photo by MyDigitalSLR
by :: Anamaria
We recently talked about communication styles here and here. The theory on cross-cultural communication styles is extensive, but I think many people are familiar with the distinction between direct and indirect communication styles.
In a nutshell:
Direct communication is when the meaning of the message is communicated mainly via words.
Indirect communication is when meaning is not only in the words, but mainly in the surrounding context of a conversation. In other words, somebody who is indirect will leave it up to the listener to fill in the blanks and make out the meaning by correctly reading the contextual clues (e.g. non-verbal communication, status and/or age of people involved in the conversation, attire, etc.).
No matter how much we read about indirect communication, it is virtually impossible for a direct person to fully understand the complexity of indirectness until we’ve been immersed in it.
At a first “direct” glance, it will seem that indirect people can literally read people’s minds. A second, third and fourth … and often a hundredth glance will reveal the contextual clues, all those things that are not being said. Things that indirect people have been taught to see and to correctly interpret since the day they were born. Direct people are not being taught to look at the context for what is NOT being said when interpreting a message. They are taught to listen to the words being said.
Just like with cultural dimensions, it is important to remember that both communication styles are found in every culture. However, cultures do have tendencies towards one more than the other. Also, they manifest themselves differently in each culture (e.g. an indirect US American communicates very differently than an indirect Japanese person).
In the context of education, it’s interesting to think of how these two communication styles shape teacher-student interactions. Or student participation. Or classroom management styles.
Are there any teachers reading our blog who have taught in both indirect and direct cultures? Or teachers who taught students from both direct and indirect cultures? We would love to hear from you.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I often help parents find indirect ways of communicating with their children, when direct communication fails. Some kids get overwhelmed by the directness and can feel threatened. But offering kids direction and information indirectly can be very useful and cut down on confrontations. I enjoyed your article. Thanks.