Professional Identity Representation in a Successful Intercultural Communication: A Socio-Cognitive Perspective

Abstract

The aims of this research were to analyze the representation of professional identity through the language use in email correspondence, the way it was achieved, and its implication toward a successful intercultural communication. The model of analyzing the language usage in this research was based on Van Djik’s socio-cognitive perspective (2018) and the work of Patel, et. al (2011) in which they argue that the language usage is a results of mental processing. The mental processes in this research was specified into conclusion withdrawal about other culture which then used for an effective intercultural communication and intended to be a successful one. This research was qualitative in nature in which it was described descriptively. The source of the data in this research was the email correspondence conducted by the employees of Adventure Lombok tour and travel. The data were collected through observation and transcript analysis. The results of this research indicated that the employees of Adventure Lombok company were indeed represented their professional identity, this professional Identity was reflected and accomplished through a variety of ways which were consideration toward their customers preferences, a prompt and accommodating reply, providing honest suggestion, and service oriented which then lead to a successful intercultural communication that can be seen from the sells that the employees made. All of these were believed to be the result of previous ‘intercultural contact’ which were stored within the cognitive of the employees and retrieved for later use. This result is in line with Li and Patel (2011:22) in which they argued that “intercultural communication is influenced by the quality of the intercultural contact that we have in our personal and professional environments”.