Communicative Competence Strategies

1. Understand your role in the conversation.

Each participant of a communication event may either play the role of a speaker or receiver. Understanding your responsibilities and limitations as a participant of the conversation is one of the factors that can affect the communication process. A participant may perform the following roles which entail varied communicative competence strategy.

Nomination

The speaker or facilitator of the conversation shall perform the function of nomination. Determining the topic or purpose of communication is one of the primary roles of a speaker. Nomination refers to an act that allows, invites, or encourages participants to speak or contribute to the conversation. 

Restriction 

The speaker may also limit or prevent other participants to share in a speech situation; however this function should be done with careful attention and consideration as it may offend or create conflict when proper expectations and orientation is not set or given at the beginning. 

Your roles in conversation may be dependent on two deciding factors:

Social Relationships

Your role as a speaker or facilitator and listener or participant can be categorized into Higher Authorities or Lower Authorities. 

Facilitators are considered to be Higher Authorities in a speech situation while those who are tasked to listen can be categorized under Lower Authorities. As the environment changes, the social relationships also shift. A teacher in a classroom discussion is the higher authority but can become a lower authority when participating in a student-initiated activity.

Environment

Another deciding factor is the context in which the conversation occurs. The atmosphere may be a little intimate with less distractions in a one-on-one communication compared to group communication. 

TIPS!

1. State the topic or purpose.
2. Address participants by name.
3. Use verbal and nonverbal cues.
4. Be polite and professional. 

2. Learn the appropriate timing.

Time and circumstance are determining factors of the success of communication. Knowing when to speak is a skill any participants should master. An effective communicator must understand the concept of turn-taking.

Turn-taking

Determining when to talk and when to stop talking is significant in avoiding barriers to communication. Turn-taking is a process by which people decide who takes the conversational floor. Turn-taking acts include:

Keep-turn - speaker must not stop until he fulfills his purpose in a conversation

Release-turn - a speaker is finished talking and is ready to yield the floor to another person to take his or her turn

Take-turn - another participant can take the role of the speaker

TIPS!

1. Use signals and cues such as intonation, verbal cues, and gestures.
2. Limit interruptions.
3. Wait for cues.
4. Dedicate your attention to the participants. 

3. Cultivate meaningful conversations.

The essence of communication is the message being conveyed by the participants. A sudden change or deviation from the topic may distort the message or cause communication breakdowns. Although frequent topic shifting is not preferred, it is sometimes essential in digging into the details of the topic. 

Topic Shifting

Shifting happens when one intentionally or unintentionally changes the direction of the flow of ideas in a conversation. Topic shifting is an advantage when one shifts from a general perspective to a more specific or detailed one. This is speaking topically. On the other hand, speaking on the topic is considered out of context as it shifts from an entirely different scope of the topic although it may still be relevant to the topic at hand. 

Topic Control

Manipulation of discussion so as to maintain its flow without moving away from or changing the topic is called topic control. Regulating the conversations will sustain and establish sensible messages. Like restriction and nomination, topic control can be manifested by verbal cues, nonverbal signals, and transitions. 

TIPS!

1. Be intuitive.
2. Be polite. 
3. Use appropriate transitions.

4. Address issues immediately.

Interruption, overlapping, hogging the floor, and dead air are some of the common concerns that distract the communication flow. These issues must be prevented with sense of urgency. A communicator can employ the strategy of repairing the communication gap and issue or one may choose to terminate the conversation. 

Repair 

Speakers initiate a self-righting mechanism in any social interaction.

Termination

Participants may choose to end the interaction when deemed necessary. Most of casual or random conversations may be left hanging but on any speech situations, ending the conversation properly is a good practice which can be done through the use of close-initiating expressions or phrases such as "that's about everything" or cues like "therefore" and "hence". 

TIPS!

1. Recognize the violation.
2. Shift back to the topic.
3. Ask leading questions.
4. Take a break or shift to a new topic. 
5. Solicit agreement.
6. Terminate conversations by using concluding cues. 

Sources: 

school.quipper.com

Oral Communication in Context - DepEd Learning Material