The debate over the source of cross cultural communication difficulties is confounded by methodological divergences. Interactions between Canadian and international students are often encumbered by communication problems even when the non-native speaker (NNS) has high levels of fluency in English and/or French. Students of Asian cultural background often do not get their message across in an effective and acceptable manner even though they have a high TOEFL score and were accepted by a Canadian university. According to researchers such as House (1997), cross-cultural pragmatic failure may occur because of mother-tongue and native (Canadian) culture interference. Acting on what is pragmatically acceptable in their native culture, such as in China, Japan and Korea, NNSs may misinterpret the intentions of Canadian English/French native speakers or speak in ways that are culturally unacceptable.
Researchers in the area of second language acquisition (SLA), language education and cross-cultural communication have attempted to interpret communication problems of speakers with non English linguistic and cultural backgrounds in a broad cultural and educational context. In order to explain communication problems between native and non-native speakers and their communication breakdowns, "investigators must go beyond an analysis of the purely linguistic features of the interaction (phonology, morphology, syntax, and prosody), and consider as well its pragmatic and sociocultural dimensions" Gass & Varonis (1991, p. 121). Cultural studies in the area of SLA often result in the discussion of research methodologies to be employed - the quantitative based speech act research and qualitative methods of naturalistic inquiry.