Communication Strategies

Communication strategies, picked as one of the aspects in the project that was said to promote language acquisition, involves a very active role by the learner.  I know only a few are also in practicum, but I chose this topic for discussion board because we discussed in practicum how ELLs pick up slang and common sayings to fit in, even though they might not know the true meaning.  Communication strategies, such as requests, turn taking, confirmation, etc. are similar to slang in that these are new concepts to ELLs and they are specific to American culture.  They might be used in order to adapt, but they more than likely aren't understood right away and take practice.  The text states that, "The underlying notion is that opportunities to modify and restructure interaction until mutual comprehension is reached are what enable learners to move forward in their interlanguage development" (101-102).  One major aspect about both slang, common sayings, and speech acts such as requests is that "underlying notion" with the goal of "mutual comprehension."  I think that to be able to communicate in the target language is more often the goal when learning another language, more so than for academic reasons, etc.  For this reason, communication strategies is an effective part of teaching, in particular, English as a second/foreign language and would have also been helpful as part of the project.