Use of Communication Strategies by Thai EFL Learners

problematic issue of communication strategy research as the results seemed not cover all
situations in real-life communication. Thus, to compensate for the gaps in the previous
studies, this study aims to identify CSs used by all students and examine the influence of
these two influential factors on students’ use of communication strategies. In particular, the
study attempts to answer the following questions.
1. What kinds of communication strategies are used by M.3 English Program
students at Joseph Upatham School ?
2. Is the use of communication strategy affected by students’ English-speaking proficiency
and task type?
Literature Review
Communication Strategies as Strategic Competence
The notion of “communication strategies” (CSs) reflects the concept of communicative
competence, proposed by Canale and Swain (1980), which not only involves knowing a
syntactic use of language, but also the appropriate use of language in a particular situation,
for example, to apologize or make a request. The model of communicative competence is
composed of three elements : grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and
strategic competence. Canale (1983) revised this old framework by allowing for the inclusion
of four main areas of competence: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence,
discourse competence and strategic competence. Compared with the first three components,
strategic competence seems to be the most relevant to CSs since it consists of interlocutor’s
ability to utilize communication strategies to compensate for lack of knowledge in other
competencies. As suggested by Faerch & Kasper (1983), it is perceived as the way learners
used to cope with communication breakdown and “manipulate language in order to meet
communicative goals” (Brown, 2001, p.220). Thus, strategic competence is especially
required for both native speakers and L2 learners to enhance their communicative
competence.
Definitions and Classifications of Communication Strategies
Although researchers offer various definitions for communication strategies regarding
second-language learners, Faerch and Kasper (1983) suggested all previous definitions shared
two main key elements: problematicity and consciousness. Regarding problematicity,
communication strategies are regarded as useful tools when there are breakdowns in
communication.
Consciousness is another characteristic identified in definitions of communication strategies.
Apart from the above-mentioned features, Bialystok (1990) provided another defining
criterion which is intentionality. According to Bialystok (ibid : 5), this characteristic refers to
the learner’s ability to manipulate the selection of communication strategies from the
availability of their linguistic resources and deliberately applied to achieve certain effects.
Bialystok (1990) noted that the main CS-defining criterion which has been widely employed
is the problematicity; thus, the widely accepted definition containing problem-orientedness as
“only when a speaker perceives that there is a problem which may interrupt communication”
(Bialystok, p.3). Additionally, Tarone (1981) suggested that to achieve the real
communicative goals, communication strategies should be regarded not only as problematic
mechanisms to solve individual communication difficulties or breakdowns, but also as mutual
attempts of two interlocutors which would bridge the gap caused by their limited linguistic
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