Cross Cultural Communication Theory

Define: Cross cultural communication theory refers to the idea of communication between people who have differences across things such as age, nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.  It can also include the efforts made to exchange, negotiate and mediate cultural differences by means of language, gestures and body language.

Source: Tannen, D. (1985). Cross cultural communication. Handbook of discourse analysis (4). Discourse Analysis in Society.

Apply: This can be applied to many contexts within the realm of social work. For community development in general, this can be imperative in working within any community that one may not necessarily be apart of. It can show up in rapport building, building community cohesion, and throughout many phases in the action stages. It can also be used to solve potential conflict or misunderstandings that may arise due to cultural differences.

Adapt: This theory can be used in anthropology as well. Often times, Anthropoligist study communities that they do not identify with in many context. It is then important for the anthropologist to understand the differences in gestures, body language, etc between the culture they wish to study and their own.