Page 26 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

4 Helen Spencer-Oatey and Helga Kotthoff

– Business and management success in intercultural contexts;
– Media impact in a globalized world;
– Identity perception and communication;
– Intercultural competence and assessment;
– Intercultural adjustment and training.

There are no easy procedures for either understanding or dealing with these
‘problems’. Instead, the authors in this volume explore the complex factors in-
volved and suggest helpful ways of framing and addressing the challenges that
the various ‘problems’ pose.

3. What theories, data and research methods are needed to explore
the ‘problems’?

Even a cursory glance at these real-life intercultural communication ‘problems’
indicates that the discipline of applied linguistics is insufficient for addressing
them adequately. A multidisciplinary approach is essential. Concepts and
theories need to be based not only on (applied) linguistic research, but also on
work in psychology, anthropology, sociology, political science, communication
studies, and management studies in particular. Moreover, since intercultural
communication can affect many different sectors of life, such as education,
health, business, management, law, tourism, politics and diplomacy, the con-
cerns and insights of these various sectors also need to be incorporated, and data
needs to be collected from all such settings.
Different disciplines tend to focus on different issues, seek different kinds of
data, and use different research methods to obtain and analyze that data. Such
variation is reflected in the chapters of this volume. Many authors rely exclu-
sively on discourse data (interpersonal and/or media discourse), some analyze
self-report questionnaire data, and yet others refer to interview data. Others
again use a combination of methods and data types.
Unfortunately, up to now, most intercultural communication research has
tended to occur within a small number of disciplinary groupings: psychology
and communication studies, business and management, and linguistics and
anthropology/sociology. There has been a tendency to look down on the
approaches used by the ‘others’, with the result that there is ignorance (either
wilful or inadvertent) of each other’s research. For example, many handbooks
and manuals of intercultural communication training include no mention of ap-
plied linguistic research at all, even though there are many relevant insights for
such training. This poses a challenge to applied linguists to communicate their
findings more effectively to people from other disciplines. Non-linguists are
often not interested in the intricate details of linguistic analysis, yet they may