A Theoretical Basis of Intercultural Communication Competence: Gudykunst’s Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory

Authors

  • George Yip

Abstract

Effective intercultural communication is a lesson that every cross-cultural worker has to master. There are plenty of resources, training sessions, and courses to help cross-cultural workers developing their “intercultural communication competence” (ICC) ; yet there is a lack of discussion among missiologists on the theoretical basis of effective ICC. This article seeks to introduce one main theory on effective ICC: Gudykunst’s Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) theory of effective communication. Instead of a detailed description of the theory, I will selectively deal with those aspects of the theory that are relevant to the focus of this article, i.e.  how to communicate effectively by developing ICC.

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