Communicative Strategies

• Since engaging in conversation is also bound by implicit rules, Cohen (1990) states that
strategies

• must be used to start and maintain a conversation. Knowing and applying grammar
appropriately

• is one of the most basic strategies to maintain a conversation. The following are some
strategies that

• people use when communicating.

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.

• When beginning a topic in a conversation, especially if it does not arise from a previous
topic,

• you may start off with news inquiries and news announcements as they promise
extended

• talk. Most importantly, keep the conversational environment open for opinions until the

• prior topic shuts down easily and initiates a smooth end .

• This could efficiently signal the beginning of a new topic in the conversation.

RESTRICTION communication refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker. 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.

• For example, in your class, you might be asked by your teacher to brainstorm on peer

• pressure or deliver a speech on digital natives. In these cases, you cannot decide to talk

• about something else. On the other hand, conversing with your friends during ordinary

• days can be far more casual than these examples. Just the same, remember to always
be on

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 Communicative Strategies

• point and avoid sideswiping from the topic during the conversation to avoid
communication breakdown.

Turn-taking
• Sometimes people are given

• unequal opportunities to talk because others take much time

• during the conversation. Turn-taking pertains to the process by which people decide
who

• takes the conversational floor. There is a code of behavior behind establishing and
sustaining

• a productive conversation, but the primary idea is to give all communicators a chance to
speak.

• Remember to keep your words relevant and reasonably short enough to express your
views

• or feelings. Try to be polite even if you are trying to take the floor from another speaker.
Do

• not hog the conversation and talk incessantly without letting the other party air out
their

• own ideas. To acknowledge others, 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 “You wanted to say something?”

• Topic control covers how procedural formality or informality affects the development of

• topic in conversations. For example, in meetings, you may only have a turn to speak
after the

• chairperson directs you to do so. Contrast this with a casual conversation with friends
over

• lunch or coffee where you may take the conversational floor anytime.

• Remember that regardless of the formality of the context, topic control is achieved

• cooperatively

• This only means that when a topic is initiated, it should be collectively

• developed by avoiding unnecessary interruptions and topic shifts. You can make
yourself

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 Communicative Strategies

• actively involved in the conversation without overly dominating it by using minimal

• responses like “Yes,” “Okay,” “Go on”; asking tag questions to clarify information briefly
like

• “You are excited, aren’t you?”, “It was unexpected, wasn’t it?”; 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.

• When shifting fr

• om one topic to another, you have to be very intuitive.

• Make sure that the

• previous topic was nurtured enough to generate adequate views. You may also use
effective

• conversational transitions to indicate a shift like “By the way,” “In addition to what you
said,”

• “Which reminds me of,” and the like.

Repair
• Repair refers to how speakers address the problems in speaking, listening, and

• comprehending that they may encounter in a conversation. For example, if everybody in

the

• conversation seems to talk at the same time, give way and appreciate other’s initiative
to set

• the conversation back to its topic.

• Repair is the self-righting mechanism in any social interaction (Schegloff et al, 1977). If

• there is a problem in understanding the conversation, speakers will always try to

address

• and correct it. Although this is the case, always seek to initiate the repair.

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.

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 Communicative Strategies

• Although not all topics may have clear ends, try to signal the end of the topic through

• concluding cues. You can do this by sharing what you learned from the conversation.

• Aside from this, soliciting agreement from the other participants usually completes the
discussion of the topic carefully.

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