A strategy used by the learner who lacks the necessary language to express something, but perseveres with trying to express it. Which term is this?

A strategy used by the learner who lacks the necessary language to express something, but perseveres with trying to express it. Which term is this?

• A. Avoidance behaviour
• B. Achievement strategy
• C. Chunking
• D. Affective filter

Answer: (B)

Persisting to express ideas even when the exact language isn’t available is an achievement strategy. It describes a learner who keeps trying to communicate, using whatever language resources they have—simplifying, paraphrasing, using gestures or familiar chunks—until the message gets across. This shows purposeful effort to achieve communication despite gaps in proficiency. In contrast, avoidance behavior would mean steering away from speaking due to difficulty or anxiety, chunking is about breaking information into manageable units for processing, and the affective filter refers to emotional barriers that can hinder language learning rather than a conscious strategy to express something. So the perseverance to get the meaning across despite gaps best matches an achievement strategy.