Types of Communicative Strate Bi otrategies ial life experiences. When we talk or converse, we h the level of interconnectedness we have with other people. We use talk to argue, to complain, to woo, to plead, to commemorate, to denigrate, itates the establishing of interpersonal Talkhas a central role in human needs and soci engage with whom we communicate. We establis t0 justify, to entertain, and so on. Conversation facilit teationships. As such, it plays a critical role in our lives. Gamble and Gamble (2014, 190) cite ‘teport wherein prison reformers minimized the amount of wouversetion pet inmates to "duce the likelihood of sharing information on how to commit comes. The yates resorted to ‘epping out coded messages. The American prisoners of war (POWs) during the Vietnam War used the tapping system as well when they were deprived of face-to-face conversation. Clearly, if we 4d talk, we would not have the lives that we are NE right now:Conversations or Talks Conversations or talks are organized in ways related to occasions or encounters considered as a whole. For a given occasion, for instance, there are specific places where actions are relevantly done. Obviously, greetings are done at the beginning of the encounter rather than atits conclusion. Or when you meet a classmate at the mall and do not immediately introduce him to the person that you are with, you may apologize for this incident by saying, “Oh, I'm sorry. This is Matthew” where the apology is responsive to the fact that the introduction has not been done earlier. When we try to motivate people, we want them to be more productive, to take appropriate action, to help solve a-problem, or to simply listen to our stories. Often, what we try to communicate gets Jostin translation despite our best intentions. We need to be knowledgeable ‘of various communication strategies so that we may reach our goals in our conversations. Communication strategies are the blueprints forhowinformation is exchanged ina particular conversation. Questions such as “Where to start?", What does it take?", “How do I drive the process 7, and "How do I measure success?"aré very common in defining methods that can help us communicate clearly. Nomination The process of nomination begins the conversation. We find a topic to discuss with another person, usually about ourselves, the other person, or a particular situation; new ideas, goals, visions, and future. We ask the following questions to focus on what we wish to accomplish or materialize in our conversation: 1. What are we trying to accomplish? 2, When do we want to accomplish it? 3, Why is this accomplishment important? i 4. Who is involved 5, Where will the resource 6. How will it get done? We may also use oF listen for jcope, statements, a comment or piece of informa s wherein ninety percent of the information is under the surface waiting to be asked, jn other words, a simple comment or question may just be the tip of the communication iceberg. For example, a classmate who sits beside you says, “Guess who I just saw in the cafeteria?” The response, “Who was it?" and “what happened?’are all that you need to get the conversation going (Engleberg and Wynn, 2008). ‘A central principle in a conversation is termed recipient design. It is a process where a conversation or talk is constructed and designed based on an orientation and sensitivity to particular others who are coparticipants (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson 1974), as cited by Sidnell (2010, 5). Jn other words, speakers design their talk to make it appropriate and relevant for the persons they are addressing. Recipient design encompasses a vast range of phenomena—everything from the banal fact that the speakers project their voice and make it louder té ascertain that the recipients at the back of the room hear them to the subtle nuances of word selection which reflect what speakers assume the recipients know or dont know. When Ariel came home from a weekend trip at the beach with friends and reports % her mother, “That was really fun, Mom!” Her friends would know what that means. But her mother would have to ask her for more details to understand what she meant because she W® not with her at the beach, In the same manne’ think about how we would refer to the same Person in different ways as we talk to different recipients—a teacher would be Prof. De Leonhis students, Mr: De Le Juancho to his on to business contacts colleagues, Cho to his close friends, Tatay to his children, and Darling to his wife, We select the name based on whom we are talking to and assume that they know whom we are referring to. Topics in our conversations are recipient designed. Whatever happens in a conversation happens at a particular time, in some particular place, with some particular group of persons, and after some particular thing has just taken place, In short, conversations occur in unique contexts. Although the structures that organized conversations are context free, in certain Tespects, they are context sensitive. We choose topics that are appropriate to our recipients, to the time, place, events, and other aspects of context. Restriction In order to get things done, the participant speaker and the listener in the conversation "limit the coverage of the talk and agree to focus on the goals of the conversation. “Focus is the quintessential component of performance-in every activity,” according to Tim Gallwey, best- selling author of The Inner Game of Work. Our conversations become more substantial and ‘rewarding when we focus on something specific and desirable that we want to accomplish. We can ask the following questions. _ What do we want to accomplish? When do we want it to happen? . Why does it matter? In this part of the conversation, the focus is : the what, when, and why questions rather in the how question. The what question is the d accomplishment. ‘The when question is ‘that makes the new future a specific a context for the importance of the topic and allows participants to choose ways and efforts to reach the conversational goal. We deal with the how question as we progress into the conversation. Turn-Taking Conversations have a structure. Mike says something, Mitch says something, Mike says something else, and so on. One of the obvious things about conversations is that it involves people taking turns in speaking. Turns vary in their length and the amount of information they convey. In a conversation, the turn-taking system, considered as the basic unit of a conversation, provides for the coherence and orderliness needed for a successful outcome. The organization of turn-taking in conversation means that there is not only one party talking at_a time, but also to minimize both gaps in which no one is talking and overlaps in which more than one person is talking at the same time. However, there are choral occasions. When, for example, you join your friends in a room and together they greet you, “Hola!” Or when one of them cracks a joke and you all laugh together. It will sound bizarre if you laughed one after another rather than as a group. It can also happen when people talk simultaneously, producing extended overlapping talk. Generally though, in turn-taking of conversations, the one-party talking at a time is preserved. While Mike is talking, Mitch need not be unresponsive. She can nod her head in agreement, look at Mike, pull off different faces, make single word utterances such as “Really?”, “Okay!”, “Yeah!”, or simple verbalizations such as “uh,” “huh?”, and “Mmmm,” In general, Mitch can maintain contact with the speaker (Mike) and express sympathy or indifference. She canattentive to the show that she is interest Speaker (Mike) but does not attempt to claim the floor This process is called back-channel communication (Harley 2010). Often, the turns are simultaneous where the first speaker continues with the turn while the back channel is being offered. Jack — Sidnell, researcher of structures and practices of talk and interaction in a range of settings (2010, 38- 39), cites other features of turn-taking that can be taken into account: 1, "Speaker change recurs, or at least occurs. 2. Overwhelmingly, one party talks ata time. 3. Occurrences of more than one speaker at a time are common, but brief. 4. ‘Transitions (from one turn to the next) with no gap and no overlap are common. ‘Together with transitions characterized by slight gap or slight overlap, they make up the vast majority of transitions. 5. Turn order is not fixed, but varies. 6. Turn size is not fixed, but varies. 7, Length of conversation is not specified in advance, 8 What parties say is not specified in advance, and an anthropologist 9, Relative distribution of turns is not _ specified in advance, 10. Number of parties can vary. 11, Talk can be continuous or discontinuous. 12, Turn allocation techniques are obviously used. A current speaker may select the next one (as when he/she addresses a question to another party); or parties may select who will be the first one to talk, 13. Various _turn-constructional units are employed; for example, turns can be Projected as one word long or they can be lengthy. 14. Repair mechanisms exist for dealing with turn-taking errors and violations; for example, if two parties find themselves talking at the . aturely, and thy stop prem trouble 2010) cites that these fea sidnell ( when considered altogether, suggest thay 4), turn-taking system for conversation is locally managed, meaning, it organizes only curren, and the immediate next turn, and not what yy happen in the future. They also describe turn. taking as party administered in the sense thay the participants themselves work out the turn. taking and there is no referee to determine who should speak and for how long. The current speaker, Mike and potential speaker, Mitch, also orient themselves as to the relevance of speaker transition. Participants listen for and target points of possible talk completion places in which to start their own turn. Sidnell (2010) also cites a set of rules for speaker transition or turn-taking occurring at transitional relevant places. Accordingly, these rules are normative rather than categorical. Violation of the rules is recognizable and accountable. The rules are summarized as follows (Sidnell 2010, 43): Another speaker may have been selected to speak next by the current turn (example: an addressed question). If this is the case, the one selected should speak at the first point of possible completion. If, however; no speaker has been selected by the current turn, any other party may self- select. Ifno speaker has been selected and no other party self-selects at the possible completion of the currentturn, the current speaker may continue. This set of rules shows how turns are distributed in a conversation. Overlapping talk commonly occurs at the transition relevance ‘Spaces in turn-taking, but according to resear {tts not a result of not listening to one anotherrather, it illustrates the turn-taking. While it is estimated that ofa conversation consists of overlaps in speaking the gap between turns is just a few tenths of a second (ErvineTripp 1979, cited in Harley 2010). Turn-taking is fairly straightforward when Mike and Mitch use adjacency pairs that | formalize their interaction in a stylized way, Examples: Greetings Girl: Hello! Boy: Hi! Question and answer Jake: Kumusta? Dina: Nahihirapant ‘Acceptance Jim: bought you fresh donuts. Bill: Thank you very much! Otherwise, the participant listener has to rely on a range of semantic, syntactic, and "prosodic cues to work out when the speaker " participant is likely to have finished (Sacks, et _ al1974-cited in Harley 2010). Pauses are useful indicators of transitional relevant places where ‘a change of speaker might arise, but sometimes ‘the gap is too short, or the participants quickly spot them or use other cues. Pauses are easily ~ overridden. For instance, a speaker who says, “.. then Popoy drove away leaving Basha in the rain...and then...” is unlikely to be yielding _ the floor; the pause may be long, dramatic, or "otherwise. We can use several nonlinguistic “Means to indicate whether we are yielding ‘the floor, continue talking such as making "gestures or gazing (We tend to look away when "Wwe want to keep talking, but look at the other person when we are ready to yield the floor), the way in which our voices rise and fall as we ‘Speak, and the content of what we say. If we fail to use the right cues, we will tend to get _ interrupted more than we should. Similar to the ‘experience of Margaret Thatcher, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, who was interrupted so often by interviewers because he unconsciously displayed turn-yielding cues at inapprop e points. To summarize, conversation is composed of turns-at-talk. Participants of the conversation monitor the unfolding of the turn to locate Points within where it is possibly complete. These points are called transition relevance spaces in the talk where the next speaker is a relevant possibility. Each point of the turn-taking is governed by rules to allow for transfer to the next speaker either by the current speaker or self-selection. Where the transfer is not effected, the current speaker continues to talk. Topic Control Conversation is a two-way activity but there are times when a speaker might need to take control of the interactive process, A conversationalist who seizes control of the conversation introduces the topic, advocates how that topic should be perceived, and frames the action as outcomes, They tend to dominate the conversation with their own interpretation of events, Take the following conversation, for example: Melinda: Would you like a hot or cold drink? Oh, thank you! Thank you very much! Might as well since we're here. Oh well, what will it be? Cold drink please. Calamansi juice! Yes, Calamansi juice! Yes, we better have calamansi juice! Lynnette: Madeline: Lynnette: Melinda: Lynnette: Madeline: Lynnette: In this extract form, a conversation, Lynnette’s control over the conversation is conspicuous as she takes the floor whenever any other speaker makes it available. While hero Melinda, Is expected yonse Ui There are first turn, a FesP siiowing Madeline Is not the turn fc pic cont ns why tOf rol is necessary: It pany reasons whl ; swe one wishes to get the message ed time, or maybe fortable with the could be becay across clearty, or due £0 limit it's because one is not com ersation, Whatever the reason, topic of conve there are that can help one take congo ‘of the conversation, The key to controlling a ation is using questions well, Good conversationalists know how to ask the right question at the right time. When, for example, you encounter communication problems, here conversa are key questions you can ask: Could you repeat that, please? In informal language we can say, “What did you say?’or when with your friends, you simply say “What?” ‘The terms Excuse me or Pardon me are polite ways to request your coparticipant to repeat his/her message if you missed it earlier. Could youspeakmore slowly, please? Although this is not done too often, it is helpful if you find the speaker talking too fast. In numerous studies, it has been found out that people who speak more slowly give the impression of being more confident and trustworthy. When you speak, do it slow and exert your confidence in the situation. Make the other people in the conversation wait a little for what you have es say to show that you are in charge of the situation, How do you s is is eae Bie ee This is what you unfamiliar word or whe eee certain what it is, eh ctce seers spell it out helps clarify th mobe e le message. Or you may ask wat the mean more clarity, aning of that word is for can determine whether you Underst 0 correctly. Meanwhile, if you say, “I don nt," don't thing understand,” then the conversation mp, i “7 COme to a stop. Other Communicative Strategies There are other communicative Strategies that you can use for topic control. If yoy feel like the conversation is going into Many directions, and is drifting away from the main topic, you can redirect the conversation topic or invite your conversation partners to focus on the issue again. You can simply remind them about the goals of the conversation for a more productive outcome. Body language can also take your conversation a step further. For example, you could gesture confidently with your hands to suggest who should speak next. Listening carefully and understanding what the other person is saying can help you control the outcome of your conversation. Listen carefully and base your arguments on what the other person has said. If you give other people a fair chance to speak first, you can come back witha stronger argument and justify it based on what they have stated, Remember, to take control ofa conversation when you need to, justbe firmané polite, and be clearinyour statements. Use these strategies to ensure that your: conversations are enjoyable and productive. Topic Shift Conversations can be broken d' ca basic units called episodes. These se us organize and understand what we hear talking and listening to others. Episodes. cae related to conversational topics, or whats about in a conversation, have , ir is point where they start and end. veuel ‘whet fot own into sina! in the transition between episodes tht or initiation of a new topic takes place this is the case, the episode is i=example, the topic within the episode. However, the to also be shifted within an episode, making the episode polytopical where more than one topic is discussed, In other words an episode of a conversation may consist of just one or several topics. A new topic that is introduced or what is called a topic shift in a conversation, is usually connected with the topic of the previous episode and anchored in a situation that is previously known to the participants of the conversation. When new topics are shifted or introduced in this way, their progression can be described as step wise with no clear boundaries between the old and the new topics as they shade into one another. However, topics are not always shifted in a step-wise manner, but can be shifted or initiated more abruptly. In an abrupt topic shift, the topic introduced is not connected to any of the previous topics given in other episodes. The topic is not anchored in the situation. ‘This way of shifting the topic is called out of the blue and has been demonstrated to be more common in multiparty conversations than in.conversations between two participants (Linell and Korolija 1996). Bedrosian (1993, 36 as cited in Caissie 2002) describes conversational topic as, in nonvegetarian terms, the meat of the conversation. Conversational topics play a vital role in conversations. There can be no interaction or exchange without a subject "matter or topic to be talked about. In fact, it - is usually the topic that makes one remember a particular conversational exchange. Given the central role of topics in conversations, nmunicative strategies or skills in topic tion, such as topic introduction, topic nitiated at the beginning of topic may b a conversation after a previous topic has been terminated or after a pause or period of silence. Brief side topics (for example, triggered by some event or other person interrupting) may be introduced within a current topic. A former topic that was previously terminated may be reintroduced in the conversation ata later time. In these kinds of topic initiations, the new topic is not related to the immediately previous topic. A topic shift can be quite abrupt unless the topic initiation is preceded by a phrase such as By the way... or Coming back to.... to signal the upcoming new topic. In contrast, when topics are changed through shading of the current topic, the content of the new topic is derived from the immediately previous topic so that some continuity in the conversational flow is preserved. That is, topic shading involves a ‘smooth transition in topic where the new topic is directly related to the preceding one. Let us consider the following example: Farmer: 1 was thinking of asking Marian and her girls to help us with the strawberry harvest. (initiation of new topic) Oh, that would be a good idea. The girls are old enough now, and I thought that they might be interested ina short summer job. Wife: Farmer: Wife: Does their father still have the poultry farm? (topic shading) Farmer: Yes, he hasa successful farm. © In this example, there is a shift in topic from strawberry harvest to poultry farm, but the new topic is related to the previous one where both topics have Marian and her girls in common, _ Topic maintenance involves subsequent speaking turns in the conversation that develops ‘the topic introduced. Mentis (1994 as cited in Caissie 2002) pointed out that topics may be Of course, they’d be good workers. -maintained using two broad kinds of speaking th antent information to the conv turn—thy provide sation (for s question, providing or requesting responding to a partn new unsolicited information, information from a partner) and those that do not provide new content information to the conversation (for instance, fepeating old information or simply acknowledging 4 partner's previous contribution). During the development of conversational topics, new information about the subject matter and the participants’ opinions and attitudes is being accumulated. Consequently, a progressively larger pool of contextual cues is created that facilitates the participants’ speaking turns. As described by Erber (1996 as cited in Caissi 2002), a typical conversation moves. quickly from topic to topic. In adult conversational exchanges, most conversational topic shifts are made through shadingrather than makinga discrete transition ina topic. In fact, topic shading is considered to be a smooth way of shifting issues. It requires more sophisticated linguistic skills than simply initiating a new subject matter unrelated to the previous one, A brand new topic is typically initiated at the beginning ofaconversation, after a period of silence, or after the previous matter has been terminated by both communicators when they have no more to contribute to the current topic. Moreover, if the speakers are cooperative conversationalists, the new topic is generally signaled by using phrases such as By the way... or Not to change the topic, but... As pointed outby Erber (1996, 172 cited in Caisie 2002), “The more two people talk, the more predictable the content of the conversation {s likely to be, unless of course if the topic is changed...” Many conversational difficulties can be avoided if conversationalists use clear | ear speech, appropriate language structure that (in ‘Dosenal einer e hE cient their message clearly vntax), and suitable repai to communication response conversationalists may Furthermore siderable power to reduce the like con communication breakdowns by py Paying of to the way they change topics qu,, ing attention their conversations. Repair ‘The broken windows theory states that 4 single broken window left unrepaired in , building will signal a lax attitude toward the care and upkeep of the property. Soon, other windows in the building will be broken and other signs of deterioration will appear around it (Ford and Ford 2009). Broken conversations are like broken windows. When conversationalists talk together, they frequently encounter problems of hearing, speaking, and understanding. When a speaker uses the wrong word or cannot find the exact word he/she wants, troubles of speaking arise, When, the hearer cannot make out what the speaker has stated, troubles of hearing emerge. Troubles of understanding crop up in a wide variety of communicative situations. For example, when the hearer does not recognize the particular word used, does not know who or what is being talked about, or misinterprets the message. When conversationalists encounter such troubles, they have to recourse to repair mechanisms. Repair in conversations refers to a organized set of practices through which conversationalists address and potentially solve problems of speaking, hearing ° understanding. Repair is composed of two Parts, First, a repair is initiated after * inconsistency or disjunction in the preceding talk has emerged; and the outcome of the repair results in eithet # Solution or abandonment of the problemFour Conversations, Ford their book In their t snd Ford (2009) suggests four steps to address and repair broken « puild and strengthen accountability in much way as repairing broken windows improves rty, The first step is to recognize that a onversations that will help apro ersation ora relationship has been broken. conv Was Was something there any incorrect information given? Was something late? Was there disrespect? Learning to recognize that the pea under the mattress is really a broken relationship is a helpful skill to develop. The second step is for both parties to report; for example, to meet and communicate that the communication has been broken, and what exactly happened or did not happen that led to the problem. The conversationalists usually report or talk about any costs or consequences resulting from the broken conversation. Ideally, both parties realize where they fell short and own responsibility for their respective roles. The third step is to apply repairs where both parties recognize the costs of a broken conversation and ask how they can make things right and clean up the breakage. This means that actions, results, and timelines to restore the relationship and communication are clear toboth parties. The last step is to recommit, The "damage having been done, a new agreement is made to restore the relationship, honor promises, and prevent damage to the future elationship. Both conversationalists agree that new future starts today. falsely represented? Termination Itis said that an incomplete past can prevent _ 4new future. The purpose of termination is to bring parts of the past, what happened in a ‘Conversation, toa conclusion, thus, makingroom, _ fora new beginning or to restart something that has broken down. Termination acknowledges the facts, determines what will complete Something that is unfinished, and allows people to move on. At the end of the conversation, the participants should recognize what is so, the d conditions facts, points of view, complaints, that were brought up in the interaction. The participants should also appreciate the people involved in recognizing their accomplishment and contribution in the exchange. When we recognize others for their good work as conversationalists, for being cooperative and thoughtful, we encourage them to continue that way and heap a harvest of helpful and effective conversation. Termination can be a time to apologize for mistakes and misunderstanding that may have occurred in the course of the conversation, These practices support trust, credibility, and accountability, increase creativity, and build productivity. communicative Conversations are available to anyone with an idea for making a beneficial change. We can learn how to use them properly, get accustomed to certain speech habits, and use them more effectively. All it takes is the willingness to examine our current communication, strategies. Here is a sample conversation situation to illustrate the communicative strategies: This sample communication context is a conversation between friends who are discussing their summer break. They engage in nomination by starting the conversation with a topic such as their laid-back summer vacation or an adventurous one. These friends conduct restriction by limiting or agreeing to focus on the goals of the conversation to a key experience such as relaxing at home and : spending quality time with the family or doing an extreme sport activity. In the duration of the exchange, they do turn-taking by sharing the communication channels of who gets to speak first, listen, and respond until it becomes a cycle or a dynamic exchange. They further discuss their summer experience by doing nisin mpi cs OH)topic control where they highlight a single common experience or emotion of how they truly enjoyed a rewarding break. At some Point, they resort to topic shifting by discussing other concepts such as the upcoming class Opening. Unavoidably, their conversation may elicit clarifications or disagreement where the Conversationalists engage in repairing to resolve a misunderstanding or an unclear concept such as the location of the summer destination or verification if indeed the schedule of the registration falls on a certain date. Finally, their conversation will lead to termination where they will end the exchange by summarizing, saying their good-byes, or Arranging ¢ encounters. iti The purpose of conversation analysis sy 4 the language used, terms and expressions ia nonverbal accompaniments and the ike yy to make sense of the entire exchange, 4 dag] analysis helps us understand which doer communication competence that commuticaton need to excel in or work on. Conversation analy also helps us understand why individuals eso to using words resulting in a pattern or Why the conversation ended to be forgettable or ‘meaningfy) so that our future interactions can be effective communication exchanges. FOCUS ACTIVITY 4 Think of a recent conversation you have had with a person who is in a close relationship with you. That person is the “they” in each item on the RCS. Focusing on this specific conversation, answer the following questions using the scale below. For example, if you strongly agree that the statement describes your impression of the conversation, rate it a 5; if you strongly disagree, rate it a 1; and so forth. Answer the questions. strongly disagree disagree = undecided agree = strongly agree 8. They were sincere. TLE ARwWN = 1. They were intensely involved in the conversation. 2. They wanted to stick to the main purpose of the interaction. 3. They made me feel similar to them. 4. They attempted to persuade me. 5. They considered us equals. 7. They felt very tense talking to me. 8. They made the interaction very formal. 9. They did not want a deeper relationship between us. 10, wanted to cooperate 11. They wanted to cooperate with me, rie ae ee, =