Page 32 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

10 Editors’ introduction

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In chapter three, Vladimir Zegarac takes a cognitive pragmatic approach to
explore similar questions to Gumperz and Cook-Gumperz: how culture con-
tributes to context and how it influences communication. Starting from the con-
cept of situation, he draws on the same key researchers (Goffman, Hymes) who
inspired interactional sociolinguistics, and he also regards cultural variation as a
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result of diverse ecological circumstances. However, Zegarac interprets context
in cognitive terms – as the set of assumptions exploited in utterance interpre-
tation – and maintains that the concept of mutual cognitive environment can be
relativized to culture in a way which brings us closer to an understanding of its
role in communication. He discusses the distinction between intra-cultural and
inter-cultural communication, arguing that there is a fluid transition between the
two, and he demonstrates the explanatory value of cognitive pragmatics for ana-
lysing clashes of cultural assumptions and situation-based expectations. How-
ever, he acknowledges that knowing which assumptions will be in the mutual
cultural environment of individuals from particular cultures is an empirical
matter of the sort that social approaches to pragmatics are concerned with. This
highlights a major difference in research approach: cognitive pragmatics pays
less attention to the gathering of extensive discourse/interaction data, and tends
to theorize from a small number of examples.
The next chapter, chapter 4, explores the contribution of psychology to the
field of intercultural communication. Madeleine Brabant, Bernadette Watson
and Cindy Gallois provide a succinct overview of the vast psychological litera-
ture in this area, and distinguish two major psychological approaches to the
study of intercultural communication: one that focuses on intercultural com-
munication competence and the skills that are needed for this, and one that
focuses on intergroup communication. The authors briefly describe some well-
known theories within each approach, including Gudykunst’s anxiety and un-
certainty management theory, Kim’s cross-cultural adaptation theory, Tajfel’s
social identity theory, and Gallois’ communication accommodation theory. Un-
like linguistic approaches to intercultural communication, where the focus is on
the details of the communicative interaction, both of these major psychological
approaches focus primarily on the factors influencing people’s behaviour in in-
tercultural contexts, including cultural values (such as individualism–collectiv-
ism), attitudes, identity, and motivation to accommodate. The authors point out
that psychologists’ most frequently used instrument for data collection is the
questionnaire, and in studies of intercultural communication processes where
discourse data is analysed, they use simulated interaction data more commonly
than authentic data. Brabant et al. conclude their chapter by calling for more and
deeper interactions between psychologists and applied linguists, so that they
can learn from each other, and complement each other’s approaches to the field.
Chapter 5 is also written by psychologists, but deals with a more specific
topic. David Matsumoto, Seung Hee Yoo and Jeffrey A. LeRoux focus on the