This study focuses on how valid information about learner perception of strategy use during communicative tasks can be gathered systematically from English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. First, the study attempted to develop a questionnaire for statistical analysis, named the Oral Communication Strategy Inventory (OCSI). The research project consisted of 3 stages: an open-ended questionnaire to identify learners' general perceptions of strategies for oral interaction (N = 80); a pilot factor analysis for selecting test items (N = 400); and a final factor analysis to obtain a stable self-reported instrument (N = 400). The resulting OCSI includes 8 categories of strategies for coping with speaking problems and 7 categories for coping with listening problems during communication.The applicability of the survey instrument was subsequently examined in a simulated communicative test for EFL students (N = 62). To validate the use of the instrument, participant reports on the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) were compared with the result of the OCSI. When combined with the oral test scores, it was revealed that students with high oral proficiency tended to use specific strategies, such as social affective strategies, fluency-oriented strategies, and negotiation of meaning.

This study examines current patterns of oral communication strategy (OCS) use, to what degree these strategies can be explicitly taught, and the extent to which strategy use can lead to improvements in oral communication ability.In a 12-week English as a Foreign Language (EFL) course based on a communicative approach, 62 female learners were divided into 2 groups. The strategy training group (n = 28) received metacognitive training, focusing on OCS use, whereas the control group (n = 34) received only the normal communicative course, with no explicit focus on OCSs. The effects of the training were assessed by 3 types of data collection: the participants' pre-and postcourse oral communication test scores, transcription data from the tests, and retrospective protocol data for their task performance.The findings revealed that participants in the strategy training group significantly improved their oral proficiency test scores, whereas improvements in the control group were not significant. The results of the transcription and retrospective protocol data analyses confirmed that the participants' success was partly due to an increased general awareness of OCSs and to the use of specific OCSs, such as maintenance of fluency and negotiation of meaning to solve interactional difficulties.

This article considers whether the use of specific communication strategies can improve learners' English proficiency in communicative tasks. Japanese college students (n = 62) participated in a 12-week course of English lessons using a communicative approach with strategy training. To investigate the influence of specific strategy use, their performance on a posttraining conversation test was analyzed through multiple data collection procedures. Transcripts of the test were made and then analyzed in terms of production rate, the number of errors, and actual strategy use. An Oral Communication Strategy Inventory was introduced to elicit participants' communication strategy use for a self-report questionnaire procedure. These results were compared with participants' retrospective protocol data regarding their oral test performance. The findings confirmed that strategies for maintaining discourse and negotiation of meaning could enhance learners' communicative ability. Yet the students used a relatively small number of examples of modified output, which indicated that they might not have enough opportunities to improve the form of their utterances.

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