Communication Strategies in Language Learning: A Case Study (original) (raw)
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A LITERATURE REVIEW ON COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Abstract Communicating successfully means to pass on meaningful messages to the listeners. In order to achieve a successful level of communication in situations, where learners face problems when there is a mismatch between their communication goals and their linguistic resources, they tend to use devices to improve their level of communication; these devices are called Communication Strategies. This paper reviews and discusses the theoretical background of the study of Communication strategies in language learning. The first part of the paper presents the most common definitions of the Communication Strategies. The second part attempts to explain the relationship between Communicative Competence and Communication Strategies. The third part describes the types, taxonomies and the origins of the Communication Strategies. The final part sheds the light on a number of empirical studies related to types of Communication Strategies and the relationship between linguistic proficiency and Communication Strategies choice in the learner's first language and his/her second language.
The Analysis of Communication Strategies Used by Polish L2 Learners
Language in Focus, 2016
When we communicate, we make use of both verbal and non-verbal means. In a classroom situation, there are a number of obstacles which students encounter and which can impede their communication. In L2 learning contexts, one of the commonest barriers is the language. Thus, the application of communication strategies (CS) is necessary with a view to compensating for various difficulties and avoiding communication failure or achieving communicative success. The objective of our paper is to analyze the occurrence and the incidence of communication strategies in the speech of Polish L2 learners. The subjects we tested are representatives of four different proficiency groups: - intermediate (junior high school 3rd class learners), - upper-intermediate (technical secondary school students who are taking their final maturity exams), - pre-advanced (1st year philology students) and advanced (3rd year philology students). A survey was conducted with a view to eliciting the linguistic data whi...
Language Idiosyncrasies in Second Language Learners’ Use of Communication Strategies
Asian Social Science, 2015
The term, "language idiosyncrasies" can generally be defined as what an individual typically says that becomes part of his or her personality. In doing so, this language behaviour can either positively or negatively impact communication. Based on this premise, the current study sets out to examine the occurrences of language idiosyncrasies in second language (L2) communication, particularly at the point when communication strategies (CSs) were employed to overcome communication problems. By employing non-participant observations of real university admission interviews, this study departs from the other studies related to CSs which involved non-authentic, simulated environments. The observed interview sessions were conducted in the English language involving 29 Malay candidates from 20 interview sessions. These sessions were video-recorded before the raw data were transcribed. The results revealed some occurrences of language idiosyncrasies in candidates' utterances hence, supporting Paribakht's (1985) research finding that speakers exhibited idiosyncratic patterns in the realization of communication strategies. The results also concurred with the findings of past studies on the influence of speakers' L2 proficiency level on their use of CSs. As all participants were Malays communicating in an English speaking context, issues on cultural values added to the richness of the data and will also be discussed. While the findings may not be generalizable to all populations, it is hoped that this study will inform curriculum developers of language idiosyncrasies of Malay students, who form the bulk of the student population in Malaysia, so that awareness may be raised and appropriate interventions may be introduced.
Communication Strategy Use and Proficiency Level of ESL Learners
The study examined self-reports of communication strategy use by English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers with different levels of proficiency in English. The participants comprised three groups of ESL speakers with different levels of English proficiency studying in institutions of higher learning in Malaysia (N=130). The questionnaire comprised items on communication strategies for coping with speaking problems, adapted from Nakatani’s (2006) Oral Communication Strategy Inventory (OCSI). The participants indicated the frequency with which they used the communication strategies on a five-point Likert scale. The results showed that the frequency of communication strategy use increased with the participants’ English proficiency but the less proficient speakers were inclined towards message reduction and appeals for help compared to other strategies. The two groups of university students who were more proficient in English than the diploma students reported using more L1-based strategies, paraphrasing (self-repair L2-based) strategies, non-verbal strategies, meaning negotiation strategies, and information transfer strategies. Other than L1-based strategies and paraphrase, the use of the other strategies like non-verbal strategies and information transfer strategies do not require additional linguistic resources but it was the more proficient ESL speakers who could capitalise on the use of these strategies to enhance their communication.
Journal of Pragmatics, 2011
For more than three decades, the effective use of language to manage communicative deficiency and achieve successful communication has attracted scholars' attention to one of the key issues in second language acquisition (SLA) and sociolinguistics research: the use of communication strategies (hereafter CSs). CSs are used to overcome 'breakdowns', 'gaps' or 'problems' in communication which are 'pervasive and even intrinsic' in language use and communication even for native speakers' (NSs) (Coupland et al., 1991:3). When such troubles arise, the normal flow of interaction is interrupted, and a series of CSs are invoked by participants to compensate the disruption. Appearing in literature first in the early 1970s, the term 'communication strategies' within an L2 (second language) context was coined by Selinker (1972), to connect CSs with 'errors in learner's interlanguage system'. Repairing errors as a conversational mechanism allows speakers to resolve trouble in speaking, hearing, or understanding (Schegloff, 1992). From CSs scholars' point of view, L2 learners can rely on either their own sources to solve problems through using strategies such as paraphrasing, repairing, repetition, pauses, and fillers, or on their interlocutors' resources through requesting help (so the interlocutor not the speaker solves the problem) (Smith, 2003). Tarone (1980:417) believes different conceptual frameworks used by scholars investigating CSs and repair may put researchers to ''see'' different things in the same data. Communication
An Analysis of the Communication Strategies Employed by Learners of English as a Foreign Language
Linguistics and Literature Studies, 2013
Effective communication skills are most searched for by employers within the tourism industry. Therefore, the ways of developing them are a key issue for researchers, communication instructors and Foreign Language (FL) teachers. This research took place at a School of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Barcelona (Spain). The main purpose consisted in examining the evolution of the participants' oral communicative competence in English as a Foreign Language (EFL), enrolled in a 60-hour English course using learning portfolios. Samples of the learners' speech were gathered at the beginning and at the end of the academic period, and analyzed focusing on fluency, self-confidence and creativity as indicators of progress. The utilization of communication strategies (CSs) in the learners' oral production, conceptually grounded on the guidelines provided by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), was one of the main objects of the study. The results show that globally the learners' fluency, self-confidence and creativity increased, and eventually most of them used more communicative strategies than at the beginning of the term.
Lingua Cultura
This research aimed to investigate communication speaking skill strategies applied by two groups of English foreign language learners in two boarding senior high schools in Aceh, Indonesia. Of the successful group, there were 52 learners and of the less successful group 24 learners. To collect the data, this study employed the observation sheet adapted by Tarone(1978), which determined nine categories of communication strategies; approximation, word coinage, circumlocution, literal translation, language switch, mime, appeal for assistance, topic avoidance, and message abandonment. The students were observed during their speaking class. The result of this research is the literal translation, approximation, and language switchbecome the most frequent strategies used by the less successful learners. It implies that the students have had difficulties communicating in the target language. On the other hand, successful learners prefer to use approximation, literal translation, and appeal ...
Communication strategies used by advanced Norwegian students of English
Twenty years of learner corpus research: Looking back, Moving ahead , 2013
This paper investigates the use of communication strategies by Norwegian learners of English, based on transcribed interviews recorded as part of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI) (Gilquin et al. 2010). The data consists of 380 instances of communication strategies which have been categorized according to a taxonomy compiled from various pre-existing taxonomies of such strategies. The study reveals that the learners resort to achievement strategies in 96% of the cases. Among the achievement strategies, L2-based strategies are the most common, which makes sense considering the learners’ fairly high competence level in English. A substantial number of instances of L1-based strategies, such as code switching, can be attributed to the fact that the interviewers understand Norwegian perfectly despite being native speakers of English. This strategy type thus contributes positively to fluency, rather than disrupts communication. Other aspects that are analyzed include the tendency for different strategy types to occur in clusters, and the success of different types of cooperation strategies, where the learner implicitly or explicitly appeals to the interviewer for assistance.