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Types of Communicative Strategy

The document discusses seven communicative strategies: nomination, restriction, turn-taking, topic control, topic shifting, repair, and termination. Nomination involves opening a new topic in a conversation, restriction refers to limitations on what can be discussed, and turn-taking is allowing all participants a chance to speak. Topic control is how formality affects topic development, while topic shifting moves the discussion from one subject to another. Repair addresses problems in speaking and listening, and termination signals the end of a topic.

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Shirley Anne Viloria
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80 views3 pages

Types of Communicative Strategy

The document discusses seven communicative strategies: nomination, restriction, turn-taking, topic control, topic shifting, repair, and termination. Nomination involves opening a new topic in a conversation, restriction refers to limitations on what can be discussed, and turn-taking is allowing all participants a chance to speak. Topic control is how formality affects topic development, while topic shifting moves the discussion from one subject to another. Repair addresses problems in speaking and listening, and termination signals the end of a topic.

Uploaded by

Shirley Anne Viloria
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Types of Communicative Strategy

Since engaging in conversation is also bound by implicit rules, Cohen (1990) states that strategies

must be used to start and maintain a conversation. Knowing and applying grammar appropriately is one
of the most basic strategies to maintain a conversation. The following are some strategies that people
use when communicating.

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.

When beginning a topic in a conversation, especially if it does not arise from a previous topic, you may
start off with news inquiries and news announcements as they promise extended talk. Most
importantly, keep the conversational environment open for opinions until the prior topic shuts down
easily and initiates a smooth end. This could efficiently signal the beginning of a new topic in the
conversation.

2. Restriction

Restriction in communication refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker. When communicating
in the classroom, in a meeting, or while hanging out with your friends, you are typically given specific
instructions that you must follow. These instructions confine you

as a speaker and limit what you can say.

For example, in your class, you might be asked by your teacher to brainstorm on peer pressure or deliver
a speech on digital natives. In these cases, you cannot decide to talk about something else. On the other
hand, conversing with your friends during ordinary days can be far more casual than these examples.
Just the same, remember to always be on point and avoid sideswiping from the topic during the
conversation to avoid communication breakdown.

3. Turn-taking

Sometimes people are given unequal opportunities to talk because others take much time

during the conversation. 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.

Remember to keep your words relevant and reasonably short enough to express your views or feelings.
Try to be polite even if you are trying to take the floor from another speaker. Do not hog the
conversation and talk incessantly without letting the other party air out their

own ideas. To acknowledge others, you may employ visual signals like a nod, a look, or a step
back, and you could accompany these signals with spoken cues such as “What do you think?”

or “You wanted to say something?”

4. Topic Control

Topic control covers how procedural formality or informality affects the development of topic in
conversations. For example, in meetings, you may only have a turn to speak after the chairperson directs
you to do so. Contrast this with a casual conversation with friends over lunch or coffee where you may
take the conversational floor anytime.

Remember that regardless of the formality of the context, topic control is achieved cooperatively. This
only means that when a topic is initiated, it should be collectively developed by avoiding unnecessary
interruptions and topic shifts. You can make yourself actively involved in the conversation without overly
dominating it by using minimal responses like “Yes,” “Okay,” “Go on”; asking tag questions to clarify
information briefly like “You are excited, aren’t you?”, “It was unexpected, wasn’t it?”; and even by
laughing!

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. When shifting from one topic to
another, you have to be very intuitive. Make sure that the previous topic was nurtured enough to
generate adequate views. You may also use effective conversational transitions to indicate a shift like
“By the way,” “In addition to what you said,”

“Which reminds me of,” and the like.

6. Repair

Repair refers to how speakers address the problems in speaking, listening, and comprehending that they
may encounter in a conversation. For example, if everybody in the conversation seems to talk at the
same time, give way and appreciate other’s initiative to set the conversation back to its topic.

Repair is the self-righting mechanism in any social interaction (Schegloff et al, 1977). If there is a
problem in understanding the conversation, speakers will always try to address and correct it. Although
this is the case, always seek to initiate the repair.

7. Termination

Termination refers to the conversation participants’ close-initiating expressions that end a topic in a
conversation. Most of the time, the topic initiator takes responsibility to signal the end of the discussion
as well. Although not all topics may have clear ends, try to signal the end of the topic through concluding
cues. You can do this by sharing what you learned from the conversation. Aside from this, soliciting
agreement from the other participants usually completes the discussion of the topic meaningfully.

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