Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Developing Interpersonal Communication
Instructional Strategies and Techniques for Developing Interpersonal Communication
This domain tests tasks in which learners negotiate meaning with another person in real time, whether speaking, signing, or writing. Interpersonal tasks need a purpose, an information gap, and unpredictable give-and-take; memorized dialogues do not qualify.
Core rules and concepts
- Design information-gap, jigsaw, interview, and decision-making tasks so each partner has different information and must clarify, ask, and respond.
- Teach functional chunks for negotiation: asking for repetition, checking meaning, disagreeing politely, and keeping the conversation going.
- Focus feedback on meaning first. Recasts, clarification requests, and brief follow-up corrections preserve fluency while modeling accurate forms.
- Scaffold with models, sentence frames, and rehearsal, then remove support as confidence grows.
- Match task demands to proficiency: novices ask and answer simple questions; intermediate learners handle follow-up questions and short explanations.
- Observe and record performance during the task; do not rely only on a later grammar quiz.
Worked example
Pairs plan a weekend trip with a limited budget. Partner A has train prices; Partner B has event times. They must compare options, ask for clarification, and agree on a plan. The teacher circulates, notes use of target phrases, and later recasts a recurring error. The reasoning: the information gap forces negotiation of meaning, and the teacher's notes provide evidence for an interpersonal rubric rather than a grammar-only score.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling a memorized skit interpersonal communication.
- Interrupting every error and stopping the negotiation.
- Providing all information to both partners, removing the need to ask.
- Assessing only accuracy and ignoring comprehension and interaction.
- Using tasks far above the learners' proficiency level without scaffolding.