Communication Strategy Awareness : Helping Students Use What They Already Know

MEMeMSOFSHONAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 1ioL

35,

Ne,

1,2oo1

Conrmunication

Helping

Students

UseStrategy

Awareness:

What

They

_Already

_Know

David

C.

HEL*

When

Japanese

students enter

the

univer$itM

their

English

speaking skills are

_generally

insuficient

for

meaningfu1

discourse,

even afterstudying

the

language

for

six

years

in

junior

and senior

high

schoo1.

This

is

certainly not

the

fault

of students as

the

English

education system

in

Japan,

though

_gradually

changing,

has

just

not

_prepared

students

for

the spoken

language.

Howeveg

despite

deficiencies

in

oral

English

_production,

students still

have

acquired a

_great

deal

of

English

knowledge

over

the

_years.

The

_problem

is

thatmany of

these

students

lack

the

cornmunication strategies neces-sary to

_put

this

rather

_passive

knowledge

into

activeverbal

form.

Speaking

exercises aimed at

developing

communica-tion

strategies can certainly

help

students

learn

touse erallywhat

_they

already

knowL

Howeve;

in

addition

to

usefu1

ex-ercises. explicitly teaching student$ about communication strategies and

the

process

that

each student

_goes

through

when trying

_to

speak a

foreign

language

can also

greatly

aidstudents

in

making

the

transition

to

the

spoken

language.

Furthermore,

heightening

students' awareness about communication strategies

themselves

_produces

other

_positive

re-sults

beneficia1

tothe

EFL

classroom.

1.

lntroduction

Cbnvexsation,

SPeaking

Oral

COmmttnication

are all

course

titles

airned at

describing

one

thing:

the

speak-ing

aspect

of

language

learninglacquisition.

This

type

of

English

language

course

is

usually required of

al-rnost

all

first-year

university students

in

Japan.

It

is

also a course

that

is

_generally

_quite

different

from

what

students

experience

in

junior

and senior

high

schoel,

requiring students

to

suddenly use

their

active

foreign

language

skills, namely

listening

and speaking.

Thus,

the

sudden contrast

to

the

predominantly

Passive

skills

of

reading and, and

to

some extent, writing

(basically

grammar-translation

skills)

learned

in

junior

and

sen-ior

high

schoo1 can naturally

leave

students

feeling

quite

inadequate

when attending

the

university

speak-ing

courses.

This

is

_perfectly

understandable since

stu-dents

have

_just

not

been

equipped with

the

_proper

skills

to

use

English

actively and openly

face-to-face

with other students

in

class as

is

required

in

most uni-versity speaking coursetg.

However,

despite

their

lack

of oraVaural skills, students sti11come

to

these

first-year

university classes with many other

language

skillsand

have

indeed

acquired a

_great

deal

of

English

knowledge

during

their

six

_years

_prior

to

entering

the

university:

The

_problems

_these

students

face

is

how

to

*

reftscItktre-

_mept

Eliut

₁₂

lli

₁₀

_H

₃₁

_Ueett

actively

use

what

they

already

Fbr

many of

these

first-year

students,

it

can

be

said

that

they

lack

the

practical

speaking experience

neces-sary

te

develop

the

menta1

_processes

that

lead

to

speaking a

foreign

language.

The

menta1

_processes

that

take

_place

when

trying

to

speak a

foreign

lan-guage

involve

many steps

that

entail such

things

as

evaluating what one

is

capal)le of saying and

then

comparing

it

to

what one wants

to

say;

figuring

out

how

words,

_phrases,

and

_gestures

can

be

cembined

to-gether

to

forrn

meaning; attempting

to

use

that

mean-ing

in

discourse;

and

then

reading

_your

interlocutor

for

signs of understanding and other

feedback

te

see

if

the

message was

indeed

understoed as

intended.

Obvi-ouslM

the

_process

can

be

very complicated and

confus-ing

especially

to

a novice

foreign

language

speaker,

and

_yet

ethcient communication strategies can make

this

whole

_process

seem as etfortlessly as opening one's mouth and speaking.

It

is

widely advocated

in

the

EFLIESL

_profession

that

these

communication strategies cannot

be

learned

directly

but

rather must

be

acquired and

internalized

through

natural

discourse

or

_practice

in

much

the

same way as one would acquireAearn

hislher

first

lan-guage.

CertainlM

research

ever

the

past

twenty

five

years

has

given

much evidence

to

_prove

this

to

be

true

(e,g.

Krashen,

1981).

Howeve4

from

classroom

observa-tiens,

explicitly

teaching

students about

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muptrNft\reffeg

35g

ee

lg

tion

strategies

as

well as making

them

aware of

their

own communication strategy

_process

seems

tQ

aid

con-siderably

the

_process

that

leads

to

overall

improved

oral communication.

In

addition,

heightening

commu-nication strategy awareness

leads

to

a range of other

benefits

that

may

be

of

interest

to

language

teachers,

2.

CommunicationStrategies

Fbr

seoond

language

learners

of every

level,

there

are always

times

when students

have

trouble

express-ing

directly

what

they

want

to

say

in

the

target

lan-guage

(TL)

because

of shortcomings

in

their

lingtiistic

repertoire,

if

a

learner

is

al)le

to

anticipate a

_problem

before

it

occurs,

the

iearner

may choose

to

avoid

en-gaging

in

discourse

all

together

or may modify

before-hand

what

helshe

intends

to

say

If

the

problem

occurs

while

the

learner

is

speaking,

the

learner

may

have

to

find

another way of

_getting

histher

meaning

across.

How

a

learner

deals

with

either one of

these

situations

is

what

is

meant

by

communicatiOn

strutegt'es

(Little-wood,

198n.

The

main characteristic of a communication strat-egy

is

that

it

oocurs when

the

learner

becomes

aware of

a

problem

which

his/her

current

knowledge

has

dif

ficulty

in

coping.

The

speech

_production

_process

is

therefore

itself

raised

to

a

higher

level

of

conscious-ness.

These

same

_production

_problerns

also occur

in

our

first

language

when we

have

trDuble

expressing

ourselves and

have

to

modify our meaning or

_grope

outside

the

repertoire of

language

which comes natural or spontaneeus

to

us.

Second

land

first)

language

speakers utilize several

basic

communication strategies.

The

following

are

some of

the

more

basic

ones:

1)

Avoid

cornmunicating

bM

fbr

example, choosing not

to

participate

in

dithcult

discussions;

2)

Adjust

the

message

by

simplifying;

3)

Use

paraphrase,

e.g,

trying

to

describe

the

meaning of

a word

4)

Approximation,

e.g, using a

less

specific

words

like

frait

to

mean,

for

example, a more specific

fruit

such as

_pt'neample;

5)

Create

new words

by

directly

translating

a word

from

one's native

language

into

the

second

langtiage;

6)

Switch

to

the

native

language;

D

Use

nonlinguistic resources such as

gestures,

mimes,

and

imitation;

and

8)

Seek

help

Qittlewood,

198n.

Although

the

above strategies

are

used

when

the

learner

realizes a communication

problem

exists,

it

doesn't

necessarily mean

the

learner

is

aware of which strategy

helshe

wi11

ultimately

use.

In

most

cases,

the

choice of strategy

is

_primarily

an unconscious,

auto-matic

_process

and

determined

more

out

of

experience

and

habit

than

thoughtful

conscious choice

Gllis,

1986).

In

fact,

past

experiences

play

a

big

role

in

how

strategies are used.

NaturallM

education and

the

way

in

which a

_young

student

is

taught

to

learn

and relate

to

information,

ideas,

and even

language

also

infiu-ences

the

student's strategies used

later

in

life.

This

seems

to

be

also

true

of

the

English

education

in

Japan

as many students

tend

to

carry

their

second

language

strategies

from

junior

and

senior

high

schoo1

to

the

EFL

speaking classes at

the

universities.

2.1

FbssilizedStrategies

In

Japan,

the

primary

methodology

fbr

teaching

EFL

in

junior

and senior

high

schools

is

still

grammar-translation.

With

this

method students

translate

Eng-lish

written

texts

into

Japanese

as a class or

in

small

groups.

The

language

of

instruction

is

naturally

done

in

Japanese.

Such

classes are usually

teacher

£ entered

courses requiring

the

teacher

to

explain

in

Japanese

the

meaning of werds,

_phrases,

and

_grammar

with

some comparative cu1tural and

_{pronunciation}

instruc-tion.

The

textbooks

or workbooks are

the

_primary

souroe ef

input

and

the

students

use

a

dictionary

in

and out of class

to

complete assignments.

Since

the

focus

with

this

methodology

is

on reading

through

translation,

students

learn

very

little

communicative

English

and

the

associated strategies.

Howeveg

what many native

EFL

instructors

fail

to

rea1ize

is

that

the

students

have

indeed

learned

strategies

associated

with reading and

translation

(E

to

D.

UnfortunatelM

these

strategies

are

just

not

the

ones

associated

with

ethcient oral

production

of a second

language

and

it

shows

in

the

perfbrmance

of

students

in

class.

A

famil-iar

example

from

an

EFL

speaking course can

help

il-lustrate

this

_point:

The

teacher

is

going

around

the

classroom

at

the

beginning

of

class

doing

simple

greetings

and

ing

students

hQw

their

weekends were

and

what

they

did.

One

student

is

asked

the

same series of

questions

and

then

freezes

for

a moment when

asked

to

explain

what

he

did

for

the

weekend.

He

pauses

for

about

20

seconds and

the

teacher

can see

that

the

student

is

worlcing

hard

trying

to

sort out

in

his

mind

how

to

say whatever

it

is

he

wants

to

say

He

says a

Japanese

word several

times

to

himself

(me

{}:,

va`}:).

Bewildered

by

not

being

able

to

come up

with

the

English

equivalencM

the

student reaches

Communication

Stvategy

Awareness:

Hlaiping

Students

USe

V-7tat

Thay

Abeady

Know

for

his

dictionary

and

attempts

te

look

up

the

word.

After

a

few

shert mements,

the

student realizes

that

it

will

take

too

much

time

to

look

up

the

word.

He

then

turns

to

his

neighbor and asks

him

how

to

say "va

`};"

in

English.

His

neighbor

helps

him

out

by

translating

the

word

for

him

into

English,

and

the

student

then

answers

the

_question

saying

that

he

Pkryed

(with)

his

friend,

meaning

that

he

visite(Vmet

with

his

friend,

The

student never

attempts

to

use

any

_gestures

to

aid

his

communication.

The

whole

process

takes

about

45

seconds,

In

the

above example,

it

is

obvious

that

the

student

is

using several

different

tproduction)

strategies

to

come up with a suitable answer

in

English.

Fbr

exam-ple,

as mentioned earlier,

the

student

tries

using

his

na-tive

larrguage

by

saying

the

Japanese

word

te

himself

several

times,

_possibly

trying

to

_prompt

a

translation

from

the

teacher

or other students,

When

this

_proves

fruitless,

he

then

attempts

to

find

a

translation

by

using

hi$

dictionary.

This

time,

the

strategy

_proves

to

be

too

time

consuming

for

the

situation, and

he

again switches

to

a more ethcient smategy

by

just

asking

his

neighbor

for

heip.

In

the

end,

this

final

strategy

pro-duces

an acceptal]le result.

The

student's

behavior

described

above

is

in

no way atypical.

In

fact,

his

behavior

is

_quite

common

for

a

first-year

speaking class, and

it

is

something

that

na-tive

speakers see everyday

in

their

speaking

class-rooms.

In

the

above case, even

though

the

student

is

using a series of strategies

to

come up with an answeny

an experienced

teacheg

and especially a native

English

teacheg

would say

that

the

student

is

using very

ineth-cient strategies

to

communicate

his

message.

A

native

English

teacher

may even

think

that

the

student was

just

not

trying

hard

enough or

trying

to

avoid

partici-pating

in

class all

together

because

such an answer

to

such an easy

_question

fbr

an

English

student with six

years

ef

instruction

should

be

more

forthcoming

and

definitely

shouldn't

take

as

long

as

45

seconds,

How-eve4

the

student's strategy choice

is

of no

fault

of

his

own.

He

is

just

fo11owing

the

habits

forrned

during

jun-ior

and senior

high

school,

If

we examine

the

strategies Qf

the

student

described

al)ove,

it

is

clear

that

all

his

strategies are centered around

_getting

the

translation

of

the

word

peSl,

as

is

likely

to

occur when exposed

to

only

the

strategies ef a

grammar-translation

c]ass.

The

student never attempts

a

different

approach

to

solving

his

dilemma

by

using,

for

example, a

different

word with a similar meaning

(apt)raximation),

or

trying

to

explain what

he

wants

to

say

ipamphmse)

or even

trying

to

use

_gestures

in

any

way whatsoever-all considered ethcient strategies

that

_promote

creative and

independent

responses

to

a

speaking

situation.

In

short,

the

student

is

limited

by

the

fossilized

remains

(strategies)

of

his

_past

educa-tion-inethcient

strategies

that

_promote

dependency

on

dictionaries,

translation,

and outside

help.

It

thus

becomes

the

_job

of

the

communication

teacher

to

help

students

_go

beyond

these

fossilized

strategies and

de-velop strategies

that

will

help

free

them

to

use what

they

already

know

independently

and creatively

3.

Strategy

Awareness

Activities

3.1

Selecting

an

Activity

Communication

strategies are usually acquired over

time

through

the

use of

_a

variety of

language

activities and

the

overall

development

of

these

strategies

is

usu-ally an unconscious

_process,

meaning

the

student

is

not aware

that

his/her

strategies are

being

developed.

The

process

is

individual

and

is

developed

by

the

stu-dents

in

their

own way--each

different

from

the

next.

There

are a variety of activities

that

can

be

used

in

the

EFLIESL

classreom

_te

develop

students'

language

skills,

including

those

that

develop

communication strategies,

Some

activities are

_primarily

memorization-based

activities and usually require students

to

merno-rize

dialog

and

then

_perhaps

perform

these

dialogs

in

front

of

the

class.

Other

activities are very controlled,

teaching

students step-by-step everything

they

may

need

to

know

to

_perform

the

activity successfu1

but

_yet

sti11require students

to

switch certain werds or

fi11

in

the

blanks

to

achieve a

desired

result,

Another

type

of activity; common

to

the

audio-lingual method, requires

students

in

repetitious

fashion

to

change sentences

based

on common

_grammatical

_patterns

by

manipulat-ing

key

words.

While

other activities

_give

some

basic

information

and

then

cha11enge students

to

use

their

own

individual,

creative

language

skills and

knowl-edge

to

solve certain aspects of

the

activity and com-municate meaning

UsuallM

these

activities

have

an

in-formation

_gap,

requiring one student

te

_get

informa-tion

from

another

to

complete

the

activityi

Although

all

of

these

types

of activities

have

their

_place

in

ESLfEFL,

it

is

the

later

type

that

are

most

valuable

in

helping

students

develop

the

strategies

they

will ultimately

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maMIrvJk7restas

35g

rg

le

need

to

communicate

independently

on

their

own

in

real

life

situations.

The

activities

that

require

creative

language

solu-tions

_put

students

in

a unique situation

to

experirnent with

the

language

based

on

the

knowledge

they

have

acquired

hitherto,

which seems

ideal

forJapanese

uni-versity students and

their

six

years

of

prior

English

study

These

activities

_put

students

in

situations

to

ne-gotiate

meaning and are

the

closest

to

real-life

situa-tions,

If

students

have

a

_particular

interlanguage

(sec-ond

language)

level,

then

the

creativelanguage

activi-ties

help

push

students

to

experiment with

the

L2

just

beyond

their

current

interlanguage

level

(Krashen,

1981).

Of

course, experimenting with

the

language

means students are, consciously or unconsciouslM

test-ing

their

language

hypotheses

and

developing

the

com-munication strategies

that

wi11

help

them

connect and

coordinate

their

English

knowledge

and skills

into

an

accurate,

effective

communicative

form,

Normally

these

activities are

_presented

to

students

without

explaining

_the

_mental

language

_processes

or

the

specific strategies

that

the

students

will

ultimately

need

to

carry out

the

activity:

Howeve4

taking

students

through

an activity and

then

_pointing

out

their

own

strategies

during

actual

discourse

and encouraging

thern

to

try

other approaches

does

help

them

discover

on

their

own more easily

the

more ethcient

coimnunica-tion

strategies.

It

also

_provides

a refelrence

in

which

to

quickly

instruct

and

encourage students

in

other

activ-ities

throughout

the

course.

There

are, of course, many

_possible

activities

that

can

be

used

for

_pointing

out students' communication

strategies.

Howeveg

as was mentioned

_previouslM

in-formation-gap

activities

are

_perhaps

the

easiest

for

achieving

these

strategy enhancing results.

When

selecting

an

activitM

there

are

many

other

ob-jectives

that

come

to

mind

in

addition

to

developing

students' communication

strategies.

During

the

first

few

lessons

of a course, especially with new

incoming

freshman,

the

teacher

is

also

interested

in

developing

classroom

dynamics,

creating a safe environment so

students

feel

comiortable about exposing

their

weak-nesses

(i.e.

reducing affective

filters),

letting

students

know

the

routine of

the

class ancl what

is

expected

of

them.

and

letting

students experience success

in

using

the

language

while

having

a

little

fun,

Thus,

any

activ-ity

in

the

beginning

stages of

a

course must usually

meet

these

requirements,

in

addition

to

meeting

the

un-derlying

language

obiectives of

the

activity

That

being

said,

the

_primary

underlying

language

objectives of

the

activity

is

1)

to

show students

that

they

know

a

lot

more

English

than

they

think

they

do

and

that

they

can

indeed

use

their

English

to

commu-nicate suocessfully;

2)

to

develop

students'

communica-tion

strategies

(i,e.

eracient strategies); and

3)

to

use

this

activity

to

explain and show students

their

own

language

strategy

_process.

3.2

TheActivity

A

simple

information-gap

activity

is

used

to

illus-trate

these

three

points.

There

are

three

_parts

to

this

activity

The

first

_part

requires students

to

try

to

com-municate using only

gestures

and

body

language

(ne

palm

writingl.

The

second

_part

asks students

to

com-municate

with

only

verbal means and requires

stu-dents

to

keep

their

hands

behind

their

back

to

remind

them

not

to

use

_gestures

or

body

language.

LastlM

in

the

third

part

of

this

activitg

students

are

then

allowed

to

use

both

verbal and nonverbal means.

Before

students attempt

the

activitM

the

teacher

demonstrates

the

activity with another student.

The

student stands up and

takes

a

_position

at

the

front

of

the

room with

hislher

back

to

the

blackboard.

The

teacher

explains

the

requirements of

the

activity

sev-eral

times.

The

_goal

of

the

activity

is

to

_get

one's

part-ner

to

_guess

the

word

on

the

board

by

_just

using

ges-tures

and

body

language

within

the

shortest

time

pe-riod

_possible,

_putting

students

in

a unique

_position

to

experiment creatively with

_gestures

to

convey

mean-ing,

The

teacher

then

writes a word

(apple)

on

the

board.

(The

word should

be

an obiect

that

is

relatively easy

to

_guess

in

the

beginning

stages.)

The

teacher

stands

in

front

of

the

student and without saying

any-thing

acts as

though

helshe

is

_picking

an apple

from

a

tree,

polishing

it

on

hislher

shirt,and

then

taking

a

fu11

crisp

bite

firom

it.

No

words are spoken.

The

student says what

he/she

thinks

the

word

is

and

the

class

usu-ally claps when

the

student

_guesses

correctly

The

stu-dent

almest always

_guesses

correctly

in

this

demon-stratien.

Howeveg

if

the

student

_guesses

incorrectly

or

has

no

idea

what

the

word

is,

then

the

teacher

would

just

continue

giving

nonverbal clues until

the

student

guesses

correctlM

in

short,

forcing

the

teacher

to

exper-iment

with

ditferent

_gesture

strategies

to

get

the

stu-dent

to

guess

the

word.

After

the

demonstration,

students are

_paired

up and asked

to

_per[fbrm

the

activitM switching sides each

Communication

Strategy

Awareness;

Hleipi,rg

Students

Clse

PWiat

Thqy

Alreacly

Know

time.

It

does

take

a

little

time

for

students

to

_get

used

to

this

activity

As

students

become

more

familiag

the

dithculty

of

the

words are

gradually

increased

to

chal-lenge

further

the

students' nonlinguistic

communica-tion

strategy

_processes,

Fbr

example, a word

like

"pen-cil"

is

much easier

to

explain with

gestures

than

a word

like

"love."

The

word "love"

is

considerably more abstract and would certainly require more unique, cre-ative strategies

for

communicating

the

word's meaning with mere

_gestures

(in

such cases

these

_gestures

are usually cultural specific),

Howeveg

a

blend

of words ranging

in

dithcu1ty

should

be

used

in

this

activity

so

that

students can experience

both

the

success and

the

confusion of

trying

te

explain a

dithcult

word or con-cept with only

_gestures.

In

this

_particular

activitM students use very

little

spoken

English.

This

is

intentionally

done

so

that

stu-dents

can experience

the

role of

_gestures

in

communi-cation,

Another

reason

is

so

that

students can experi-ence

firsthand

what

is

meant

by

"communication

strategies," and

thus

it

is

important

throughout

this

ac-tivity

that

the

teacher

actively

_point

out

the

differences

in

students' strategies and

to

assure

them

that

there

are

many ways

te

communicate

the

meaning of a word or

an

idea,

successfu11y.

Giving

examples

used

by

other

students

in

the

class

helps

illustrate

this

_point.

The

teacher

may even ask a

few

students

to

demonstrate

their

appreach

to

the

entire class.

From

such examples,

students

_can

easily see

the

differences

in

the

strategies

other students emploM which encourages students

to

experirnent with other creative approaches

to

using

gestures,

It

should

be

noted

that

there

are always a

few

stu-dents

who,

for

various reasons,

have

trouble

figtiring

out

ditferent

ways

to

use

_gestures

to

explain

the

mean-ing

of an

English

word.

It

is

important

that

the

teacher

encourages

these

_students

to

keep

trying

and

to

exper-irnent

with

different

approaches.

In

most cases,

stu-dents

quickly

become

successfu1 at

finding

new ways

to

explain meaning with

gestures.

However,

occasion-ally some students need more

time

to

sort out

this

new approach,

By

the

end of

this

_particular

_part

of

the

activitM

stu-dents

have

aiready

become

_quite

aware of what "strat-egy" means and

become

familiar

with

their

own

at-tempts

at using

communication

strategies.

Interaction

between

students

becomes

more

lively

and affective

fi1-ters

are

drastically

lowered.

The

second

_part

of

the

activity

is

done

similarly

to

part

one

but

this

time

only spoken

English

can

be

used

for

_giving

clues

to

help

students'

_partners

guess

the

word(s) written on

the

board.

It

is

important

that

the

teacher

strongly stress

that

only

English

is

to

be

used

during

tliis

_part

and

that

no

gestures

or

bedy

language

may

be

used,

The

students

giving

clues are asked

to

keep

their

hands

behind

their

back

to

remind students

not

to

use

them.

In

the

beginning

of

this

_part

of

the

activitM students

are usually slow

in

making

the

transition

to

Engiish

only,

Students

will

have

a

tendency

to

want

to

speak

Japanese

so

it

is

important

that

the

teacher

walk

around

the

class reminding students not

to

speak

Japanese

and

giving

students

ideas

on

how

to

ap-proach

the

activity;

Once

students

_get

started,

they

seem

to

attack

the

activity with much enthusiasm.

It

is

advisable

that

the

teachen

keeping

in

mind

the

students'

Eng!ish

level,

start

with

simple,

single

words

that

can

be

easily

described

or explainecl with a

few

key

words of

English,

Places

(e.g.

Disneyland

and

Ka-rnakura) and

famous

names

(e.g,

Akebono

and

Presi-dent

Clinton)

work well

to

_get

students moving along

in

the

beginning

stages.

Howeve;

once students catch

on,

short

sentences

of

five

to

seven words can

be

used

with

_positive

results.

Since

no

Japanese

can

be

used

in

this

activity}

trans-lation

is

_gradually

replaced with more ethcient

strate-gies,

e.g.

_pamphtuse,

ampraximation, st'mpltvng and

the

creation

of

new wotzis

directly

from

Japanese.

The

teacher

should

praise

students who attempt

to

use

these

different

strategies and even stop

the

class

from

time-to-time

and explain

to

other students

in

the

class

a student's

_particular

approach

to

explaining

(a)

word(s),

Another

important

aspect

to

this

activity

is

for

the

teacher

te

add comments concerning

the

strategy of

adiusting one's

level,

or accommodating one's speech

to

enhance communication.

In

first-year

university

speaking classes,

the

students'

English

level

ranges

considerably

In

this

activity as

is

true

in

real

life,

stu-dents

also

need

to

consider

the

level

of

their

_patmer

or

interlocutor

when

deciding

on a communication strat-egy especially when

it

is

a

higher-level

student

paired

up with a

lower-level

student.

The

important

_point

of

this

activity

is

achieving successfu1 communication, and,

therefore,

students need

to

make

the

necessary

ad-justments

in

their

language

and strategies

to

enhance

-155-NII-Electronic Library Service

vawt.'llNJ(\

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communication

when

_speaking

with

lower

level

stu-dents.

The

native

English

teacher

can easily

illustrate

this

_point

by

showing students

hislher

own strategy

for

communicating with

the

students

in

class.

Usually

English

teachers

naturally make adjustments

in

their

classroom

English

by

slowing

down

their

speech, artic-ulating rnore, speaking

loude4

repeating what

is

said more often, and explaining words

in

different

ways.

This

type

of

instructional

English

is

called

teacher

tatfe

(Allwright,

1988)

_(Krashen,

1981)

and

is

done

_primarily

to

enhance communication

between

the

teacher

and

students,

In

the

final

part

of

this

activitM students are

free

to

use

gestures,

body

language,

and

English

to

complete

the

activity

At

this

stage, students are very

familiar

with

the

activity

and

have

no

problems

combining

ges-tures

and

English

together

to

give

clues

to

their

part-nen

The

teacher

should

continue

_to

walk around

the

class and monitor students'

_progress,

_praising

stu-dents

for

their

strategies and encouraging students

to

try

different

approaches,

If

the

atmosphere

seems

suit-al)le,

the

teacher

may

try

a

little

competition

by

having

several

pairs

of

students

challenge

one

anothe4

which

is

_good

because

other students can observe

the

strate-gies

used

by

other students

in

the

midst of competing

and

_gain

usefu1

insights

into

how

to

adjust

their

own

strategies

to

enhance communication.

When

the

activ-ity

is

done,

the

teacher

then

reminds students of

the

importanoe

of experirnenting

with

ditferent

ways of

communicating

in

English

and

that

there

is

always a

way

to

communicate

as

long

as

_you

look

for

creative solutions.

4.

0bservations

Conducting

empirical research on

the

communica-tion

strategies students employ

in

the

language

class-room ranges

from

very

dithcult

to

impossible

because

educators

cannot

just

1ook

into

their

students'

heads

and see what

is

_going

on.

Nonetheless,

teachers

have

insights

into

what

their

students may

be

experiencing

in

the

language

classroom either

from

evaluating

stu-dent

behavior

and

_performance

or

from

reflecting

on

their

own

language

learning

experience.

Thus,

obser-vations and

_past

experience

_play

a

key

role

in

co11ect-ing

data

on

language

acquisition/learning

It

is

cer-tainly

not

a

_perfect

system

of

conducting

research,

but

yet

it

still

has

_practical

value

just

the

same

(Allwright,

1988).

All

three

_parts

of

the

activity

described

above

cer-tainly

produced

many of

the

desired

effects any

teacher

would require of an early speaking activity;

that

is,

it

assisted

in

developing

_group

dynamics;

it

got

students

using

the

TL;

it

was success-oriented; and

it

was

fun.

It

also was very successfu1

in

demonstrating

to

students

what a comrnunication strategy was as well as

gave

students

the

opportunity

to

experience

firsthand

their

own communication strategy

_process

as

they

tried

to

negotiate meaning with other students.

From

a strategy

deveiopment

_perspective,

it

was

quite

clear

that

the

activity

_got

students experimenting

with

different

communication strategies when

trying

to

speak

English.

Even

students

with very

limited

Eng-lish

ability

were

able

to

use

key

werds combined with

gestures

very effectively

In

short,

students

were

start-ing

to

use what

they

already

knew

when

trying

to

speak.

In

addition, students who were

in

the

_guessing

role were even

_going

as

far

as

to

ask

clarifying

ques-tions

to

help

discover

the

meaning of words-anether

usefu1

communication

strategy

The

activity

itself

pro-moted

_guessing,

which

is

also a valuable skill

in

second

language

acquisition.

In

addition,

because

it

was a

guessing

activity; students

gave

their

fu11

attention

to

trying

to

understand what

their

_partner

was

trying

to

communicate,

This,

I

believe,

_promoted

better

coopera-tion

between

students and used class

time

more eth-ciently

These

benefits

developed

on

the

first

day

were carried over

to

successive classes.

The

strategy awareness element of

the

activity

had

ether noticeable effects on students.

First

of all,

ex-plaining

about

the

cornmunication strategy

_process

and encouraging students

to

try

different

approaches

gave

the

teacher

and students a reference

in

which

to

talk

al)out

student

_performance

in

other activities

throughout

the

semesten

Fbr

example,

in

other

activi-ties

later

in

the

semeste4 students would

_get

stuck

from

time-to-time

and would want

the

teacher

or other students

to

translate

the

meaning of a word or

_phrase.

Of

course,

it

is

_quite

dithcult

to

try

to

stop students

from

wanting

to

translate

something

directly

ffom

Japanese,

especially

if

this

has

been

the

strategy

they've

become

accustomed

to

over

the

_years.

Howeve;

when moments

like

this

did

occug

it

was much easier'

for

the

teacher

to

encourage

and

_guide

students

to

think

ef other solutions

to

resolve

their

communication

dilernma.

With

this

approach, student$ realized

that

if

they

just

tried

to

find

a solution

to

their

communica-

Communication

Simtegy

Awareness:

llleipiug

Sterttents

Clse

V-7iat

They

Alngady

Know

tion

problems

by

using a

little

creativity

that

they

could

eventually come

up

with a way

in

which

to

com-municate

their

_point

with

the

English

knewledge

they

already

had,

As

a result, students

became

much

less

dependent

on

translation

and

became

more reliant on

their

owTi

al)ility

to

_get

their

point

across

in

the

TL.

Another

benefit

of explicitly

teaching

students about

their

strategy

process

was

that

it

depersonalized

the

overall

language

experience.

Students

did

not

have

to

feel

inadequate

that

their

_particular

level

was

lower

than

another student's

because

students now

had

more

than

just

translation

techniques

in

which

to

communi-cate.

Students

had

many other

tools

at

their

disposal

to

aid

them

in

communicating with other students.

In

ad-dition,

the

strategies and attitudes of students with

dif-ferent

English

levels

seemed

to

be

much more

coopera-tive.

Higher-level

students

became

better

at adjusting

their

levels

and

lower-level

students seemed

less

self-conscious and more willing

to

experirnent with

their

English,

Overall,

students seemed much mere

tolerant

of

their

differences

and much more eager

to

cooperate

with one another

to

cornplete

the

activity,

This

attitude continued

throughout

the

duration

of

the

course.

5.

Conclusion

How

students are

taught

directly

affects

the

strate-gies

they

employ

in

learning.

If

a variety of

methodolo-gies

and

activities are not used

in

teaching

students,

then

these

students will

be

limited

in

the

strategies

they

use

to

relate

to

information,

ideas,

and

foreign

languages,

This

preblem

is

quite

apparent

in

the

strategies students employ when speaking

English

in

first-year

university classes.

However,

communication strategy activities show much

promise

in

helping

stu-dents

develop

the

necessary communication strategies

to

help

them

use

better

what

they

already

know,

In

ad-dition,

explicitly

teaching

about communication

strate-gies

through

strategy awareness not only speeds up

the

overall

_process

but

also

_provides

an array of

bene-fits

that

make

the

EFL

classroom much more

ideal

for

languageacquisitionflearning.

References

Allwright,

D.

1988.

0bservations

in

the

Langutrge

Classroom.

New

Ybrk:

Longman.

Ellis,

R,

1986.

Uitderstanding

Second

Lang"age

Acquisition.

Oxford:

Oxfbrd

University

Press.

Littlewood,

VV/

1987.

foreign

and

Second

L`itrguage

Learning.

New

Ybrk:

Cambridge

University

Press.

Krashen,

S,

1981,

Principles

and

P)uctice

in

thcond

inngeecrge

Acquisition.

London:

Prentice-Hhll

International.