THE USE OF COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES DURING ONLINE
CHATTING BY INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS IN DEALING
WITH VOCABULARY DEFICIENCIES
Hezky Charisma Budiono 112011010
Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga
Abstract
Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) becomes an effective communication in globalized era, although it also has some communication problems just like in face-to-face (FTF) communication. In order to deal with it, EFL learners who use English as L2 should have communication strategies. This study aimed to find out the communication strategies (CSs) employed by the EFL learners, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga, Indonesia, to cope with the vocabulary deficiencies as the communication problem faced during online chatting. Nature of CSs, CMC, and the vocabulary dimensions become the theoretical framework of this study. Once the participants did an online chat and recorded, stimulated recall protocol (SRP) followed the data collection process using a semi-structured interview. FTF’s CSs taxonomy and CMC -related CSs upon grammatical level difficulties are used to analyze the data. Out of 15 CSs employed, two new CSs are proposed in this study. CSs in dealing with vocabulary problems that exclusively occurred in CMC will also be discussed in this paper. The finding may provide insight for teachers and EFL learners on how to overcome vocabulary difficulties while communicating through online chatting and maintain an effective communication.
