Empirical Studies on L2 Communication Strategies over Four Decades: Looking Back and Ahead

Abstract

Studies on communication strategies (CSs) have been carried out for nearly four decades and have contributed a lot to the development of such fields as applied linguistics and second language acquisition, but they are still inadequate and there remain controversies over certain issues. Thus, more systematic and rigorous studies are needed to check or confirm the findings of some studies and further CS research from newer and broader perspectives. This paper mainly reviews the existing empirical studies from different perspectives: CS classifications and research methods, factors affecting the choices of CSs, teachablity and teaching of CSs, and effectiveness of CSs. It is aimed to provide a clear picture of research on L2 CSs and offer some suggestions for further research. 二语交际策略研究已有近40年的历史，相关成果对推动二语习得和应用语言学等学科的发展做出了重要贡献。但交际策略研究仍然不足，人们对相关问题的看法分歧较大。所以为了验证、核实以前的研究，从更加新颖、广阔的视角对二语交际策略进行探究，进行更加系统、科学的实证研究是非常必要的。本文从交际策略分类和研究方法、影响交际策略使用的因素、交际策略的可教性和交际策略教学以及交际策略的有效性等角度，对近40年来交际策略的实证研究成果进行了系统的梳理式回顾，并就如何深化交际策略实证研究提出了一些建议。