Abstract :
This study investigated communication strategies used by the English teachers at seventh grade of SMPN 5 Kota Jambi. Its aims were to describe the communication strategies used by the teacher and to explain the reasons for using those strategies. This study used the qualitative approach. The subjects of the study were English teachers who taught in the seventh grade of SMPN 5 Kota Jambi. The techniques of data analysis for this study were data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusion or verification. The theoretical framework by Cerce Murcia (1995) was applied to explain the results of the study. The results showed that the strategies used by participant A were topic avoidance, restructuring, word coinage, nonverbal signals, non-linguistic or non-verbal signals, literal translation, code switching, appeals for help, and meaning negotiation. Meanwhile participant B used circumlocution, non-linguistic or non-verbal signals, literal translation, code switching, self-repetition, self-rephrasing, appeals for help, and meaning negotiation. Both participants used those strategies because the students were lacked English knowledge.