The Use of Communication Strategies by Thai Students Liaising with International Students

The purpose of this study is to identify the types of communication strategies (CSs) used by Thai undergraduate students. The subjects were five Thai students representing as Thai buddies in the International Affairs in the second semester of the academic year 2016, at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). A video recording was used as an observation instrument to record interactions between the participants and foreign students in natural social settings. Based on the taxonomy of CSs, adapted from Dornyei and Scott (1997), the data were transcribed and analyzed to find the frequency of CSs used and successful CSs in overcoming the communication difficulties.The findings reveal that each participant employed different CSs. The three most frequently used CSs were Use of Fillers, Self- Repetition, and Mime. Also nine CSs were identified as successful CSs in overcoming the communication difficulties.