Communication Strategies: An Overview (original) (raw)

This paper examines the role of communication strategies in the maintenance of communication in a classroom. The main goal of learning a foreign language is to be able to communicate for most people. It is through communication that people send and receive messages effectively and negotiate meaning (Rubin & Thompson, 1994). As a result, communication strategies have turned into a major topic for all foreign language learners and teachers. Communication strategies are the steps taken by language learners in order to enhance the effectiveness of their communication (Littlemore, 2003). Several definitions of communication strategies have been proposed since the concept was first introduced by Selinker (1972). One of the definitions most often referred to is the one provided by Tarone (1980), who considers communication strategies to be an interactional phenomenon. In Bialystok’s book Communication Strategies, she cites four definitions relating to the strategies of second-language learners (Bialystok, 1990): (1) a systematic technique employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with some difficulty; (Corder, 1977) (2) a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are not shared; (Tarone, 1980) (3) potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal; (Faerch & Kasper, 1983) (4) techniques of coping with difficulties in communicating in an imperfectly known second language. (Stern, 1983)