策略13 Communication Strategies.docx

1、策略13 Communication StrategiesCommunication StrategiesWarm-up Questions1. Do you often communicate with other people in English?2. Are you afraid of making mistakes in speaking English?3. Do you often develop your communicative skills? How?4. Do you often use non-verbal communication? How?5. Whats di

2、fference between linguistic skills and communicative skills?I. IntroductionIs there an “ideal speaker” of a language? As I know, the ideal speaker is an abstraction. Evan native speakers are not “perfect,” and they can also produce faulty sentences. What happen when Chinese learners of English try t

3、o communicate? Some manage to convey their messages well; others still find themselves abandoning their ideas in mid-sentence, avoiding communication for fear of making mistakes, for lack of confidence. This topic will focus on these problems, and hope you go towards ideal speakers. I will deal with

4、 communication and communication strategies (CS). The topic will be divided into 5 sections. In the first sections, I am going to present the category, the definition of the CS. The following sections are concerned with classification and elaboration of CS, factors affecting learners use of CS, how

5、to improve CS, and summary of the topic.Whats communication? Communication refers to interaction between speakers and listeners, or writers and readers. According to Morrow (1981), activities that are truly communicative have 3 features: information gap, choice, and feedback. An information gap exis

6、ts when one person in an exchange knows something that the other person doesnt. Feedback indicates that a speaker can evaluate the information he/she receives from the listener. If the listener does not have an opportunity to provide the speaker with such feedback, the exchange is not really communi

7、cative. Furthermore, the category of “communicative activities” comprises a range of fluency activities such as problem-solving tasks, improvisations (doing sth one has not prepared for, owing to unexpected situation), role-plays, and interviews, which provide an opportunity for learners to use all

8、their language resources for fluency practice.Now let us turn our attention to communication strategies. Communication strategies, by definition, are concerned with L2 production (vs reception) (Ellis, 1985: 187). The term CS was first coined by Selinker (1972), in his paper on Inter-language (Ellis

9、: 180). Since then, there has been a steady increase of interest in the learners communication strategies. A large number of papers and works on it have been come out. What is the definition of communication strategies? Several researchers have defined communication strategies. Below are 3-5 definit

10、ions that will serve as our framework for this topic (Saiz, 1990: 23). CS relate to a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situation where requisite meaning structures do not seem to be clear (Tarone, 1977).CS are a systematic technique employed by a speaker to express his me

11、aning when faced with some difficulty (Corder, 1978).CS are potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal (Fearch and Kasper, 1983)In her Understanding L2 Acquisition, Ellis defined CS as follows: Communication

12、strategies are psycholinguistic plans that exist as part of the language users communicative competence. They are potentially conscious and serve as substitutes for production plans which the learner is unable to implement (Ellis, 1985: 182).Paribakht et al (1985) makes it more clearly. He says,CS a

13、re methods that learners use in the L2 context to remedy their inadequacy of grammar and vocabulary in order to reach their communicative goal. The functions of CS in FL acquisition are: (1) they can encourage learners to form hypothesis (形成假设) and automation of FL knowledge; (2) they can keep the c

14、ommunicative channel open (保持交际渠道畅通), so as to increase learners input; (3) they can arouse learners communicative confidence and overcome their anxiety (高海虹,2000: 53). Normally, communication refers to both oral and written activities, as speaking and writing usually require one to communicate with

15、 other people. However, this topic will pay more attention to oral communication, which is about spoken language. Written communication belongs to written language, which will be included in writing strategy in future. II. Classification and Elaboration of Communication StrategiesFaerch, C and Kaspe

16、r, G (1983) examined the CS in the process of language production. Based on the CS effect on FL learning, they divided CS into achievement strategy and reduction strategy. When learners are faced with difficulty in communication, they normally have two choices. One is to avoid difficulty; the other

17、is to manage to overcome it. The method of avoidance is to use reductions, including formal reduction and functional reduction. It aims to adjust the original communicative goal. The method of problem solving is to use achievement strategies. Both achievement strategies and reduction strategies are

18、strategies of communication to solve particular problems at particular time. However, they are different in behaviors. Generally speaking, achievement strategies retain the original intention of meaning, and use resources creatively to solve a communication problem. In a word, they are used to overc

19、ome the problem. Reduction strategies, on the other hand, do not extend ones linguistic repertoire, but instead change the message to be communicated so that it comes within available resources. That is to say, they are used to avoid the problem (that is why they are also termed avoidance strategies

20、). Now let me elaborate these strategies and help you have a good understanding of them. Achievement strategies include compensatory strategies (-补偿策略) and retrieval strategies (检索策略) (束定芳: 80-1). Compensatory strategies can be subdivided into cooperative strategies and non-cooperative strategies. C

21、ooperative strategies (求助/合作) are strategies of asking the interlocutor (-) for correct expressions through direct appeal or indirect appeal. They involve a joint problem-solving effort (mutual attempt) by the learner and his interlocutor. For example, “What is this?” and “How to say 袋鼠 in English?”

22、 are direct appeals. This shows that the learner overtly requests assistant and interlocutor (- the person who is talking to one) then offers the help. In indirect appeal, the learner does not request assistance, but indicates the need for appeal by means of a pause, eye gaze (眼神). For example, “ My

23、 hurt.” (speaker touched his back). This is mime. Another example, a speaker says, “The rare animal from Sichuan is called(a pause and looking at the interlocutor).” The interlocutor adds “panda” to the sentence to keep the conversation going. Non-cooperative strategies are compensatory strategies t

24、hat do not call for the assistant of the interlocutor. They in general refers to (1) L2 based-strategies (转述策略). That is to say, the learner makes use of alternative L2 forms. For example, (a) the learner replaces rabbit with animal. This is substituting. (b) The learner replaces an L2 item by descr

25、ibing or exemplifying it. “He cleaned the house with a (dust collector) ” “ it sucks in air. This is paraphrasing. (c) The learner develops an alternative constituent plan, e.g. “I have two” “I have a brother and sister.” This is restructuring. And (2) para-language strategies (副语言), i.e. something

26、to do with non-verbal communication. The learner compensates, using non-linguistic means such as mime, gesture, facial expressions, and sound limitation etc. to communicate. For example, while listening, it is normal to support the speaker by physical and verbal gestures (such as nods of the head or

27、 utterances like mm, yeah and uhuh) that show the speaker he still has the listeners attention (刘润清, 1996: 137). Retrieval strategies are used when the learner has a problem locating the required item but decides to persevere (- 坚持) rather than use a compensatory strategy. They can be sub-classified

28、 into (1) stalling strategy (拖延), e.g. waiting and using formulas. The learner waits for the item to come to him. For example, using “er ” when one cannot decide what to say next “And then ererjust suddenly seemed toerdisappear!” and using such formulas as “Well”, “You know”, “How shall I put it?” a

29、nd so on. The learner aims to obtain his thinking time. (2) Using semantic field. The learner identifies the semantic field to which the item belongs and runs through items belonging to this field until he locates the item. For example, “Do you know the large animals jump about on two legs carrying

30、their young in a stomach pocket? (kangaroos-)” “ What do you call the bear that can climb trees?” (koala-). And (3) using other languages. The learner thinks of the form of the item in another language and then translates it into the L2 (Ellis: 184-5).Achievement strategies are risk-taking strategie

31、s. They are very positive, and helpful for learners to express clearly, fluently, and naturally. It is far better to attempt to communicate meaning than to avoid it. However, research shows that Chinese learners of English do not use achievement strategies very constantly, although they realize that

32、 AS play an active role in communication. They tend to use reduction strategies. RS are risk-avoiding strategies. So reduction strategy (RS) is also termed avoidance. Reduction strategies attempt to do away with a problem. They involve the learner giving up part of his original communication goal. When faced with difficulty in communication, learners tend to give up and simplify a topic, or avoid some language forms. Reduction strategies fall into formal reduction strategies and functional reduction strategies. Formal RS involve the avoidance of L2 rules of which t