Unpacking terms: Communicative Competence

Summary

The video introduces the concept of communicative competence, which refers to the knowledge and skills that influence effective communication. Drawing from the work of Canale, Swain, and Savignon, the video highlights that communicative competence is dynamic, context-specific, and relative. It covers four key components: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, strategic competence, and discourse competence. The video emphasizes the importance of teaching language in context, as communicative language teaching (CLT) aims to develop these competencies holistically rather than focusing on isolated language rules.

Takeaways

• 📚 Communicative competence refers to the underlying knowledge that influences communication, including the interpretation and expression of meaning.
• 📍 It is context-specific, relative, and dynamic, meaning it depends on the situation, participants, and is ever-evolving.
• 💬 Communication is not just about speaking or getting a message across—it also involves understanding both the 'what' and 'how' of communication.
• 🧠 Competence, as described by Chomsky, refers to knowledge (both implicit and explicit), while performance refers to the actual use of that knowledge.
• 📝 Early proposals for communicative competence emphasized that grammatical knowledge alone is not enough to communicate effectively—knowledge of language use (sociolinguistic competence) is also necessary.
• 🎯 Canale and Swain proposed three components of communicative competence: grammatical, sociolinguistic, and strategic competence. Savignon added a fourth: discourse competence.
• ✏️ Grammatical competence involves knowing the rules of a language, but it’s demonstrated by using those rules, not by verbalizing them.
• 🌍 Sociolinguistic competence refers to understanding social contexts and what is appropriate to say in specific situations, including when to stay silent.
• 🔄 Strategic competence involves using strategies like circumlocution or guessing to compensate for limitations in language knowledge. This applies to all language users.
• 📖 Discourse competence focuses on creating and interpreting coherent meaning from sentences and texts, understanding how they connect to form a global meaning.

Q & A

What is communicative competence?

Communicative competence refers to the components of underlying knowledge that affect or influence communication, including both the interpretation and expression of meaning.

What are the three main qualities of communicative competence?

The three main qualities of communicative competence are: it is context-specific, it is relative (not absolute), and it is dynamic (constantly changing).

What distinction does Chomsky make between competence and performance?

Chomsky distinguishes competence as knowledge (either explicit or implicit) and performance as the actual use of that knowledge. Competence is not always directly observable, while performance is.

What are the four components of communicative competence as proposed by Canale, Swain, and Savignon?

The four components are grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, strategic competence, and discourse competence.

What is grammatical competence?

Grammatical competence refers to knowledge of the linguistic system, including the underlying rules and how language elements are combined, though not necessarily as explicit, verbalized knowledge.

What is sociolinguistic competence?

Sociolinguistic competence refers to the understanding of the social context, including participants and functions, and knowing what is appropriate to say in different situations.

What is strategic competence?

Strategic competence involves using strategies to compensate for limitations in knowledge, such as circumlocution, avoidance, guessing, or simplification, and applies to all language users, not just beginners.

What is discourse competence?

Discourse competence refers to the interpretation and expression of global meaning, which is more than the sum of individual sentences. It involves coherence and the use of cohesive devices.

How do the four components of communicative competence interact with each other?

The components of communicative competence—grammatical, sociolinguistic, strategic, and discourse—are not linear. They interact with each other, contributing equally to the overall development of communicative competence.

Can communicative competence be taught?

Communicative competence can be developed, but not necessarily 'taught' directly by telling students what to say and when. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) aims to help students develop this competence by contextualizing language rather than compartmentalizing it.