3. Definitions of Communication Strategies
In Bialystok’s book Communication Strategies, she cites four definitions relating to the strategies of
second-language learners (Bialystok, 1990: 3):
(1) a systematic technique employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with some difficulty;
(Corder, 1977)
(2) a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are
not shared; (Tarone, 1980)
(3) potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular
communicative goal; (Faerch & Kasper, 1983a)
(4) techniques of coping with difficulties in communicating in an imperfectly known second language.
(Stern, 1983)
All the above definitions reveal the same purpose of communication strategies, namely, to solve an emerged
communication problem by applying some kinds of techniques. Among these, Corder’s (1977) explanation seems
to be more visual and pellucid from the viewpoint of a non-native speaker of English. The definitions from Faerch
and Kasper (1983a) and Stern (1983) also provide us specific and precise descriptions for communication
strategies, which refer to the employed techniques when speakers have problems in expressing themselves.