COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES

relationships are strengthened by effective communication. it fosters trust, suggests an individual’s manner,
and even resolve a specific issue. because we are referred to as “social beings” and it is difficult for us to live
without interaction with one another, there are ways for people to communicate effectively and meaningfully.
everyone must understand the importance of good communication in order to avoid confusion and
misunderstanding, to learn from others’ ideas and experience, and to solve problems in any situation.

communicative strategies are techniques on how to deal with difficulties encountered when communicating.
people communicate everyday to establish and maintain relationships, know and understand themselves, and
find meaning in daily grind. successful communication requires understanding of the relationship between
words and sentences and the speech acts they represent.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES

strategies must be used to start and maintain a conversation (Cohen, 1990). the strategy may
vary according to the need, situation, or speaker. knowingly and applying grammar
appropriately is one of the most basic strategies to maintain a conversation.

NOMINATION

a speaker carries out nomination to collaboratively and productively establish a topic. basically,
when you employ this strategy, you try to open a topic with the people you are talking to. you
initiate the topic.

when beginning a topic in a conversation, especially if it does not arise from a previous topic, tell
some current news or announcements that would require his/her listener to respond and have a
good start for conversation

examples of nominations

“do you have anything to say?”

“have you heard the news about the prettiest girl in school?”

OMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES
 “now, it’s your turn to ask questions”

“does that make sense to you?”

RESTRICTION

restriction in communication refers to any limitation you have as a speaker. (Sipacio & Balgos,
2016). this strategy limits the speaker’s content of what to say - mostly only those that are
relevant to the topic presented.

when communicating in the classroom, in a meeting, or while hanging out with your friends, you
are typically given specific instructions that you must follow. these instructions confine you as a
speaker and limit what you can say.

also, this strategy constraints or restricts the Response of the other person involved in the
communication situation. the listener is forced to respond only within a set of categories that is
made by the speaker.

examples of restrictions

in your class, you might be asked by your teacher to write a short story dialogue that
incorporates function of communications.

when you were asked to deliver a speech in a specific language.

TURN-TAKING

turn-taking pertains to the process by which people decide who takes the conversational floor;
the primary idea is to give all the communicators a chance to speak.

to make communication be organized and all ideas are well-facilitated , people in the circle must
be given equal opportunities to present their ideas during the conversation.

turn-taking communicative strategy uses either informal approach (just jump in and start talking)
or a formal approach (permission to speak is requested).

examples of turn-taking

Can we all listen to the one who talk in front of us?

"Excuse me? I think we should speak one at a time, so we can clearly understand what we
want to say about the topic."

"Go on with your ideas. I'll let you finish first before I say something.”

note: do not hog the conversation and talk incessantly without letting the
other party air out their own ideas. you may employ visual signals like a
nod, a look, or a step back, and you could accompany these signals with
spoken cues such as “what do you think?” or “do you want to say
something?”

TOPIC - CONTROL

OMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES
 topic control is a communicative strategy used to control and prevent unnecessary
interruptions and topic shifts in a certain conversation.

topic control covers how procedural formality and informality affects the development of topics in
conversation. this only means that when a topic is initiated, it should be collectively developed by
avoiding unnecessary interruptions and topic shifts.

this is simply a question-answer formula that moves the discussion forward. this also allows the
listener or other participants to take turns, contribute ideas and continue discussion.

examples of topic control

"One of the essential lessons I gained from the discussion is the importance of sports and
wellness to a healthy lifestyle."

(Situation) In a meeting, you may only have a turn to speak after the chairperson directs you
to do so.

note: you can make yourself actively involved in the conversation without
overly dominating it by using minimal responses like “yes”, “okay”, “go on”,
and even by laughing.

TOPIC SHIFTING

topic shifting, as the name suggests, involves moving from one topic to another. in other words, it
is where one part of a conversation ends and where another begins.

it is introducing a new topic followed by the continuation of that topic. when shifting from one topic
to another, you have to be very intuitive. make sure that the previous topic was nurtured enough
to generate adequate views.

it is also a strategy that is useful in introducing another topic. this strategy works best when there
is follow-through so that a new topic continues to be discussed.

examples of topic shifting

"By the way, there's a new shop opening at the mall”

“In addition to what you said about the beautiful girl is that she is also smart."

note: you may use effective conversational transitions to indicate a shift

REPAIR

repair refers to how the speaker addresses the problems in speaking, listening, and
comprehending that they may encounter in a conversation. repair is self-righting mechanism
in any social interaction. once a problem in communication is not repaired right away, surely, it
would lead to misunderstanding or confusion.

examples of repair

OMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES
 "Excuse me, but there are 5 Functions of Communication not 4.”

"I'm sorry, the word should be pronounced as pretty not priti.”

TERMINATION

termination refers to the conversation participants’ close initiating expressions that end a
topic in a conversation. most of the time, the topic initiator takes responsibility to signal the end
of the discussion as well.

it ends the interaction through verbal and non-verbal messages that both speaker and listener
send to each other. sometimes the termination is quick and short. sometimes it is prolonged by
clarification, but the point of the body language and body movement is to end the communication.

examples of termination

Best regards to your parents! See you around!

“It was nice meeting you. Bye!”

"That is all for today class, goodbye!”

OMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES