Communication strategies, as goal-oriented lines of action to obviate breakdowns in the flow of communication, have been the subject of extensive studies in SLA. While student-employed strategies have been duly investigated in the literature, those employed by teachers in the classroom context continue to be inadequately addressed. Moreover, characterizing functions of communication strategies (CSs) rather than their types as a research interest can offer new insights for research. Accordingly, the present study concentrated on the function of CSs employed by 16 teachers across elementary (8) and advanced levels (8) teaching spoken English in private institutes in Tabriz, Iran. A modified version of Jamshidnejad's (2011) functions of communication strategies was employed as the framework for defining functions. T-test results indicated a significant difference regarding 'maintaining the flow of conversation' between elementary and advanced level teachers. As with other function types, no significant differences could be revealed.

Abstract-Concern with interaction seems to underlie a tendency to concentrate on learner and their production. Uptake, as a student initiated interaction in response to task, typically highlights the role of taskelicited interaction on the learners' part. This phenomenon is argued to lead to noticing salient features in L2 and fluency enhancement. What is, however, ignored is whether complexity of the eliciting task plays any role in the rate and frequency of uptake. This research focused on 60 Iranian students in teacher-initiated FFEE (focus on form episodes). Chi-square results indicated that task complexity could not determine the rate of uptake, but within the scope of the uptakes that occurred the successful ones were significantly due to task complexity. Results and implications are discussed.