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There are a number of cultural verbal and nonverbal communication differences that can impact on the case history interview, counseling, testing and intervention process with individuals from culturally and linguistically different backgrounds. If misunderstood and/or misinterpreted, many of these communication differences can seriously jeopardize the establishment of rapport between clinician and client. If clinicians are not familiar with some of these differences, they also may inadvertently mistake certain communication behaviors as signs of disorder. Differences in learning style preference can also impact on the testing process and lead to misdiagnosis as well as inappropriate therapy recommendations. For this reason, it is important for clinicians to have some awareness of the communicative behaviors and learning styles that vary cross-culturally as well as the potential impact of these differences on the service delivery process.
The specific topics that are addressed by the readings referenced in this factsheet include:
- Cultural differences in verbal and nonverbal communication;
- Cultural differences in communicative(discourse) and narrative style;
- Cultural norms for greeting and addressing individuals;
- Culturally based learning style preferences;
- Cultural differences in rules for adult-child discourse;
- Cultural differences in the conversational roles of children;
- The impact of cultural communication and learning style differences on the educational and/or clinical process.
Anderson, N. & Battle, D. (1993). Cultural diversity in the development of language. In D. Battle (Ed.), Communication disorders in multicultural populations. Boston: Andover Medical Publishers.
Bauman, R. (1971). An ethnographic framework for the investigation of communicative behaviors. Asha, 13(6) , 334-340.
Damico, J., & Damico, S. (1993). Language and social skills from a diversity perspective: Considerations for the speech language pathologist. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 24 (4) , 236-243.
Gutierrez-Clellen, V. & Quinn, R. (1993). Assessing narratives of children from diverse cultural/linguistic groups. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 24(1) , 2-9.
Heath, S. B. (1991). Ways with words: Language, life and work in communities and classrooms. NY: Cambridge University.
Heath, S. B. (1986). Sociocultural contexts of language development. In Beyond language: Social and cultural factors in schooling language minority students. Los Angeles, CA: Evaluation, Dissemination, & Assessment Center, California State University.
Lynch, E. & Hanson, M. (1992). Developing cross-cultural competence: A guide for working with young children and their families. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Taylor, O. & Matsuda, M. (1988). Storytelling and classroom discrimination. In G. Smitherman-Donaldson & T. A. van Dijk (Eds.), Discourse and discrimination. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University.
Compiled by the Multicultural Issues Board May 1996
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