Communication Strategy Training: A Step to Strategic Competence in L2 Interaction

Abstract

Communicative language teaching should not just aim to teach learners the language they need in communication, but also the communication strategies to manage interaction in English. Explicit strategy instruction is acknowledged to be effective in raising learners’ awareness and equipping them with the strategic competence to solve interaction difficulties and improve their performance. This paper first presents the definition of communication
strategies (CSs), followed by the description of CSs achievement strategies
and time gaining strategies. To help teachers train their learners how to use CSs, the paper points out the necessity of arousing learners’ awareness of using CSs, and the crucial role of teachers as good examples of using CSs. Meanwhile, the researcher also elaborates that learners’ need linguistic devices to pave the way for using CSs and the opportunities to practice.