I belong to one of the most diverse blogging groups in the class. There are people of four different nationalities and four different races in my group. However, it is amazing to see how smooth our discussions are. Everyone understands each other and contributes constructively. I am going to examine the reason for this in the light of a theory.
The Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) suggests that people subconsciously change their speech style to the style of the listener in order to accommodate with him/her. I find CAT very relevant to our group. Everyone understands the need to come out of their comfort zone and speak in a manner which is easily understandable for others. We read the other person and react in a manner which we think would bring our point across clearer to the listener.
However, CAT fails to explain fully how communication in a team works. Whose style of speaking do we accommodate with when there are people from so many backgrounds in a group? From my observation of our group, I realise that we all try to standardise our communication by modifying our speaking pattern to one that is widely accepted and practiced in Singapore. To put it clearly, we talk in the ‘Singapore way’. This provides a common style of speaking for everyone, which is also understood by everyone.
CAT is just one of the many theories that exist on intercultural communication. There are also ‘Identity Management Theory’ and ‘Standpoint Theory’. All these theories explain how cross-cultural interaction can be effective. From my experience, each member in my group has shown good communication skills; our cultural differences have not been able to impede our discussions and we have had a productive time in our meetings.
Following are some links if you want to read up more about the theories:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767430344/student_view0/chapter29/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication_Accommodation_Theory
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Dear Anuj,
ReplyDeleteSo far, your blog post is one of the most informative blog post ever. I've never read about Communication Accommodation Theory(CAT) before. You explain sufficiently what CAT is like and here are my comments.
The style of communication is a diverse team is one where everyone easily can understand it. Let take our group, we have people from India and Thailand. I believe we just have to speak comfortably in proper English.
Proper English does not mean using "bombastic words" that is not understood by others. In my context, its simply using a substitute for a word that is easier to understand by all.
I have a slight disagreement with you saying that we can talk in the "Singaporean Way" namely Singlish. It doesn't necessarily is understood by all. The language emphasizes emotion and tone.
"Eh go kopitiam there kanasai queue sibei long sia" - Meaning: I went to the coffeeshop and the queue is very long (in a pissed off tone)
This is a typical sentence we often heard by Singaporean Chinese. This is an example of a Singlish sentence that maybe certain foreigners cannot understand.
In conclusion, I always believe in sticking to proper, simple English to be understood by all.
Regards,
Mohd Ferrino
Hi Anuj,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good explanation about the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). I’ve never heard about it before.
I find the CAT to be a fascinating concept and can say that I’ve unknowingly experienced it in the past.
Some of my friends prefer to speak in Chinese. However, I’m relatively poor in it and I tend to speak in English most of the time. What I’ve noticed is that whenever I’m speaking to them, even to a one to one basis, I tend to speak in Chinese. This is definitely consistent with the theory.
But, my friends know that I prefer to speak English. So, why don’t they accommodate me? Why do we still speak in Chinese? Could it be that certain people are more susceptible to employing CAT?
Regarding CAT in teams, like Ferrino, I would say that Singlish is definitely not the way to go. It simply contains too many slang terms and would present a severe culture barrier to others. This would make communicating effectively very difficult. As with Ferrino, I think that we should stick to simple English so that we can better understand each other.
Regards,
Russell
Dear Anuj,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your informative links. Before reading your post, I have never heard of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT). This theory seems to explain some of my wonders of communication such that why people use slang words. From your work above, i can assume that you have done a lot of research to understand and to support your writing.
I am not familiar with Singlish at all. Most of the time someone speak Singlish to me, i think it is Chinese or Malay ;) .And I think this language is not suitable for communication with people not from Singapore. However, I do not have a bad attitude toward Singlish and if I have more time I will learn it to better understand Singapore culture.
Overall, your post is very interesting to me, but I think you forget to tell us your opinion about interpersonal communication which is a part of the topic.
Regards,
Long
Hey everyone,
ReplyDeleteThank you for pointing out that my point about speaking in 'Singapore way' was flawed. I realise that I was not clear and all of you were left thinking that I'm talking about speaking in Singlish. However, what I meant was something different. I meant that we try to keep our accent close to one spoken in Singapore so that everyone understands it. Since the Singapore accent is most popular here, it is the one thats most widely understood.
Hope that clarifies.
Long, thank you for pointing out interpersonal communication. I missed it totally! oops...
Anuj
Dear Anuj,
ReplyDeleteI'm also impressed by the Communication Accomodation Theory you introduced. I have to admit that at least it is more than accurate in depicting me in intercultural and interpersonal communications.
I have moved house three times in the past ten years. Every time I moved to a new place I had to make friends with different people from different backgrounds and cultures. From these years' experience, I realized that in order to make myself more quickly and effectively understood, there should be no better way than communicating in the listener's way.
As for the 'Singapore way', I feel that it is actually very good that we can have something agreed on as a common style. This does not neccessarily need to be limited to linguistic aspect, it can involve customs, attitudes, mindset and so on and so forth. Having a common style can unite us together in a team and define all of us as one--student in Singapore.
Lastly, I have just realized that you can identify the spelling and seperate my name accurately into two Chinese charactors as you write 'ShiYan's blog'. I have to say it is impressive indeed. Bravo!
Regards,
Shiyan
Hi Ferrino,
ReplyDeleteI think you are mistaken that Long Dam is from Thailand; he is from Vietnam instead.
Dear ShiYan,
Woa de Mandarin li hai (My Mandarin is professional :P) haha. I have some basic sense because i have been trying to learn Mandarin ever since I came to Singapore. I'm sure you remember the incident with my teacher.
And thank you for further clarifying the confusion on 'Singapore way'. I just wasn't able to put it across but you've done it pretty well.
Zhai Jian,
Anuj