Communication Strategies

Definition:

Communication strategies are the problem-solving behaviors that learners employ when they lack the linguistic resources needed to express a message. Rather than abandoning the communicative attempt, learners use circumlocution, approximation, borrowing from L1, or other tactics to convey their intended meaning despite the gap.

In-Depth Explanation

Canale and Swain (1980) included strategic competence — the ability to use communication strategies to compensate for breakdowns — as a component of communicative competence. These strategies represent the interface between what learners know and what they need to express.

Taxonomy of communication strategies:

Achievement strategies (attempting to maintain meaning despite the gap):

Circumlocution: Describing the target concept instead of naming it (“the thing you use to cut paper” for scissors)
Approximation: Using a less precise but related term (“plant” for cactus)
Paraphrase: Restating the concept using available vocabulary
Borrowing/coining: Using an L1 word with L2 morphology (e.g., “I telephoned him” from L1 German telephonieren)
Mime/gesture: Non-verbal compensation

Reduction strategies (simplifying the intended message):

Topic avoidance: Choosing not to discuss topics where vocabulary is lacking
Message abandonment: Starting a sentence and stopping when the difficulty becomes too great

Cooperative strategies (involving the interlocutor):

Help-seeking: “How do you say…?” “What is the word for…?”
Meaning negotiation: Checking whether the interlocutor understood the intended meaning

Communication strategies in Japanese:

Japanese presents specific challenges that make communication strategies frequent and important:

Vocabulary gaps are acute for learners at intermediate stages; knowing good circumlocution phrases in Japanese is essential for maintaining conversation
Key circumlocution phrases: ~みたいなの (something like ~), ~のようなもの (something like ~), ~の反対 (the opposite of ~), 何て言うの (how do you say it?)
Back-channeling conventions (うんうん、そうですね、ええ) are part of cooperative strategy use in Japanese conversations
Learners can also use code-switching to L1 as a compensatory strategy in L2 contexts where the interlocutor is bilingual

Debate: do communication strategies help or hurt acquisition?

Krashen argues that communication strategies sustain communication without necessarily promoting acquisition. Swain counters that the output push experienced when strategies fail (the interlocutor doesn’t understand the circumlocution) creates conversational negotiation that drives acquisition. The consensus is that strategic competence is valuable as a transitional tool, but is not a substitute for building the underlying linguistic system.

History

1977: Varadi first proposes the concept of communication strategies in interlanguage research.
1983: Tarone, Cohen, and Dumas provide the first systematic taxonomy of communication strategies.
1980: Canale and Swain formalize strategic competence as part of communicative competence.
1983–1990s: Faerch and Kasper develop a psychological process model of communication strategies.
Present: Communication strategies are discussed in TBLT frameworks as part of task-relevant competence.

Common Misconceptions

“Using communication strategies means you are a weak speaker.” Communication strategies are used by native speakers, advanced bilinguals, and domain experts when communicating outside their primary knowledge area. Using circumlocution, paraphrase, or topic avoidance is not a sign of low proficiency — it is a sign of pragmatic awareness and communicative competence, particularly in handling gaps gracefully rather than stopping speech entirely.

“Learning more vocabulary eliminates the need for communication strategies.” Even native speakers use communication strategies in specialized domains or novel situations. While a larger vocabulary reduces the frequency of strategic necessity, communication strategies are part of full communicative competence at all levels — professional-level communicators use paraphrase and reformulation strategically as rhetorical tools, not only to compensate for gaps.

Criticisms

The classification of communication strategies has been highly contested — researchers dispute which behaviors count as “strategies” (implying conscious, deliberate selection) versus automatic communicative behaviors. Bialystok (1990) and others questioned whether learner behaviors in gap situations reflect deliberate choice or automatic pattern activation. Research on whether teaching communication strategies explicitly improves L2 learning outcomes has produced mixed results. Some studies show that strategy training increases strategy use but not measurable gains in acquisition; the causal relationship between strategy use and L2 development remains theoretically uncertain.

Social Media Sentiment

Communication strategies are discussed in language learning communities primarily as “speaking tips” — content about how to keep conversations going when you don’t know a word, how to use gestures and facial expressions, and how to use circumlocution and clarification requests. The advice to “just keep talking” and use whatever means necessary to communicate is widely advocated and resonates with learners who feel paralyzed by unknown vocabulary. Communication strategy content is practical and immediately applicable, making it popular in early-to-intermediate learner communities.

Last updated: 2026-04

Practical Application

For Japanese learners:

Build a toolkit of circumlocution phrases early: ~はどういう意味ですか？ (what does ~ mean?), ~は日本語で何ですか？ (what is the word for ~?), ちょっと難しいんですが… (it’s a bit difficult to explain but…)
Practice “keeping the conversation alive” — even with gaps, maintaining communicative momentum is a skill that can be practiced with language exchange partners on italki or HelloTalk
Note your own frequent circumlocutions: the concepts you have to describe rather than name reveal precisely the vocabulary you need next
Sakubo

Related Terms

Research

Tarone, E. (1977). Conscious communication strategies in interlanguage: A progress report. In H. D. Brown, C. A. Yorio, & R. Crymes (Eds.), On TESOL ’77. TESOL. [Summary: Early exploration of communication strategies as a component of interlanguage use, categorizing the ways learners manage communicative breakdown and maintain interaction despite gaps.]
Dörnyei, Z., & Scott, M. L. (1997). Communication strategies in a second language: Definitions and taxonomies. Language Learning, 47(1), 173–210. [Summary: Comprehensive review and synthesis of taxonomies of communication strategies, providing a unified classification system across previous frameworks and clarifying the terminological and theoretical disputes in the field.]

Mikey Does