NEW YEAR

selamat TAHUN BARU HIJRAH DAN MASIHI 1430/ 2009

http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/communication_accomodation.htm

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication Accommodation Theory

Communication Accommodation Theory focuses on the role of conversations in our lives. The theory has been incorporated in a number of different studies. For instance, accommodation has been studied in the mass media (Bell, 1991), with families (Fox, 1999), with Chinese students (Hornsey & Gallois, 1998), with the elderly (Harwood, 2002), on the job (McCroskey & Richmond, 2000), in interviews (Willemyns, Gallois, Callan, & Pittam, 1997), and even with messages left on telephone answering machines (Buzzanell, Burrell, Stafford, & Berkowitz, 1996) (see our Research Note).

There is no doubt that the theory is heuristic. The theory is expansive enough to be very complete, and it has been supported by research from diverse authors. In addition, the theory's core processes of convergence and divergence make it relatively easy to understand, underscoring the simplicity of the theory.

The strengths of the theory may be quite significant because the theory has elicited little scholarly criticism. Still, a few shortcomings of the theory merit attention. Judee Burgoon, Leesa Dillman, and Lesa Stern (1993), for example, question the convergence-divergence frame advanced by Giles. They believe that conversations are too complex to be reduced simply to these processes. They also challenge the notion that people's accommodation can be explained by just these two practices. For instance, what occurs if people both converge and diverge in conversations? Are there consequences for the speaker? The listener? What influence—if any—does race or ethnicity play in this simultaneous process? One might also question whether the theory relies too heavily on a rational way of communicating. That is, although the theory acknowledges conflict between communicators, it also rests on a reasonable standard of conflict. Perhaps you have been in conflicts that are downright nasty and with people who have no sense of reason. It appears that the theory ignores this possible dark side of communication (see Chapter 1).

In his earlier writings on the theory, Giles challenged researchers to apply Communication Accommodation Theory across the life span and in different cultural settings. For the most part, his suggestions have been heeded. His research has broadened our understanding of why conversations are so complex. Through convergence, Giles sheds light on why people adapt to others in their interactions. Through divergence, we can understand why people choose to ignore adapting strategies. He has pioneered a theory that has helped us better understand the culture and diversity around us.

Accommodation Theory

THEORECTICAL FRAMEWORKS

Accommodation Theory

Howard Giles (1973) and his colleagues formed the accommodation theory in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Although the accommodation theory is considered a sociolinguistic theory by origin, researchers mentioned that this has been employed in variety of settings “including speech, writing, songs, radio broadcasting, courtroom proceedings, and human-computer interaction” (see Giles, Coupland, and Coupland 1991 for a review and synthesis of the literature).

In its most basic form, accommodation recognizes communicators’ efforts to make themselves more similar to the target to improve communication (Holland and Gentry, 1999). Essentially, as A become more like B, the probability that B will like A more increases (Koslow, Shamdasani, and Touchstone, 1994). When applied to consumer research, accommodation theory provides useful insights on how consumers perceive and respond to targeted messages in marketing communications. Considering, one could ascertain “the greater the accommodation by the advertiser the more favorable the evaluation of ads among the target audience.” Examples of marketing accommodation can be the use of “ethnic salespeople, language, music, art, national flags or cultural symbols” (Holland and Gentry, 1999). However, The main issue of accommodation, however, relies on the recognition and response to the accommodation (Holland and Gentry, 1999).

Gren (1999) completed a study on black female adults and found that those who were less acculturated responded more positively to ads with blacks in them than did those with high levels of acculturation. Additionally, blacks with “weak ethnic identities favored white models and general-audience media over black models and black-oriented media.” In the linear model, a consumer that has a stronger ethnic identification is more likely to emotionally respond to an accommodating marketing attempt (Holland and Gentry, 1999). Furthermore, those who do not have a strong ethnic identification or have high levels of acculturation may not be recognize the accommodation (Holland and Gentry, 1999).

Therapeutic tool/ nursing skill – leadership – education/ training

Therapeutic tool/ nursing skill – leadership – education/ training
Scheick, D. M. (2002). Mastering Group Leadership: An Active Learning Experience. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 40(9): 30-9

- United States: Leading therapeutic groups is an underused by viable treatment role for nurses in all specialty areas – it is a skill that can increase nurses’ repertoire of therapeutic responses

- Learning results from both passive reception and active processing of information

- Active learning encompasses a range of teaching-learning strategies emphasizing students’ involvement, investment, and responsibility to learn

- Learning how to lead a group begins by being in a group; each year nursing students are given more of a leadership role accompanied by journal writing to internally process and self-evaluate – students self-teach and expand the therapeutic repertoire of responses

- Recognition that the skills required to produce good group work are different than those required to produce good individual work

- Psychoeducational group model is used in clinical setting

- Structured exercises are used to help facilitate group progress and to help determine the level of self-exploration or intensity

Research article Open Access

Research article Open Access
A quantitative survey of intern's knowledge of communication
skills: an Iranian exploration
Mohsen Tavakol*1, Sima Torabi2, Owen D Lyne3 and Ali A Zeinaloo4
Address: 1School of Education, Nottingham University, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, UK, 2Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Institute
for research and planning in higher education, Iran, 3Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Kent, UK and
4Educational Development Centre, Tehran University of Medical Science, Iran
Email: Mohsen Tavakol* - texmt7@nottingham.ac.uk; Sima Torabi - lgxst1@nottingham.ac.uk; Owen D Lyne - O.D.Lyne@kent.ac.uk;
Ali A Zeinaloo - zeinaloo@tums.ac.ir
* Corresponding author
Abstract
Background: It is a high priority that health care providers have effective communication skills. It
has been well documented that the doctor-patient relationship is central to the delivery of high
quality medical care, and it has been shown to affect patient satisfaction, to decrease the use of pain
killers, to shorten hospital stays, to improve recovery from surgery and a variety of other biological,
psychological and social outcomes. This study sought to quantify the current knowledge of interns
in Iran about communication skills.
Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-report questionnaire was conducted among interns.
Data analysis was based on 223 questionnaires. The internal consistency of the items was 0.8979.
Results: Overall, knowledge levels were unsatisfactory. Results indicated that interns had a limited
knowledge of communication skills, including identification of communication skills. In addition,
there was a significant difference between the mean scores of interns on breaking bad news and
sex education. The confidence of males about their communication skills was significantly higher
than for females. Analysis of the total scores by age and sex showed that there was a statistically
significant main effect for sex and the interaction with age was statistically significant. Free response
comments of the interns are also discussed.
Conclusions: It is argued that there is a real need for integrating a communication skills course,
which is linked to the various different ethnic and religious backgrounds of interns, into Iranian
medical curricula. Some recommendations are made and the limitations of the study are discussed