Using stimulated recall to explore the use of communication strategies in English lingua franca interactions

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Kennedy

AbstractIn this study, the communication strategy use of two pairs of English as a lingua franca (ELF) users was explored in relation to two contextual factors, the communicative goal and the ELF users’ thoughts and feelings about the interactions. The ELF users were video-recorded engaging in researcher-designed tasks which required sharing information to achieve a joint goal. Subsequent stimulated recall with individual speakers targeted instances of potential or actual difficulties in understanding. Recordings and transcripts of the paired tasks and stimulated recall were used to identify communication strategies used to address difficulties in understanding. Results showed that overall, 11 different strategy types were seen across both pairs of speakers. However, the pair which achieved the shared goal showed a different pattern of strategy use and of interaction than the pair which did not achieve the shared goal. The two pairs also differed in how they attributed responsibility for successful communication. These findings, discussed in the context of previous ELF communication strategy research, highlight benefits of investigating interlocutors’ contemporaneous thoughts and feelings and the ways in which communication strategies are used during interactions.

Author(s):  
Rebecca L. Butler ◽  
Ann Katherine Hoobler ◽  
Lucy C. Stein ◽  
Erica S. Hoenig ◽  
Laura M. Lee ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 era has been an age of change for healthcare systems worldwide. At the beginning of the pandemic in particular, there was a huge need to rapidly communicate new and constantly changing information with critical safety implications. Previously successful communication strategies were not adequate for this unprecedented challenge. At MedStar Health, the Quality & Safety team led a unique partnership between human factors experts, clinical teams, and the communications department to develop a three-pronged strategy for effective communication during the pandemic. This strategy incorporated the following components: 1) Using human factors and usability concepts to distill complex clinical information into easy-to-understand infographics for frontline associates; 2) Creating regular, succinct messaging to distribute the information and provide frequent updates throughout the healthcare system; and 3) Designing and maintaining a usable webpage where associates could access up-to-date information relevant to their specialty at any time, on or off the hospital network. This strategy, which was dynamic and adapted to user feedback, was supported by associates as a streamlined method for communicating important information throughout the pandemic.


Author(s):  
Raed Latif Ugla ◽  
Mohamad Jafre Zainol Abidin ◽  
Mohammed Najim Abdullah

<span>This study aimed at investigating the influence of language proficiency level on the frequency of the use and choice of L1/L2 communication strategies used by Iraqi EFL students. This study was qualitative in nature. The interactive task and speaking task were used to gather data regarding communication strategy use and choice from<em> </em>52 second and third year English major students. Those participants were divided into two groups; low and high proficient students (n=27 low proficient students and n=25 high proficient students). A taxonomy of communication strategies was adopted to code the communication strategies used by low and high proficient Iraqi EFL students. The results revealed that low proficient students use communication strategies more frequently than high proficient students. Both low and high proficient students used communication strategies other than those included in selected taxonomy. This study showed that low proficient students use L1-based strategies more frequently, while high proficient students use L2-based strategies more frequently.</span>


Economica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 61-67
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Tóthné Herbst

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.


Author(s):  
Megawati Sukarno ◽  
Su-Hie Ting

Communication strategy use varies with proficiency in the target language and less proficient learners rely on L1 strategies for conversational repair. In an English for Occupational Purposes (EOP) context where the technical register is unfamiliar, little is known on whether communication strategies can enable learners with limited English proficiency to overcome hesitancy in speech. The study examined learners’ use of communication strategies and fluency in group interactions in an EOP context using an integrated problem-solving, interactional and discourse-based framework of communication strategies. A 13-week communication strategy training was conducted focusing on conversational repair strategies (fillers, approximation, code-switching), meaning negotiation strategies (clarification request, comprehension check, confirmation check), response strategies (rephrase, shadowing, reply) and discourse-based strategies (lexical repetition, topic fronting). The results on communication strategy use in three group interaction sessions involving three participants showed that the most frequently used communication strategies were lexical repetition and fillers. The participants’ fluency, as measured in C-units and frequency of fillers, was higher when they interacted on familiar topics. The participants learnt to use discourse-based strategies but not meaning negotiation strategies. The findings suggest that for better negotiation of meaning, the communication strategy training needs to create metacognitive awareness of the interlocutors’ communicative needs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Y.K. Lam

This article reports findings from a strategy intervention study involving a treatment class (N=20) and a comparison class (N=20) in an ESL oral setting. Oral communication strategies were taught to the treatment class. A data-collection method comprising stimulated recall interviews that aimed to investigate respectively the learning process (i.e., strategy use) and the learning product (i.e.,task performance) was employed. The findings indicate that strategy instruction might affect low-proficiency students more than high-proficiency students in terms of both strategy use and task performance. The article concludes with pedagogic implications for communication strategy instruction.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Megawati Soekarno ◽  
Su-Hie Ting

The study examined the use of communication strategies in monologues and dialogues by Malaysian healthcare trainees with limited English proficiency during communication strategy training. The training focused on the use of circumlocution in individual presentation, appeal for assistance in role-play, offering assistance and lexical repetition in group discussion, stress (tonicity) in responding to questions after a presentation, and filled pauses in interviews. The speech of eight participants in the five speaking tasks were recorded and transcribed. The analysis of the 6,137-word transcript showed that monologues called into use more communication strategies than dialogues which are jointly negotiated. The participants used pauses and lexical repetition as communication strategies most often, which, in fact, is predictable considering their language proficiency. Most of the pauses were pauses filled with sounds like umm and uhh rather than fillers taught during the strategy training. The analysis revealed that the participants could use lexical repetition to appeal for assistance, request clarification and confirm comprehension but the frequencies for these strategies were low compared to discourse maintenance and topic salience marking. The strategy training helped the participants to use the strategy that was taught immediately after the training but automatisation in strategy use had not taken place.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Rosi Hardianti

: In the process of communication, EFL students frequently experience problem in saying what they want to say in English. Oral Communication Strategies (OCS) surface as the students needs to solve problems of expressing their intended meaning. This descriptive qualitative study intended to analyze (1) types of OCS used by students while conducting discussion, and (2) the students� reasons for using certain types of OCS. The participants of this study were a group discussion consisting of five EFL students of English Education Department in the University of Kuningan. The data in this study were gained from observation and interview which were then transcribed. The data were analyzed qualitatively by using Dornyei�s (1995) taxonomy of OCS. The results revealed that students participated in this study tended to use achievement strategies (73.07%) more frequently than avoidance strategies (26.92%). Specifically, students used nine out of twelve communication strategy types, and the most frequent strategy used by students while conducting discussion was the use of fillers strategy (51.28%). Then, the students� reasons for using fillers strategy in their communication were basically because of their lack of English vocabulary knowledge and content knowledge of topics which were being discussed. Thus, students encounter communication problems as the results of target linguistic inadequacy. Hence, further study might yield different result if the topics chosen for discussion were desired topics among students.Keywords: EFL (English as a Foreign Language), Oral Communication Strategies, Discussion


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-304
Author(s):  
Huib Kouwenhoven ◽  
Mirjam Ernestus ◽  
Margot van Mulken

Research questions: Are emergent bilinguals sensitive to register variation in their use of communication strategies? What strategies do LX speakers, in casu Spanish speakers of English, use as a function of situational context? What role do individual differences play? Methodology: This within-speaker study compares Spanish second-language English speakers’ communication strategy use in an informal, peer-to-peer conversation and a formal interview. Data and analysis: The 15 hours of informal and 9.5 hours of formal speech from the Nijmegen Corpus of Spanish English were coded for 19 different communication strategies. Findings/conclusions: Overall, speakers prefer self-reliant strategies, which allow them to continue communication without their interlocutor’s help. Of the self-reliant strategies, least effort strategies such as code-switching are used more often in informal speech, whereas relatively more effortful strategies (e.g. reformulations) are used more in informal speech, when the need to be unambiguously understood is felt as more important. Individual differences played a role: some speakers were more affected by a change in formality than others. Originality: Sensitivity to register variation has not yet been studied within communicative strategy use. Implications: General principles of communication govern speakers’ strategy selection, notably the protection of positive face and the least effort and cooperative principles.


2009 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 93-108
Author(s):  
Su-Hie Ting ◽  
Tiee-Pai Kho

Abstract The study examined the use of communication strategies in same- and cross-gender interactions by learners of English as a Second Language (ESL). Analysis of oral data from 10 female same- and 10 cross-gender interactions using an integrated psycholinguistic, social interaction and discourse-based framework showed that communication strategies were mainly used to overcome linguistic inadequacies rather than to enhance the message. Female learners used considerably more restructuring while male learners preferred approximation to bridge communication gaps when understanding of meanings may not be shared. The ESL learners were found to accommodate in their use of communication strategies to the gender of their interaction partners. In cross-gender dyads, there were attempts at a more careful formulation of the message, as indicated by a decrease in the use of approximation by both female and male speakers and an increase in restructuring of the message by male learners. The results revealed that it was not the gender of the learners but the gender of the interaction partners that heightened the use of message-enhancing communication strategies, particularly, topic fronting by female speakers and lexical repetition by male speakers. The potential of cross-gender interactions in ESL language learning contexts is discussed.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arab World English Journal ◽  
Mintra Puripunyavanich ◽  
Kittitouch Soontornwipast

This study investigates the effects of learning and communication strategies (LACS) instruction on economics students’ oral communication ability in Thailand and explores their perceptions toward the instruction. The study involved 23 third-year economics undergraduates at a public university in Thailand who were explicitly taught 13 learning and communication strategies in class. The impacts of the LACS instruction on oral communication ability were assessed by the participants’ pre- and post- oral presentation tests, and the perceptions of the participants as well as their strategy use were obtained from students’ reflective journals (SRJ), semi-structured focus group interviews, and the teacher’s observation notes. The findings reveal that all students’ oral presentation test scores significantly improved and confirm that teaching a combination of different LACS could enhance oral communication ability. The qualitative results indicate that all 23 students had positive perceptions of the strategies instruction. Furthermore, it is revealed that strong students used a combination of all three types (cognitive, metacognitive, and affective) of learning strategies (LS) and a communication strategy (CS) of self-repair, while moderate and weak students employed a combination of two types (cognitive and affective) of LS and self-repair. Nonetheless, this study would argue that strong, moderate, and weak students did apply metacognitive strategies, as evidenced by their reflections on their strategy use in the journals and the self-assessment form, but some students were not aware of it. Consequently, future studies should emphasize raising students’ awareness of their metacognitive strategy use.


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