Communicative

Strategies
Communicative Strategies
These are plans, ways or means of sharing
information which are adopted to achieve a
particular social, political, psychological, or
linguistic purpose.

Cohen (1990) states that strategies must be

used to start and maintain a conversation.
 Types of
Communica
tive
NOMINATION
A speaker carries out a nomination to establish a
topic.

Start off with inquiries and announcement as they

promised extended talk.

It keeps the conversational environment open.

Efficiently signal the beginning of a new topic.

RESTRICTION

Refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker.

It gives specific instructions that you must follow.

Respond only within a set of categories.

TURN-TAKING
A process which people decide who takes the
conversational floor.

Primary idea is to give all communicators a chance to

speak.

Should employ visual signals like a nod, a look or step

back and accompany these with spoken cues.
TOPIC CONTROL
Used to avoid unnecessary interruptions to avoid topic shifts.

You may only have time to speak after the main speaker told
you to do so.

Question and answer formula to move the discussion forward.

Keeping the interaction going by asking questions and eliciting

a response.
TOPIC SHIFT
Involves moving from one topic to another topic.

It is where one part of a conversation ends and

another begins.

This strategy works when there is follow-through so

that new topic continues to be discussed.
REPAIR
Overcoming communication breakdown to send more
comprehensible messages.

It refers to how speakers address the problems in speaking,

listening and comprehending that they may encounter in a
conversation.

It gives way and appreciate other’s initiative to set the

conversation back to its topic.

Self righting mechanism to any social interaction.

TERMINATION
Close initiating expressions that end a topic in a conversation.

Using verbal and non-verbal messages to end a topic.

Sometimes quick and short.

Sometimes prolonged by clarification and further questions

but the language and body movement is to end the
communication.
•Do you think one is
important than the other?
Why or why not?
Identify the type of strategy used in
each statement.
1. One of the essential lessons I gained from the discussion is the importance
of sports and wellness to a healthy lifestyle.
2. “Excuse me? I think we should speak one at a time, so we can clearly
understand what we want to say about the issue.”
3. Good to see you. Anyway, I came to visit you because I want to personally
apologies for what I did yesterday.
4. “May I have the floor, sir? The topic under the discussion is the state of the
Philippine economy today. We want better lives for all Filipinos, whether
they are working here or abroad
5. If we cannot use the Earth’s resources, our economies will die. We need to
choose: the economy or the environment.
• Through a role play/simulation, groups are asked
to answer the given question.

• In school, at home, or in the community, how can

communicative strategy help you work around
problems you encountered in actual
conversations?

• Practice time is 10 mins. and presentation is 1-2

minutes.
• ASSIGNMENT

Look for a partner. Think of three scenes from a

movie or a TV show where various communicative
strategies were employed in one conversation.
Watch the scenes and evaluate the effect of the
strategy applied to the conversation and to the
characters.
The
End