Communication Strategies 101!…

Let’s talk “strategies” for a change… Although, personally, I prefer the use of the word “skills”… after all, I am not in the army!

Back in 2005, when I started to work with civil servants on a larger scale, two young women from International Trade (Candice and Anna) I had to prepare for both their reading and writing tests bluntly asked me “Okay… what is the strategy for the weeks to come?”… I looked at them confused because I was not sure what they meant by “strategy” (well… I learned alot and quickly about this word afterwards!)… They both looked at me as if I were kind of dumb “We’re talking about the strategy to use in order to pass the tests!”… I must say I was in total dismay “The strategy is the following: I teach you what you need to know for the tests and you do your best to learn and retain it!”… That time they looked at me as if I were a dumb alien from some unknown planet!

Later on, I learned what they had meant by “strategy”… In language schools, trainees spend most of their time practicing with old tests and they are asked to apply specific strategies such as: reading the answers before the questions, proceeding by elimination rather than by reasoning, etc… in other words, nothing that has to do with grammar, vocabulary or syntax knowledge… This is why it is not rare to see people with a C or even an E (exemption) in reading comprehension, an A or a B in written expression and being unable to write one single correct sentence or even express themselves orally! Let’s say that most people have such inconsistent results due to a lack of real knowledge… Usually someone who knows will apply systematically that knowledge to the three categories (reading, writing, oral).

If you are a regular reader of my posts, you probably remember about Alice’s needs assessment prior to her full time training back in September (if not, I suggest you read this post)… She was told that the mastering of communication strategies was a pre-requisite for the C level and consequently she would have to work on various communication schemes during her training (obviously those schemes did not help her too much!). Those so-called schemes were supposed to teach her communication strategies such as anticipation, opinion selection, damage control and clarification. In other words she had to learn how to meet the examiner’s expectations, how to summarize, how to argue and plan her response, how to introduce her answers and how to build an opinion.

Those are wonderful theoretical concepts… and, of course, everyone can appreciate them! Personally, I do favour a practical approach so that my trainees learn how to communicate efficiently in French… therefore I do not talk about communication strategies, I rather help them to apply their innate communication skills to their second language.

I noticed that my students tend to speak too much when actually they do not have to… I cannot really say where it comes from though. Each time I ask them a simple direct question, they always give me a complicated long answer… as if I were expecting it! Yet I never gave them indication of any other expectations than “give me an answer!”

For instance, last week, I asked James a couple of simple questions… An answer with a subject, a verb and an object would have been enough! He opted for the longest road and it only resulted in mistakes he could have easily avoided with a simpler response. Of course, answering with “oui… non… peut-être… certainement…” is not recommended either! The evaluator will be expecting an answer with a subject, a verb and an object… nothing less, nothing more!

The voice inflexion is also crucial during the interview… If candidates never signal the end of their response, how is the assessor supposed to know when they have no more to say?… By indicating they gave their full answer, they avoid the 10 or 15 seconds of silence that they interprete as “Oh my God… the examiner is expecting more!!!”… Actually, since the person in front of them does not know that they do not have anything else to add and yet they failed to signal it… well, chances are the evaluator will be expecting more! Expections, should I say, that were created by the candidates themselves! Consequently, they think they have to say more… and by adding to their answer, they start digging their own grave! Personally, when I do not have anything else to say on a topic and try to add elements, I become inarticulate… and if I were an Anglo who is barely functional in French, my speech would be an array of mistakes (which would give my assessor all the necessary ammunition needed for my failure!)…

Often, voice inflexion alone is not enough to signal intention… therefore I suggest a short sentence to conclude such as “Voilà, je crois avoir bien résumé ma pensée..” or “Voilà, c’est mon opinion à ce sujet!”… Something short that will prevent intimidating silence before the next question…

When candidates are in trouble (they did not understand the question, they have no opinion on the topics offered, they started to answer too quickly and what they are saying does not seem to make sense, etc.), I recommend that they let the examiner know about it! I have no idea what kind of damage control is taught in language schools… mine is about being honest and ask for either more explanations, another selection of topics or permission to go back and re-word an answer… Here are a few examples of questions or statements that can be used in case of emergency (with a big smile of course ):

• “Je ne suis pas sûr(e) d’avoir bien compris votre question, pourriez-vous la répéter svp?” (chances are the evaluator will not choose the exact same words used in the original question, which could play in favour of the candidate)
• “Malheureusement aucun de ces sujets ne m’est familier, vous serait-il possible de m’en suggérer d’autres et si non, pourriez-vous me faire quelques suggestions afin que je puisse formuler une réponse sensée?”
• “Pardonnez-moi, je crois m’être mal exprimé(e)… alors permettez-moi de reprendre à partir du début.”  (here the candidate is seeking permission without asking for it and the examiner will grant it)

On another note, contrarily to popular opinion, examiners are not torturers by any means! They are human beings and, sometimes, they offer candidates some help… On the other hand, it belongs to the candidates to decode it!… It is not uncommon for assessors to repeat a question by re-wording it when they feel it was not clear the first time… when they feel that some candidates are struggling with the topic they chose to talk about, they might guide them with some suggestions… Candidates must learn to listen so that, when their examiner is trying to rescue them from a perilous situation, they can stay afloat… If they do not pay attention, the examiner will not attempt to save them a second time! Consequently, when it is there, they must grab it right away! 

The purpose of a test is to assess people’s knowledge… when they do know, great! But, when they do not know, it is useless to give any response only for the sake of it! Choosing to answer n’importe quoi et n’importe comment instead of being honest will lead to failure anyways… Personally I would prefer to get out of there with dignity rather than feeling stupid!!!

“Chercher à se justifier quand on n’est pas coupable, c’est s’accuser.”

Proverbe arabe