Communicating about Communication: Intercultural Competence as a Factor in the Success of Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Abstract

Many disciplines describe themselves as studying ‘communication’. However observation of interdisciplinary discussion suggests that ‘communication’ may be conceptualized in different ways by different disciplines. This paper aims to promote mutual understanding among disciplines, not by proposing a universally valid definition of communication to which all disciplines should subscribe, but by, first, offering a set of questions that can be used to help disciplinary groups communicate their own views on communication to colleagues from other disciplines, and then creating a (preliminary) typology to map out the range of possible positions that can be taken in relation to those questions. Noting that academic disciplines have distinct cultures, the paper presents some concepts of intercultural communication as understood in applied linguistics that may be useful in facilitating interdisciplinary communication about communication.

Keywords:

• Communication
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration
• Terminology
• Intercultural Competence

*We would like to thank all participants at the ConCom05 workshop for their presentations and lively and fruitful discussions, and especially our co-organizer Dorothea Cogill for her many contributions. They, the authors in this volume, and two anonymous reviewers have contributed immensely to our understanding of and thinking about interdisciplinary communication and the notion of ‘communication’ in the different disciplines represented at the workshop and in this volume. It goes without saying that all errors and misinterpretations nevertheless remain our responsibility.

*We would like to thank all participants at the ConCom05 workshop for their presentations and lively and fruitful discussions, and especially our co-organizer Dorothea Cogill for her many contributions. They, the authors in this volume, and two anonymous reviewers have contributed immensely to our understanding of and thinking about interdisciplinary communication and the notion of ‘communication’ in the different disciplines represented at the workshop and in this volume. It goes without saying that all errors and misinterpretations nevertheless remain our responsibility.

Notes

*We would like to thank all participants at the ConCom05 workshop for their presentations and lively and fruitful discussions, and especially our co-organizer Dorothea Cogill for her many contributions. They, the authors in this volume, and two anonymous reviewers have contributed immensely to our understanding of and thinking about interdisciplinary communication and the notion of ‘communication’ in the different disciplines represented at the workshop and in this volume. It goes without saying that all errors and misinterpretations nevertheless remain our responsibility.