ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some ways of translating between communication models and metadiscursive frames, showing that metadiscursive frames can be conceptually reconstructed as communication models, and communication models can be used in practice as metadiscursive frames. Communication theory is a particular form of metadiscourse that arises from and contributes to the practical metadiscourse of society. The chapter examines some topical communication frames: forms of metadiscourse related to particular domains or aspects of communication, each of which embeds one or more of the basic frames. Communication can be framed from the point of view of ‘dialogue’ as a type of conversation that either achieves greater mutual understanding through open, honest and constructive discourse or fails to do so. The chapter summarises the results, concluding that practice and theory can be mutually informative, and suggests the use of systematic methods for realising this potential synergy.
