A Study of Communication Strategies in Interlanguage Production by Chinese EFL Learners*

Abstract

This article reports an empirical research into the nature of the relationship between L2 learners’target language proficiency and their strategic competence. The 220 communication strategies employed by 12 Chinese EFL learners of both high and low proficiency in their target language communication with native speakers were identified and analyzed. The results indicate that the frequency, type, and effectiveness of communication strategies (CSs) employed by the learners vary according to their proficiency level. The language distance between the learners’LI and L2 is also found to affect their choice of communication strategies. These findings lend strong support to our hypothesis that learners’communicative competence could probably be increased by development of their strategic competence.