Reading Comprehension

Strategies
Prepared for DOCTOR OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE Program
Pasundan University
By Ismaul HUSNI
January 2015

Bloom Taxonomy of Reading Skills

Preview the Text /Chapter
The SQ4R Method
The Pivotal Words
Vary Your Reading Words
Using Your Text Book
Strategic Behaviour and the DBrain
The Seven Reading Strategies
The Herringbone Pattern Strategy
After having the class, you are expected to be able to:
1. Describe some concepts of reading skills
2. Use the concepts in reading text books
3. Analyse which concept is the most suitable for you
to apply
4. Justify the concepts to use in reading for Book Report
5. Formulate the gist of the concepts for your own sake
of studying at Doctor Degree

Cognitive Domain
(Head)
Affective Domain
(Heart)
Psychomotor Domain (Hand)

Remembering: can you recall or remember

the information?
Understanding: can you explain ideas or
concepts?
Applying: can you use the information in a
new way?
Analyzing: can you distinguish between the
different parts?
Evaluating: can you justify a stand or
decision?
Creating: can you create new product or point
of view?

THE SQ4R METHOD

Jan 2015

Survey Question

Read

Recite

Relate

Review

SQ4R method improves both comprehension and grades.

Before you
read,

Survey
the chapter

Question
while you are
surveying

The title, headings, and sub

headings.
Captions under pictures, charts,
graphs or maps.
Review questions or teacher-made
study guides.
Introductory and concluding
paragraphs.
Summary.
Try to get an overview of what lies
ahead.
Turn the title, headings, and/or
subheadings into questions.
Read questions at the end of the
chapters or after each subheading.
Ask yourself, "What did my
instructor say about this chapter or
subject when it was assigned?"
Ask yourself, "What do I already

know about this subject?"

Example, the heading "Stages of
Sleep" might lead you to ask: "Is
there more than one stage of sleep?"
What are they and how do they
differ?" Asking questions helps you
read with a purpose.
Note: If it is helpful to you, write out these
questions for consideration. This variation is
called SQW4R
When you
begin to
Read

Recite
after you've
read a
section:

Look for answers to the questions

you first raised.
Answer questions at the beginning
or end of chapters or study guides.
Reread captions under pictures,
graphs, etc.
Note all the underlined, italicized,
bold printed words or phrases.
Study graphic aids.
Reduce your speed for difficult
passages.
Stop and reread parts which are not
clear.
Read only a section at a time and
recite after each section.
Orally ask yourself questions about
what you have just read and/or
summarize, in your own words, what
you read.

 Take notes from the text but write

the information in your own words.
Underline/highlight important
points you've just read.
Use the method of recitation which
best suits your particular learning
style.
Remember to look for answers as
you read and to recite or take notes
before moving on.
Recite key terms and concepts.

Relate

It is easier to remember ideas that

are personally meaningful.
When you study a chapter, try to
link new facts, terms, and concepts
with information you already know.

Review
an ongoing
process.

When youre done reading, skim

back over the chapter, or read your
notes. Then check your memory by
reciting and quizzing yourself again.
Make frequent review a key part of
your study habits.

Skilled readers use a wide range of strategies while reading. Some of these include
the SQ4R technique, flow-charting, summarization, questioning and predicting.
Of particular interest is the ability of learners to learn reading strategies, and how
these strategies should be taught.
Bereiter and Bird (1985) conducted two studies which investigated strategy use
while reading. In the first they transcribed think aloud protocols of expert readers
(university students thought out loud while reading) and found four central
strategies they use when comprehension fails:
1.Restatement:
1. Rephrasing using inferred equivalents where unknown words
appear
1. paraphrasing in simpler terms
2. inferring superordinate propositions
3. paraphrasing with inserted referents
4. periodic summarization
2.Backtracking
5. reread from beginning of confusing segment
6. reread previously comprehended parts
3.Demanding relationships
7. Setting watchers (ie wh questions)
8. Why? (cause and effect)
9. What? (for what reason)

10.Where? (for orientation)

11. Links between topics (why, what, how, is this related)
4.Problem formulation
12.formulate comprehension failure into problem solving
These of course were only the most frequent strategies used. Many others were
also used including prediction, imagery, and recall of related information.
Other studies indicate that sophisticated reading strategies are difficult to teach
and learn. For most reading strategies prompting is required. Despite knowing
them, few students will use them. One helpful way to get students to use strategies
is to point out what they should look for while reading. This raises their selfawareness, a point that is central to this course, and a point that underlies teaching
any cognitive strategy; raising self-awareness requires direct instruction. Direct
instruction alone, however, is not sufficient, an expert model is also required.
Thinking aloud is also been shown as an effective means of teaching writing
skills, with the teacher modelling expert writing practice, and explaining the
strategies that emerge.

Closely linked with researching is the core skill of reading: It is through

the words of others that we are introduced to new ideas and are able to
reflect on them.
Reading at university level involves a number of additional skills which
are essential to critical analysis:
knowledge acquisition,
comprehension and the ability to interpret a text,
the acquisition of new vocabulary,
argument development and validation, and

 information evaluation and synthesis.

When you research a topic for an essay or work on a large project such
as a thesis, you need to read and critically evaluate a considerable
amount of material.
The following sections discuss three areas which will enable you to
undertake your reading more effectively: using reading lists, planning
reading time, and adopting reading strategies.
Using reading lists effectively
Reading lists are provided to guide you to key literature on particular
topics. They usually contain a breadth of material that reflects different
approaches and views.
You are usually expected to read approximately three key texts per topic.
It is therefore important to find which texts make required readings. It is
also important to determine whether or not you need to read an entire
text. You can start by reviewing
the abstracts of journal articles,
the preface and introduction of books, and
headings and sub-headings of article sections or book chapters.
This step will help you not only conceptualise the text, but also identify
the type and amount of information you need to focus on. (Please see
Adopting Effective Reading Strategies below for further information).
Planning your reading time
Reading requires concentration and time for reflection. As an important
step in the learning process, you need to identify:
how much you need to read,

 the complexity of the text, and

how you read it.
Understanding these three elements will enable you to map out the
amount of reading time you need to include in your study plan.
Think about:
the purpose of your reading (whether it is to acquire facts or
discuss ideas),
when you are the most alert (whether in the morning, afternoon, or
evening),
whether you have a quiet space away from distractions, and
how much time you have allocated to read.
You will often be given a reading guide that is directly relevant to your
lecture program. Reading before the lecture/class helps you to better
understand the material and participate in discussions.
This page from the Education site of Monash University provides This
page from Using English for Academic Purposes offers you advice on
reading skills for academic study.
Adopting effective reading strategies
How you read your material depends on what you are reading and why.
Are you trying to gain an overview of a topic, understand the material in
depth, or find specific information? Being clear about what you want
from a text ensures you read effectively.
Depending on your purpose and the complexity of the material, you can
adopt some of the following effective reading strategies:

 Scanning. This is the ability to locate facts quickly and to find

answers to specific questions. For example, you scan for
information when you try to find a phone number in a directory.
Use scanning when you want to locate a specific piece of
information in a text.
Skimming. When you skim, you are reading quickly by skipping
details, minor ideas, and examples. Skimming is best used when
you are trying to determine if the text is relevant to your study and,
if so, which sections you need to read more carefully. While
skimming
o carefully read the introduction, conclusion, and abstract (if
there is one),
o look at headings and sub-headings,
o look at diagrams, graphs, tables, images, and
o read the first and last sentences of each paragraph and
sections which present a summary or conclusion.
Reading in Depth. When you have identified sections you need to
read closely, you need to not only understand the content but also
ask questions such as: What aspect of the topic is this writing
addressing? Does the writer have a particular point of view? How
does the writer build that position?
Reflecting. Time to reflect on read material is critical especially
when you are contrasting the ideas and opinions of others or when
you are comparing your own with those of others.
Irrespective of what reading strategy you use, you should take notes of
what you have read. Note-taking helps you write an assignment or study
for an exam since it avoids you having to re-read the original text to find
the relevant information.

Preview the text

The first thing you should do when you open a new book is to preview the text. Look at the
contents page and survey the topics covered in the text. Then ask yourself what you already
know and what you think you will need to know about the topics that will be covered in the
course. This process will give you a "big picture" of the course and will help you to start thinking
about how the contents of the course will fit in with your educational goals.
Now draw a map or use Cornell notes to outline the course using information from the contents
page and your syllabus. This process will help you to get a perspective on how the instructor's
lesson plans match up with the textbook and to plan how you will schedule your reading.
If the text looks like if might be difficult for you to read, speak with your instructor. He or she
may be able to recommend a supplemental text that will help you to understand course concepts
at your own level.
If you lack knowledge about a course topic and/or feel that the course will be covering it on a
level that is too difficult for you, go to the library and choose a book on that subject. Read up on
the topics covered in the chapter to help fill in the gaps of your knowledge.
Check to see if there is a glossary of terms or other study aides in your textbook. Keep a
dictionary close by to look up words that are unfamiliar.

Preview each chapter

Before you read the chapter in detail, skim the entire chapter. Read the introduction, then skim
each page, spending approximately 5 seconds per page. Notice headings, illustrations, tables, etc.
Then read the summary at the end of the chapter. This process will give you an overview of the
chapter and help you to plan how you will break it down into "meaningful chunks" for the next
steps of detailed reading and study.

Ask questions
Now that you have an overview of the chapter, ask yourself:

What do I already know about the information in this chapter?

What are the main ideas of this chapter?

How can I turn sub-headings into study/test questions to help me focus my reading?

What questions are found in the text that might help me?

Write down your questions.

Read for details

Now read the text, looking for the answers to your questions to help you stay focused. As you
read, annotate your text, highlighting important information and writing notes in the margins that
will keep you actively involved in your reading and help you to better understand what you read.
As you complete each section, develop Cornell notes with main ideas in the margin and
important details (explanations, examples, and applications) on the right side of the margin.
After you finish each section or unit, summarize what you have read in your Cornell notes. Write
down the answers to the questions you wrote down previously. Add questions/answers as
appropriate.

Recite
Develop flash cards or mnemonic devices for important terms, concepts, and information that
you know you will need to memorize. Read over text annotations and the Cornell notes you
developed from your reading. Summarize the information by saying it out loud into a tape
recorder or by discussing the chapter with a study group. You may also "recite" the information
by writing a summary or by using visual organizers to put the information into another cognitive
frame.
If you marked any sections of your text for questions to ask your professor, be sure to ask them
in class.

Review
Compare your notes from your textbook reading with your class lecture notes. Continue to
summarize your learning. You want to keep reducing the size of your study notes, each time you
review the material. The object is to be able to "clue" yourself to remember more detailed
information with a single word or phrase. This process will help to keep your memory fresh and
will help you to solidify or "over-learn" the material so that it becomes part of your permanent
"file" of knowledge.

HERRINGBONE PATTERN
Rationale:
Understanding the main idea or gist of a piece of text is a sophisticated
reading task. Textbook chapters, articles, paragraphs, sentences, or
passages all have topics, main ideas, and supporting details. The topic is
the broad, general theme, message or what some call the subject. The
main idea is the "core concept" being expressed. Details, major or minor,
support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why, how
much, or how many. Locating the topic, main idea, and supporting
details helps readers understand the point(s) the writer is attempting to
express. Comprehension is increased when a student can identify the
relationship between topics, main ideas, and details.
In narrative text, characters' actions, motives, problems, and
personalities all contribute to the overall theme(s) of the story. The main
idea often depends on the reader; if the reader has had similar
experiences to the character, the reader is more likely to enjoy a richer,
more fulfilling reading experience. On the other hand, poems, which use
figurative language, metaphor, and imagery, require the reader to dig
deeper for meaning; it may not be what it appears to be on the surface.
Nonfiction presents its own problems; what is important may relate to a
combination of interesting details and information essential to the basic
understanding of the topic. Many textbooks are conceptually dense and
therefore struggling readers have difficulty identifying what information
is important and what information is extraneous (Lenski, Wham, &
Johns, 1999). Content textbooks contain what Garner, Gillingham, &
White (Lenski et al., 1999) call 'seductive details'. For example, a text
may include information about Thomas Jefferson and his biracial
children, these details are included to engage student interest yet they
tend to pull student attention away from identifying the main idea of a
passage. The ability to determine importance in text requires the use of
related comprehension strategies such as drawing inferences and

summarizing information, both of which require the student to think

critically about the information being read. A good reader is able to sift
and sort through text and pull out the essential or key ideas while the
struggling reader tends to pay attention to everything in the text.
Nonfiction reading is reading to learn so therefore determining main
ideas is crucial when reading informational text. The reader must decide
what is important and remember that information if anything is to be
learned (Harvey& Goudvis, 2000).
Almost every paragraph in informational text has a key concept or main
idea. The main idea is the most important piece of information the
author wants the reader to know. Sometimes the author will state the
main idea explicitly somewhere in the paragraph either at the beginning
of the paragraph, in the middle, or at the end. The sentence in which the
main idea is stated is the topic sentence of that paragraph. However, an
author, often, will not state his/her main idea explicitly, leaving the
reader to infer what the author intended. Cunningham and Moore
(Hennings, 1991) termed this "invention." Invention requires readers to
create rather than locate, ideas. A reader relates what is in the text to
what is already known about the topic; making connections between
significant details and making inferences that go beyond the details
explicitly stated in the text (Hennings, 1991).
How to Use the Strategy:
The main idea of a paragraph answers the question: "What is the main
point or points the author is expressing about the topic?" The stated main
idea is found in one or two sentences within the paragraph. The main
idea answers two important questions:
1. Who or what have I just read about?
2. What was the main point or points the author made about this
topic?

An explicit main idea may be anywhere in the paragraph, but is

typically found in these locations: first sentence, last sentence, middle of
paragraph, or a combination of two sentences.
An implied main idea is a sentence that the reader composes rather than
a statement found in the selection. This reader-developed sentence
answers the same basic questions: Who or what did I just read about?
And what was the main point or points the author made? To determine
the implied main idea, readers should follow these steps:
1. Read the paragraph and ask, "Who or what did I just read about?"
2. Ask, "What are the important details from the reading?"
3. Determine the main idea by asking, "What is the single most
important point the author is making about the topic based on the
details?"
4. Use the information from the paragraph that answers these
questions to formulate a sentence that states the main idea.
Lets look at how this might be done with a piece of text:
"What happens to thoroughbred race horses when they are too old to
race? Essentially, there are two groups of over-the-hill racehorses. The
first group is the unlucky ones. They are sold to slaughterhouses, where
they become pet food or are killed and their meat becomes delicacies in
Europe or Japan. The second group is the lucky ones who find their way
to an Equine Retirement Foundation ranch. These ranches are run by
people who love horses and who want to provide a final resting place for
the horses that give their all as they raced. The people running the
ranches understand the stress and effort that each horse went through in
training and in running races. They reward the horses by letting them
roam pastures, feeding them well, and letting them enjoy the
companionship of other horses. And the horses are cared for by people
who love and understand these gentle yet competitive animals."

1. Who or what did I just read about? I just read about

thoroughbred racehorses.
2. What are the important details from the reading? The
paragraph tells you that there are two kinds of horses, the horses
that are lucky and the horses that are unlucky. The lucky horses go
to farms where they are able to run around and live the life of a
horse. The unlucky horses are sent to slaughterhouses where they
are killed.
3. What is the single most important point the author is making
about the topic based on the details? The author starts the
paragraph with a question so the important point the author wants
to make is to answer the question, What happens to thoroughbred
race horses when they are too old race?"
4. The implied main idea for this paragraph: Thoroughbred
racehorses that are too old to race are either sold for slaughter or
enjoy life at an Equine Retirement Foundation ranch.
Visual organizers provide students a framework for making decisions
about main ideas and important supporting details in material that they
are reading. The Herringbone Pattern is used to help students identify
the main idea and the related supporting ideas of a lesson, text, or
concept. It contains six questions that help students organize the details
of the text. The visual pattern of the herringbone creates a framework for
students to take notes and sort information. When modeling, teachers
should remind the student to look for and identify the answers to the six
questions. After all six questions have been answered; the information
can be used to create a main idea sentence. Stress that the main idea
always includes specifically "Who did what." Some of the other
information may be included, but it is not necessary to create the main
idea. The Herringbone can also be used in reverse as a pre-writing
strategy.
Ideas for Assessment:

Being able to identify the main idea is central to understanding the text.
The graphic organizers presented here can form the foundation for
assessing students ability to determine the main idea. By looking at the
information students have pulled from the text, teachers can quickly
assess whether students area able to identify the central point of the
reading. Teachers can informally ascertain the students ability to
identify the main idea through discussions of the text or written
responses. A checklist can be used.
Is the main idea an expression of the author's most important
general point about the topic?
Does the main idea make sense by itself?
Is the main idea complete?
There many other ways teachers can assess the student's ability to
identify the main idea. Some include: drawing the main idea and details,
writing a newspaper article, or writing a one-minute paper on the
reading. .

WHO?

WHAT?

MAIN IDEA: Thoroughbred

racehorses that are too old to race are
either sold for slaughter or enjoy life at
an Equin

WHEN?

WHERE?

HOW?

WHY?

The Seven Reading

Strategies
1 Making Predictions
Judge a book by its cover! If you are reading a poem, short
story or a novel, talk about the title,the cover, the blurb and
the illustrations if there are any. Learners discuss the sort of
text they
are about to read, using their prior learning. When about to
view a film, the same principles apply. This can be done using
the cover of the the DVD, or ideally by using a short trailer.

This strategy be used effectively before reading and at key

points in the texts, where learners discuss what might happen
next, or how the story might end. However, like all reading
strategies, it should notbe overused or allowed to spoil the
narrative.
Typical Questions
What do you think this might be about?
Does this remind you of anything you have seen, read, heard
before?
What kind of story do you think this might be? (this relates
to an increasing awareness of the
features of genre)
What do you think (character) will do next?
How do you think this will end?
2 Asking Questions
This may seem like an obvious strategy, since as teachers we
do it all the time, but the key ideahere is that we develop an
understanding in the learner that asking questions is probably
moreimportant than answering them. This is a core strategy in
the development of critical thinkers, andwe need to guide
learners towards the hierarchy of questions they should be
asking as they read atext.
Typical Questions
Questions generally fall into one of 3 categories: LITERAL,
INFERENTIAL or EVALUATIVE
How many references are there to time in this story? (Literal)

Where and when do you think the story is set? (Inferential)

Why does (character) act in this way at this particular time?
((Inferential)
What do you think is going through (characters) mind here?
(Inferential)
How do you think the author wants us to feel towards this
character? (Inferential)
How well do you think the author has captured the feeling of
happiness here? (Evaluative)
3 Making Comparisons
As sophisticated readers, when we read a text we are
constantly (and sub-consciously) makingassociations between
what we are reading and our own real-life experiences. Or, to
put thatanother way, we are drawing on our prior learning. In
order to develop that in young readers wehave to encourage
them to make the links and explore those aspects of the text
which are mostlikely to elicit the comparisons. It is also
important to explore the notion that while the text willoften
be a shared experience, our reactions to it may be quite
different, depending on theassociations we make.
Typical Questions
Does this remind me of anything I have experienced before?
Does this remind me of anything I have read or seen before?
How would I have behaved in that situation? Why?
How does this text compare with (a previous one I/we read)?
4 Looking for Patterns

By comparing and contrasting texts they have read, the

sophisticated reader begins to show adeeper understanding of
genre, or of the work of a particular author (or indeed
auteur). Patternsmight include elements of the plot,
structure, layout, use of graphics etc. It also includes
languagepatterns, the repeated use of particular words,
images or symbols, and the recognition of commonthemes in a
text or group of texts.
Typical Questions
What kind of story is this? How do we know? (Introduce
concept of genre when appropriate)
Can you see anything in the text which appears more than
once?
What would you expect to happen in this kind of story?
Do you notice any habits this writer has in the way he/she
uses language?
5 Making Pictures
Visualisation, or the interpretation of a text into internal
images, is a natural process for trained readers, but it needs
to be made explicit for a developing reader. Asking learners
to draw a character or a scene from a text allows them to
present their unique interpretation of the text. Using graphic
organisers such as Mind-maps can be a very effective way of
making sense of a text,
summarising key elements, committing to memory or sharing
with others, while storyboards or comic-book software make
the creation of narrative easier and more fun.

Typical Questions/Activities
What do you think this character/place would look like?
If you were to make a film of this, where would you make it
and who would play the leading roles?
Draw a map of the area where this story takes place.
Draw a mind-map showing the main elements of the story.
6 Summarising
The ability to summarise is an essential skill for the
developing fluent-comprehending reader, but it is also a highly
sophisticated skill which needs to be modelled repeatedly by
the teacher. It can
be broken down into the following component parts, each of
which can be emphasised in different contexts and can be
practised through a range of activities:- Paraphrasing putting
into your own words Selecting picking out the main points
Combining two or more ideas or sentences into one Readers
can be asked to write chapter headings, list the writers main
ideas, provide a blurb for
the book or a trailer for the film, or write a short review, all
of which are essentially a kind of summary of the text.
Typical Questions/Activities
Provide a suitable heading for each paragraph of the chapter
or story. Write down the main events in the order in which
they happen. In no more than 50 words, tell the story in your
own words.

7 Evaluating
One aspect of reading which rarely has to be encouraged, but
is often the least considered or developed, is the process of
evaluating or assessing the worth of a text. Readers of any
age will happily tell you what they think of a text, but will
often struggle to explain why, beyond the stock responses of
it was boring or it was exciting. When engaged in this
strategy, therefore, it is the quality of the discussion and the
use of open questions which will determine the quality of the
outcome. It is also important that in any evaluation, the
criteria for success are shared and agreed, and these will
usually be related to audience and purpose. An appropriate
vocabulary needs to be developed over time.
Typical Questions/Activities
What was the authors purpose here and to what extent did
he/she achieve it?
What is the writers (as opposed to the characters) point of
view?
Was the ending of the story the most appropriate ending?
Why?

The Three Tensions of Globalization

By LAURENCE E. ROTHENBERG

hat is globalization? Is it the integration of economic, political, and cultural systems across the globe?

Or is it Americanization of world culture and United States dominance of world affairs? Is globalization a
force for economic growth, prosperity, and democratic freedom? Or is it a force for environmental devastation,
exploitation of the developing world, and suppression of human rights? In sum, is globalization "good" or
"bad"? These questions would receive very different answers in Washington, Sao Paolo, Paris, Cairo,
Johannesburg, Bombay, Hong Kong, and Manila. In fact, in each of those places these questions would receive

very different answers from different people business leaders, government officials, agricultural laborers, the
unemployed, or human rights activists. Indeed, simple answers to these questions, answers that people in
different walks of life in different countries would agree on, would be virtually impossible to reach. Most
importantly, answers to these questions vary greatly depending on how globalization is viewed in relations to
values. The impact of globalization on culture, for example, depends on whether one thinks that local cultures
should be protected from outside influence, or whether one thinks that new cultural creativity results from
interaction and mixing of ideas from different cultures. After all, there are few cultures that are truly isolated,
and cultural interaction, especially though trade relations, has occurred for thousands of yearsfrom
Phoenecian traders impact on ancient Greek culture, to Chinese silk used in clothes in medieval Europe, to the
spread of coffee, chocolate, and tobacco around the world, and to the impact of Chinese and Japanese styles in
American and European art in the nineteenth century. In todays world, American films and film styles are
popular throughout the world, and foreign films are popular in the United States. Is this globalization of culture
good, bad, neutral, or simply a fact of life? Values, therefore, are key to assessing the impact of globalization
on the lives of people around the world. At the same time, however, it is possible to teach about globalization
in such a way as to highlight the tension between different values as they play out in certain circumstances
while not taking sides as to which value is better.

Globalization is the acceleration

and intensification of interaction
and integration among the people,
companies, and governments of
different nations.
Globalization101.org, a free website of resources for teachers and students, strives to present a balanced view
of globalization and its underlying values by including voices from the United States and other countries,
perspectives of officials of international organizations and national governments, and opinions of activists at
non-governmental organizations around the world. The goal is not to indoctrinate students by attempting to
explain events through one ideological lens using slogans and biased information. Rather,
Globalization101.org tries to show how people in different countries, in varying circumstances, can look at the
same set of facts and come to radically different conclusions about the process of globalization and how it
affects their lives. Such an approach challenges students to think about the controversies surrounding
globalization and to promote an understanding of the trade-offs and dilemmas facing policy-makers and
citizens in the global age.

DEFINING GLOBALIZATION
Values can play a role in defining globalization. A definition of globalization as "Americanization" or, perhaps,
the "McDonaldization," of the world presents globalization as a process driven by American consumer culture
that rolls over other cultures. On the other hand, another definition of globalization would highlight its crosscultural impact, taking into account the nature of globalization as a way cultures interact and learn from each
other. Globalization101.org follows the second approachviewing globalization as a process of interaction
and integration. A focus on the spread of American ideas or products that ignores the counterbalancing impact
of the access to the international arena of ideas and products formerly kept out of it,
promotes an impoverished and unbalanced understanding of the process. Thus, Globalization101.org defines
globalization as follows: Globalization is the acceleration and intensification of interaction and integration
among the people, companies, and governments of different nations. This process has effects on human wellbeing (including health and personal safety), on the environment, on culture (including ideas,religion, and
political systems), and on economic development and prosperity of societies across the world. This
comprehensive and balanced definition takes into account the many causes and effects of the process, and,

most importantly, leaves room for debate and discussion of the values that different people from all over the
world bring to the table.

THE THREE TENSIONS OF

GLOBALIZATION
Three inherent tensions reveal the conflicting values at stake in the process of globalization as defined above.
By examining controversies about globalization through the prism of these three tensions, teachers and
students can learn how to think about the positive and negative effects of various aspects of globalization and
how to find a balance that reflects their values.
The first tension is between individual choice and societalchoice. A conflict occurs when a person, exercising
her right to choose a particular lifestyle, to buy a particular product, or to think a particular thought, is at odds
with what society at a whole views is most preferable for all citizens at large. For example, some people may
prefer to smoke or to drive without wearing a seatbelt. Society, however, may believe that there are costs to
society as a wholein medical costs, for examplethat require laws to restrict private choice. In the arena of
globalization, such a tension is evident in debates over the spread of American culture. France,for example,
objects to the spread of American popular culture in the form of films and television. In fact,France has laws
about non-European content on French television and radio stations. France even insisted that there be a
"cultural exception" to world trade rules on services agreed to in 1994 to allow the French government to limit
imports of American popular culture products. Such positions, however, ignore the fact that no one forces an
individual French person to watch an American film or television show or buy a CD by an American recording
artist. French consumers buy those products because they choose to do so for reasons of personal preference.
One may reasonably ask, then,"Why does French society have the right to override that individuals freedom of
choice?" It comes down to values. In the first place, some people and societies may value social choices above
individual choices. Second, some people and societies may believe that in areas of culture, preservation of a
local culturebecause of history, tradition, and a desire to pass along heritage to succeeding generations
should trump short-term individual choice. The problem is how to find a way for the international system to
account for this tension, in areas such as the world trade talks mentioned above. How can the process of
globalization find a balance between respecting individual free choices and societal priorities at the same time?

TENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATION
A second tension is between free market and government intervention. This tension is something of an
aggregate of the first, because the free market is the aggregation of lots of individual choicesAdam Smiths
famous "invisible hand"while government intervention is the practical way that societies decide on and
implement the choices they make about their values. Thus, a free market determines what goods are produced
and how money is invested in order to satisfy consumer demand (that is, the sum of all the individual choices).
The free market also plays the crucial role in creating an efficient response to changes in the economy, when
consumer demand increases or decreases for certain products, or when factors such as a decline in investment
or damage to the environment changes the supply of money or products.

Individual choice versus societal choice

a Nevertheless, the free market may sometimes fail to provide crucial goods, especially at reasonable prices,
necessary for overall social order. The government, for example, is often required to provide key services, such
as water, electricity, sewage, and garbage pick-up (although some people believe such services could be
privatized), not to mention police, fire, and defense forces. In the international arena, one of the most burning
issues is the failure of the free market to provide affordable drugs to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Such
drugs are available in the Europe and the United States to allow people with HIV/AIDS to have productive
lives for about $10,000 per year, an affordable sum in the developed world. Such a price, however, is far
beyond the ability to pay of people in Africa, where the vast majority of the population afflicted with
HIV/AIDS lives. In fact, the disease is a scourge in Africa and the rest of the developing world, where whole
societies are on the brink of collapse because of the social chaos and economic impact of infection rates that
are as high as 25 percent in some countries.

rket versus government intervention

Governments therefore, prodded by international non-governmental organizations involved in promoting

public health, agreed at a meeting of the World Trade Organization in 2001 to allow poor countries to make
generic copies of drugs needed for pubic health emergencies. This represented a large concession on the part of
U.S. and European companies, which value their intellectual property and whose intellectual property rights
had recently become protected by a special international treaty. Since then, however, agreement on how to
implement this agreement has been hard to reach. The companies are concerned that allowing too generous an
exception from the international intellectual property rules would lead to a loss of so much revenue that they
would not be able to recoup the costs of developing medicines in the first place and make a profit for their
shareholders.
After all, the companies have to run their business in an economically efficient and profitable manner for their
owners. Meanwhile, however, poor people in Africa are dying. Again, there is a tension between two equally
important values. How can the international system balance the need to promote an efficient free market
system that rewards innovation and the development of new medicines, while also ensuring that the poor and
needy are taken care of?

Globalization is neither good nor bad. Rather, certain

aspects of the complex, and multi-faceted process
of globalization have impacts that can be viewed in
different ways depending on the values at stake.
Finally, the third tension of globalization is that between local authority and extra- or supra-local authority,
that is the tension between decisions made at the level most close to individual citizens and decisions made at
higher levels of authority distant from the people they may affect. As with the other tensions, we see this in our
daily lives as well, but the tension takes on special characteristics in the global arena. Many Americans believe
that the federal government in Washington is a distant, separate culture, unfamiliar with their daily problems
and concerns and captive to special interests. Local and state governments, on the other hand, are often more
trusted to deal with practical, everyday issues.
In the globalized world, many Americans and citizens in other countries feel that international organizations
outside their democratic control are making decisions without any input from the people who are most affected
by them. For example, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are viewedrightly or wronglyin
much of Latin America and Asia as Washington-based cabals of bankers forcing American-style economic
policy on societies that have different values than individualized capitalism. In the United States, many
environmental activists were outraged in 1998 when a dispute resolution panel of the World Trade
Organization declared that an American law banning the import of shrimp caught with nets that killed
endangered sea turtles was in violation of world trade rules. Several Southeast Asian nations had complained
that the law was a disguised way to protect the American shrimp industry from competition by their shrimpers.
But the U.S. law was passed by the Congress and signed by the President, in a democratic process, for what
seemed like legitimate purposes. Why, many people asked, was an unelected, undemocratic tribunal of three
judges in Geneva empowered to force the United States to change the law? At the same time, the United States
had agreed to the world trade treaty that set out the rules and established the panel that made the decision. And
the U.S. and other governments believe that such treaties are an important way of setting commonly accepted
rules to manage international trade. Again, a tension arises, this time between the democratic legitimacy of
domestic legislation and the need to create and enforce international rules by bodies who are not directly
accountable to those whose lives and interests they affect.

TENSIONS AND TRADE-OFFS

These examples of the tensions of globalization are just a few of the cases where citizens around the world
have felt threatened by the current process of interaction and integration. Thinking about globalization in terms
of such tensions can help students understand that solutions to these problems and resolutions to these
controversies are rarely black and white. Globalization is neither good nor bad. Rather, certain aspects of the
complex, and multi-faceted process of globalization have impacts that can be viewed in different ways
depending on the values at stake.
Individual free choice is important, but so is a societys ability to make decisions according to what is best for
all of its members. The free market is important, but so is the ability of governments to deal with problems
when the free market fails. Local democratic accountability is important, but so is international agreement on
problems that can only be solved with cooperation far beyond the direct control of individual citizens.
Discussion of these tensions can enlighten students without forcing them to abandon their own values. In fact,
an approach of explaining forthrightly the tensions and the values at stake, the facts of the cases, providing
solid information, and airing a wide variety of perspectives, encourage students to think and learn more deeply
about globalization than any other approach currently available for educators. Globalization101.orgs approach
engages students in thinking about their lives in an international context at a very exciting time, with a vast
amount of resources freely available to help them grow and learn as students and citizens.
Laurence E. Rothenberg is the producer of the www.globalization101.org website
and director of the Globalization101 program at the Center for Strategic &
International Studies, a Washington, D.C. non-profit public policy research institute.

www.globalization10org
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This paper is published as part of the Occasional Papers series. 2003 The American Forum for Global Education. ISSN: 1088-8365