstodevelopcomparisonandcontrastinwriting.Anotherimportantpointthatwecannotoveremphasizeistheuseoflinkingdevices,i.e.wordsandphrasesthathelpensureasmoothflowofideasorclarifyideasinwriting.Weneedtomakeaconsciousefforttousethesedevicesinwritingparagraphsofcomparisonandcontrast,sothatourwritingwillbeeffectiveandcoherent.