BIB_11: Cardon, P. W. (2008). A critique of Hall's contexting model. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 22(4), 399-428.

This is a meta-analysis of 224 articles published in business and technical communication journals between 1990 and 2006 on Hall's theory of contexting, a model that has been used widely in international/cross-cultural technical and business communication. Cardon concludes that there is no empirical support for the theory, and therefore, the theory is unsubstantiated and requires further research to support it. Cardon offers five recommendations for the future research in this area:

1. Develop measures or instruments for contexting
2. Include more countries and cultures in studies of contexting model
3. Develop categories or dimensions of contexting
4. Focus on the circumstances in which various cultures use both HC and LC messages
5. Focus on areas of contexting other than directness

This is a good article that critiques the widely used contexting model. The high-context and low-context models remains problematic epistemologically and methodologically. This article mostly addresses the lack of methodological rigor in the studies of this model. The recommendations are useful, but Cardon has neither pointed out a way for technical communicators to use the model, nor argued that we should stop using contexting model (i.e., completely discredited it).