COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES

• PEOPLE COMMUNICATE TO:

  • maintain and establish relationship

  • Find meaning in what they do daily

  • know oneself

• HUMANS ARE KNOWN TO CREATING SKILLS AND SUSTAINING MEANINGFUL CONVERSATIONS

Successful communication requires understanding, but sometimes we encounter problems because of different factors.

COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES

Strategies that language learners use to overcome communication problems in order for them to convey their intended meaning.

Communicative Strategies must be used to start and keep conversation going.

(Cohen 1990)

Nomination

• Proposing or suggesting a topic with the people you are talking to.

• You are offering them something to talk about.

• Beginning or opening a discussion.

• This could also be in a form of question.

RESTRICTION

• Limiting the topic or subject in conversation.

• Happens when the person wants to focus on a certain aspect of the issue or topic being discussed due to some limiting factors.
  

TURN-TAKING

• Process by which people decide who will take the conversational floor.

• Allowing appropriate opportunities for others to talk.

• Manner in which an orderly conversation normally takes place.

TURN-TAKING STRATEGIES

• Speak, then ask

• Use conjunctions

• Avoid interruptions

• Consider fluency over accuracy

TOPIC CONTROL

• Regulating or manipulating the topic of the conversation and how long we want the other person may talk

• Done if we want to get specific information from a conversation

TOPIC SHIFTING

• Changing the subject in a conversation, moving from one topic to another.

• Done without announcing the change of the topic and keeps the communication

• Going and makes it interesting.

REPAIR

• Refers to the correction by speaker of a misunderstood utterance.

• How the speaker address the problems in speaking, listening, and comprehending that they may encounter in a conversation.

4 VARIETIES OF REPAIR SEQUENCE

Self-initiated

Self-repair

• Both initiated and carried out by the speaker.

Other-initiated

Self-repair

• Initiated by the recipient, repair is carried out by the speaker.

Self-initiated

Other-repair

• Speaker initiates the receiver to repair the trouble

Other-initiated

Other- repair

• The receiver initiates and carries out of the trouble.

TERMINATION

• Ending the conversation or closing up a discussion

• Refers to the conversation participants’ close initiating expressions that end a topic in a conversation.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES TO AVOID COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

1. Be a positive thinker- Positivity welcomes good vibes.

2. Use appropriate language- Know when, where and how to use appropriate words.

3. Give and accept feedback- Keep an open mind for feedback for there is always room for improvement.

7C’s of Effective Communication by Broom, Cutlip and Center (2012)

1. Completeness- complete information is needed before sending a message. Learn how to answer WH-questions. You, as a speaker, should include everything that the receiver needs to hear, respond, or evaluate properly . You should be able to convey all important details so as your listener or audience will be able to grasp your intended message

2. Conciseness- message is direct to the point. You as a speaker, should say your message directly or straight to the point and should be expressed in the least possible number or words. You should not include irrelevant information.

3. Consideration: You as a speaker, should give high regard and courtesy to your audience’s background information such as their culture, education, religion, status, mood, feelings, and needs.

4. Concreteness: You as a speaker, should make certain that your message is backed up by facts, figures, and real life examples or situations.

5. Courtesy: You as a speaker, should show respect to your receivers through understanding their culture, values, and beliefs. You must choose your words carefully to avoid offending your audience. Showing courtesy helps create a positive vibe and healthy communication with the audience.

6. Clearness: You as a speaker, should use simple and clear words to express your ideas. Avoid double meanings so as not to confuse your Audience.

7. Correctness: You as a speaker, should avoid grammatically wrong statements to show credibility and effectiveness of the message.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES TO AVOID COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN (by Ghaleb Rabab’ah)

A. Avoidance Strategies

1. Topic Avoidance: Learners try not to talk about the concepts which they find difficult to express.

2. Message abandonment: It refers to leaving the message unfinished due to lack of a structural or linguistic item.

B. Achievement Strategies

1. Circumlocution/ paraphrase: Describing or explaining the meaning, or the function of the target expression.

2. Word Coinage: Creating a word thinking that it might work.

3. Foreignizing: Trying out a word but adjusting it slightly phonologically or morphologically.

4. Topic-Shift: Shifting from one topic to another

5. All Purpose Words: Words used to fill in the gap. These words are over used.

6. Use of Non- Verbal Means: The use of non-linguistic resources such as mine, gestures, facial expression, and sound imitation to help the learners/ speaker express the meaning.

7. Appeal for help: It means asking the interlocutor for help