Communication strategies for students from Central Asia and Russia who studying Chinese

There are a lot of differences in communication strategies among students from different regions and countries. In this paper we investigate such a strategy for students from Central Asia and Russia in order to improve their level in Chinese. There are two kinds of communication strategy. One is reduced strategy which means people will not face problem directly, sometime they even give up expected goal. The other is achieved strategy which refers to remedial measures for limited language means when learners decide to keep the original goal. This study was carried out by authors on their experience of Chinese teaching to 80 foreign students at Xinjiang University and Xinjiang Agriculture University. All the data are presented in the tables within the text and have been analyzed through statistic methods. The selection of the strategies as a rule is determined by many factors. The most essential among them are the personal characteristics of students (so called introverts and extraverts), continuance of studying Chinese and the level of language skill which is corresponding to the levels of HSK. It was determined, for example, that Russian students as a rule are less inclined to use communication strategies (in compare with students from Central Asian five states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). All students have been divided into two groups according to sex, 46 of male, 34 of female. The statistics shows that male students find more ways to succeed in communication because their frequency of communication strategy is higher than those of female students. What’s more, boys are more active than girls, and the strategy they take are more simple and effective. But female students choose communication strategies that need more time, such as explanation and description. The study shows that there are certain rules in the use of communication strategy by foreign students. The level of Chinese mainly affects the frequency and types of communication strategy. At the same time, personal factors of learners make influence on using of communication strategy, too. But language learners don’t realize the importance of communication strategy which has been regarded as one of strategy knowledge through investigation. It was defined that foreign students themselves can’t have a rational concept of communication strategy consciousness and communication strategy knowledge. And it is not significant to study communication strategy alone. This studying would be most effective when we know it, use it in teaching and make language learners have rational conception of it. Teachers of Chinese can choose communication strategy through analyzing personal factors and social context of language learners.