Communication Strategy Analysis of Freshman Students in the College of Liberal Arts, Kalinga State University

Abstract

This study analyzed the common communication strategies used by the freshman students in the College of Liberal Arts, Kalinga State University. It drew insight from Tarone’s (1981) five (5) classifications of communication strategies namely paraphrase, borrowing, appeal for assistance, mime, and avoidance encapsulate the analysis of data. Paraphrase was subcategorized into three: approximation, word coinage, and circumlocution. Borrowing, on the other hand, is categorized into two: literal translation and language switch. The same is true with avoidance; it includes the strategies topic avoidance and message abandonment. It was concluded that the freshman students use varied communication strategies but the most used is topic avoidance, followed by language switching. The least communication strategies used, on the other hand, include message abandonment, mime, appeal for assistance, and circumlocution. It was further revealed that there are also varied problems encountered by the respondents when using the English language. The most common is lack of self-confidence while the least one is poor communicative competence. Moreover, there are also varied communication strategies the respondents use when communicating with their seatmates, classmates, friends, and teachers.