9

Strategic Competence

9.1 Introductory comments

So far, we have discussed the contribution that figurative thinking might

make to the various components of what Bachman refers to as ‘language
competence’. The second major dimension of the Bachman model and
the final area where figurative thinking may play a role is ‘strategic
competence’. In very general terms, strategic competence refers simply to
a student’s ability to use language interactively. This is a very broad
notion, and recent reformulations of the Bachman model (see, for
example, Douglas, 2000) have extended it even further to include a
number of very general, non-linguistic skills, such as evaluating a
situation, deciding whether to respond, planning what is needed to
achieve an adequate response and organising the ‘elements of language
knowledge’ to do it. Concepts such as ‘evaluating’ and ‘planning’ are too
general for a meaningful discussion about how language users handle
metaphor to achieve their intentions, so we will focus instead on the
earlier formulation, in terms of ‘communication strategies’.
There are two principal approaches to the study of communication
strategies: the ‘interactional’ approach and the ‘psycholinguistic’
approach. Proponents of the interactional approach focus more on the
ability of two interlocutors to manipulate the conversation and to
negotiate shared meaning (see, for example, McNamara, 1995).
Proponents of the psycholinguistic approach, on the other hand, tend
to define strategic competence as a speaker’s ability to use strategies to
compensate for gaps in their knowledge of the target language, in order,
for example, to keep a conversation going (see, for example Poulisse,
1990). These strategies are generally referred to as ‘compensation
strategies’ (Tarone, 1983: p. 62).

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© Jeannette Littlemore and Graham Low 2006
178 Figurative Thinking and Foreign Language Learning

Strategic competence overlaps with some of the components in the

‘language competence’ component of Bachman’s model, particularly
those that appear under the heading ‘illocutionary competence’.
Illocutionary competence is all about using language strategically to
build relationships, manipulate and persuade people of our viewpoints,
and therefore, by its very nature, constitutes a large interactional aspect
of strategic competence. We have already dealt with these in the pre-
ceding chapters (Chapter 6 in particular), so there is no need to cover
this ground again. On the other hand, we have not yet touched on the
role of figurative thinking in the use of compensation strategies, so these
will be the main focus of this chapter.

9.2 What are compensation strategies?

As we saw earlier, ‘compensation strategies’ is a catch-all term designed

to cover the range of attempts that learners make to communicate their
ideas when faced with gaps in their knowledge of the target language.
The three main types of strategy in this category are word coinage,
circumlocution, and transfer from the L1. Word coinage involves making up
an entirely new word out of existing words, for example, if a learner did
not know the word scissors, he or she might refer to ‘cutters’.
Circumlocution involves giving lengthy descriptions as a substitute for
unknown vocabulary items. For instance, if a learner did not know the
word for a chessboard, he or she might say something like ‘it is used for
playing a game; it has black and white squares on it, and it is sometimes
made of wood’. Transfer from the L1 can involve the use of a word or
expression from the speaker’s native language, spoken with ‘target
language’ pronunciation, or it can involve a direct translation of an L1
expression, resulting in an expression that may, or may not, exist in the
target language. Before discussing the potential role of figurative think-
ing in the formulation of each of these three types of strategies, we will
consider the extent to which compensation strategies contribute to
foreign language learning in general.

9.3 Does the use of compensation strategies promote

foreign language learning?

Compensation strategies form part of a broader area of research that

is concerned with ‘learning strategies’, which are defined by Oxford
(1993: p. 175) as ‘specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that
students employ – often consciously – to improve their own progress in