One of the problematic features of the "skills discourse" is the view that skills are decontextualized bits of knowledge and disposition. Instead, how skills such as communication are defined and used are shaped by cultural, political, and situational factors. In this article, we integrate theory from communication studies, critical…

Develops and demonstrates a theoretical framework and corresponding methodology to link variables at the culture level to the individual level and, then, to specific outcome variables. Tests a path-analytic model linking cultural collectivism with interdependent self-construals and high-context communication. Discusses implications for theory…

Examines the role of culture as a key variable in public relations research and practice. Finds (1) American practitioners continue to practice one-way models of public relations; and (2) public relations practitioners who have collectivistic values tend to practice two-way models of public relations. Discusses implications for theory and…

Shows that long before it translates into actual behavior, the content and forms that romance assumes in the postmodern nexus of media and the market shape children's romantic imagination. Explores how children's imagined vision of romance moved from one molded by media to one characterized by a tension between what media promised and their…

Discusses the problems of communications models. Presents a channel-ratio model that focuses on problems arising from intercultural interactions and addresses some practical needs of business communicators. Describes assumptions of the model, its elements, and its dynamic operation. Gives examples of the model's application to verbal and nonverbal…

This paper focuses on the filtration process of culture during communication in education with reference to visual elements. An introduction provides a review of some communication models--graphic representations of theories that attempt to predict and explain the process of communication. These simple models are discussed: Aristotle's model of…

Reviews four essays in this issue of the journal. Restates the contributions of the functionalist and interpretive models represented in these essays and demonstrates how the "interparadigmatic" dialog can work. Extends the dialog beyond its current boundaries by bringing the insights of critical and postmodern scholarship to the analysis of…

This study elaborates the cultural categories of meanings used by seventh-graders at a junior high school to describe their teachers. It examines the common expressions students used in open-ended interviews to describe their teachers and their experience within these teachers' classes. A semantic structure that underlies the terms that students…

This paper presents a critique of current conceptualizations of interpersonal competence, reveals their underlying cultural prescriptions, and proposes a transcultural model of interpersonal communication competence designed to guide the teaching of interpersonal communication as well as research in that area. (FL)

The telecommunication revolution in the USSR is creating structural change in the culture, encompassing media, societal, and ideological systems. In the process, it is replacing traditional Soviet collectivist values with individualist, western values. Increasingly easy access to western ideas through VCRs, direct broadcast satellites (DBS), and…