Communicative strategies in the English language teaching classroom at selected Colleges of Education in the Bono and Ahafo regions of Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the type of communicative strategies usedby tutors and students, its importance and effects. The case study design was employed in this study. The study population comprised tutors of English Language and students from selected Colleges of Education in the Bono and Ahafo Regions of Ghana. Purposive sampling technique was adopted by the researcher to select three (3) tutors of English and five hundred (500) students for the study.A qualitative content analysis research method was employed to analyse the data. The study revealed that students‟ use of communication strategies is not a sign of communication failure, conversely, communication strategies surfaced as they realize that they have problems of expressing their intended meaning and they need to solve the problems. The study further unveiled that the communicative strategies used by students and tutors in the English language classroom in the colleges of education are: questions, pauses, code-switching, message abandonment all-purpose words, restructuring, literal translation, repetition, and appeal for assistance. Finally, the study revealed that the effects of the use of communicative strategies were that: it helps to reduce both tutors and learners‟ level of communication apprehension, helps them to achieve a higher perception of communicative competence and improve their state of communicative self-confidence.The study recommended that Colleges of Education should include communicative strategy knowledge in their teaching training programs to make tutors aware of the importance of communication.