Communication Strategies For Teachers and Their Students in An EFL Setting

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Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students in an EFL Setting

Article  in  International Journal of Bilingual & Multilingual Teachers of English · August 2016


DOI: 10.12785/ijbmte/040105

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International Journal of Bilingual & Multilingual Teachers of English
ISSN (2210-1829)
Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1(July-2016)

Communication Strategies for Teachers


and their Students in an EFL Setting

1 2
Saraa Fyaak Al-Gharaibeh and Dina AbdlHameed Al-Jamal
1
Ministry of Education, Irbid, Jordan
2
Curricula & Instruction Department Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

Received 30th Jan. 2016, Revised 15th Jan. 2016, Accepted 7th March 2016, Published 1st July 2016

Abstract: This study aimed at investigating the communication strategies used by EFL teachers and their students in an EFL setting
(i.e. Jordan). The participants of the study included tenth grade English language teachers and their students' in selected schools in
Irbid city, Jordan. Dörnyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy was adapted in designing an observation checklist steered at eliciting
teachers' actual teaching practices. A questionnaire was also developed on the grounds of the same taxonomy. The findings reported
the following communication strategies were used: message reduction, approximation, circumlocution, code-mixing miming, self-
repetition, and other-repetition, appealing for help, comprehension- check, own- accuracy check, asking for repetition, guessing,
using of fillers and hesitation devices, guessing, and feigning understanding. Interestingly, the results showed that although teachers
teach communication strategies, yet they are unaware of such strategies; they rather use them unconsciously. Provided that, the study
concluded that congruence between the teachers' claims and students' perceptions regarding the actual teaching of such strategies is
absent.

Keywords: communication strategies, tenth grade teachers, tenth grade students.

1. INTRODUCTION problems facing an individual to reach the intended


The process of teaching English as a foreign meaning of communication process'.
language is considered as a multi-dimensional process,
which includes many partners, with most effective roles Moreover, the role of CSs is extended to inform
of teachers, students and textbooks. Considering the learners on what to say and on how to expand the
significance of the oral communication that occurs language communicatively. This was explained by
between English language teachers and their students in Tarone (1977) on the grounds that when class
the classroom, oral communication strategies that help communication is weak or incorrect in terms of lexicon
teachers to develop the communication ability of their or grammar, EFL and ESL learners need to be trained on
students, as those strategies help students to overcome CSs. Learners may improve their oral skills by
their linguistic breakdowns. developing and shaping their ability to use specific CSs
to compensate for their target language imperfect
Oral communication strategies (hence forth CSs) knowledge. However, learners use some strategies in oral
were defined as: 'verbal and non-verbal communication communication. According to Nakatani (2006), students
strategies that may be called into action to compensate who have high oral proficiency use fluency-oriented,
for breakdowns in communication due to performance negotiation of meaning, and social affective strategies
variables or to insufficient competence' Canal and Swain that are more effective to keep the oral communication.
(1980:30). Corder (1983:103) defined a communication That is, learners use CSs to keep conversation continuous
strategy as a 'systematic technique employed by a speaker and to gain interaction through negotiation. Students with
to express his or her meaning when faced with some low proficiency, also, depend on ineffective strategies
difficulty'. Later, Faerch and Kasper (1983: 20) such as low activity listener and message abandonment
introduced CSs as 'conscious plans to overcome the strategies.

E-mail address: [email protected], [email protected]


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34 S. Al-Gharaibeh & D. Al-Jamal: Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students…

The notion of communicative competence was observation. The study reported that the participants used
derived from Chomsky's (1965) distinction between CSs featured at Dornyei and Scott's (1995) taxonomy of
competence and ability. Chomsky defined it as ' the communication strategies. Explicitly, the findings
shared knowledge of the ideal speaker-listener set in a showed that the participants used interactional coping
completely homogenous speech community' and the devices such as asking for clarification, confirming, and
ability as ' the process of applying the underlying rephrasing strategies. Regarding direct coping devices,
knowledge to the actual language use'. In his distinction, the study reported that the participants used self-
Chomsky focused on 'the speaker-listener, the rephrasing, miming, and repairing strategies. However,
homogenous speech community and perfect language the indirect coping devices reported by the study were
knowledge 'as cited in (Grenfell and Harris, 1999). those of structure words, self –repetition and other-
Specifically, he was concerned with the knowledge of repetition strategies.
grammar and the ability to use this knowledge (as cited in
Hornberge, 1989), simply by producing grammatical Carvantes and Roddringuez (2012) studied CSs used
sentences without considering for their appropriateness. by two EFL teachers and their beginner level students in
Mexico City, and the potential factors that influence the
Hymes (1972) suggested that communicative communication strategy use in class. For the purpose of
competence must include the social meaning. She collecting data, the researchers used audio-recordings of
produced a framework for communicative competence naturally occurring classroom interactions, interviews
which concluded both the rules of grammar a long with with the teachers and observation field notes taken in six
rules of use. Two popular different terms 'Use' and ' class sessions. Data from the interaction transcripts were
Usage', were developed further by Widdowson (1978:3). examined as adapting Faerch and Kasper’s (1983)
These terms refer to two aspects of communicative taxonomy of communication strategies as analysis basis.
ability: Results indicated that the most frequently used
a- The ability to produce correct sentences, or communication strategy in both groups was language
manifestations of the linguistic system (i.e. switch. However, the teacher who seemed more involved
Usage). with students used clarification request, comprehension
b- The ability to use the knowledge of the rules for check and asking for confirmation strategies. The teacher
effective communication (i.e. Use). who appeared more distant from students used
comprehension check and repetition strategies. Class
Canale and Swain (1980) suggested a model of size, seating arrangements and learning activity tasks
communicative competence which included three were also some of the factors that influenced the
components of competencies:1- sociolinguistic communication strategies use.
competence (the knowledge of the sociocultural code of
language use), 2- grammatical competence (the Abunawas (2012) examined CSs used by Jordanian
knowledge of grammatical rules, lexical items, syntax EFL students and the effect of proficiency level in CSs
and phonology of the language), 3- strategic competence use. The participants of this study consisted of sixty six
(the ability to effectively transmit information to listener students at Zarka University (28 males and 38 females).
including the skills to use CSs to compensate for To collect data, the participants were put into three
breakdowns in communication). groups according to their proficiency levels, two
instruments were used: picture description test and
Later, Canale (1983) added a new component to interviews. The findings of the study showed that
Canale and Swain's model which is the discourse Jordanian University EFL students use various CSs, such
competence. Discourse competence is concerned with as approximation, circumlocution and code switching in
how a speaker selects arranges and sequences words into spite of their levels of proficiency.
a unified spoken or written text (i.e. the pragmatic
competence). That is, the pragmatic function of Wang (2014) explored Chinese English learners’
communication is an important contribution to the ability to use CSs. The participants were put in a
concept of communicative competence, which stresses relatively real English referential communication setting.
the function of language 'use' to achieve meaning The analysis of the research data showed that Chinese
effectively and appropriately in social settings. English learners, when encountering problems in foreign
language communication, are characterized by their
Spromberg (2011) explored CSs used by twenty five frequent use of circumlocution, approximation,
high school English language students in New York City substitution, exemplification, literal translation, and
public school while they work in small groups. In order repetition and word-coinage strategies. The study
to collect data, the researcher used video-recorded reported students' infrequent use of cultural-knowledge

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Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1 , 33-44 (July-2016) 35

and paralinguistic CSs. The high frequency of literal Rababah (2015) examined the effect of
translation, on their L1-based strategies, suggested that communication strategy instruction on the ability to
EFL learners’ use of L1-based CSs may depend more communicate together with the establishing strategic
upon the developmental stage of their target language competence among EFL learners. The participants were
than the typology distance between L1 and the target eighty learners, who were divided into a control group
language. The findings indicated that learners’ use of CSs and an experimental one. The experimental group
is influenced by a variety of factors, among which the received CSs training based on a training program
development stage of their inter-language and their designed by researcher, while the control group received
cultural background are identified as two important the regular communicative course using Click on 3
factors. program which lasted for fourteen weeks as being based
on the communicative language teaching approach. The
Majd (2014) studied the effect of teaching communication strategies targeted in the training
communication strategies on helping English language program included circumlocution (paraphrase), asking for
learners to communicate more easily and effectively. The repetition, appeal for help, clarification request, self-
researcher intended to prove such effect of teaching repair, confirmation request, and guessing. The
communication strategies by increasing learners instruments of the study consisted of pre-post IELTS
'motivation to communicate, which in turn, reduces their speaking test, transcription data, and a Click on 3
anxiety level. The participants were forty Iranian female textbook existing. The study reported a significant
students who were homogeneously selected, of the age of improvement. Specifically, the participants in the
twelve to fourteen years old. All participants were placed experimental group significantly outperformed their
in the same proficiency level according to Cambridge peers in the control group in the IELTS speaking test
Proficiency Test. The researcher used three methods to scores. The results of the post-test transcription data also
collect data; namely, pre-posttests, a strategy training confirmed that the participants in the strategy training
program based on Dornyei's (1995) taxonomy of CSs for group used more CSs, which was attributed to the CS
three months, and a questionnaire. The study reported the training program.
effectiveness of the teaching of the CSs in improving
learners' communication skills as well as in increasing Taxonomies of communication strategies
their motivation to learn. The theoretical and empirical research on oral
communication strategies taxonomies provided a detailed
Megarshahr and Abdollahzadeh (2014) examined the frame for analyzing how language learners manage to
effect of teaching communication strategies on the carry on meaning and to continue communication. These
Iranian English language learners' willingness to taxonomies are Tarone's (1977) where other taxonomies
communicate. The participants of the study were one were stemmed out of it, such as Bialystok's (1983);
hundred twenty English language learners in English Corder's (1983); Faerch and Kasper (1983), Paribakht's
language institute. They were at the age of fifteen to forty (1985), Chen's(1990), Dornyei's (1995) and Dörnyei and
years old. To collect data, the participants were allocated Scott's (1997).
in two groups: control and experimental. Regular
instruction prevailed in the control group, whereas In Tarone’s (1977) taxonomy, CSs are classified into
strategy instruction was dominant in the experimental three major categories namely: paraphrase, transfer and
group. The instruments used in the study were those of avoidance. These major categories are further classified
self – report adapted from Maclntyre, Baker, Cle`ment into subdivisions. Transfer includes literal translation,
and Conrad (2001) along with a re-posttest. The findings language switch, appeal for assistance, and mime. Under
revealed that the teaching of CSs assists learner keener to paraphrase strategy, Tarone identified approximation,
interact more the classroom. word coinage, and circumlocution. Avoidance included
topic avoidance and message abandonment. Tarone’s
taxonomy was reproduced in Tarone (1980: 229). The
following is the taxonomy with its definitions and
examples:

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36 S. Al-Gharaibeh & D. Al-Jamal: Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students…

Table 1: CSs as in Tarone (1980: 429)

Paraphrase: this strategy includes three other strategies which are: Examples
Approximation Use of a single target language vocabulary item or structure, “pipe” for “ water pipe”)
which the learner knows is not correct, but which shares
enough semantic features in common with the desired item to
satisfy the speaker.
Word coinage The learner makes up a new word in order to communicate a “air ball” for “balloon")
desired concept.

Circumlocution The learner describes the characteristics or elements of the (“She is, uh, smoking
object or action instead of using the appropriate TL structure. something. I don’t know
what’s its name (what its
name is). That’s, uh, Persian
and we use in Turkey, a lot
of”).
Transfer: this strategy involves the following strategies:
Literal translation The learners literally translate a word, a compound word, an “He invites him to drink”
idiom, or a structure from L1 into L2. for “They toast one
another”).

Language switch The learners use an L1 word or phrase with an L1 “balon” for “ballon” or
pronunciation. “tirtil” for “caterpillar”).

Appeal for assistance The learner asks for the correct term or structure. “What’s this?”).

Mime The learner uses nonverbal strategies in place of a meaning Clapping one’s hands to
structure. illustrate applause).

Avoidance: this strategy includes the following strategies:


Topic avoidance The learner simply does not talk about concepts for which the
vocabulary or other meaning structure is not known.

Message abandonment The learner begins to talk about a concept but is unable to
continue due to lack of meaning structure, and stops in mid-
utterance.

Another taxonomy of CSs was proposed by incorporated into the description. These three
Bialystok (1983). Bialystok has developed a taxonomy subdivisions are: general physical properties, specific
which was based mostly on that of Tarone’s (1977). The features, and interactional / functional characteristics;
basis of Bialystok's taxonomy is a consideration of the word coinage.
source of information on which the CSs are based. The
information incorporated into the strategic use may be Furthermore, Corder (1983:17-18) suggested a
derived from the learner’s native language, the target different taxonomy of CSs by which he classified CSs
language itself, or contextual information given with the into two major categories: message adjustment strategies,
situation. These distinctions are subdivided as native and resource expansion strategies. Among message
language - based strategies and target language -based adjustment strategies, he classified:
strategies. Under native language-based strategies, a) Topic avoidance: a refusal to enter into or
Bialystok listed: continue a discourse within some field of topic
a- language - switch. because of a feeling of total linguistic
b- literal-translation. inadequacy.
c- foreignizing native language items. b) Message abandonment which is a less extreme
form of topic avoidance: the learner tries but
Under target language-based CSs, Bialystok listed gives up.
semantic contiguity description, which has three c) Semantic avoidance, which refers to saying
subdivisions specifying the information which has been something slightly different from what you

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Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1 , 33-44 (July-2016) 37

intended but still broadly relevant to the topic of 1-Then learned language.
discourse. 2- The world knowledge.
d) Message reduction which is the least acute form 3- The repeated information.
of message adjustment by which the learner says 4- Gestures.
less or less precisely than what he/ she intends 5- No information.
to say. For the resources expansion strategy, the
situation is different in that one cannot order the Dornyei (1995) submitted two subdivisions of CSs
techniques according to a hierarchy; they are all which are: avoidance and compensation strategies. The
risk-taking, in that they run the danger of failure first subdivision refers to the tendency of the language
(misunderstanding or communication learner not to use certain language elements due to
breakdown). Amongst resource expansion phonological, syntactic, or lexical problems. It can also
strategies, Corder identified: be related to the topic of discussion (Brown, 2000), topic
1. Borrowing, the use of linguistic resources avoidance may be the most frequent CS that learners
other than the TL, but they include guessing have ever used. For example, when asked a specific
of a more or less informed kind. question, the student who does not know the answer will
2. Switching to another language which is the just keep silent about it, hence, although useful for day to
extreme form of borrowing and the most day communication, the avoidance strategy may not be
risky enterprise. the best way for EFL learners to learn a foreign language.
3. C- Paraphrase or circumlocution, getting The second subdivision of CSs is the compensatory
round the problem. It is considered a less strategies which include compensation for missing
risk-taking strategy - inelegant but language elements, According to Dornyei’s (1995)
successful. classification, there are eleven types of compensatory
4. Paralinguistic devices, such as gestures or strategies with varying degrees of application, for
appeal for help from the interlocutor for a example, circumlocution, word coinage, prefabricated
word or expression; it is considered the least patterns, appealing for help and stalling, time-gaining
risk-taking strategy of all. strategies, etc.
For the purpose of this study, the researchers adapted
Additionally, Faerch and Kasper (1983:38-53) Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy of CSs. For it
developed a CSs taxonomy which is based in English includes most of CSs presented in the former
language learners behavior when faced with `problems in communication strategy (CSs) taxonomies. This
communicating. It consisted of two main strategies: taxonomy dealt with 'how CSs help the speakers to solve
reduction strategies, and achievement strategies. the difficulties during oral communication tasks and
achieve mutual understanding.' According to Dornyei and
According to Faerch and Kasper (1983:36) language Scott (1997), these CSs achieve what may be called
learners can either solve problems in communication by' mutual understanding.Their classification were extended
Adopting avoidance behavior, trying to do away with the and collected on the base of CSs research.
problem, normally by changing the communicative goal, Their taxonomy consisted of three main categories.
or by relying on achievement behavior, attempting to The first category is the direct strategies, where strategies
tackle the problem directly by developing an alternative used by a speaker who faces problems during
plan'. communication process. The second category is the
indirect strategies where strategies used by a speaker to
Paribakht (1985) suggested a taxonomy that was provide the conditions that lead to the mutual
based on three approaches; linguistic approach, understanding. The third category is the interactional
conceptual approach, and contextual approach. These strategies that referred to the mutual cooperation which
approaches involved the semantic features of the target make by two or more speakers to overcome the problems
items, the speakers’ contextual knowledge, and the that face them through communication process.
speakers’ world’s knowledge, correspondingly. Since the ultimate goal of teaching English language
as a foreign language is to develop learners'
Chen (1990) suggested another taxonomy which communicative competence in order to help them to
may fit his concept-identification task, e.g. identification communicate successfully in English (Canale & Swain,
of concrete and abstract concepts. Chen’s (1990:162-165) 1983), the Jordanian Ministry of Education ( henceforth
taxonomy is based on the source of information identified MOE) aims to develop this competence by the means of
in his data. Five types of information were identified. its available textbooks Action Pack series, which help
Which were as follows: Jordanian EFL learners to achieve a gradual development
in communication skills (as early as at the first grade up

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38 S. Al-Gharaibeh & D. Al-Jamal: Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students…

to the twelfth grade. The MOE, however, believes that it databases: so the researchers could not state their
is important to create appropriate chances for learners to numbers.
speak up in class, which may in turn, help them to For the purpose of this study, a representative
enhance their oral language skills and communication in random sample (by lot) was chosen. The subjects of the
English. sample were chosen by putting names of all the schools
Through the researchers' observations at schools, that includes tenth grade in Irbid Directorate of Education
they noticed that although English language is taught in in a basket and choosing one school of the collection.
Jordan from the first grade, most tenth grade students Then the researchers restored the chosen school name to
lack the ability to communicate in English properly. In the basket; in order to maintain the same chances for all
this concern, Al-Dweik (2008) asserted that Jordanian schools to participate in the study.
learners feel reluctant to speak, shy and unable to go on
short conversations. Jordanian English language teachers 1)The observation checklist
stress teaching English grammar, reading and vocabulary The researchers used the observation checklist to
(Abu-Helu, 2009, Al-Ja'bari, 2011); despite of the fact collect data about the actual and observed practice of
that the communicative approach is increasingly adopted English language tenth grad teachers and their students'
by the Jordanian Ministry of Education. The present use of CSs. This observation checklist was based on
study, intended to explore the Jordanian tenth grade Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy of CSs. The
teachers' and their students' oral communication researchers deleted some strategies of the taxonomy in
strategies use, and to what extent CSs are key elements of the observation checklist (part one) because they are
classroom interaction. This study, accordingly, attempted impossible to be used by the EFL teacher. The
to answer the following questions researchers content analyzed Action Pack 10 and derived
the frequent operating CSs and added them to the
1. To what extent do the tenth grade students use checklist. In order to collect data about to which extent
CSs understudy? CSs are taught in English tenth grade classes, the
2. To what extent do the English language teachers researchers used an observation checklist based on
teach their students to use CSs understudy? Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy along with
3. To what extent is there congruence between the strategies available in Action Pack 10. Each part
English language teachers' claims concerning consisted of the categories in the adapted taxonomy,
their use of CSs understudy and their actual use which are:
of these CSs?
(i)Direct Strategies
2. METHOD 1- Message reduction: to leave an oral message
A. Design unfinished because of language problems.) E.g.
when you ask the student: Can you tell me the
This exploratory study followed the descriptive
months of the year? He replies: I can tell you
mixed method research design. The study tended to be
the days of the week).
descriptive, as it described certain behaviors of the
2- Approximation: to use an alternative term that
subjects who participated in the study. These behaviors
expresses the meaning of the target lexical item
are the use of CSs by English language teachers' along
as closely as possible (e.g. Ship for sail boat).
with their students', with teaching these CSs in their
3- Circumlocution: to describe the properties of
actual English classroom settings. To achieve the
the object instead of the exact target item. (e.g.
objectives of the study, the researchers used a field
The thing you open bottles with for corkscrew).
survey (the questionnaire), as well as field notes (the
4- Code switching: to switch the language to the
observation checklist).
native language.
B. Population and Sample (E.g. I watched a ‫ ;فليم خيال علمي‬instead of saying I
The population of the study included all tenth grade watched a science fiction film).
English language teachers and their male (3642) and 5- Mime: to use non- linguistic means (e.g.
female (3737)students studying at Irbid Directorate of gesture, facial expressions, or sound imitation)
Education schools in the second semester at the academic to continue their massages because of language
year 2014-2015.The number of schools that includes problems.
tenth grade in Irbid Directorate is 47 schools for females 6- Self-repetition: when student repeats what he
and 33 schools for males. However, the number of the himself said to gain time to think and produce
English language tenth grade teachers in Irbid Directorate new utterances.(E.g. the weather the weather is
of Education schools, is not available in Irbid Directorate cloudy today, he repeated' the weather' until he
can remember ' cloudy'.)

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Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1 , 33-44 (July-2016) 39

7- Other-repetition: to repeat something the 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION


interlocutor said to gain time to reproduce own A. Results related to the first research question: To
utterances. what extent do the tenth grade students use CSs
understudy? In order to answer this question, each
(ii)Interactional strategies strategy used by the observed students was coded. Using
8- Appeal for help: turning to the conversation the checklist, the strategies were categorized according to
partner for help either directly (e.g., what do you Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy. The frequencies
call …?) or indirectly (e.g., rising intonation, were counted for each strategy and rank orders, means
eye contact). and standard deviations were then calculated.
9- Comprehension check: to ask questions to
check interlocutor understanding. Table 2: Rank order, means and standard deviation CSs
10- Own-accuracy check: checking accuracy of used by tenth grade students
the produced utterances, by resaying the
produced utterances in correct grammatical No. rank Item Mean Std. Degrees
forms. Deviation
1 12 Message reduction 4.83 .592 High
11- Asking for repetition: to ask the 2 Approximation 2.33 1.626 Moderate
1
interlocutor to repeat what he /she said. 3 3 Circumlocution 2.63 1.732 Moderate
12- Guessing: to continue communication by 4 2 Code- mixing 2.43 1.695 Moderate
use of guessing to overcome 5 4 Mime 3.23 1.478 Moderate
communication inability, such as, guessing 6 7 Self-repetition 4.03 1.426 High
7 6 Other-repetition 3.87 1.525 High
the correct answer of the teacher's
8 9 Appeal for help 4.70 .596 High
questions. 9 13 Comprehension- 4.93 .254 High
check
(iii)Indirect strategies 10 8 Owen- accuracy 4.47 1.106 High
13- Use of fillers / hesitation devices: to use check
11 10 Asking for 4.73 .907 High
fillers words or gambits to fill pauses to repetition
gain time to think (e.g. well, now let me see, 12 5 Guessing 3.83 1.663 High
as a matter of fact. 13 11 Using of fillers and 4.77 .817 High
14- Feigning understanding: expressing non- hesitation devices
understanding of messages. 14 14 Feigning 2.07 1.285 Low
understanding

The checklist is composed of a Table with eight


Table 2 shows that the results were classified into
columns. The first column contained the serial number of
two degrees high for items 1, 6, 7,8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13 and
the strategy; the second column contained the strategy,
14, and moderate for items 2, 3,4, and5. The strategy;
the third column contained a definition of each strategy
feigning understanding gets the highest mean score
in addition of an example on each strategy, while each of
(M=5.00, SD=.000), while the approximation strategy
the following five columns contained a five-point Likert
gets the lowest mean score (M=2.33, SD=1.626) among
type scale with the following weights (1=never use this
other strategies. The strategies:( message - reduction,
strategy, 2=hardly ever use this strategy, 3=sometimes
self-repetition, other-repetition, appeal for help,
used this strategy, 4=often use this strategy and 5=always
comprehension- check, own- accuracy check, asking for
use this strategy. The definitions and the examples of
repetition, guessing, using of fillers and hesitation
each strategy were added to make it easier for the
devices), seem to be used by tenth grade students.
researchers and a third analyst decide which strategies
did the teachers and the students use. This was added to
B. Results related to the second research question: To
anther checklist.
what extent do the English language teachers teach their
The observation checklist consisted of two parts; the
students to use CSs understudy? In order to answer this
first part was directed to English language tenth grade
question, each strategy was taught by the observed
teachers, while the second part was directed to English
teachers was coded. Using the checklist, the fourteen
language tenth grade students. The researchers called all
strategies were categorized according to Dornyei and
the principals of the schools she visited the day before
Scott's (1997) taxonomy. The frequencies were counted
she went to observe the tenth grade teachers and their
for each strategy and rank orders, means and standard
students' use of CSs, so they helped her with their
deviations were then calculated.
teachers' consents to switch classes.

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40 S. Al-Gharaibeh & D. Al-Jamal: Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students…

Table 3: Rank order, means and standard deviation of the reduction, approximation, circumlocution , code- mixing,
extent to which do teachers teach their students to use CSs miming, self-repetition, other-repetition, asking for
repetition ,appeal for help, comprehension- check, own-
No. Rank Item Mean Std. Degrees
Deviation
accuracy check, , guessing, using of fillers and hesitation
1 8 Message reduction 4.90 .403 High devices, feigning understanding seem to be used by tenth
2 3 Approximation 4.47 1.106 High grade students.
3 1 Circumlocution 4.23 1.382 High
4 2 Code- mixing 4.33 1.241 High C. Results related to the third research question: To
5 7 Mime 4.73 .785 High
what extent is there congruence between the English
6 2 Self-repetition 4.33 1.269 High
7 1 Other-repetition 4.23 1.382 High language teachers' claims concerning their use of CSs
8 6 Appeal for help 4.70 .952 High understudy and their actual use of these CSs? In order to
9 9 Comprehension- 4.93 .254 High answer this question, all the strategies were observed by
check the researchers using the checklist, specifically, each
10 4 Owen- accuracy 4.57 1.006 High
check
strategy was used by the teachers was coded. At that
11 9 Asking for 4.93 .365 High time, each strategy code was compared with the teachers'
repetition answers in their questionnaires where the thirteen
12 5 Guessing 4.67 .844 High strategies were categorized according to Dornyei and
13 10 Using of fillers and 5.00 .000 High Scott's (1997) taxonomy in addition to the strategies that
hesitation devices
14 10 Feigning 5.00 .000 High
are presented in Action pack 10, and then these were
understanding compered. To check the congruence between the English
language teachers' claims concerning their use of CSs
Table 3 shows that the results were classified into understudy and their actual use of these CSs, the
one degree; high for items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, researchers used Correlation Coefficient Spearman's Sig.
12, 13 and 14. English language teachers teach their (2-tailed).
students to use all the fourteen strategies: message -

Table 4: Correlation Coefficient for teachers' use of CSs as they claimed in the questionnaire

No. rank Item Mean Std. Degrees Spearman's (Sig)


Deviation
1 5 Approximation 1.90 .6620 Low .123 .5180
2 10 Circumlocution 2.37 0.928 Moderate -.090 .6370
3 13 Code- mixing 2.93 1.081 Moderate .406 .0260
4 9 Mime 2.33 0.994 Moderate .009 .9630
5 7 Self-repetition 2.00 1.259 Low .299 .1080
6 4 Owen- accuracy check 1.80 .9610 Low .287 .1250
7 6 Asking for repetition 1.97 .8500 Low .148 0.436
8 8 Use of filler / hesitation devices 2.30 .8370 Low .233 .2150
9 11 Translation avoidance 2.77 1.104 Moderate -.009 .9610
10 12 Topic avoidance 2.90 .9600 Moderate -.062 .7440
11 1 Simplifying what you are speaking about 1.37 .6150 Low .326 .0790
12 3 Using the contextual vocabulary items 1.63 .6150 Low .204 .2800
13 2 In dialogues students need to think and prepare what to 1.40 .5630 Low .193 .3080
say, and to use some words and expressions provided in
the dialogues box

Table 4 shows that the results were classified into was statistically significant (0.9610), topic avoidance was
two degrees, Moderate for items 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10, and statistically significant (0.7440).
Low for items 1, 5, 6,7, 8, 11,12,13, and 14. The teachers While they claimed that they use the strategies in a
claimed that they use the strategies as Moderate for the Low degree: self-repetition, approximation, own-
strategies of: circumlocution which was statistically accuracy check, asking for repetition, use of fillers /
hesitation devices, simplifying the topic, using the
significant (0.6370), code-mixing was statistically contextual vocabulary items, In dialogues students need
significant (0.026), and miming was statistically to think and prepare what to say, and to use some words
significant (0.9630). The strategies; translation avoidance and expressions provided in the dialogues box were not

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Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1 , 33-44 (July-2016) 41

used by tenth grade teachers and their use is not This result agrees with Abnawas (2012), Ugla,
statistically significant. Adnan and Abidin (2013), and who found that that EFL
university students use various CSs to overcome their
Table 5: correlation coefficient between teachers' claims linguistic breakdowns, among which, code- switching,
concerning their use of CSs understudy and their actual use and appealing for help.
of these CSs
The present study reported that tenth grade students
Item Means of Means of Spearman's (Sig)
teachers teachers actual tend to use message reduction strategy to a large extent
claims use (M= 4.90). This result agrees with the study of Al-Dweik
1 1.90 2.07 .1230 0.518 (2008) who concluded that Jordanian EFL students are
2 2.37 2.80 -.090 .6370 not risk takers who feel reluctant to speak.
3 2.93 2.50 .406 .0260
4 2.33 2.40 .009 .9630
5 2.00 4.10 .299 .1080 The present study stated that tenth grade students
6 1.80 4.90 .287 .1250 participating in the study used feigning understanding
7 1.97 4.80 .148 .4360 strategy which got high mean score (M = 5.00).
8 2.30 4.63 .233 .2150 Typically, students use this strategy is to clarify meaning.
9 2.77 4.63 -.009 .9610 The reasons stand beyond their low achievement in their
10 2.90 4.73 -.062 .7440
11 1.37 3.67 .326 .0790
instructional exams. This strategy involves students'
12 1.63 2.70 .204 0.280 expressing their lack of understanding a message
13 1.40 4.40 .193 0.308 understanding. Concerning the strategy of simplifying
what students speak about, the study reported that it was
Table 5 indicates that there is not congruence used by teachers greatly with a mean score of (M= 3.67).
between the English language teachers' claims
concerning their use of CSs understudy and their actual Yet, the study presented a surprising result regarding
use of these strategies. It seems that Jordanian English the strategy of topic avoidance where teachers use this
language teachers realize that they use specific strategies, strategy in limited manner with a low mean (M= 2.07).
this could be explained by noticing the correlation Out of their observations, the researchers believe that if
coefficient and the statistical significant between their teachers use these strategies in their teaching (namely;
claims and their actual practice of these CSs. simplifying what they are speaking about, topic
avoidance) their teaching will be more effective. For
Discussion using such strategies will save a lot of efforts instead of
A. Discussion of the results related to the first trying to confirm/expand on the teaching of more
question. This question aimed at identifying the extent to complex grammatical rules. So it is hoped, as claimed by
which English language students use CSs according to teachers and as mentioned in the discussion of the first
Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy. The results as question, that students are expected to perform better in
shown in Table 2 indicate that tenth grade English their school exams together with having more time to
language students use CSs for classroom communication, interact orally with their teachers or their classmates. As
that were stated by Dornyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy. a result, they are expected to communicate meaningfully.
Unfortunately, that was not the case, that is, students
The study reported that the participating teachers cannot interact properly in the target language.
used all the fourteen strategies vastly. Specifically,
feigning understanding and using fillers and hesitation The present study reported tenth grade students' use
devices got top mean scores (M= 5.00). Also, both of of approximation and circumlocution strategies. This
circumlocution and other- repetition strategies had best indicates that English language students are controlled by
similar mean scores (i.e. M= 4.23). whereas Tenth grade the practices of their teachers which are steered towards
students use the strategies of (message reduction, the teaching of vocabulary items. Even more, students are
approximation, circumlocution, code-mixing miming, asked to communicate while using the vocabulary items
self-repetition, other-repetition, appealing for help, tasks, i.e. lists.
comprehension- check, own- accuracy check, asking for
repetition, guessing, using of fillers and hesitation The strategy of code-mixing was used by the
devices, guessing , and feigning understanding, all of students. This result corresponded with the teachers' use
these strategies got high degree. of this strategy. This explains why students cannot
communicate in English meaningfully, as the mean
scores were for the teachers as 2.50 and for students as
2.43. The following are examples of students' use of CSs:

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42 S. Al-Gharaibeh & D. Al-Jamal: Communication Strategies for Teachers and their Students…

1- 'The weather today is is very hot'. The student Throughout her field observations, the researchers
here repeated 'is' twice to gain time and noticed that teachers encourage their students to use the
remember " very hot'. strategy of approximation by keep telling them to use
2- 'Yesterday our school celebrated ‫'عيد االستقالل‬. synonyms and alternative items. For example, one of the
The student here cannot remember or may she teachers told his students that ' a small plant' is the same
don’t know the English concept ' Independence for ' a steroid'. The study indicated that teachers teach
Day', so she mixed her sentence with the Arabic other- repetition strategy which has got a mean score of
concept. 4.23. This teaching this strategy, however, has benefits as
3- ' ‫ ''زي ما قال عمر‬I love organic food'. The student evidenced by Faucette (2001). Faucette maintained that
here cannot produce his own sentence so he the teaching of CSs is essential for the production of the
repeated his colleague's sentence. target language. Faucette recommended interactional
4- 'I goes to school by bus everyday' no no I am strategies teaching as they are central to the initiation and
sorry "I go to school by bus everyday'. The keeping of communication and negotiation of meaning.
student here realized that he produced incorrect
sentence, so he made accuracy check and Matching these results with the results that are
reproduced it accurately. related to the second question, the researchers realized
5- ' Cleaning machine' for 'washing machine'. the reason behind students' inability to communicate
6- ' Very high place' for 'mountain'. properly. That is, teachers teach students to use these
7- ' Above air' for 'climate'. CSs, but the students still are unable to communicate
8- ' Not existed animals' for ' extinction'. properly, because these efforts for teaching CSs are
9- ' Protect' for 'conserve'. limited in achieving instructional tasks rather to
10- 'Put' for ' choose') communicate orally.

C.Discussion of the Results Related to the third


The researchers think that, although students use CSs in
Question. This question asked about to what extent is
high rates, their use to some extent reflects gaps in their
there congruence between the English language teachers'
lexical and grammatical performance which stands as for
claims concerning their use of CSs understudy and their
their inability to overcome linguistic breakdowns. The
actual use of these CSs.
examples which were taken through the observation
classes may prove this claim.
English language teachers' claimed that they use
strategies of circumlocution (M=2-37), code- mixing
B. Discussion of the results related to the second (M=2.93), miming (M=2.33), the strategy of topic
question. This question asked about the extent to which avoidance (M=2.77) moderately.
English language teachers use CSs according to Dornyei
and Scott's (1997) taxonomy. The results of the first Meanwhile, English language teachers' claimed that
question showed that English language teachers teach they do not use CSs in classroom communication that
their students to use these strategies yet not to all their class communication goes smoothly and they
strategies introduced by this study. communicate with their students easily, these claims
indicated that that they do not use strategies of
For example, the study reported that teachers teach approximation(M=1.90) , self- repetition ( M=2.00),
their students to use most of the strategies (namely; own- accuracy check (M= 1.80), asking for repetition (
message reduction, approximation, circumlocution, code- M=1.97), using fillers and hesitation devices(M=2.30),
mixing , miming, self- repetition, other- repetition, the strategy of simplifying what they are speaking about
appeal for help, comprehension check, own- accuracy (M=1.37), the strategy of using contextual vocabulary
check, asking for repetition, guessing , using fillers and items(M=1.63), and the strategy of in dialogues students
hesitation devices). In contrast, the strategy of feigning need to think and prepare what to say, and to use some
understanding was not used excessively, but rather to a words and expressions provided in the dialogues box
slight extent. (M=1.40).
The study, however, reported that the participating
teachers teach using fillers and hesitation devices That is, the results of the Fourth question showed
strategy to a large extent which came top across the that there was not congruence between the English
means and as the highest (M= 5.00). Whereas the language teachers' claims concerning their use of CSs
strategy of feigning understanding came last and scored understudy and their actual use of these CSs.
the lowest mean (M= 1.40).

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Int. J. Bilin. Mult. Teach. Eng.4, No.1 , 33-44 (July-2016) 43

English language teachers claimed when they filled 3- Feigning understanding was repeated as the
in the questionnaire that they do not use CSs in classroom most used CSs by students. This reflects that
communication that their class communication goes they have desire to learn.
smoothly and they communicate with their students 4- Comprehension-check was repeated as the most
easily, but these claims were invalid. Because the used CSs by teachers. This reflects that they
researchers observed their use of CSs before she asked want to achieve learning outcomes, while this
them to fill in the questionnaire. This procedure helped to effort is not actually achieved because of their
explore the gap between their claims and their actual use low use of their CSs of topic avoidance.
of CSs. Results of this question as shown in Table 5 5- The teachers tend to solve the oral
indicated a gap between the teachers' claims and their communication problems with their students by
actual use of CSs. Differences between mean scores of switching to Arabic.
their claims and their actual use of CSs show the non- 6- Message reduction was repeated as the most
congruence of their claims and their actual use of CSs. taught CSs by teachers. This reflects that they
do not encourage their students to take risk and
Comparing mean scores between teachers' claims communicate orally, instead they can give their
and their actual use can be explained on the grounds that students starting points about the concept or the
the teachers are unaware of the positive effect of CSs in topic they ask them to speak about, and in
communication management in classes. contrast they move to another student to get the
answer.
Concerning comparing the mean scores of the 7- The strategy of students need to think and
strategies, the researchers were keen to highlight such prepare what to say, and to use some words and
differences. For example, the strategy of asking for expressions provided in the dialogues box was
repetition (claim=1.97: practice = 4.10), using fillers and repeated as the most non-congruent CSs among
hesitation devices (claim=2.30, practice = 4.63), the the teachers claims and actual use of CSs. This
strategy of using contextual vocabulary items reflects that they are unaware of their using of
(claim=1.63, practice = 3.67), and the strategy of in CSs.
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