Background: In aged-care settings, direct care staff play a crucial role in supporting older people with communication needs. Many direct care staff, however, have unmet skill needs in interpersonal, intercultural, and intergenerational communication. Communication Partner Training (CPT) provides a potential solution. However, it is not known if…

Communication style refers to the distinct ways individuals exhibit verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal communication patterns in social interactions. It involves receiving, interpreting, and delivering feedback and messages. Factors like culture and personality affect communication styles, and tools like communication styles inventory (CSI) help…

Not all pieces of information mentioned during an interaction are equally accessible in speakers' conversational memory. The current study sought to test whether 2 basic features of dialogue management (reference acceptance and reuse) affect reference recognition. Dyads of speakers were asked to discuss a route for an imaginary person, thus…

In daily language use, we sometimes comment on the conversation with phrases such as "What do you mean by saying that?" or "That was nice of you to say." This communication about the communication is sometimes labeled as metacommunication. It can be used for many different purposes; for instance, to try and clarify or appraise…

The widespread use of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) in the higher education sector in recent years highlights the importance of forging successful relationships with employers, business, industry and government. This article reports on a large ethnographic study conducted by Victoria University into host organisations' perceptions of WIL.…

Tutors often fail to address learners' misconceptions. Although this may indicate a failure to grasp these misconceptions, it may simply be due to a wish to be polite and save the learner's face. In this study we examined whether instructing tutors about the pitfalls of politeness could increase the clarity and precision of their tutorial…

Background: Often communication training has been directed at the communication practices of staff members working with people with multiple learning disabilities. To date, the thinking habits of staff members, which also influence interactions, have not been addressed. We identified the issues staff members perceived as important for their…

Overlaps with one's interlocutor in the choice of words are called lexical entrainment. This article looks at accounts for these overlaps in word use. The question addressed is the extent to which the word use of the addressee, as opposed to available words from other sources, has a special impact on experts' choice of words. A laboratory…

This article reports on key aspects of a theory generative study into social presence in text-based online learning environments. The focus of the article is the nature of social presence as experienced by online learners in those environments. Employing a collective case study design, the study accessed online learners' experience-based heuristic…

This paper uses Conversation Analysis to investigate the ways in which participants in an online asynchronous postgraduate reading group managed and negotiated their contributions within the discussion. Using the conversation analytic concerns with sequential organisation, adjacency pairs and topicality, this article shows the analytic insights…

Tests a process model of request tactic evaluation in two different cultures. Finds that, in both cultures, perceived effectiveness functions as a mediating variable between the four interactive constraints and perceived likelihood of use. Finds that Koreans rated concern for feelings and avoiding imposition highly, whereas Americans rated clarity…

More than a decade after the provocative writings of French feminist writers Julie Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous, and Monique Wittig first appeared, the exploration of sexual and gender differences continues to draw controversy. Their work has been considered mostly in regard to literature, philosophy, and feminist theory, but their…

Analyses qat sessions (small-group social gatherings centered on the use of a mild, euphoric stimulant, qat) in North Yemen. Explores their communicative form and function. (SR)

Presents empirically derived models of expatriate-local staff oral communication patterns in Taiwan. Finds that communication dynamics differed in three identified communication zones, expatriates with the cooperation of the local Chinese developed efficient but different communication systems in all three zones, and cultural influences on both…

Investigates a visa interview process involving applicants from a West African country and interviewers from a Western culture to examine the effects of intercultural factors on communication distortion. Examines speech pattern, body posture, and eye contact, along with information disclosure and verbal aggression. Suggests that different cultures…