ABSTRACT
This study determined the communication strategies used by Waray-Waray-speaking vendors when interacting with foreign customers in Abuyog Public Market, Abuyog, Leyte. Specifically, it described the respondents' demographic profile in terms of age, sex, and years of vending experience; assessed the level of use of communication strategies in terms of pointing, demonstration, simplified verbal expressions, and relational interaction; identified the communication challenges encountered; and determined the most frequently used communication strategy. A descriptive quantitative research design was employed using a researcher-made survey questionnaire administered to twenty (20) purposively selected Waray-Waray-speaking vendors who had experience interacting with foreign customers. The collected data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, and weighted mean.
The findings revealed that most respondents were 33 years old and above (65.0%), female (60.0%), and had 20–21 years of vending experience (35.0%). The respondents demonstrated a high level of use of communication strategies. Relational interaction obtained the highest weighted mean (3.91), followed by simplified verbal expressions (3.40), pointing (3.33), and demonstration (3.27). Communication challenges were encountered often, with an overall weighted mean of 3.08, and language barriers making transactions more difficult received the highest mean (3.60). Overall, the relational interaction proved to be the most utilized communication strategy, and the role of friendliness, patience, and other positive interactions between people in making communication easier in the presence of language barriers became clear.
The paper concludes that the verbal and nonverbal communication strategies were successful in overcoming language barriers in Waray-Waray speaking vendors who use relational interaction as the main approach when they interact with their foreign customers during transactions. They suggest that vendors should do additional work to improve their English communication by training programs and local government units, market administrators and tourism offices should offer communication workshops and other multilingual support material that contribute to the development of the intercultural communication process in public market.
Keywords: Communication Strategies, Waray-Waray-Speaking Vendors, Intercultural Communication
DOI https://zenodo.org/records/23343567
