Page 90 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

68 Madeleine Brabant, Bernadette Watson and Cindy Gallois

selves and interacting partners (Giles 1973; Giles et al. 1987). The goals of in-
teractants drive the communication strategies that they exhibit. These strategies
include approximation (convergence, divergence, and maintenance of language,
accent, or other behaviours), discourse management (sharing or not of topics,
register, etc.), interpretability (making communication clearer or more obscure),
interpersonal control (more or less equal role relations), and emotional ex-
pression (more or less reassurance, etc.). As noted above, an interactant may
perceive at certain times during the encounter that salience is simultaneously
high intergroup and high interpersonal. In recent years (e.g. Gallois and Giles
1998; Gallois, Ogay and Giles 2005), the focus has been on summarizing the so-
ciolinguistic strategies and goals into an overall accommodative stance (accom-
modation or reducing social distance, or non-accommodation or increasing it).
Approximation focuses on a speech partner’s productive management of an
interaction and refers to changes in speech patterns. Convergence is driven by a
motivation to identify with or gain approval from an interlocutor (Bourhis and
Giles 1977; Street and Giles 1982). Convergence may also arise out of the con-
cern of ensuring the interaction flows more smoothly, which improves the effec-
tiveness of communication (Gallois, Ogay and Giles 1995). Divergent behaviours
are motivated at two levels to display distinctiveness from one’s interlocutor. At
the individual level, divergence may serve to accentuate differences or display
disdain for the other. At the group level, divergence may emphasize a valued
group identity (Cargile, Giles and Clément 1996; Tajfel 1979; Yaeger-Dror
1991). When there is a history of rivalry and inequality or the intergroup relation-
ship is in flux, interactants tend to emphasize intergroup salience.
The other, non-approximation, strategies are also driven by each speech
partner’s goals. Interpretability refers to the extent to which conversational
competence is focal and whether there exists understanding between interac-
tants. Discourse management focuses on the conversational needs of each inter-
actant and is concerned with the communication process rather than content.
Interpersonal control concerns with issues of role and power relations between
interactants and the extent to which one or other of the speech partners is con-
strained to a particular role. Where interactants’ emotional and emotional needs
are salient, emotional expression serves to reassure.
By situating intergroup encounters in a socio-historical context, CAT takes
account of intergroup and interpersonal history, along with societal norms and
values. CAT tracks an interaction between individuals, starting with the inter-
group and interpersonal history and orientation they bring to the interaction,
communication behaviours during the interaction, and perceptions and subse-
quent evaluations of the interaction. These evaluations then become part of the
larger context that is taken to the next similar interaction. Gallois, Ogay and
Giles (2005) suggest that intercultural encounters take place in the context of
intergroup as well as interpersonal history, and in the context of different and