Examining the effects of proficiency, gender, and task type on the use of communication strategies

Abstract

This paper reports on the study of the frequency of communication strategies, their relationship to task types, and gender differences in the use of CSs. A CS questionnaire was administered to 227 students at elementary, pre-intermediate, and intermediate levels. The results indicated that a) language proficiency does not influence the frequency of the CSs b) the task type has a significant impact on the type of CS employed, c) gender differences in the use of CSs are only significant for circumlocution, asking for clarification, omission, comprehension check, use of fillers, and over explicitness.