“Este, bueno, repite por favor…”: teaching of communicative strategies in the Spanish language classroom

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of communication strategies (CSs) instructions used by English speakers, learners of Spanish at a low intermediate level during a 13-week course. One classroom (n = 20) received explicit instruction of CSs, as part of the regular instructional material; whereas, participants in the other classroom (n = 12) did not receive this specific information but otherwise had the same instructor, syllabus, and course material. The five CSs in the experimental classroom are followed by Dörnyei and Scott's (1997) taxonomy. The pre-tests showed no difference in the use of the CSs between the two groups. The results after the treatment showed an effect of the explicit teaching of the CSs, as the experimental group used a greater number of CSs resources when solving communicative issues. The study also reported that task type had an effect on the number and type of CSs produced by the learners. This phenomenon can also be explained in terms of task type and time constraints. The differences observed in both groups can be attributed to explicit CS instruction, thereby resulting in pedagogical implications for language teachers.