<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>A closer look at the three areas of action in communication permits us to conclude that the discipline faces a serious crisis. First, an epistemological review shows a fragmented body of theories. Secondly, there is a plurality of separate traditions within academia. Third, the professional field is technology-centered and lacks expertise since there is little connection between theory and practice. Our goal is to analyze the three-fold state of the discipline and to propose a conciliatory model. The Interactive Communication Process (ICP) is based on an interactive process in which a human subsystem (a processor), conditioned by his or her psychological and social and cultural state, interacts with another communicative subsystem (another human or a technological processor) to elaborate or process a message conveyed through some space (channel) in a certain time (synchronous or asynchronous).</jats:p>