Name: __________________________ Year and Section: __________________ Score: _________

ORAL COMMUNICATION

Topic: Types of Communicative Strategies

Engaging in a conversation is not just a simple process of talking and listening. Cohen (1990) states that it is bound by
implicit rules that requires strategies to be able to start and maintain conversation.

Types of Communicative Strategy

The following are some strategies that people use when communicating:

1. Nomination- A speaker carries out nomination to collaboratively and productively establish a topic.

You use this strategy to open a topic and start a conversation. Nomination is usually employed at the beginning of
interaction to set the purpose of conversation.

Examples:

You may start off with making inquiries, giving compliment, asking for opinion, or offering help. This could efficiently
signal the beginning of a new topic in the conversation.

• “Have you heard about “the new normal”?

• “I saw your TikTok post on Facebook. It’s really great.”

2. Restriction in communication refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker.

It is a strategy used when responses need to be within the set categories or instructions. These instructions
confine you as a speaker and limit what you can say.

Examples:

• In your class, you might be asked by your teacher to brainstorm on peer pressure or deliver a speech on
digital natives. In this case, you cannot decide to talk about something else.
• You are invited to the police station to answer some questions about what you know about the accident.

3. Turn-taking - It pertains to the process by which people decide who takes the conversational floor.

Turn-taking strategy allows all participants in the conversation a chance to speak. You can use this strategy to
avoid taking over the whole conversation.

Examples:

• You can employ this strategy by making your response shorter yet informative enough to express your ideas
and feelings.
• Spoken cues such as “What do you think?” or “You wanted to say something?” provide others a chance to
speak. Pausing is a nonverbal cue that will do as well.

4. Topic Control- covers how procedural formality or informality affects the development of topic in conversations.

This is a strategy used when there is a need to control and prevent unnecessary interruptions and topic shifts in
a certain conversation. Using this strategy makes the conversation to stay focused on the topic throughout the
discussion and keeps the development of the topic going by asking questions.

Examples:

• During a board meeting, the director manages the communication and directs who may speak to collectively
develop the topic of conversation.
• In the senate session, the senate president presides the meeting. Senators who wish to speak asks
permission to the senate president.

5. Topic shifting involves moving from one topic to another. This strategy is used to change the topic to a new one
which helps communication keep going.

Examples:

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 • You may use conversational transitions that indicate a shift like “By the way...”, “Before I forget...”, “Which
reminds me of,” and the like.
• In a report presentation you may use expressions like “Moving on to the next topic…”, “Now, let’s talk
about…”, “This time, let me tell you about…”

6. Repair refers to how speakers address the problems in speaking, listening, and comprehending that they encounter
in a conversation. Repair is the self-righting mechanism in any social interaction (Schegloff et. al, 1977). We can employ
this strategy whenever we encounter problems in communication to prevent a breakdown.

Examples:

Speaker may use recasting or changing the form of message to a more understandable one using the following
expressions:

• “What I mean is….”

• What I am trying to say is that…”

Repair strategies also include requesting clarification or making a clarifying question, request for repetition, and request
for definition, translation or explanation.

• I am sorry but what do you mean by “new normal?”

• “Does it mean that we do not need to come to school if there are no face-to-face classes?

7. Termination refers to the conversation participants’ close-initiating expressions that end a topic in a conversation.

This strategy is used to end an interaction or close a topic. Most of the time, the topic initiator or the person who
opened the topic takes responsibility to signal the end of the discussion as well.

Examples:

You may use the following expressions to end a conversation:

• “It’s nice catching up with you. I must be going.”

• Thanks for your time. See you around.

In other situation, you may end the topic by sharing what you learned from the conversation.

ACTIVITY 1
I. True or False.

Directions: Read each statement carefully and write TRUE if it is correct and FALSE if it is wrong.

____________1. Repair in communication refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker.

____________2. Turn-taking pertains to the process by which people decide who takes the conversational floor.

____________3. Communication must be only acceptable, polite and meaningful when talking to your superior.

____________4. Termination refers to conversation participants’ close initiating expressions that end a topic in a conversation.

____________5. Nomination covers how procedural formality and informality affects the development of conversation.

II. Identification.

Directions: Identify the type of communicative strategy evident in each statement. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

___________6. “Ok goodbye! See you around.”

___________7. “Hello, I guess you are familiar. Have we met before?”

___________8. “Anyone, who is not in favor of my idea?

___________9. “May I request everybody to be quiet so we can proceed to the next part of our discussion?”

___________10. “Sorry but can you repeat your question?”

___________11. “That was an excellent solution to resolve this issue.”

___________12. “Do you have any clarification about our contingency plan this school year?”

___________13. “The president will lead the meeting and then the secretary will write the minutes.”
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___________14. “In addition, to what you have said, I think we should also assure the safety of our learners in times like this.”

___________15. “The rules only specified in the ordinance will be followed.”

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Name: __________________________ Year and Section: __________________ Score: _________

ORAL COMMUNICATION

Topic: Understanding Speech Context, Speech Style, Speech Act and Communicative Strategy
Communicative Competence

In order to achieve communicative competence, we must consider the following: speech context, speech style, speech act
and communicative strategies.

Intrapersonal
Interpersonal Public

Speech Context

This accounts for the background and purpose of a discourse. Speech context assumes a more or less direct relationship
between situational, societal, political or cultural “environment” in which the communication transaction occurs. The type of
audience, circumstances and setting are taken into consideration.

Speech context may be intrapersonal, interpersonal and public. Intrapersonal communication is a communication with
oneself. It is the basic form of communication where the ‘self’ is the only consideration. This is true in moments of self-reflection
or introspection when you contemplate and internalize things that happened or may happen, or maybe think of what may be done
to solve a personal problem.

Sharing your experiences with a friend or discussing a topic within a group are examples of interpersonal communication.
This kind of communication involves the transmission of messages that is deliberately extended to others.

Public communication addresses a large number of people. For example, when you discuss to a large group online about
the effects of Covid19 and the precautionary measures in the time of pandemic, you engage in public communication. In this way,
you communicate to a crowd of online viewers and so your message may be heard by many. Another example of public
communication is a preacher passionately delivering a sermon and a leader emphatically persuading the people to support a cause
in a mass gathering.

As communication changes its context, language form, choice of words, delivery, and duration of interaction are some of
the factors that may also change. Various speaking engagements will always entail different environments, situations, or
circumstances. The people that we talk to, the physical setting we find ourselves in, and the circumstances that surround the
communication transaction may alter. And when it does, we as speakers may incorporate the necessary changes in order to adapt
to the changed context.
Speech Style
Another factor that affects the attainment of communicative competence is speech style. A person may choose what style
or form of language to use in communicating with others; however, personal preferences may not work at all times. There are
controlled instances when one may just go with the flow of the communicative process because that is what is required in the
situation.
Speech style has the following types: intimate, casual, consultative, formal and frozen.
Intimate communication happens between or among family members because they are bound by close affinity. There are
things that are kept only within themselves which other people do not or can not know. Intimate communication may be private or
confidential.
Friends and acquaintances often use casual communication. They feel comfortable and at ease with one another. They
have no inhibitions to share their feelings because they consider their friends next to their family. They laugh without ceasing over
not-so-funny things and at times, not even getting sensitive to one another’s criticisms.
Consultative means of communication is giving pieces of advice as in a guidance counselor and a client who needs it. This
can be between a doctor and his patient or parents who consult with a teacher about their child’s academic performance.
The President delivering his SONA and a principal presenting a school’s financial report to teachers, parents and other
stakeholders are both examples of a formal communication. This type of communication is well-planned in terms of structure,
sequence and coherence of ideas.
Finally, those activities which are not changeable in nature fall under frozen type of communication. Saying a prayer like
Our Lord’s Prayer or the Hail Mary and reciting the Patriotic Oath during flag ceremonies are just two of the examples. These are
routinely done and may only be changed once amended in the Philippine constitution. Frozen communication is set and it is very
rarely or almost never altered.
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Speech act
Speech act refers not only to the utterance (Locutionary act) but also to the intention (Illocutionary Act) and response
(Perlocutionary Act) to a specific situation for an intended discourse impact. The choice of words to use has to be considered to suit
the need of the occasion or the kinds of audience to be addressed. This is also done to help express the intention of the speaker and
to elicit a response from the listener.
In linguistics or the scientific study of language, a speech act refers not only to a word or group of words spoken by a person
but also to the action that is elicited from the audience due to the words spoken. For example, the question, “May I use your pen?”
is considered a speech act because the speaker’s desire to use another person’s pen is expressed while also seeking permission to
use it. The actual saying of the words or the utterance of “May I use your pen?” is the locutionary act, the implied request of “Can
you hand me your pen so I may use it” is the illocutionary act, and the actual handing over of the pen as permitted or given by the
owner of the pen is the perlocutionary act.
Indeed, people may be able to accomplish many things with words and may be able to change status, relationships, and
commitments. As in single word expressions, people may make promises by simply saying “me” or may break hearts by simply
muttering “No.” Henceforth, a tactful word choice is necessary knowing how words may easily be misunderstood. In total, speech
acts are part of people’s day to day transactions. They are commonplace. Words that we have for a specific purpose or intention
have to be expressed. Otherwise, no transaction or negotiation can occur.
Communicative strategies
You are the class president and are the one presiding a meeting. In the middle of the discussion, a heated argument as to
where the class fund goes takes place. What would you do?
To begin a conversation and keep it going, we should employ strategies that will help maintain its smooth flow.
You may consider nomination wherein you as the class president or your classmates suggest a topic or agenda to talk
about. Nomination starts the conversation process. You also put restriction or limitation to the topic to be discussed in order to
meet the arranged and allotted time.
Turn-taking is where you employ rules of engagement regarding the procedure or sequence of each participant’s turn to
talk. This also refers to the alternate turns that speakers adapt when having a conversation. Making sure that the discussions remain
in the confines of the agenda is the next consideration. This may be hard to achieve but topic control is possible through the
cooperation of all the attendees of a group meeting or of all participants in the discussion. Everybody should ensure that the
conversation will not veer away from what has been planned.
Topic shifting makes the transition from one topic to another occur smoothly. This happens when one discussant manages
to move to the next topic subtly. This next topic may not necessarily be the same as the previous but definitely, it is related to it.
Before the meeting is adjourned, you may repair or fix all the problems that arouse in the course of the meeting by answering all the
questions and clarifying the attendees’ understanding of the agenda discussed. The termination is the last part of the process where
the meeting is successfully ended.
These various communicative strategies may be employed by speakers in order to keep the conversation moving forward.
Different strategies entail different word choice and language forms.
In sum, the shift in speech context, speech style, speech act and communicative strategy is always probable. The roller
coaster ride of intermingling scenarios allows causes and effects to surface out, too. To achieve a successful communication
transaction, these factors all need to be taken into careful consideration.
ACTIVITY
A. Provide the needed information below.
1. Types of Speech Context
a. ________________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________
d. ________________________
2. Types of Speech Styles
a. ________________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________
d. ________________________
e. ________________________

3. Components of Utterances in Speech Act Theory

a. _______________________
b. ________________________
c. ________________________

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4. Various Communicative Strategies
a. ________________________
b. ______________________
c. ________________________
d. ________________________
e. ________________________
f. ________________________
g. ________________________
B. Fill in the blanks to complete the sentences below.
Speech Context, Speech Style, Speech Act, and Communicative Strategies affect the following:

1. Language form could be _____________________ and ___________________.

2. ____________________ is the length of communication, which could be shortened or lengthened depending on how the
conversation is going on between the sender and the receiver.
3. Relationship of speaker to the receiver of the message could be
___________, ___________, ____________, ___________, or ___________.
4. Delivery could be ______________, ______________, ______________, and ______________ depending on purpose and
context of the situation.
5. _____________ is the information/idea conveyed by the sender.
6. Roles and responsibilities of the _________________ differ depending on the purpose of communication.

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Name: __________________________ Year and Section: __________________ Score: _________

ORAL COMMUNICATION

Topic: Principles of Effective Speech Delivery

After identifying your purpose for your speech, remember the following ideas to improve your skills in public speaking.
Good speakers at one point are also beginners, so make sure to employ the features of effective speech delivery the
next time you faced this situation.

Features of Effective Speech Delivery

Articulation. Refers to the clarity of sounds and words we produce. Articulation is incredibly important during a speech
since it does not come with a subtitle, your audience could not rewind or playback a word, or phrase during your
speech. That is why it is essential that you articulate every word as clearly as possible. You might want to consider the
following strategies to improve articulation.

• Listen to yourself. Record your voice by participating in a conversation. This is to identify the problem in
order to get solution.
• Pronounce. Fully pronounce each syllable of the word, do not mumble. Open your mouth and use your
speech organs to produce the correct sound of the word.
• Be simple. Keep your sentences as simple as possible. Avoid using long and winding sentences, this might
lose the audience’s attention.
• Avoid the filler. The overuse of filler words such as “um”, “uh”, “like”, “you know”, shows that you are
unsure of what you are saying. Instead of using filler words, consider “Let’s move on to..”, “ Another
important consideration..”, or “ let’s transition to..” as replacements.
• Practice, practice, practice. Check out the best practices of good speakers. Try to imitate how they articulate
the words, but make sure that at the end of the day, you are creating a better version of yourself.

Modulation. A speech delivery always requires confidence, and nothing reflects this better than your voice modulation.
This refers to how you control you voice when speaking. We can change our message by varying tone, stress on words,
pitch and changing the rate of speech. Here are some things to keep in mind in capturing your audience with voice
modulation.

• Emphasis. Upon going through your speech, identify which words are keys to communicating your message.
Pick these words and give an impact using your voice.
• Loud and Soft. You need to be loud so that your audience can hear you clearly but you need to careful in
drawing a line between being loud and shouting. Loud voice could command people to listen. But you can go
soft if people really want to listen. Varying the volume should match your content.
• Fast and Slow. Going fast at some points on your speech helps keep your audience engaged. Going slow
helps the audience to be calm, also this adds clarity to your message.
• Effective Pauses. This is very important. A pause, when done right, could build curiosity in the minds of your
audience, keeping them engaged and focused on your message.
• Sound Enthusiastic and Confident. Your voice can reflect emotions. Do not sound lousy or monotonous.
Display the enthusiasm using your voice.

Body Language. Your body language can make a huge impact in front of an audience, this can never be estimated. No
matter how good your speech is, if you are expressionless, motionless and dull, your audience will lose interest. Hence,
it is important for you to consider the following tips.

Posture. Keep a good posture, stand straight. Do not cross your arms or put your hands in your pocket or at your back
and slouch. Face your audience as much as possible.

Breathe. Relax, take deep breaths. This will help your voice projection, also the pacing of speech.

Facial Expression. Smile at your audience, this will make them feel comfortable and at ease. Display the right expression
based on the context of your speech.

Gestures. Keep your audience’s attention by varying your gestures, use your hand to emphasize words, incorporate your
head and arms as well. If you are using visuals, point and look at it, your audience will follow your hands and eyes.

Movement. Moving around the stage space will create a dynamic effect. At some point, stepping towards the audience
encourages and persuades engagement, as well as creating a positive feeling.

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Rapport with the audience. In public speaking, rapport is considered when everything in your speech is in harmony. The
audience receive you well as you enjoy delivering your speech. But all of this requires a tremendous effort. Keep the
following details in mind.

• Know your audience. As what we have learned the previous module, audience analysis creates a big
difference. You can connect with them if you have an idea of their age, gender mix, ethnicity, cultural values,
religious or group affiliations, primary language and education level. Shape your speech to meet the
audience.
• First impressions last. The first 5-10 seconds of your speech is the foundation of the entire presentation. It is
crucial that you connect with them early on to keep them engage the entirety of your speech. Include them,
use “we” rather than “I”. Identify your common grounds.

Stage Presence. This refers to the presentation style and technique of the speaker to maintain the audiences’ attention.
The overall appearance of the speaker on stage can significantly add or take away his or her credibility. The goal is to
reinforce the message of the speech and not to distract the audience. Here are a few tips to keep in check.

• Appearance and Comfort. You must be dressed to the occasion, it could be formal event or a relaxed casual
one. Remember, if you are sure of your appearance you will have that amazing self-confidence necessary in
giving a speech.
• Body posture and attitude. The moment you stepped on the stage, your body language matters. You must
have a positive attitude, keep in mind that your audience is intelligent and looks at you at the entire speech.
• Tone of the speech. Use different tones and styles as suitable to your topic.
• Stage space. It is always a smart move to rehearse over and over, including using different parts of the stage
at different levels.

All in all, stage presence is the totality of all the other features of effective speech delivery. Use and maximize all of it as
they all are equally important to maintain and engage your audience the entire duration of the speech.

📘 Identification Quiz

Instructions: Read each item carefully. Identify the correct answer based on the lesson about Features of Effective Speech Delivery.
Write your answer on the space provided.

1. It refers to the clarity of sounds and words we produce.

2. Overuse of words such as “um,” “uh,” and “like” during speech.
3. One strategy to improve articulation is to record your own voice to find problems. What is this called?
4. This articulation tip tells you to keep your sentences short and avoid long, winding ones.
5. Which practice involves imitating good speakers but creating your own better version in the end?

6. This refers to how you control your voice when speaking.

7. Giving stress on key words to create impact in your speech.
8. Varying the volume of your voice to avoid sounding like shouting.
9. Changing the speed of your delivery, whether quick or calm, is called what?
10. A break in delivery that builds curiosity and focus in your audience.

11. This refers to keeping a good stance and avoiding slouching.

12. Smiling at your audience to make them feel comfortable is an example of what?
13. The use of hands, arms, and head to emphasize words during speech.
14. Moving around the stage and stepping closer to the audience is part of what?
15. Taking deep breaths to relax and help with pacing and projection.

16. Creating harmony and connection with your audience while delivering a speech is called what?
17. The study of audience’s age, gender, culture, language, and values to shape your speech.
18. The first 5–10 seconds of a speech are very important because they create what?

19. The overall appearance and technique of the speaker on stage that adds or reduces credibility.
20. Being appropriately dressed for the occasion contributes to what feature of effective speech delivery?

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