Communication Strategies In Sla

Communication Strategies (adapted from Dornyei 1995) Avoidance Strategies 1. Message abandonment : 2. Topic avoidance

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Leaving a message unfinished because of language difficulties Avoiding topic areas or concepts that pose language difficulties.

Compensatory strategies 3. Circumlocution

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Describing or exemplifying the target object of action ( example: the thing you open bottles with for corkscrew)

4. Approximation

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Using an alternative term which expresses the meaning of the target lexical item as closely as possible (example: ship for sailboat)

5. Word coinage

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Creating a nonexisting L2 word based on a supposed rule (example: vegetarianist for vegetarian)

6. Prefabricated patterns :

Using memorized stock phrases, usually for “survival” purposes (example: Where is the …… or Comment allez-vous), where the sentences are not known to the learner)

7. Nonlinguistic signals

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Mime, gesture, facial expression, or sound imitation. Literal translation: Translating literally a lexical item, idiom, compound word, or structure from L1 to L2

8. Code-switching

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Using a L1 word with L1 pronunciation or a L3 word with L3 pronunciation while speaking in L2.

8. Appeal for help

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Asking for aid from the interlocutor either directly (example: What do you call ……..?) or indirectly (example: rising intonation, pause, eye contact, puzzled expression)

Avoidance Strategies 1. Lexical avoidance Second language learners avoid a certain lexical item when they don’t know the word. Example Mr A: I lost my road Mr B: You lost your road? Mr A: Uh, I lost. I lost. I got lost 2. Message abandonment The learner begins to talk about a concept but is unable to continue and stops in mid-utterance. Example A learner says “he took the wrong way in mm…” (He/she does not continue his/her utterance). 3. Topic avoidance The learner simply tries not to talk about concepts for which the TL item or structure is not known. A whole type of conversation (say, talking about what happened yesterday if the past tense is unfamiliar) might be avoided entirely.

Compensatory Strategies 1. Prefabricated patterns Prefabricated patterns are memorized chunk of language which is often found in pocket bilingual dictionary such as “How are you?" or "Where is your hotel?". A learner may use these without any knowledge at all of their internal structure. These are partly "creative" and partly memorized wholes; they consist of sentence frames with an open "slot" for a word or a phrase, such as "That's a _____" (pen, knife, banana), 2. Direct appeal Learners may, if stuck for a particular word or phrase, directly ask a native speaker or the teacher for the form (“how do you say ……”). Or they might venture a possible guess and then ask for verification from the native speaker of the correctness of the attempt. 3. Code switching It is a term in linguistics referring to using more than one language or variety in conversation. Bilinguals, who can speak at least two languages, have the ability to use elements of both languages. Code-switching can occur between sentences or within a single sentence. Sometimes the learner slips in just a word or two, in the hope that the hearer will get the gist of what is being communicated. Others defined it as 'The alternative use of two languages.' Example Ali: No, ask from Fendi. Takkan tak ada? Spanish/English: Have aqua please.