Cross-cultural interactions are framed by the participants' expectations about normative behaviors. Frames are the rules of conduct and discourse in social contexts which enable us to connect macro-level cultural knowledge to individuals’ micro-level behaviors enabling quick interpretation of the social norms in play. These norms can be even influenced by status hierarchy and competence - group members forming norms together are more likely to imitate models that appear more competent (Williamson Meltzoff & Markman 2008).
Watanabe (1993) focused on American and Japanese participants' discourse styles. Culturally Japanese people adhere to a strict hierarchical social structure - and express this is the way they address individuals who are familiar inferior or superior to them. American participants in Watanabe's study of cross-cultural discourse jumped into discussion whereas Japanese participants spent considerable time setting the expectations for discourse deferring to social conventions of rank status and hierarchy implicit in the room - contrasting sharply to Americans' perceived individualistic attitudes. American students may sometimes express opinions questions or statements that aren't relevant to the conversation and Japanese students may view American discourse as incoherent or disorganized. Likewise however Japanese people tend to elaborate their reasoning with personal anecdotes instead of the brief reasons provided by American participants for their actions.
This has implications for how teachers will inevitably interact with students from diverse backgrounds; different students' stories will influence how they act and communicate in the classroom and with their peers contributing to the larger frame of understanding by meaning-making.