Abstract
Although it is critical to living in the modern world, there are a number of challenges to effective intercultural communication. In particular, intercultural communication may be hindered by preconceived ideas or prejudices. Recognising this is important and encourages us all to consider our positions and our positioning of others critically. Ethnocentrism, essentialism, and Othering are extremes of divergence in terms of interactants’ affective functions. They place some in the position of refusing to accommodate to others or failing to recognise diverse ways of communicating as valid. These practices and the simplification of cultures and people that they frequently rely upon are problematic. We need to question our understandings of what is ‘normal’ in language and recognise the potential complexity of communication in ELF. Our attitudes, evaluations, and circulating ideologies are manifest in interactions and can be further barriers in interpersonal interactions. Following communication accommodation theory, being open to the differences and variations that both we and our interactants bring into interaction is an essential part of effective communication.
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Notes
- 1.
This was the year of his death so comment beyond that date falls to others.
- 2.
The transcript has been slightly simplified from the original.
- 3.
A control is a measure in an experimental design that is neutral in relation to what is being tested. In many scientific studies, a control group similar to the experimental group in size and demographics is not given the treatment or intervention so that results can be compared. It is used for research reliability , that is, to ensure you are measuring or studying what you mean to and not some other factor. In this study, the Australian English speaker was used to ensure that performance on the tasks of interest was not due to poor hearing or a general lack of skill in the task, in which case performance would be about that rather than attitudinal factors. This terminology and the ideas behind it are useful to understand as you may come across them in other studies you read within intercultural communication via the influence of psychology in particular.
- 4.
Parts of our chapter owe a lot to Tim McNamara’s former module Language and Identity at the University of Melbourne on which his 2019 book is partly based. The second author was a tutor and occasional lecturer on the module and was greatly influenced by this.
- 5.
The participant’s name was not really Kelly but her name contained an /el/ sequence.
- 6.
The transcription was altered to provide further detail and follow conventions usually used in this book including the provision of pseudonyms. The names Rita and Rose are intentionally similar as in the recording it is sometimes hard to be sure which of them is laughing.
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Kim, H., Penry Williams, C. (2021). Barriers in Intercultural Communication. In: Discovering Intercultural Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76595-8_3
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