ORAL COMMUNICATION

Types of Communicative Strategy

In today’s global environment,
communication plays a crucial role since
everyone cannot be separated with
communication activity. Being able to
communicate effectively is regarded as the
most important of all life skills. Many people
believe that the significance of
communication is like the importance of
breathing. Indeed, communication facilitates
the spread of knowledge and forms
What is a Speech Act? A speech act is an
utterance that serves a function in communication.
There are three types of Speech Act:
1.Locutionary Act refers to the actual utterance
of the speaker.
Two types of Locutionary Act
a.utterance acts – where something is said (or a
sound is made) and which may not have any
meaning.
b.propositional acts – The literal meaning of
what is said
ex: It’s hot in here.
2.Illocutionary Act refers to the intended utterance
by the speaker (performance). Illocutionary acts are
classified into five distinct categories:
A.Assertive –It is an act which speaker expresses
belief about the truth of a proposition.
B.Directive –It is an act which the speaker tries to
make the addressee perform an action.
C.Commissive – It is an act which commits the
speaker to doing something in the future.
D.Expressive – It is an act which the speaker
expresses his/her feelings or emotional reactions.
E.Declaration – It is an act which brings a change in
the external situation.
3.Perlocutionary Act refers to the actions
that result from the locution or what we
bring about or achieve by saying something
such as convincing, persuading, deterring or
surprising.
Locutionary Act: What we say…
Illocutionary Act: What we mean we say
it…
Perlocutionary Act: What we accomplish
by saying it…
Here are the seven communicative strategies:
1.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.
It is presenting a particular topic clearly, truthfully,
and saying only what is relevant is a strategy that can
also be applied any time during the course of an
interaction as a way of continuing the communication.
When this strategy is used, the topic is introduced in
a clear and truthful manner, stating only what is
relevant to keep the interaction focused.
Examples:
➢"Do you have anything to say?"
➢"Have you heard the news about the
prettiest girl in school?"
➢"Now, it’s your turn to ask questions."
➢"Does that make sense to you?"
2.Restriction
Restriction in communication refers to any
limitation you may have as aspeaker.
Also, this strategy constrains or restricts the
Response of the other person involved in the
Communication Situation. The Listener is forced
to respond only within a set of categories that is
made by the Speaker.
➢Examples:
➢Do you have anything to say? Have you heard
the news about the most pretty girl in school? ,
Now, it's your turn to ask questions
3.Turn-Taking
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.
Recognizing when and how to speak because it is
one’s turn requires that each speaker speaks only
when it is his/ her turn during interaction. Knowing
when to talk depends on watching out for the verbal
and nonverbal cues that signal the next Speaker that
the previous Speaker has finished or the topic under
discussion has been exhausted and a new topic may be
introduced. At the same time, it also means that others
should be given the opportunity to take turn.
Turn-taking occurs in a conversation when one person
listens while the other person speaks. As a
conversation progresses, the listener and speaker roles
Example:
➢Can we all listen to the one who talk in
front of us?
➢"Excuse me? I think we should speak one
at a time, so we can clearly understand
what we want to say about the topic."
➢"Go on with your ideas. I'll let you finish
first before I say something."
4.Topic Control
Topic control covers how procedural formality and
informality affects the development of topics in
conversation. This only means that when a topic is
initiated, it should be collectively developed by
avoiding unnecessary interruptions and topic shifts.
Topic control is sticking to the topic throughout the
discussion.

Example: “ Let's go back to the topic.” “We are talking

about communication here right?


5.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.
It is introducing a new topic followed by the
continuation of that topic
It is also a strategy that is useful in introducing another
topic. This strategy works best when there is follow-
through so that new topic continues to be discussed.
Examples:
"By the way, there's a new shop opening at the mall"
“In addition to what you said about the beautiful girl is
that she is also smart."
6.Repair
Repair refers to how speaker address the
problems in speaking, listening, and
comprehending that they may encounter in a
conversation.
It is overcoming communication breakdown to
send more comprehensible messages.
Examples:
➢"Excuse me, but there are 5 Functions of
Communication not 4."
➢"I'm sorry, the word should be pronounced as
pretty not priti.".
7.Termination
Termination refers to the conversation of participants’
close-initiating expressions that end a topic in a
conversation.
It uses verbal and nonverbal signals to end the
interaction.
It ends the interaction through verbal and nonverbal
Messages that both Speaker and Listener send to each
other. Sometimes the Termination is quick and short.
Sometimes it is prolonged by clarification, further
questions, or the continuation of the topic already
discussed, but the point of the language and body
movement is to end the communication.
Examples:
➢"Best regards to your parents! See you around!
Are we able to maintain a very good
conversation? If so, then, we successfully
apply those communicative strategies
during our discussion. This time, I’m sure
that when you are faced to certain
difficulties along any conversation which
you may have in the future, you can now
make use to any of these communicative
strategy as one possible solution to certain
gaps or inadequacies within your
conversation in order to start and maintain
a good one.