Research On Intercultural Communication Accommodation From The Change Of Intercultural Communication Styles

In the process of intercultural communication, Chinese intercultural communicators communicate with people who are from a different cultural background, and have different semiotic system and communication styles in the English-speaking context. These differences may cause misunderstanding and conflicts. Communication accommodation is to adjust language and communication styles to accommodate to others’ culture, which is helpful in achieving effective communication outcomes. Hence, the research is based on the interviews of28Chinese and Chinese-American guests from an English interview named Tell Me More of American National Public Radio, analyzes the communication styles from the aspects of directness versus indirectness, self-enhancement versus self-effacement, person-orientation versus status-orientation, and linearity versus circularity, and studies the communication accommodation of Chinese intercultural communication.The research analyzes the change of the28Chinese and Chinese-Americans’ communication styles in the process of intercultural communication. The Chinese communication styles are reflective of indirectness, self-effacement, status-orientation, and circularity in the Chinese-speaking context. However, the American culture encourages direct, self-enhanced, person-oriented, and linear communication styles. The author will analyze the change of communication styles when the Chinese communicate with people from a different culture in the process of intercultural communication and explain the change of communication styles in terms of communication accommodation. In order to verify the applicability and outcomes of adjusting communication styles to accommodate, the author further analyzes the verbal behaviors of both the guests and the host from the perspective of communication outcomes to examine the function of communication accommodation.The following are the major findings of the research:(1) The Chinese communicators prefer directness, self-enhancement, person-orientation, and linearity in the verbal expressions of intentions, opinions, feelings, self-achievement, self-ability, and informality, which are communication styles valued in the American culture (2) Communication accommodation theory in the process of intercultural communication is practical by adjusting the communication styles to others from a different culture.(3) Chinese communicators positively use communication accommodation to adjust their communication styles to others, so that they achieve effective outcomes of intercultural communication.