Communication strategies: are employment of verbal and nonverbal mechanisms for the productive communication of information. Communication strategies are of two types:

1_Compensatory Strategies                    

2_Avoidance Strategies

Compensatory strategies:

Sometimes learners are unable to communicate because they have difficulty in finding the words for expressing their idea. And some learners can not communicate due to their difficulty in comprehension. Sometimes compensatory strategies can help learners to compensate for the lapse of concentration and lack of knowledge. The following are some common compensatory strategies:

1-Circumlocution: Describing or exemplifying the target word or concept.        

Example: “The things you open bottles with” for corkscrew. “I said something which was not true” for the word lie.

2_Approximation: using an alternative word for expressing the meaning of the target word as closely as possible.

Example: “Ship for Sailboat”. “My friend gave (for the word lent) me some money”

3_Use of all-purpose words: Using words such as Thing and Stuff  for the words that you might not know their English equivalent.

4_Prefabricated patterns: Using memorized phrases or sentences for communication. The learner may not know the exact meaning of the words in such phrases or sentences.

Example: Using a sentence like “That is all I can say about somebody/something” or “To sum up” for wrapping up your speech.

5_Use of nonlinguistic signals: Use of mime, gesture, facial expressions or sound imitation for conveying your message.

6_ Asking for help: Asking for aid from your listener either directly (e.g. “What do you call?”, “Would you explain more about your question”, “What do you exactly mean?”) or indirectly (e.g. rising intonation, eye contact)

7_ Use of gap fillers: using beginners/gap fillers to fill pauses and to gain time to think.

Example: Well, Now let’s see, As a matter of fact, you know

There are some other compensatory strategies but I didn’t indicate them because I didn’t find them useful.

Avoidance strategies:

Avoidance strategies can help you to lead the discussion in the 3^rd part of the IELTS speaking test. You can also use them in the 1^st and 2^nd part of the test to avoid making mistakes.

1_ Message abandonment: Leaving a message unfinished because of language difficulties. Sometimes it is difficult for you to convey a message so you had better leave that message unfinished but you should do this in a subtle way that doesn’t call the the listener's attention to it.

2_ Topic avoidance: Avoiding topic areas or concepts that pose language difficulty on you. For example  in the IELTS speaking test,if you know that you can not talk about the cultural issues of your country then you had better avoid this topic. As you might know, in the 3^rd part of the IELTS speaking test most of the questions are based on your answers, so avoid answering in a way that invite questions which you are incapable of answering them.

This article suggests a method for those who want to improve their proficiency in English and has nothing to do with IELTS test.  

Learning a foreign language by watching movies can be a great way to get ahead in a second language and in some cases can be better than “traditional” language learning methods like classes and grammar books! Let’s go over why…

Watching foreign movies immerses you in real, fluid language. This exposes you to the way that the language is really spoken. It’s not slowed down for learners and it’s not made clearer for foreigners. For this reason, you can begin to adjust right away to the actual language as it is spoken today. This is an important skill since you will be using the language at a fast rate as the movie exposes to you, not the slowed down rate that teachers and audio programs use.

Probably most important about watching foreign movies is the fact that it is an enjoyable activity. For this reason, you are not as likely to tire of it as you are to tire of doing grammar exercises or reading dry language textbooks. With movies, you can keep watching and therefore spend more time in the foreign language than you would have if you had just been reading grammar books. More time in the language means more exposure and more learning.

With movies, you also get the added benefit of a visual reference. The visual images will help you understand what is being said so that you can understand better. Additionally, watching a story unfold will also help you begin to understand various vocabulary. Words are often likely to be repeated throughout the movie allowing you to pick them up.

For these reasons, watching movies can be a great way to increase your language knowledge and get more exposure in. If nothing else, you should watch a movie or two just for fun because it’s a fun thing to do. You should never force yourself to do only boring things in the foreign language you are trying to learn. With movies, you get to do something fun and learn at the same time which is the best combination for language learning. In this way, you will find that you pick up new words, sentence structure and more through watching movies.

I should also note that to help your learning along, you should have some way of keeping track of the words you come across. This way, you can review them later and not forget them. As I have mentioned in my previous articles, although learning English through watching movies can be quite fun you should not consider it only as way of having fun. Take the following steps if you want to make the best out of watching movies:

1_ watch the movie for the first time just to understand what the story of the film is. It is like skimming the passage to get the gist of the matter.

2_ the second time watch the movie and extract all of it new words and expressions. You can get all the words by downloading the script of the movie. Write down all the new words in a notebook. Write the definition and some examples for each word.

3_after the second time you can watch the movie again and again to review the new words that you have learned.

2. Know the test: If you are not familiar with the test or you are uncomfortable with it, your nervousness will increase.Try to find out everything you need to know about the test (The procedure of the test, the test takers and etc,).

3. Learn How to relax: You can ease tension by doing exercises. Sit comfortably with your back straight. Breathe in slowly, hold your breath for 4 to 5 seconds, and then slowly exhale. To relax facial muscles, open your mouth and eyes wide, and then close them tightly.

4. Visualize yourself speaking: Imagine yourself walking confidently to the room. Imagine yourself speaking, with your voice loud, clear and assured. When you visualize yourself as successful, you will be successful.

5. Realize that the interviewer is not there to make you feel uncomfortable: An interviewer knows that he or she must do everything to make you feel comfortable. This is their job and they are told to do so. Consider the interviewer as one of your friends with whom you are going to have a friendly chat.

6. Don't Apologize: Most of the time your nervousness does not show at all. If you don't say anything about it, nobody will notice. If you mention your nervousness or apologize for any problems you think you have with your speech, you'll only be calling attention to it. If you don’t say anything about it, your listener may not notice anything.

7. Concentrate on Your Message: Your nervous feelings will dissipate if you focus your attention away from your anxieties and concentrate on your message and your audience, not yourself.

8. Turn nervousness into positive energy: The same nervous energy that causes platform panic can be an asset to a speaker. Harness it, and transform it into vitality and enthusiasm.

9. Gain Experience: Experience builds confidence, which is the key to effective speaking. Most beginners find their anxieties decrease after each speech they give. We all know that practice makes perfect. The more you practice the more confident you will become. So whenever you are practicing speaking consider it an speaking test.

10.Record your voice: Record your voice when you are practicing speaking and then listen to it to find your mistakes.

When we speak, we use much more than just words. We also communicate with our face, our hands, and even our own body. This kind of communication can be called "body language" or "non-verbal communication". Non-verbal communication not only includes how we move our body, but also hand gestures, facial expressions including eye contact, and how we use our voice. 60% and 80% of all of our communication with other people is non-verbal. We communicate a wide range of information non-verbally. We also show our feelings, attitudes, moods, hopes and wishes far better with non-verbal language than with words.

Not only is a large QUANTITY of communication non-verbal in nature, but the QUALITY is high as well. For example, if a person says something positive while his face looks negative, which are we more likely to believe? In most cases, we will believe the non-verbal facial expression. In the end, his words will not succeed in communicating his message. If we want to succeed in our conversations, we really must learn to "speak" with our body well!

Let me begin by giving you some general advice. The main thing is to relax and be natural. Trying too hard to use "body language" will make you seem a bit strange. Instead, you should allow your body language to naturally follow your words. If you say something positive, then your face, body and hands should show it too. If you are expressing a sad or worried feeling, then your face, body and hands should change with that feeling. As you think about it more and consider how you can use your body to communicate, you will become more and more natural.

More specifically, let's talk about hand gestures. Using our hands, we can emphasize our main points; remind our listener how many main points we have, and let our listener know when we are changing topics. A dramatic movement of the hand or moving our hands wide apart can signal how important something is. We can even use two fingers, either close together or far apart, to show how big something is. To show VERY strong feeling we could clap our hands together loudly or make a fist (put our fingers in a ball as though we want to hit someone) and hit a table or desk. To show that we welcome someone, on the other hand, we can hold our hands out with the palms up, and maybe move them towards a chair to invite someone to sit next to us. To show that we are not sure about something we can shrug our shoulders(Lifting them up).

Some hand gestures that are popular are waving to someone as a greeting or holding your index finger and thumb into a circle to mean "okay". However, there are some countries where these can have bad meanings! It's important to be careful when using certain common gestures. Don't assume that everyone in the world understands one gesture in the same way. Still, you can use basic gestures most of the time, and then when you see a strange reaction from your listener, you can make sure to emphasize your real meaning by using words and a different hand movement.

Facial expressions are a very common way that we use to communicate every day. When speaking English, it's generally good to smile at your listener from time to time, especially when he or she has made an interesting comment. Also nod your head up and down to show you are really interested. From time to time, you can add a sound of agreement, such as "Uh huh" or even just "mmmm", to show you are listening. You can screw your face up to indicate that what the speaker is saying doesn’t sound interesting or appealing to you. Above all, it is important to maintain eye contact while listening. Sometimes it is okay to move your eyes away when you are speaking, because you do have to think about what you want to say. However the listener should almost always look at the speaker without moving the eyes away (without "averting" the eyes).

 You can show your friendliness and "openness" by leaning a little bit toward the speaker. Try to avoid folding your arms in front of your chest. Many people consider folding your arms as a cold, "protective" gesture. Instead, you could have your hands on your knees or one hand on your knee and the other at your side. You can fold your arms sometimes if you wish, but don't hold them there for a long time. As long as your hands move from time to time, the listener will not think that you are unfriendly.

Besides all of the obvious physical ways to communicate non-verbally, we have our voice. We use "intonation", loudness and "pitch" (how high or low our voice sounds) to change our meaning. Even when our voice does not make an actual word, it still can communicate feeling and attitude. Combined with the words we use, our voice can be a very powerful way to express what we mean. A strong voice can communicate confidence while a quiet voice communicates intimacy or some secret message. A loud, high pitched voice (similar to a girl screaming) can communicate nervousness or excitement, while a deep voice might mean we are tired or not enthusiastic. You can easily change the meaning of a sentence by changing your pitch or sentence stress.  

All in all body language is one of the basic skills that all students need.