Accommodation Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accommodation Theory - Essay Example Accommodation theory suggests that every person in a given society has the ability to change or adjust their speech depending on the nature of the conversation, or the other person they are addressing and the purpose of the interaction. The changing of the speech patterns is a summary of how the accommodation theory works. For example, when native people talk to foreigners, they tend to speak more slowly or when adults talk with children and babies, they use simple language (Griffin, 2008). When put into context, it means that people accommodate others by adjusting their communicational behavior to match the level of those they are with, in a conversation. The results of accommodation are ultimately either divergence or convergence. As their names suggest, a convergence result is where a person moves their speech to be closer to that the other person’s. On the other hand, a divergence result is when the speech move away from each other. Convergence result allows the reduction of the social distance between the two conversing parties. It allows a person who is of a higher class to tone down their speech so that they can communicate effectively with the lower class person. On the contrary, the divergence resul t increases the distance between people. The divergence result emphasizes the differences that exist between people. The accommodation theory has many existing and available means by which it may be applied. Currently the accommodation theory is applied to many communication processes. Gasiorek and Howard (2013, 15) opines that in a company or an organization that has different levels of employees, the accommodation theory can be applied to aid the communication between the management and the employees. For instance, it is used for horizontal communication amongst the employees and in vertical communication between employees and senior management. To test this theory, Giles came up with several theories that served to test why people change