Globalization and Global Competence

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Do you know the term ‘globalization’? Perhaps you have heard it on the news or come across the term in a conversation.

A tip for making sense of academic concepts or new keywords is to pause and ask yourself what you may already know about the term. You can write down in your own words what you know from your prior knowledge. This will also help you identify what you don’t know and help create a sense of curiosity with the desire to learn more about the concept.

What is ‘globalization’?

One way to understand the term ‘globalization’ is to see how the term has been described in other places, for instance in an educational video created by a reliable and trustworthy source.

Watch the informative video below by WissensWerte[1] a project created by a German non-profit organization.

Listening and Reading Comprehension Task

Stop the above video at 2:42. Now, analyze the structure of the information presented on the screen.

  • How many levels of information do you see, moving from the most general to the most specific?
  • In addition to the levels of information that you see at 2:42, what pattern[2] is used to organize the information by the speaker? (Hint: The speaker states, “Let’s take a glance at the three main areas of globalization.”)

Summary Writing Task

Based on your analysis of the video titled ‘Globalization’ by WissensWerte (2011), define the term ‘globalization’ and list one negative effect and one positive effect of globalization with examples from the video. Make sure to paraphrase the information as needed. Compose your ideas in the form of a paragraph of about 150 words for your own practice.


  1. The name 'WissensWerte' is derived from the German word 'wissenswert', which means something 'worth knowing'. The word 'wert' means 'worth', and the word 'wissen' means 'knowledge'.
  2. In academic English, different patterns may be used to organize and present information. Some of these patterns are: listing or sequencing, causes and effects, comparisons and contrasts, and problems and solutions. To learn more about different patterns of organization, go to ELAI990 Units > Essay Orgnaization > Patterns of Development (on the course site).

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Demystifying Academic English Copyright © by Rashi Jain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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