| In the field of second language acquisition (SLA) research, the language learners' language ( i.e., interlanguage) has been the research object of applied linguistics. The development of language learners' interlanguage is a complex process. Undoubtedly, language learners will encounter lots of communicative problems in their communication due to the inadequate knowledge of the target language. How do they manage to communicate in such cases? They use communication strategies (CSs in short).Communication strategies are those used by speakers, esp. language learners to promote communication when they have a limited command of the language. Using CSs is characteristic of interlanguage communication. The term "communication strategies" was coined by Selinker (1972) in the article Interlanguage, to account for the process of interlanguage. There has been a steady increase of interest ever since. Later, in the studies of Canale & Swain (1980) and Bachman (1990), the ability to use CSs to successfully get one's meaning across, was referred to strategic competence, and viewed as a major component in their framework of communicative competence.The study of strategic competence is important as it looks at how language learners are able to use the target language in order to convey meanings. Nowadays, it is a trend that foreign language teachers are adopting a new language teaching approach-the communicative language teaching (CLT). This approach aims to develop learner's communicative competence. As a major component of communicative competence, the study of strategic competence, may not only further illuminate thenature of communicative competence, but also may throw light on the development of learners' communicative competence. Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical importance.The study of the strategic competence of the Chinese EFL learners is of particular significance. On the one hand, China has the biggest number of English learners, wheras the CSs study in China is still in its infancy. What's more, there is little empirical research upon the use of CSs by Chinese EFL learners. On the other hand, it is a fact that many Chinese EFL learners even can not use English to successfully communicate with others after several years of English learning. This is the so called "dumb English" phenomenon. There might be many causes for this phenomenon. But the major one is that their strategic competence is not fully developed, which leads to their poor communicative competence. They may have a relatively rich repertoire of the target language, but they don't know how to make full use of the knowledge in communications. This is just the case for the beginners because they have more communicative difficulties. Therefore, by studying the use of CSs by Chinese EFL learners, we might provide some suggestions for the foreign language teaching and learning in China.This thesis consists of five chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter One is the introduction. First, we explain why we choose strategic competence as the object of investigation. Then we discuss the significance of the present study. Finally we provide the organization of the thesis.Chapter Two is a review of CSs study. First we present a briefreview of the historical outline of CSs study. Then we focus on two focal aspects of CSs study: the definition and taxonomy of CSs. The conceptualizations of CSs by different researchers are summarized, the lists of possible CSs are combed out, and a reasonable taxonomy of CSs is discovered. Finally, factors that might affect learner's use of CSs are also mentioned. The review of CSs, esp . that of the taxonomy also serves as the base for the investigation of the use of CSs by Chinese EFL learners.Chapter Three is the body part of the thesis. In this chapter, we carry out an investigation of the use of CSs by Chinese EFL learners with different language proficiency. It is, in fact, a semi-experiment. The design of the investigation includes the purpose, the research que...
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