An Analysis of Ghanaian Tertiary ESL Classroom Lectures: The Case of Achievement Communicative Strategies

Abstract

Whenever we speak, we use specific strategies to help us achieve our communication goals (Nakatani, 2006). These can be reduction or achievement strategies. Achievement strategies are used by teachers and students to help them overcome their inadequate linguistic knowledge (Trihastuti & Zamzani, 2018) so that lessons can ensue smoothly. This study sought to investigate achievement communicative strategies used by lecturers and students in two public tertiary institutions in Ghana. An observational descriptive case study design was adopted with 12 Communication Skills classrooms purposively sampled from the two institutions. Lesson recording and observation were the instruments used to collect data and analysed using conversation analysis. The analysis revealed that strategies such as code-switching, all-purpose words, literal translation, and appeal for assistance were employed whenever lecturers and students realized they had problems expressing their intended meaning and they needed to solve the problems. It was revealed that the functions of the strategies were for repair to reach communication goals, to convey meaning, to ensure language accuracy, and to request for explanation and clarification. It also showed that the reasons for using the strategies were to avoid a break in the communication process, to develop learner autonomy, and to deepen lecturer-student interaction. Accordingly, it is recommended that such strategies (and others) should be incorporated into the teaching and learning process to create opportunities for meaningful communication to enable lecturers and students develop their communicative competence.