Communication Accommodation Theory Essay

Introduction The internet has spurred a revolution in the communications field. Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) has introduced new communication methods such as social networking sites, e-mail, blogs, and text messaging. People are communicating now in ways that would have never been thought of just 30 years ago. The rapid developments in new communication mediums makes it essential for the communications discipline to be at the forefront of new research and discoveries. Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) is a tried and true communication theory that posits that people will adapt their language to others in a certain context (Ayoko, Härtel, Callen, 2002; Gasiorek, 2013). CAT is interdisciplinary in nature and has been researched across disciplines including communication, sociolinguistics, social psychology, and sociology (Dragojevic, Gasiorek, Giles, 2016). Researchers have found that people accommodate their language in particular social interactions to reach certain goals (). Goals can vary from wanting to set

CAT addresses these accommodations and can be broadly defined as a theory that “seeks to explain and predict such communicative adjustments, and model how others in an interaction perceive, evaluate, and respond to them” (Dragojevic et al., 2014, p. 1). It is important to note that CAT does not only address the changes that are made in an interaction but also examines how people react to the changes. The theory posits that people enter an interaction with specific intergroup goals (Ayoko, et al., 2002; Gasiorek, 2013). Gasiorek (2013) stated that according to theory “each participant comes to an interaction with an initial orientation towards their speaker and the encounter, based on speakers’ interpersonal and intergroup histories, as well as social norms and values”