In the course of learning a second language, learners will frequently encounter communication problems caused by a lack of linguistic resources.
[1] Strategies used may include paraphrasing, substitution, coining new words, switching to the first language, and asking for clarification.
[6] There was more activity in the 1990s with a collection of papers by Kasper and Kellerman[7] and a review article by Dörnyei and Scott,[8] but there has been relatively little research on the subject since then.
Some researchers who have studied communication strategies and their effect on language acquisition include Elaine Tarone, Claus Faerch, Gabriele Kasper, and Ellen Bialystok.
[2] Based on this observation, Rod Ellis suggests that the communication strategies that learners use may be characteristic of the stage of development which they have reached.