Communication Strategies in English as a Second Language (ESL) Context
[...] Foreign language learners may encounter various communication problems when their interlanguage is limited. In order to convey their messages and remain in a conversation until their communication goal is achieved, [...] learners need to employ communication strategies, which have been defined generally as device used by second language learners to overcome perceived barriers to achieving specific communication goals [...]. Language learning cannot be separated from its culture. Language is a clear manifestation of culture. A word can have both cognitive meaning and cultural meaning. Cultural meaning refers to words and expressions which represent cultural perception, values and behavior. At discourse level, the link between language, communication and culture is virtually inseparable.
Miscommunication occurs when one interprets communicative rules of one culture in terms of the rules of another culture. In the process of learning a second language, learners make some errors due to first language interference. By knowing strategies to avoid misinterpretation between different backgrounds of speakers, the problems mentioned before shall be avoided easily. Language teaching at school has traditionally been aimed at developing linguistic competence. Teachers tend to teach grammar and linguistic features without letting their learners practice and improve their communication in English. Probably this is one reason that cause some learners are good in English but they cannot use English orally. This problem may be solved by introducing communication strategies to learners in order to avoid communication problems and equip them with strategies to overcome the problems of speaking that they are dealing with [...].
Communication strategies are usually associated with spoken language and research has shown that students tend to use various communication strategies when they are unable to express what they want to say because of their lack of resources in their second language (L2) [...]. When learners experience that fluency in their first language (hereafter L1) does not follow the same pattern as their L2, a gap is created in the knowledge of their L2. These gaps can take many forms: a word, a phrase, a structure, a tense marker or an idiom [...]. In order to overcome that gap, learners have two options: they can either leave the original communicative goal or they can try to reach alternative plans and use other linguistic means that they have at their disposal [...]. It is also important to know that culture and language cannot be separated. Therefore, in the context of language teaching, the knowledge of language and its culture need to be taught as well. The role of teachers in introducing communication strategies to students could determine learners’ successfulness in facing problems of communication [...].
Despite the fact that many [...] researchers lend support to communication strategies training, some opposition to it has been expressed. Bialystok (1990) and Kellerman (1991) argue that one should teach the language itself rather than the strategies. Schmidt (1983) believes that L2 learners develop their strategic competence at the expense of their linguistic competence. According to Skehan (1998), using communication strategies by skilled learners may hinder the development of their interlanguage knowledge resources [...].
Available in: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1129727.pdf. Acess on: Jan. 30, 2026.
According to the text,
