When an Indian speaks to a Chinese: making sense of World Englishes in the framework of communication accommodation theory

Abstract

Informed by communication accommodation theory, this study aims to examine whether and how speakers of World Englishes manage the issue of intelligibility in intercultural communication and to reveal the socio-psychological reasons for any speech changes that occur. The article contrasts two topic-prompted conversations that a male Indian English teacher engages in with a Chinese colleague and an Indian colleague respectively at a university in China. The results of the investigation show that when a person communicates in English with someone speaking another English variety, he can be self-motivated to seek common ground to manage the issue of intelligibility while reserving speech differences to maintain a distinctive identity. Based on the findings, this article ends with suggestions for English teaching and learning as well as further studies on World Englishes within the framework of communication accommodation theory.

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