6.

Communication Accommodation (Beebe, 2008,

pp. 117-120)

Effective communicators often adjust some aspects of their communication patterns when they are communicating with persons from other cultures. Spend at least 15 minutes interacting with a person (not someone you know well) from a culture different than your own (this can include age, gender, socioeconomic, or occupational cultures such as elderly; persons of disability; homeless). During your interaction, try to notice communication differences (vocabulary; style; nonverbals). A note of caution: if you make any intentional adaptations, they must be sincere. If you are sarcastic or exaggerate your adaptations, you might be perceived as manipulative. After your interaction, describe any differences in your communication styles identify the types of adaptations you used (see Table 4.3, p. 119) illustrate with specific examples analyze how effective your adaptations were. Explain.

I teach dance to kids between the ages five and fourteen. After class, I began interacting with a new student while she was waiting for her parents to pick up her. The differences in communication style were not too obvious. However, I noticed that the formality and word choice in conversation was different. Also, the manner in which her comments were explained was what you would expect out of a fourteen year old girl. The adaptations I used in conversation included topical adaptation, explanatory adaptation, and adaptation through examples, comparisons and analogies (Beebe,2008, pp.119) In topical adaptations, I had disclosed about a specific dance studio I once went to. She had previously stated the dance studios she attended, and I felt disclosing my experience with them a way to help us create a better relationship. This was effective because it brought up more conversation and similarities with instructors we have had the opportunity to work with. (Beebe, 2008, pp. 120) Explanatory adaptation was used when I was explaining the goals of the studio. With this I was able to elaborate on the syllabus of the studio, what we find important to teach, and why its important to teach. I feel this was an effective use of explanatory adaptation because it helped her understand how thin gs run at this specific studio. Lastly, I used Adaptation through examples, comparisons, and analogies. I feel this can be tied into the last adaptation, this is because I used analogies as to why our goals for students are what they are. For example, at my studio we focus on technique. I gave her the example that professional dancers work on what beginning dancers work on. I used this example to tell her the importance of learning and having a firm foundation on beginning technical steps.