Strategies for avoiding misunderstanding in English L2 conversations

Abstract

To contribute to existing research that describes how L2 speakers avoid misunderstanding during conversation, the current study examines the strategies used by university students in Canada. The students (N = 104) were audio-recorded while carrying out two communicative tasks in pairs: exchanging personal experiences about moving to Canada, and discussing academic research studies. Transcripts were coded for the occurrence of speaker strategies (e.g. comprehension check, elaboration) and listener strategies (e.g. confirmation check, clarification request) for avoiding misunderstanding. Their use of speaker and listener strategies was compared overall and by conversational topic (i.e. personal or academic). The results indicated that the students used more speaker strategies than listener strategies and produced more speaker strategies during the academic discussion than the personal topic. Implications for L2 teaching are highlighted.