Types of Communicative Strategy

1. Nomination

A speaker carries out nomination to collaboratively and productively establish a topic. Basically, when
you employ this strategy, you try to open a topic with the people you are talking to. When beginning a
topic in a conversation, especially if it does not arise from a previous topic, you may start off with news
inquiries and news announcements as they promise extended talk. Most importantly, keep the
conversational environment open for opinions until the prior topic shuts down easily and initiates a
smooth end. This could efficiently signal the beginning of a new topic in the conversation

2. Restriction

Restriction in communication refers to any limitation you may have as a speaker. When communicating
in the classroom, in a meeting, or while hanging out with your friends, you are typically given specific
instructions that you must follow. These instructions confine you as a speaker and limit what you can
say. For example, in your class, you might be asked by your teacher to brainstorm on peer pressure or
deliver a speech on digital natives. In these cases, you cannot decide to talk about something else. On
the other hand, conversing with your friends during ordinary days can be far more casual than these
examples. Just the same, remember to always be on point and avoid sideswiping from the topic during
the conversation to avoid communication breakdown

3. Turn-taking

Sometimes people are given unequal opportunities to talk because others take much time during the
conversation. Turn-taking pertains to the process by which people decide who takes the conversational
floor. There is a code of behavior behind establishing and sustaining a productive conversation, but the
primary idea is to give all communicators a chance to speak. All rights reserved. No part of this material
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic or mechanical including
photocopying – without written permission from the DepEd Central Office. First Edition, 2016. 52
Remember to keep your words relevant and reasonably short enough to express your views or feelings.
Try to be polite even if you are trying to take the floor from another speaker. Do not hog the
conversation and talk incessantly without letting the other party air out their own ideas. To acknowledge
others, you may employ visual signals like a nod, a look, or a step back, and you could accompany these
signals with spoken cues such as “What do you think?” or “You wanted to say something?”

4. Topic Control

Topic control covers how procedural formality or informality affects the development of topic in
conversations. For example, in meetings, you may only have a turn to speak after the chairperson directs
you to do so. Contrast this with a casual conversation with friends over lunch or coffee where you may
take the conversational floor anytime. Remember that regardless of the formality of the context, topic
control is achieved cooperatively. This only means that when a topic is initiated, it should be collectively
developed by avoiding unnecessary interruptions and topic shifts. You can make yourself actively
involved in the conversation without overly dominating it by using minimal responses like “Yes,” “Okay,”
“Go on”; asking tag questions to clarify information briefly like “You are excited, aren’t you?”, “It was
unexpected, wasn’t it?”; and even by laughing!
5. Topic Shifting

Topic shifting, as the name suggests, involves moving from one topic to another. In other words, it is
where one part of a conversation ends and where another begins. When shifting from one topic to
another, you have to be very intuitive. Make sure that the previous topic was nurtured enough to
generate adequate views. You may also use effective conversational transitions to indicate a shift like
“By the way,” “In addition to what you said,” “Which reminds me of,” and the like.

6. Repair

Repair refers to how speakers address the problems in speaking, listening, and comprehending that they
may encounter in a conversation. For example, if everybody in the conversation seems to talk at the
same time, give way and appreciate other’s initiative to set the conversation back to its topic

Repair is the self-righting mechanism in any social interaction (Schegloff et al, 1977). If there is a
problem in understanding the conversation, speakers will always try to address and correct it. Although
this is the case, always seek to initiate the repair.

7. Termination

Termination refers to the conversation participants’ close-initiating expressions that end a topic in a
conversation. Most of the time, the topic initiator takes responsibility to signal the end of the discussion
as well. Although not all topics may have clear ends, try to signal the end of the topic through concluding
cues. You can do this by sharing what you learned from the conversation. Aside from this, soliciting
agreement from the other participants usually completes the discussion of the topic meaningfully.