Abstract:
Language hiccups and breakdowns are a salient part of communication in a TL. These
problems may derive from one or a combination of the following: (a) resource deficits,
(b) processing time pressure, (c) perceived deficiencies in one’s own language output,
and (d) perceived deficiencies in the interlocutor’s performance. In any of these
performance situations, the learner’s attempt to compensate for missing/ inaccessible
knowledge results in communication strategy-implementation as their communicative
success relies entirely on their ‘ability to communicate within restrictions’. Thus,
conversational strategies (CSs) have been conceptualized as problem-shooting devices
whose conscious implementation is directed towards counteracting the imbalance
between learners’ linguistic means and communicative ends. To raise EFL learners’
awareness about the use and usefulness of CSs and to assess the impact of explicit CSs
training on enhancing learners’ intercultural communicative competence were the
main objectives of the current study. An interventionist strategy-based instruction was
conducted at the Department of English Language and Literature, Sétif 2 University.
Two intact groups of first year (N=30) and third year (N=30) were the participants of
the main study. The 60 participants were randomly assigned to the experiment groups
(N=30) and comparison ones (N=30) giving them equal chances of being selected to
undergo the experiment. A self-report strategy questionnaire was developed to
investigate CSs employed by learners and to explore their perceptions of the use and
usefulness of each CS. Focused one-way and two-way tasks were used to depict
learners’ actual performance. And to have in-depth information of their learning
processes, Stimulated Recall was utilized. Further, an attitudinal questionnaire was
used to gain information concerning students’ attitudes towards CSs instruction and its
usefulness. Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs Signed-Ranks Test was used to analyze data
gathered from the self-report strategy checklist. And ‘Typological Analysis’ was the
procedure followed in analyzing students’ use of the seven taught achievement
