Different Type of Communication Strategies

Abstract

Oral communication in our mother-tongue language comes naturally to us because it is the

language we were born and grew up with. However, to be able to communicate orally in

another language is a skill which we must learn and keep on learning. Despite the barriers

in using English as a second language, we must persevere because we need to use it in

various situations such as during an interview which may be in the form of personal

interview (i.e. interpersonal) or group interview (i.e. small group). Other forms of

communication which we may need to use English are in inter-cultural and public

communication. We have different purposes for every form of communication and

therefore will use different strategies to achieve our communication objectives. Thus this

paper is mainly about our oral communication strategies which may be influenced by many

resources at the disposal of a speaker. One important resource is the speaker’s proficiency

level in the English language.

1)

Introduction

As Malaysians, we easily communicate using our mother-tongue language, be it in

Malay, Mandarin or Tamil because we naturally adopt the language that our family use.

However, when it comes to English, we are all considered as learners of the language. The only

difference is our level of proficiency in the language and the way to improve our proficiency

in the language is by learning more about it, as reminded by Lapp & Flood (1994) that “the

more you know about something, the easier it is to talk, read and write about it”.

1.1. Barriers to Learn English

There are many barriers to learn the language. Without a clear objective as to why we must

learn the language, we will not put our heart at learning the language. For example, it is an irony

that Malaysians are taught English at school for 10 years, from Standard One until Form Five

and yet many are still not proficient in the language.

Malaysia's social system today is characterised by...