3.4 Data analysis
In response to the research questions, the data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively from the transcriptions of the students’ oral performances. The taxonomy adapted from Tarone (1980), Faerch and Kasper (1983), and Dornyei and Scott (1997) was employed to analyze and identify each strategy used by M.3 students in the English Program in Joseph Upatham School. To report on the frequency of communication strategies, the researcher tallied behavior traits according to each strategy from the voice-recordings twice, and employ a descriptive statistics, i.e. frequency, means and standard deviation (S.D.). Then, as far as the traits were concerned, the researcher calculated each strategy in terms of percentage and presented in a tabular form. To examine whether the students’ use of communication strategies were influenced by language proficiency and task types, Chi-square was employed to compare the statistical data between high, middle, and low proficiency groups in the oral interview task and the picture narrative task.