Email this article CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION: A CASE STUDY OF RESTOURANT WORKERS AND FOREIGN TOURIST AT BURGERKING
Abstract
This study explores the challenges and strategies in cross-cultural communication experienced by restaurant workers at Burger King Waru Sidoarjo when interacting with foreign tourists. As global tourism increases, effective communication becomes essential in service industries. Using a qualitative case study approach, data were collected through questionnaires and observations involving 15 restaurant employees. The results show that workers often face difficulties such as understanding foreign accents, limited English vocabulary, nervousness, and cultural misunderstandings. Despite these challenges, they applied practical communication strategies including using simple English, gestures, code-switching, repetition, and clarification techniques. These strategies helped reduce miscommunication and improved service quality. The findings are analyzed using key theories such as Communicative Competence Theory, High and Low Context Cultures, Politeness Theory, and Communication Accommodation Theory. The study concludes that although workers have not received formal training, they demonstrate adaptive skills in real-life interactions. It is recommended that future training programs focus on improving both language and intercultural communication skills to better serve international customers.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Björkman, B. (2013). English as an academic lingua franca: An investigation of form and communicative effectiveness. De Gruyter Mouton.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.
Burns, A., & Richards, J. C. (Eds.). (2009). The Cambridge guide to second language teacher education. Cambridge University Press.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/I.1.1
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Pearson Education.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Giles, H. (1973). Accent mobility: A model and some data. Anthropological Linguistics, 15(2), 87–105.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics: Vol. 3. Speech acts (pp. 41–58). Academic Press.
Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. Anchor Books.
Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Hutchinson, T., & Waters, A. (1987). English for specific purposes: A learning-centred approach. Cambridge University Press.
Jenkins, J. (2007). English as a lingua franca: Attitude and identity. Oxford University Press.
Kim, Y. Y. (2001). Becoming intercultural: An integrative theory of communication and cross-cultural adaptation. SAGE Publications.
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Kusumawati, D., & Ardi, H. (2019). English needs analysis for restaurant workers in tourism areas. Journal of English Language Teaching, 8(1), 223–232.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Moleong, L. J. (2017). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif (Edisi revisi). PT Remaja Rosdakarya.
Nurhidayati, A. (2018). Cross-cultural communication in the hospitality industry: A case study in Surabaya. Indonesian EFL Journal, 4(2), 131–138.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Putra, G. D., & Santosa, M. H. (2021). English speaking strategies used by hotel staff in Bali. Journal of Applied Studies in Language, 5(1), 56–64.
Riyanto, R. (2020). Challenges faced by waiters in communicating with tourists in Yogyakarta restaurants. Lingua Cultura, 14(1), 25–32. https://doi.org/10.21512/lc.v14i1.6138.
Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.
Spencer-Oatey, H., & Franklin, P. (2009). Intercultural interaction: A multidisciplinary approach to intercultural communication. Palgrave Macmillan.
Sugiyono. (2015). Metode penelitian pendidikan: Pendekatan kuantitatif, kualitatif, dan R&D (Edisi ke-22).
Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Press.
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30872/calls.v12i1.21767
Copyright (c) 2026 Arina Nur Izzah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Editorial address:
Fakultas Ilmu Budaya, Universitas Mulawarman
Address: Jl. Ki Hajar Dewantara, Gunung Kelua, Kec. Samarinda Ulu, Kota Samarinda, Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia 75123
Email: jurnalcalls@fib.unmul.ac.id
Website: http://e-journals.unmul.ac.id/index.php/CALLS
CaLLs: Journal of Culture, Arts, Literature, and Linguistics site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
CaLLs: Journal of Culture, Arts, Literature, and Linguistics indexing by:
