Communication Strategy Use in English Conversational Discourse

Zsuzsanna Tóthné Herbst

doi:10.47282/economica/2014/7/4/4375

Abstract

The ultimate goal of language learners is to communicate efficiently and fluently in the given second language, which is hard work to reach. They are learning the language for long years, and it may happen that theoretically they are familiar with all the grammar intricacies, but practically they are not able to ask for even a glass of water in real situations. The question is whether the use of communication strategies could help to cope with the difficulties by their direct teaching. A few years ago I conducted a research to find out what kind of interactive strategies the learners are using and to provide a full list of them. The publications at that time did not deal with strategies specifically in the teaching material. I used my own list. The latest books, however, put a stress on useful phrases. So the question is whether the fact that they draw attention to strategies in separate sections, will bring significant changes in the learners’ communication.

Highlights

It can often happen that communication fails for this or that reason, especially in a foreign language, in which we are not as good as at our mother tongue
That means that...) In First Insights into Business comparison was even more complicated because expressions are built in the communication strategies through functions or rather situations
Summary I would like to finish my work with Faerch and Kasper’s words, which speak for themselves why to teach communication strategies: “...communication strategies can be seen as devices which enable learners to bridge the inevitable gap between classroom interaction and various communicative situations outside the classroom, hereby increasing their communicative competence

Summary

INTRODUCTION

It can often happen that communication fails for this or that reason, especially in a foreign language, in which we are not as good as at our mother tongue. My view is that strategy use can overcome many problems. Zsuzsanna Tóthné Herbst: Communication Strategy Use in English Conversational Discourse. As communication is getting more and more in the centre of language teaching pushing out grammar-centred education, we can read more and more studies on different types of strategies, which facilitate communication and learning, and modern books put a higher attention on teaching them. The term ‘strategy’ is explained in Collins Cobuild’s English Language Dictionary in the meaning 2.2 as “the art of planning the best way to achieve something or to be successful in a particular field”. Dörnyei and Scott [1994] identify three major problem areas: “(a) the lack of a universally acceptable definition for communication strategies; (b) the existence of several competing taxonomies of communication strategies that include different ranges of strategies; (c) the lack of reliable methods for identifying communication strategies”. Numerous dubious points surround the notion of communication strategy itself. Dörnyei and Scott [1994] identify three major problem areas: “(a) the lack of a universally acceptable definition for communication strategies; (b) the existence of several competing taxonomies of communication strategies that include different ranges of strategies; (c) the lack of reliable methods for identifying communication strategies”. (p.1)

RESEARCH WORK

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23. Response rephrasing

STRATEGY USE IN MODERN COURSE BOOKS

COMPARISON

TEACHING IMPLICATIONS