Communication Strategies Used by Middle Eastern Postgraduate Students at Service Encounters in University Malaya

Communication strategies are important in helping L2 learners to communicate successfully when they are faced with a problem in speech production. This study looked at one of the components in Communication Competence, i.e strategy competence or the use of Communication Strategies (CS) in oral interactions among Middle Eastern students and counter staff in institute of postgraduate studies (IPS) at University of Malay. Data collected from video-tape and interviews were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. It was found that the most frequently used communication strategy was the use of “modification devices‟. The other strategies used frequency were“interaction strategies”, “compensatory strategies” “avoidance strategies” and “L2-based strategies. The results showed that students used different communication strategies to overcome their communication difficulties. The main aim of using the communication strategies is to avoid communication breakdown. Consequently, Second language learners should be encouraged to use communication strategies to develop their oral skills and help them more effective in oral communication with their limited English language proficiency. The implications and suggestions from this study towards development the teaching and learning of ESL were also presented.