Tema 5: 

La comunicació oral. 
Elements i normes que 
regeixen el discurs oral.
Rutines i fòrmules 
habituals. 
Estratègies pròpies de 
la comunicació oral.
 Topic 5:
La comunicació
ón oral. Elemento
os y normas que rigen el discurso
o oral. Rutinas y formulas habitua
ales. Estrategias orales.
2

Topic 5:
5
La
a comunicacción oral. Elem
mentos y normas que rig gen el discursso oral.
Rutinas y formulas ha abituales. Esttrategias pro
opias de la orral.

Ta
able of contents
1. Oral comm
munication __________
_ ____________________
_________________________ 3
1.1. Oral vss. Written coommunication. __________________
___________________________ 3
1.2. Basic in
nterpersonaal communiccation skills (BICS) & co
ognitive acaademic Lg
proficiency (CALP) ___________________________________ ___________________________ 5
1.2.1. Basiic Interpersonnal Communiccation Skills (B
BICS) ______
______________________________ 6
1.2.2. Coggnitive Academ mic Languagee Proficiency (CALP)
( _____
______________________________ 6
2. The conten
nt of oral coommunicatiion. ________________
_________________________ 7
2.1. Speech acts. ______________________________________
___________________________ 7
2.1.1. Levels of speech act. ________________________________
______________________________ 7
2.1.2. Types of speech acts
a ________________________________ ______________________________ 9
- C
Constatives __
____________ ________________________
______________________________ 9
- D
Directives ____
____________________________________ _____________________________ 10
- C
Commissives __________________________________ _____________________________ 10
- A
Acknowledgm ments ______________________________ _____________________________ 10
2.2. Commu
unicative constrains ________________________
__________________________ 10
2.2.1. Systtem Constrainnts. ________________________________
_____________________________ 11
2.2.2. Rituual Constraintss: _________________________________
_____________________________ 12
3. Conversatiional interaaction structture. _______________
________________________ 13
3.1. Encoun
nters. ______________________________________
__________________________ 13
3.1.1. Opeenings. __________________________________________
_____________________________ 14
3.1.2. Cenntral Phase ___
____________________________________
_____________________________ 14
3.1.3. Clossing phase. ___
____________________________________
_____________________________ 14
3.2. Phases.. __________________________________________
__________________________ 14
3.2.1. Suboordination. ___
____________________________________ _____________________________ 15
We are going to deal wiith one way too link head excchanges to pree- and post-exxchanges. _________ 15
3.2.2. Cooordination. ___
____________________________________ _____________________________ 15
3.3. Moves & exchangees. ______________________________
__________________________ 15
3.3.1. Heaad Moves ____
____________________________________
_____________________________ 16
3.3.2. Metta-moves. ____
____________________________________
_____________________________ 16
3.4. Acts _____________________________________________
__________________________ 17
4. Oral comm
munication strategies.
s ___________________
________________________ 17
4.1. Definitiions _______________________________________
__________________________ 17
4.2. Taxonoomies ______________________________________
__________________________ 18
Biibliography __________
_ __________
____________________
________________________ 22
Brrief summarry __________________
____________________
________________________ 23
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1. Oral communication Oral Communication

Although communication occurs in many different ways, oral

communication is restricted to those cases which we intend to use the
To convey
oral Lg to convey certain information to our hearer and the hearer information
The hearer
recognizes our intention (based upon what we have said). recognizes
our intention
We will have an introductory look at oral communication first taking into
account some dichotomies:

1.1. Oral vs. Written communication. Oral vs. written

The main difference btw oral & written Lg is the amount of time & space
available for communication. Oral Lg is as complex as written one, although
written Lg is lexically denser (more content words per clause).
Attending to the morphological features, written & spoken Lg have the Differences
following differences:

Written language Spoken langage Grammatically

Grammatically simpler Grammatically complex
Lexically
Lexically dense Lexically simple
Static Dynamic Up-dated

Non-negotiation Based on negotiation of meaning Negotiation

Relies on nominalization Relies on verbs N/V

Most oral Lg is spontaneous, while most written work has been revised
and polished. Some linguists prefer the distinction btw spontaneous and
planned Lg.
Spontaneous text
Spontaneous text analysis has revealed six features: (Ochs, 1979) analysis main features:

1. Phrasal1 vs. Sentential organization: 1. Phrasal vs. sentential

organization
a. Interactive talk is phrasal in structure: Meaning is negotiated
and a transcription would not be an appropriate written text, as
meaning is usually context dependent.

1
Or Sentencial
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b. Written Lg provides the elements that relate the different

clauses and organized them into sentences: Content
structure is essential to convey meaning.
2. Topic-comment structures: Topic-comment structures are used to 2. Topic-comment
structures: used to intro
introduce a new topic or shift the focus of the actual topic. a new topic or a shift.
Uh … about money … uh … he has a good job … makes good money <
SPONTANEOUS

In a written version, these structures must be modified to match the

norms of the standard written Lg.
Ex.: I would also like to comment on the way he earns his money … or And then there is
this guy who … or As about money.

3. Nextness: In spontaneous Lg, phrases are produced one after 3. Nextness: phrases
one after another vs.
another. Each phrase is related to the previous one, unless a new topic syntactic structures.

is introduced.
Ex.: … and then I told John … John? He’s like about twice my age … doesn’t look that
old.

In planned discourse, syntactic structures and explicit cohesive

elements are used to draw the connections between the clauses.
Ex.: I think that John is about twice my age, but he still keeps fit.

4. Parallelism: Cohesion of an utterance is promoted by repeating 4. Parallelism:

repetitions & parallel
words and using parallel phrases in spontaneous discourse (can phrases vs. rhythm,
rhyme & alliteration.
be done at the phonological, lexical & syntactical level).
Ex.: y’know … things with the kids … they need this, they need that.

In revisited texts, parallelism is used in a much more elaborated way,

while repetition is avoided. Rhythm, rhyme, alliteration are used in
this sense.
Ex.: My parent will require a lot of attention … and then there are the children who need
so many things.

5. Repair: Unplanned discourse is heavily marked by repair. 5. Repair : repair

corrections vs.
Corrections and hesitations markers are necessary to produce utterances Subordinate clauses

and organize thoughts simultaneously. Ex.: y’know, uh, well, and so on.
Special syntactic measures, such as word order, subordinate clauses,
and so on are used in more polished texts to substitute the effects of
repair in spontaneous talk. Ex.: (…) but what I really mean is (…).
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6. Conjoined vs. embedded clauses: In spontaneous texts, nextness 6. Conjoined vs.

embedded clauses:
and temporal organization show the relationship btw clauses. Temporally conjunction and vs.
subordinate clauses
ordered clauses can be connected with the conjunction and. The
conjunctions may also indicate that the speaker is holding a turn against
interruption, or continuing a turn when nobody else intervenes.
Ex.: Uh … that’s my … uh … fear of snakes … annnnnnd … well uh my mother always
said … uh we should take care of animals … annnnd … who knows what’s gonna
happen these days … annnnnd … I dunno what YOU think … it seems kinda strange.

Subordinate clauses are not normally produced in spontaneous

talk, and when they are, they do not always adjust to grammar rules:
Ex.: I was going with a girl she was a bloody opera singer

In written discourse, subordinate clause constructions would be

used to connect clauses while keeping the functions that the
conjunction and play in the text.
Ex.: Although my mother always said that we should take care of animals, and she was
possibly right, she won’t have had any snakes in the house.

Sentence organization must always adjust to grammar rules.

BICS and CALP

1.2. Basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) &
cognitive academic Lg proficiency (CALP)2
Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) educators commonly
refer to two types of English language proficiency: Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language
Proficiency (CALP). Jim Cummins coined these terms in 1980. The
distinction between these two types of language proficiency is important
because, Cummins found that while most students learned sufficient
English to engage in social communication in about two years, it took
five to seven years to acquire the type of language skills needed for
successful participation in content classrooms. English language learners’
language skills are often informally assessed upon the ability of the student to
comprehend and respond to conversational language. However, students who
are proficient in social situations may not be prepared for the academic,
context-reduced, and literacy demands of mainstream classrooms. Judging

2
Cummins 1980
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students’ language proficiency based on oral and/or social language

assessments becomes problematic when the students perform well in social
conversations but do poorly on academic tasks. The students may be
incorrectly tagged as having learning deficits or may even be referred for
testing as learning disabled.
As Cummins suggested later, the terms BICS and CALP tend to be
imprecise, value-laden, simplified, and misused to stereotype the language
proficiency of English language learners (Baker, 1993).

1.2.1. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) BICS: conversational Lg

used for oral
The commonly used acronym BICS describes social, conversational communication. Social Lg.
Context-embeded Lg
language used for oral communication. Also described as social
language, this type of communication offers many cues to the listener and is
context-embedded language. Usually it takes about two years for students
from different linguistic backgrounds to comprehend context-embedded social
language readily. English language learners can comprehend social language by:
observing speakers’ non-verbal behavior (gestures, facial expressions and eye
actions); observing others’ reactions; using voice cues such as phrasing,
intonations, and stress; observing pictures, concrete objects, and other
contextual cues which are present; and asking for statements to be repeated,
and/or clarified.

1.2.2. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) CAPL: context-reduced

Lg of the academic
CALP is the context-reduced language of the academic classroom. classroom

It takes five to seven years for English language learners to become proficient
in the language of the classroom because:
- Non-verbal clues are absent.
- There is less face-to-face interaction.
- Academic language is often abstract.
- Literacy demands are higher (narrative and expository text and
textbooks are written beyond the language proficiency of the students)
- Cultural/linguistic knowledge is often needed to comprehend fully
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2. The content of oral communication. Communicative act

Every communicative act can be seen both from the point of view of
Point of view of
interaction btw the partners (see section 3) and with regard to the interaction btw
the partners (see
meanings that the speakers want to express and hearers have to section 3)
Meaning the
understand. This section is concerned with how meaning is built up and speaker wants to
express (section 2)
perceived in a conversation.

Speech acts
2.1. Speech acts.
In general, speech acts are acts of communication. To Speech acts are acts
of communication
communicate is to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act
Communicate = express
being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed. a certain attitude.

For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire, and

an apology expresses regret. As an act of communication, a speech act
succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention,
the attitude being expressed.

2.1.1. Levels of speech act.

The theory of speech acts aims to do justice to the fact that even
though words (phrases, sentences) encode information, people do more
things with words than convey information, and that when people do
convey information, they often convey more than their words suggest.
Although the focus of speech act theory has been on utterances, the phrase
'speech act' should be taken as a generic term for any sort of language use,
oral or otherwise. Speech acts, whatever the medium of their performance,
fall under the broad category of intentional action, with which they share
certain general features. An especially pertinent feature is that when one acts
intentionally, generally one has a set of intentions.
For instance, having arrived home without one's keys, one might push a button with the
intention not just of pushing the button but of ringing a bell, waking up one's partner and,
ultimately, getting into one's house. The single bodily movement involved in pushing the
button includes a multiplicity of actions, each corresponding to a different one of the
“hidden” intentions. Similarly, speech acts are not just acts of producing certain sounds.
 Topic 5:
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Three diff levels of
speech acts:
Austin identifies three distinct levels of action beyond the act of
a. act of saying smthing
utterance itself. He distinguishes the act of saying something, what one = Locutionary Act.
b. What one does in
does in saying it, and what one does by saying it, and dubs these the saying it = Illocutionary
Act.
locutionary, the illocutionary and the perlocutionary act, respectively. c. What one does by
Suppose, for example, that a bartender utters the words, 'The bar will be closed in five saying it =
Perlocutionary Act.
minutes,' reported by means of direct quotation.

He is thereby performing the locutionary act of saying that the bar (i.e., the
one he is tending) will be closed in five minutes (from the time of
utterance), and what is said is reported by indirect quotation (notice that
what the bartender is saying, the content of his locutionary act, is not fully
determined by the words he is using, for they do not specify the bar in question
or the time of the utterance). In saying this, the bartender is performing the
illocutionary act of informing the patrons of the bar's imminent
closing and perhaps also the act of urging them to order a last drink. Whereas
the consequence of these illocutionary acts is understanding on the
part of the audience, perlocutionary acts are performed with the intention
of producing a further effect. The bartender intends to be performing the
perlocutionary acts of causing the clients to believe that the bar is about to
close and of getting them to want and to order one last drink. He is
performing all these speech acts, at all three levels, just by uttering certain
words.
There seems to be a straightforward relationship in this example
between the words uttered ('The bar will be closed in five minutes'), what is
thereby said, and the act of informing the patrons that the bar will close in
five minutes. Less direct is the connection between the utterance and the
act of urging the patrons to order one last drink. Clearly there is no
linguistic connection here, for the words make no mention of drinks or of
ordering. This indirect connection is inferential. There is a similarly indirect
connection when an utterance of 'It's getting cold in here' is made not merely
as a statement about the temperature but as a request to close the window or
as a proposal to go some place warmer.
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2.1.2. Types of speech acts

Pretheoretically, we think of an act of communication, linguistic or
otherwise, as an act of expressing oneself. This rather vague idea can be
made more precise if we get more specific about what is being
expressed. Take the case of an apology. If you utter, '[I'm] sorry I didn't call
back' and intend this as an apology, you are expressing regret for something, in
this case for not returning a phone call. An apology just is the act of (verbally)
expressing regret for, and thereby acknowledging, something one did that
might have harmed or at least bothered the hearer. An apology is
communicative because it is intended to be taken as expressing a certain
attitude, in this case regret. Communicative success is achieved if the
speaker chooses his words in such a way that the hearer will, under the
circumstances of utterance, recognize his communicative intention.
For example, if you spill some beer on someone and say 'Oops' in the right way, your
utterance will be taken as an apology for what you did.

In saying something one generally intends more than just to In saying smthing one
intends more than to
communicate. However, our speech act vocabulary can obscure this fact. just communicate.

When one apologizes, for example, one may intend not merely to express
regret but also to seek forgiveness. Speech acts, being perlocutionary as
well as illocutionary, generally have some ulterior purpose, but they are
distinguished primarily by their illocutionary type, such as asserting, requesting,
promising and apologizing, which in turn are distinguished by the type of
attitude expressed. The perlocutionary act is a matter of trying to get the
hearer to form some correlative attitude and in some cases to act in a certain
way.
Requests and apologies are examples of the four major categories of Four categories of
illocutionary acts:
3
communicative illocutionary acts : Constatives, directives,
commissives and acknowledgments. Here are some examples of each type:
- Constatives: Like assertives and predictives, which express belief. - Constatives: express
belief.
affirming, alleging, announcing, answering, attributing, claiming, classifying, concurring,
confirming, conjecturing, denying, disagreeing, disclosing, disputing, identifying,
informing, insisting, predicting, ranking, reporting, stating, stipulating

3
Following Bach and Harnish
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- Directives: Like requestives and questions, which express a wish - Directives: express a
wish concerning sm future
concerning some forthcoming action by the hearer. action by the hearer.

advising, admonishing, asking, begging, dismissing, excusing, forbidding, instructing,

ordering, permitting, requesting, requiring, suggesting, urging, warning

- Commissives: like promises and offers, which express an intention and - Commissives: express
an intention to obligate the
belief that the speech act obligates the speaker to do something. speaker to do something.

Agreeing, guaranteeing, inviting, offering, promising, swearing, volunteering

- Acknowledgments: like apologise and greet, which express feelings - Acknowledgments:

express feelings regarding
regarding the hearer. the hearer.

Apologizing, condoling, congratulating, greeting, thanking, accepting (acknowledging an

acknowledgment)

Austin Vendler Searle Bach and Harnish Allan

Expositives Expositives Assertives Assertives

Statements
Commissives Commissives Commissives Commissives

Behabitives Behabitives Expressives Acknowledgments Expressives

Interrogatives Invitationals
Exercitives Directives Directives
Exercitives Authoritatives

Figure 1. A comparison of five classifications of illocutionary types

2.2. Communicative constrains

Goffman (1976) claimed that there is a set of universal constraints
(=restrictions) on all communication. He postulated two types of universal
restrictions on human communication, whether it is interactive in nature, or
more like a monologue:
- System Constraints: Constraints that apply to all communication
- Ritual Constraints: Constraints that allow social interaction to progress
smoothly
These constraints can be found in all types of discourse, ranging from informal
conversation to formal presentations
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System constrains:.
2.2.1. System Constraints.
1. Channel open/close signals: The strategies language users choose 1. Channel open/close
signal
to begin and end different types of discourse.
Ex.:. phone calls, letters, meetings, classrooms

2. Backchannel signals: strategies language users employ to indicate 2. Backchannel signal

understanding or attention.
Ex.: eye contact, head nods, smiles, body alignment, uhhuh, yeh, yerright.4

3. Turn-taking (“Turnover signals” in Hatch): Signals that show that 3. Turn-taking

the previous speaker is ending. Goffman breaks these down into

two constraints:
a. Expected turn-taking behaviors during a conversation, such as
asking a question or pausing.
b. Interruption behaviors such as breaking into another's turn
4. Acoustically adequate and interpretable messages: Messages 4. Acoustically adequate
message
have to be interpretable and "hearable". The question: What constitutes
a clear message? How acoustically accurate must a message be to be
"adequate", and what makes a message "interpretable"? How clear must
messages be in order to serve communication?
Hatch shows an example in which many phonological and syntactic
errors can be found, and yet communication takes place.
5.Bracket signal
5. Bracket signals: Strategies language users employ to shift focus
from a main topic to a side topic.
6. Nonparticipant constraints: The way that non-participants enter into 6. Nonparticipant
constrains
discourse that is occurring and the ways that participants ignore other
activity around them during interaction.
7. Preempt signals: Signals by which a participant interrupts an ongoing 7. Peempt signals

channel message
8. Gricean maxims of communication: Assumptions of communicative 8. Grice Maxims of
communication
cooperation among participants. These co-operative principles were
formulated by the linguistic philosopher Grice. These maxims must be
applied to both speaker & listener. All four of Grice's maxims are

4
Signals differ according to settings, the roles of speakers and cultures
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important for effective communication. The speaker’s speech should

keep to four maxims, which the listeners should assume that are
followed:
a. RELEVANCE (be relevant): the assumption that what is a. Relevance

communicated is related to the topic of conversation.

Communication messages cannot be random, but must relate to
what has gone before
[1] A: Do you do buttonholes? ------- B: She'll be back in an hour.
[2] A: Do you have orange juice? --- B: Large or small?

b. TRUTHFULNESS (be truthful): The assumption that what is said is b. Truthfulness

true. When we violate truthfulness, we often do so using special

intonation for sarcasm, for teasing, or for playfulness. Learning
how to move in and out of "truthfulness" with appropriate
marking may be acquired early in life, but the markings are not
always easy for L2 learners to recognize.
c. QUANTITY (be brief): The assumption that enough is c. Quantity

communicated for clarity without adding more than is needed. It

is very difficult to judge how much is sufficient and not excessive
quantity of talk. We want to be brief, but not so brief that our
message isn't clear. d. Clarity

d. CLARITY (be clear): The assumption that the speaker is

presenting information as clearly as possible. We should
avoid obscurity and ambiguity.

2.2.2. Ritual Constraints:

Ritual constraints interact with system constraints and are often
different in different languages and cultures. Thus, back-channelling,
turn-taking, openings and closings, etc. will occur in every culture, but there are
different ways to open and close, to take turns, and to back-channel that make
the performance of the strategies more or less acceptable in that culture.
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Conversational
3. Conversational interaction structure. interaction structure

Each utterance in a conversation has a double status. Seen from

the point of view of the speaker’s meaning (it expresses what the speaker
has in mind) 5 and from the point of view of the interaction btw
conversational partners. In this section we are going to discuss some aspects of
the interactional structure of conversations.
Conversations are made up of encounters, which consist of one or
more phases, which in turn consist of at least two exchanges. Exchanges are
made up of two or more moves, which themselves consist of one or more acts.

- Central Ph > Speech- - Subordination - Initiate & satisfy.

in-action & Stories - Coordination - Counter & contra.
- Opening Ph > Transitional - Reject, re-run & prime
Enc & Interactional Enc (Pre-head or
Head Move 1 uptaker)
(Pre-Exchange)
Opening Phase Head Move 2 Head-Act x
Conversations

Head Exchange x
Central Phase x Head Move x (Post-head or
(Post-Exchange) appealer)
Encounters Closing Phase

3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4

NO interaction

x: Can have more than one

(): Optional

3.1. Encounters. Encounters

Encounters are the highest unit of conversational structure. It is usual - Opening phase:
highly marked with
to distinguish three phases: An opening phase, a central phase in which conventionalisms
- Central phase: main
the main business of the encounter is transacted, and a closing phase in business is dealt with.
Free to negotiate topics.
which the main business is brought to an end. While people are fairly free to
- Closing phase: highly
negotiate the topics in the central phase, opening and closing phases are marked with
conventionalisms
marked with a great degree of conventionalization of the utterances said by the
participants.

5
Already discussed in section 2.
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3.1.1. Openings.
It consists of exchanges in which the partners in a potential Opening phase

conversation acknowledge one another’s presence and decide whether

they want to enter into a longer conversation or not.
Encounters can be divided into transitional encounters, which have - Transitional Enc.:
Have some business
some business other than a simple social meeting (a job interview, for other than socializing
- Interactional Enc.:
instance) and interactional encounters, whose sole purpose is the Main purpose is
socializing
establishment and confirmation of social bonds.

3.1.2. Central Phase Central phase

Central-phase in interactional encounters consists of two main elements:
Speech-in-action and stories.
Speech-in-action occurs at the beginning of an encounter and consists Speech-in-action:
Comment on the
of comments by the participants on various aspects of their immediate immediate environment

environment.
Stories are contributions that consist of more than one turn, and Stories: Explanation of
past or future events .
special care must be taken by the speakers in telling them as other participants
are likely to break in it at possible finishing points. Story tellers often get
permission to tell a story by using devices such as You know what happened to me
this morning? Stories narrate an event, usually in the past, which arises

out a particular state.

3.1.3. Closing phase. Closing phase

As a conversation is nearing its end, participants often make a

comment about the quality of the current encounter, such as It has been
nice talking to you or it was nice meeting you. As the ending of conversations is also a

cooperative undertaking, both must agree to stop, usually using tokens such
as right, okay, or hesitations and references to other topics or activity.

3.2. Phases. Phases

A phase consists of one or more head exchanges, in which the main
business is dealt with. Related, but less important matters, are dealt with in
minor exchanges, which occur before and after the head exchange. These pre-
and post-exchanges are optional and more than one is not usually found.
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3.2.1. Subordination.
We are going to deal with one way to link head exchanges to pre- and post-
exchanges.

- Pre-exchanges have various functions, for example, to introduce a Pre-exchanges:

Introduce a topic,
topic (I’ve got a bit of a problem) or to gain advance promise (could you spare a Gain advance promise,

moment?). They are also commonly employed by speakers to check on Check objections

objections by hearers before they make their main move:

* Pre-exchange
A: Have you got anything on tonight?
B: No … Not really
* Head exchange:
A: Well, would you like to go to the cinema, then?
B: I’d love to.

A can be sure that, whatever else B may come up with, B will at least not be able to say
that s/he has other plans

- Post-exchanges, on the other hand, confirm (or make more precise) Post-exchanges:
confirm the outcome of
the outcome of a preceding exchange: a preceding exchange

* Head exchange - couple agree to eat out:

A: We are eating at home?
B: We could, I suppose.
A: No. let’s go out. I’ve got to look for a book.
* Post-exchange – solve the problem of what kind of food to have dinner:
B: OK. Give me a few minutes to get changed … Chinese food?
A: Yeah! If you want.

3.2.2. Coordination.
Edmondson also proposes a second type of linking head exchanges with
pre- and post-exchanges, that of coordination, which takes either the form of
chaining or reciprocation.

3.3. Moves & exchanges. Moves & exchanges

Exchanges consist of two or more head moves. At least one partner to
a conversation engages (=involucrar-se) in talk in order to achive some result.
Once this goal is obtained, the participants can either embark on a new new
exchange or end their conversation. It is the conversational goals through
which exchanges are defined, while the individual moves are
characterized by the role they play in reaching the conversational
goals. We will distinguish the head moves initiate, satisfy, counter and
contra; and the three Meta-moves: reject, re-run and prime.
 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
16

3.3.1. Head Moves

Head moves:
In the simplest case, an exchange consists of two moves only: An
speaker initiates a conversation & a hearer reacts positively to this move. The Initiative: the move that
gets the conversation
move that gets the conversation going is an initiative, and the hearer’s going.

positive reaction to it is a satisfy. Satisfy: hearer’s positive

reaction.
A: Excuse me, could you tell me the time? [Initiative move]
B: It’s half past three [Satisfy move]

Another way to keeping exchanges going through negative reactions, of

which two are to be distinguished. The first is called contra and materializes Contra: materializes an
ultimate reaction in the
an ultimate reaction in the negative, as in: negative.

A: D’you like to come and see the ‘Canterbury tales’ tonight? [Initiative move]
B: Sorry … I’ve got something else on. [Contra move]
A: Ah … well … never mind. [Satisfy move]

The second negative move, the counter, is only provisional and is taken Counter: It is only
provisional & is taken back
back in the discourse of the exchange: in the exchange.

A: I think we should invite the whole family. [Initiative move]

B: Oh, God! Their kinds are so ill-mannered. [Counter move]
A: Yeah … they’re pretty horrible, but … [Satisfy move]
B: You know they did put up with (=soportar) our lot last summer? [Initiative move]
A: Oh, well. Alright! Invite them then, and the bloody dog as well. [Satisfy move]

3.3.2. Meta-moves.
Apart from the previous moves, Edmonson recognizes three other moves,
which have the conversation itself as their topic. The first of these meta- reject: objects against
moves, the reject, objects against the fact that an initiate has been
the fact that an initiate
has been made, or at
the manner in which it
made, or at the manner in which it was made. The second is called re- was made

run. It occurs when an initiate is misunderstood & the speaker has to repeat Re-run: When an
initiate is misunderstood
& the speaker has to
it in a form that is easier to understand. repeat it to understand it
A: Could you give me the trousers, please? [Initiative Move]
B: here you are [Satisfy Move]
A: Not these, the red ones. [Re-run Move]

Reject and re-run do not occur very often because they are hearer-
unfriendly. The third one, the prime, is a non-specific request for a Prime: non-specific
request for a verbal
verbal initiate: initiate
What on earth am I to tell him when he asks me?
 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
17

3.4. Acts Acts

The smallest units in Edmonson’s model are called acts. One or more
head-acts, optionally accompanied again by pre- or post-acts, combine to
form a move. Interaction in the full sense of the word cannot be said to
take place in individual acts or moves, but only at the level of
conversational exchange, for which, at least, two moves are necessary.
Three elements can be distinguished at this lower level: A head act, Head act: they realize
illocutionary acts
which can be preceded by a pre-head or uptaker and followed by a post-head
or appealer. Head acts are the same as head moves inasmuch as they
realize the illocutionary acts such as request, permission, invitation, apology,
and so on. By contrast, uptakers and appealers do not constitute speech acts.
uptakers link the
They do, however, serve important functions. Uptakers link the preceding preceding move with the
ongoing one.
move with the ongoing one,
Ex.: Tokens such as: Okay? All right? Don’t you think? As well as question tags and non
linguistic eh, uh and mhm.

and appealers connect the current move with the following one. appealers connect the
current move with the
Ex.: Typical tokens include hmm, uhum, aha, ah, uh and the most frequent are yes or following one.
yeah. Other neutral tokens: realy, you don’t say, good heavens, terrific, …

4. Oral communication strategies.

Oral communication
4.1. Definitions strategies

Several definitions of communication strategies have been

proposed since the concept was first introduced by Selinker 1972. One of
the definitions most often referred to is the one provided by Tarone 1980,
who considers communication strategies to be an interactional
phenomenon: “a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a
meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are not
shared”. This definition has been criticised in that it does not account for
situations where there is no or delayed feedback, as in lectures. Færch &
Kasper 1983 have adopted a psycholinguistic approach and recognize
communication strategies as being a part of the planning process. The
strategies are used when the learner has problems with the original plan and
cannot execute it: “potentially conscious plans for solving what to an
individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular
 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
18

communicative goal”. It has been argued that ‘problematicity’ shouldn’t be

regarded as a defining criterion of communication strategies. According to
Bialystok 1990, communication strategies may be used equally well in
situations where no problems have arisen, as is the case when a native
speaker gives a road description to a stranger using a long definition instead of
the actual word. He has also questioned ‘consciousness’ as a criterion in
defining communication strategies.

4.2. Taxonomies
The early taxonomies are based on surface structural differences in the
utterances and have proposed several linguistic possibilities to express a
thought. Tarone has, from an interactional perspective, claimed that there are
strategies intended to overcome the differences between the learner’s and the
native speaker’s linguistic knowledge as well as strategies that are applied when
there does not seem to be any solution to the problem. In Tarone’s Tarone’s model of CS
taxonomy, five main categories are distinguished:
1. Avoidance: In avoidance strategies the learner decides not to say 1. Avoidance

anything in order to avoid communication problems. There are two

possibilities:
1.1. Topic avoidance where the problem is avoided Topic avoidance
1.2. Message abandonment where the learner starts to refer to an object Message abandonment

but gives up because it is too difficult.

2. Paraphrase
2. Paraphrase: With paraphrase Tarone means “the rewording of the
message in an alternate, acceptable target language construction,
in situations where the appropriate form or construction is not known or not
yet stable”. Paraphrase is divided into:
2.1. Approximation: See 5.2. Faerch 2.1.4 Approximation
2.2. word coinage: See 5.2. Faerch 2.1.5 Word coinage

2.3. Circumlocution: See 5.2. Faerch 2.1.7 Circumlocution

 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
19

3. Conscious transfer: Conscious transfer involves: 3. Conscious transfer

3.1. Translating word for word from the native language, literal
translation
3.2. The use of a native language term, language switch.
4. Appeal for assistance: The learner asks for the correct term. 4. Appeal for assistance

5. Mime: The use of non-verbal strategies. 5. Mime

Færch & Kasper place communication strategies in a model of speech

production. The model has two phases: (a) a planning phase where the Færch model of CS

plan is developed and (b) an execution phase where the plan is

executed. If there are problems with the plan so that it cannot be executed,
the learner either avoids the problem which leads to a change of the
communicative goal and reduction strategies, or faces the problem and
develops an alternative plan which leads to achievement strategies.
1. Reduction strategies:
1. Reduction strategies
1.1. Formal reduction: the learner communicates by means of a
system that has been phonologically, morphologically, syntactically,
Low-risk strategies

or lexically reduced
1.2. Functional reduction involves a reduced communicative goal in order
to avoid the problem detected in the planning or in the execution phase.
Besides Tarone’s ‘topic avoidance’ and ‘message abandonment’, Færch
& Kasper also include meaning replacement as a functional
reduction. The use of a ‘meaning replacement’ strategy (semantic
avoidance) implies a more general reference to the subject.
2. Achievement strategies: Learners attempt to solve communicative 2. Achievement strategies

problems by expanding his communicative resources:

High-risk strategies

2.1. Compensatory strategies: to solve problems in the planning phase.

2.1.1. Code-switching: Using a L1 word with L1 pronunciation while
speaking in L2. BASED ON A
DIFFERENT CODE
2.1.2. Literal translation: Translating literally a lexical item, idiom,
compound word, or structure from L1 to L2.
 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
20

2.1.3. Foreignizing: Using a L1 word by adjusting it to L2 phonology

BASED ON A DIFFERENT
(i.e., with a L2 pronunciation) and/or morphology (e.g., adding to it CODE & THE IL CODE

a L2 suffix).
2.1.4. Circumlocution: Describing or exemplifying the target object of
action (e.g., the thing you open bottles with for corkscrew).
2.1.5. Approximation: Using an alternative term which expresses the
meaning of the target lexical item as closely as possible (e.g., ship
for sailboat).
2.1.6. Use of all-purpose words: Extending a general, empty lexical
item to contexts where specific words are lacking (e.g., the overuse
of thing, stuff, what-do-you-call -it, thing).
BASED ONLY IN
High-risk strategies

2.1.7. Word coinage: Creating a non-existing L2 word based on a THE IL CODE

supposed rule (e.g., vegetarianist for vegetarian).

2.1.8. Prefabricated patterns: Using memorized stock phrases,
usually for "survival" purposes
2.1.9. Stalling or time-gaining strategies: Using fillers or hesitation
devices to fill pauses and to gain time to think (e.g., well, now let's
see, uh, as a matter of fact).
2.1.10. Appeal for help: Asking for aid from the interlocutor either
COOPERATIVE
directly (e.g. What do you call...?) or indirectly (e.g., rising STRATEGIES

intonation, pause, eye contact, puzzled expression).

2.1.11. Nonlinguistic signals: Mime, gesture, facial expression, or NON-LINGIOSTIC
STRATEGIES
sound imitation.
2.2. Retrieval strategies: to somehow get hold of the missing term.
 Topic 5:
La comunicación oral. Elementos y normas que rigen el discurso oral. Rutinas y formulas habituales. Estrategias orales.
21

COMMUNICATION
GOAL

PLANNING PH

EXECUTING PH
OTHER PLAN
CHANGE GOAL

COMMUNICATION PROBLEM

REDUCTION ACHIEVEMENT
STRATEGY STRATEGY

- Formal reduction Solve plans …

- Functional reduction - … based on a diff code (code-switching)
- … based on a diff code & the IL (Foreignizing)
- … based only in the IL code (Word coinage)
- … by means of cooperative strategies (Appeal for help)
- … by means of non-linguistic strategies (Mime)

Færch & Kasper communication strategies’ model

The most severe criticism of the traditional taxonomies has been directed
towards their psychological credibility. Kellerman 1991 claims that some of
the strategies demonstrate the same underlying cognitive processes and
should therefore not be classified as different strategies even if they
have different linguistic realisations. It has also been argued that the strategies
are not generalised over task, language, and learner. The more practical
problems concern the definitions of the strategies, that are sometimes too
vague, and the choice of some criteria, e.g. ‘the construction of a new word’ as
a definition for ‘word coinage’ excludes all the words created by the learner but
that already exist in the language.
Another taxonomy based on underlying processes is used in an extensive Nijmegen model of CS

project involving the investigation of compensatory strategies, called the

Nijmegen project (see Poulisse et al. 1990). The Nijmegen group uses a
binary system based on conceptual and linguistic strategies.
 Topic 5:
La comunicació
ón oral. Elemento
os y normas que rigen el discurso
o oral. Rutinas y formulas habitua
ales. Estrategias orales.
22

1. Concepttual strate
egies are either:
1. Conceptual
C strrategies
1.1. Anallytic: The speaker refers
r to th
he intende
ed concept by listing (some
Analytic
A
of) itts propertie
es. Ex.: the thing
t you open bottles wiith for “corksscrew”

1.2. Holis
istic: the speaker refers
r to a concept by using the word
d for a H
Holistic

relate
ed conceptt. Ex.: ship for
f “sailboat”
There are also casses where analytic
a and holistic stra
ategies are combined,
c e.g. large
shoes for ‘boots’.

2. Linguisttic strateg
gies involve the ma
anipulation
n of the sp
peaker’s lin
nguistic 2.
2 Linguistic strrategies

knowledg
ge.
2.1. Morp
rphologica
al creativ
vity: It is the
t use off L2 rules of morpho
ological Morphological
M
creativity.
c
derivvation to create (wha
at the sub
bject assum
mes to be)) compreh
hensible
L2 lexis. Ex.: *Veegetarianist for
f “vegetaria
an”

2.2. Strat
ategy of transfer
t : It ker “exploits the similarities
I is when the speak
Strategyy of transfer.
betw
ween langu
uages”. Th
he words or
o phrasess that are
e transferre
ed can
some
etimes be adjusted
a to
o the L2 and
a the use
e of a tran
nsfer strate
egy can
also result in words
w that already
a exist in the la
anguage.
The Nijm
megen grou
up does not
n m that all utteranc
claim ces need to be
pu
urely conc
ceptual or
o linguisttic, as theyy may also mbination of the
o be a com
tw
wo.

Bibliogra
aphy
Cenn Edu
Editorial MAD
1. Oral
O communic cation:
- Ochs,
O E. (1979). Planned and unplanned
u disco
ourse. In T. Givo
on (Ed.), Syntax
x and semanticcs: Discourse a
and syntax,
(pp
p.51-88). New York: Academic Press. --- UAB B: 801.5 Syn
http
p://www.irc-ekitss.org/PDFs/law--theory/Bics-Calp.PDF
2. The
T content of oral communication:
- Ba
ach, K. and R. M.M Harnish (197 79), Linguistic Commuication
C an
nd Speech Acts
s, Cambridge, Mass.:
M MIT Presss.
http
p://online.sfsu.edu/~kbach/spch hacts.html
http
p://www.let.uu.nnl/esslli/Coursess/hoek/koen.ps
http
p://www.arts.mo onash.edu.au/lin ng/speech_acts_ _allan.html
http
p://www.ne.jp/assahi/kurazumi/p peon/hatch.html

5. Communicatio
C n strategies:
http
p://gshin.chonna am.ac.kr/class/e
elt/07strategy.httm#Compensato
ory%20Strategies
http
p://www.ling.lu.sse/dissemination
ns/pdf/46/Flyma an.pdf
http
p://www.hawaii.e edu/sls/uhwpessl/19(2)/Faucette e.pdf
Pit corder, Error analysis & IL → UAB : 800.7 Cor
S.P C (Humanitatss)
 Topic 5: Brief summary.
23

Brief summary
- Oral Communication: Oral communication is restricted to those cases which we intend to use the oral Lg to
convey certain information to our hearer & s/he recognizes our intention.
ORAL VS. WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: Main diff is the amount of time & space available for communicate other morphological features.

• Most oral Lg is spontaneous, while most written work WRITTEN LG SPOKEN LG

has been revised & polished. Some linguists prefer the Grammatically simpler Grammatically complex
distinction btw spontaneous and planned Lg. Lexically dense Lexically simple
Static Dynamic
SPONTANEOUS VS. PLANNED LG: Main differences. Non-negotiation Based on negotiation of meaning
Relies on Nominalization Relies on Vs
SPONTANEUS LG PLANNED LG
Organization Phrasal Sentential
Topic-comment structures Hesitations Connectors
Nextness Phrases are produced one after another Syntactive structures & explicit cohesive
elements introduced
Parallelism Repeating words or using parallel phrases Much elaborated: Rhythm …
Repair Heavily marked by repair Word order used in more polished texts
Clauses Conjoined (connected by conjs) Embedded (subordinated)
BASIC INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS (BICS) & COGNITIVE ACADEMIC LG PROFICIENCY (CALP):
• Cummins found that while most students learned sufficient English to began a social communication in about two years, it
took 5 to 7 to acquire the type of Lg skills needed for successful participation in a content classroom.
• He, thus, made a distinction btw BICS (the conversational Lg used for oral communication) & CALP (context reduced Lg
of the academic classroom).

- Communicative act: Can be seen from two different points of view a) & b).
a) Meaning that the speaker wants to express.

• SPEECH ACTS are acts of communication. To communicate is to express certain attitude & the type of speech act being
performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed.
• Levels of SPEECH ACTS: People do more thing with words than convey information → “The bar will be closed in 5 minutes”.
_LOCUTIONARY ACT: Act of saying something → The bar will be closed in 5 minutes.
_ILLOCUTIONARY ACT: What one does in saying it → Inform the clients of the Bar’s imminent closing [+INFORMATIVE]
__Constatives: Express belief (assertive & predictive) → affirm, speculate …
__Directives: Express a wish (Request & questions) → request, ask …
__Commissives: Obligation of the speaker to do smth (promise & offer) → promise, swear …
__Acknowledgements: Express feelings regarding the hearer (apologize & greet) → apologize, greet …
_PERLOCUTIONARY ACT: What one does by saying it → Getting them to order one last drink before the closing.
_There is a straightforward relationship btw the words uttered (locutionary) & the act of informing. However, there is a
less direct connection btw the utterance and the perlocutionary act. In fact, there is NO linguistic connection.

• COMMUNICATIVE CONSTRAINTS (Goffman): There are a set of universal constraints on all communication:
_Channel open/close signals: Strategies to begin & end different types of discourses.
_Background signals: Strategies to indicate understanding & attention.
_Turn taking: Expect turn or interrupt turn.
_Acoustically adequate & interpretable messages.
_Bracket signals: Strategies to shift focus from a main topic to a side one.
_Non participant constraints: The way non participants enter an ongoing discourse.
_Preempt signals: Signals by which a participant interrupts an ongoing message.
_Griceans Maxims of communication: Four maxims → relevance; truthfulness; briefness & clarity.

Opening Phase: (Pre-Exchange): Introduce Head Move 1 (Pre-head or uptaker):

Transitional Enc & topic link the preceding with
Conversations
b) Interaction btw Partners

Interactional Enc Head Move 2: Initiate & satisfy the next move.
(gets the conversation going):
Encounters Central Phase x: Head Exchange x: Contra (-reaction) Head-Act x: realize
Speech-in-action & Main business is dealt Counter (-provisional move) illocutionary act
Stories
(Post-Exchange): While the individual names (Post-head or appealer):
Closing Phase Confirm the outcome of are characterized by the role connect the current move
the preceding exchange they play in reaching the with the following one.
Highest unit. conversational goals.
x: Can have more than one Conversational goals through Smallest unit. NO interaction
(): Optional
which exchanges are defined.
 Topic 5: Brief summary.
24

- Several definitions of Oral communication Strategies have been proposed since it was 1st introduced by SELINKER 1972
- There are diff definitions of the term Communication strategies:
___ TARONE 1980 considers communication strategies (CS) to be an interactional phenomenon: “a mutual attempt of two
interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are not shared”.
___ FÆRCH & KASPER 1983 adopted a psycholinguistic approach & recognize CS as being a part of the planning process.
> The strategies are used when the learner has problems w/the original plan and cannot execute it: “potentially conscious
plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal”.
___ BIALYSTOK 1990: communication strategies may be used equally well in situations where no problems have arisen, as is
the case when a native speaker gives a road description to a stranger using a long definition instead of the actual word.
- Three diff taxanomies:
♦ A) TARONE’S TAXONOMY: Distinguishes five main categories.
__ AVOIDANCE: learner decides not to __ PARAPHRASE: rewording of the __ CONSCIOUS __ MIME: The use of non-
say anything in order to avoid message in an alternate, acceptable TRANFER: >1. Literal verbal strategies
communication problems target language construction translation: from NL to __ APPEAL FOR HELP:
the TL. learner asks for the right
>1.Topic avoidance where the >1. Approximation: Use synonym. >2. Lg switch: The use term
problem is avoided >2. Word coinage: Create a new L2 of a NL term.
> 2. Message abandonment: where word.
the learner starts to refer to an object >3. Circumlocution: Describe the
but gives up because it is too difficult obj.

COMMUNICATION
GOAL

PLANNING PH

EXECUTING PH
OTHER PLAN
CHANGE GOAL

COMMUNICATION PROBLEM

REDUCTION ACHIEVEMENT
STRATEGY STRATEGY

- Formal reduction Solve plans …

- Functional reduction - … based on a diff code (code-switching)
- … based on a diff code & the IL (Foreignizing)
- … based only in the IL code (Word coinage)
- … by means of cooperative strategies (Appeal for help)
- … by means of non-linguistic strategies (Mime)

♦ C) NIJMEGEN group uses a binary system based on conceptual and linguistic strategies:
COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
__ Conceptual strategies __ Linguistic strategies
ANALYSTIC HOLISTIC MORPHOLOGICAL CREATIVITY: STRATEGY OF TRANSFER:
> The speaker refers to the > the speaker refers to a concept > L2 rules of morphological > the speaker “exploits the
intended concept by listing sm of by using the word for a related derivation to create (what the similarities between languages”.
its properties concept subject assumes to be)
comprehensible L2 lexis.