Unit 4: Communicative competence.

Analysis of its components

Index

1. Communicative competence

1.1. The notion of competence

1.2. D.H. Hymes: a seminal definition of communicative competence
1.3. Communicative competence within the new social approaches to
language
1.4. The influence of communicative competence in other areas
1.5. The theoretical development of the notion

2. Analysis of its components

2.1. Canale and Swain (1980)

2.2. A broader concept of communication competence: The Common
European Framework of Reference (2001)

3. Relation to teaching practice

4. Conclusion

5. Bibliography

1
Introduction
Communication by means of language is probably one of the most frequent and
relevant actions in our lives. We communicate through speech when in face-to-face
situations, on mobile phones. Still, we communicate through written discourse in
letters, e-mails, application forms, etc.

However, not all linguistic communication is based on language itself. When we are
interacting face-to-face, we make us of body language and other prosodic features to
complete or modify our message. Similarly, when written form, we insert emojis.

What is more, the use of language depends on factors that are external to language:
when we speak, who we are talking to, what our purpose is, etc. In other words, we
consider the context in which the communication takes place. Differences in
language are clear according to all these factors, and disregard for these social
conventions frequently causes confusion or undesired effects.

This first section of this unit analyses the emergence of the notion of communicative
competence. It deals with D.H. Hymes’ pioneering definition and on subsequent
definitions by other scholars. In the second section, two models of communication
competence categorization are provided: the seminal categorization by Canale and
Swain (1980) and the comprehensive model proposed by the CEFR (2001).
Eventually, there is the relation of the topic with the teaching practice and the
conclusions.

2
 1. Communicative competence

1.1. The notion of competence

DeSeCo2 (2016) defines the competency as the ability to respond to a complex
demand and to carry out different tasks in an appropriate way. It involves a
combination of practical skills, knowledge, motivation, ethical values, attitudes,
emotions and other social and behavioural components that are mobilized together to
achieve effective action.

1.2. D.H. Hymes: a seminal definition of communicative competence

The communicative competence was introduced by Dell Hymes in order to reflect
on knowledge and use of language. This theory stood in frontal opposition at the time
with Chomsky’s linguistic competence, which refers to a native speaker’s implicit
knowledge of the grammatical rules governing his/her language. By contrast, while
accepting the importance of grammatical knowledge, Hymes argued that in order to
communicate effectively, speakers have to know not only what is grammatically
correct/incorrect, but what is communicatively appropriate in any given context.

Besides that, Hymes made a fundamental step further in Chomsky’ competence and
performance dichotomy. In this sense, the author defines the communicative
competence as “abilities in a board sense” of how to use language, whereas
performance is always a specific use of language that reflects some of the
competence. Then, analysing performance involves exploring and accounting for:

1. Whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible.

2. Whether (and to what degree) something is feasible.
3. Whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate.
4. Whether (and to what degree) something is in fact done, actually performed.

3
 1.3. Communicative competence within the new social approaches
to language
There is a number of concepts and categories, presupposed by the notion of
communicative competence, which continue to be highly influential in sociolinguistics
and in many socially oriented approaches to the study of language:

1. Sociocultural context

This category reflects the idea that all interaction is embedded in sociocultural
contexts and is governed by conventions emerging from those contexts. Also, the
speech event involves a number of core components identified by Hymes in his
speaking model:

S – Settings and scene: Settings refers to time, place and physical circumstances.
Scene are the psychological or cultural definitions of the event.

P – Participants: who is involved.

E – Ends: In terms of goals and outcomes.

A – Act: Particular types of utterances, such as requests, commands, etc.

K – Key: The tone or manner in which acts are done, for example, serious or playful.

I – Instrumentalities: The particular language varieties used and the mode of

communication (spoken/written)

N – Norms: They are the rules of speaking, who can say what, when and how.

G – Genres: They include the categories or types of language used (interview,

sermon, etc.)

2. Speech community

As per Hymes, the acquisition of communicative competence takes place within

speech communities, which share a variety of language, but also a set of norms
about language use. In first language acquisition, it is through everyday interaction
with others within a community that a child learns how to use language appropriately.

3. Diversity

4
Hymes states that in sociolinguistics, the acceptance of diversity between and across
language in use is central. In this sense, they account for geographical, social and
register features of language use.

4. Appropriateness

Communicative competence is more than just grammar-based. On the contrary, it

requires knowledge of the appropriate social conventions governing what and how
something can be set. Thus, it involves both linguistic and cultural knowledge.

5. Socialization

Once again, Hymes highlights the fact that people learn the rules of language use
through everyday interaction within speech communities.

1.4. The influence of communicative competence in other areas

The notion of communicative competence has been highly influential in fields beyond
linguistics, such as education and sociology. Probably its greater impact has been in
language teaching, including the teaching of English as a foreign language.

The work of Hymes and others meant a significant turn towards communicative
language teaching, which involved the teaching and learning of language considered
to be appropriate to specific situations, based on what speakers actually use rather
than what they are presumed to use. Accordingly, assessment of language learning
has been influenced and the focus has been shifted on students’ capacity to
communicate rather than the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences.

1.5. The theoretical development of the notion

 Campbell and Wales (1970)

The authors felt that appropriateness in language use is in preference to

grammaticality. However, the defined the communicative competence as the ability to
produce utterances which are not so much grammatical but, more important,
appropriate to the context in which they are made.

 Savignon (1972, 1983)

This author described the communicative competence as the ability to function in a

truly communicative setting. She distinguished six relevant elements:

 Willingness to take risks and express in foreign languages.

5
  Communicative competence is not only oral, but also written.
 Appropriate depends on the context (register and style).
 It is only through performance that competence can be developed, maintained
and evaluated.
 There are degrees in communicative competence.

 Munby (1978)

Munby argued that grammatical competence should be included within

communicative competence. However, grammatical competence and communicative
competence are to be developed separately, and grammatical competence is not an
essential element in the communicative competence.

 Canale and Swain (1980)

The authors challenge the sociocultural bias in Hymes’ approach, and claim that both
grammatical and sociolinguistic competence are important elements in the concept.

What is more, for them the communicative competence is the underlying system of
knowledge and skills required for communication. They also make a distinction
between communicative competence and actual communication, which is the
realization of knowledge and skill under limiting conditions such as fatigue,
distractions, nervousness, etc.

2. Analysis of its components

2.1. Canale and Swain (1980)

As was briefly explained in the previous section, Canale and Swain reformulated
Hymes communicative competence. Their new model is extremely popular and used
in the field of language teaching, and it distinguishes four components:

1. Grammatical competence

This type of competence is concerned with mastery of the language code (verbal or
non-verbal). Included here are features and rules of the language such as phonology,
spelling, vocabulary, word formation, etc.

6
This competence focuses directly on the knowledge and skill required to understand
and express the literal meaning of utterances. It corresponds to what Chomsky called
linguistic competence.

2. Sociolinguistic competence

This component includes both, socio-cultural rules and rules of discourse.

Sociocultural rules address the extent to which utterances are produced and
understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts. Moreover, the notion of
appropriateness includes what have been called interactional competence, which
address appropriateness of kinesics and proxemics. As to the rules of discourse,
they refer to the mastery of how to combine grammatical forms and meanings.

3. Discourse competence

This type of competence concerns the mastery of how to combine grammatical forms
and meanings to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres. In order
to achieve cohesion in form and coherence in a text, there are a set of devices:

 Cohesion deals with how utterances are linked structurally. Halliday

distinguishes between lexical cohesion (repetition, synonyms, etc.) and
grammatical cohesion (ellipsis, deixis, etc.).
 Coherence refers to the relationship among the different meanings. There are
four meta-rules for achieving coherence in a text:
1. Repetition of meaning
2. Progression of meaning
3. Non-contradiction
4. Relevance of meaning

4. Strategic competence

This competence is composed of mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication

strategies that may be called into action for two main reasons:

7
  To compensate for breakdowns in communication (e.g. momentary inability to
recall an idea)
 To enhance the effectiveness of communication (e.g. paraphrasing)

Strategic competence involves a number of devices, among which stand out:

1. Achievement of compensatory strategies

2. Avoidance
3. Time-gaining strategies
4. Self-monitoring strategies
5. Interactional strategies

That communicative strategies are crucial at the beginning stages of second

language learning. Furthermore, learners must be encouraged to use such strategies
and must be given the opportunity to use them.

2.2. A broader concept of communication competence: The

Common European Framework of Reference (2001)
The model of the CEFR takes into account factors external to language and
sociolinguistics in order to incorporate personal abilities, motivational factors and
general knowledge of the world. Therefore, we may distinguish between General
competences and Communicative Language Competences:

1. General competences, which are grouped in four categories

 Declarative knowledge

a) Knowledge of the world involves: locations, processes and operations in

different in language learning, etc.
b) Sociocultural knowledge is the knowledge of the society and culture of the
community in which language is spoken. Some of the features are: living
conditions, body language, values and beliefs, among others.
c) Intercultural awareness is the understanding of the relation between the
world of origin and the world of the target community.

 Skills and know-how

a) Practical skills are, among others, social, living and leisure skills.

8
 b) Intercultural skills and know-how include: cultural sensibility, the ability
to overcome stereotyped relationships, etc.

 Existential competence: it refers to factors connected with the speakers’

individual personality. For instance: attitudes, motivations, values,
personality, cognitive styles, etc.

 Ability to learn: It may be defined as the ability to observe and participate in

new experiences and to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge,
modifying the latter where necessary. This ability to learn has several
components, such as:
 Language and communication awareness
 General phonetic skills
 Study skills
 Heuristic skills

2. Communicative Language competences, which have the following

components:
 Linguistic competences. Here we distinguish between:

a) Lexical competence: It is the ability to use the vocabulary of a

language, both of lexical elements (phrasal verbs, collocations…) and
grammatical elements (demonstratives, personal pronouns, etc.).
b) Grammatical competence: It is the ability to use the grammatical
resources of a language, which involves the specification of: elements
(morphemes, affixes), categories (number, gender), classes (nouns,
adjectives), structures (clauses, sentences, complex words),
processes (nominalization, affixation) and relation (government).
c) Semantic competence: It deals with the learner’s awareness and
control of the organization of meaning (connotation, synonymy,
translation equivalence, presupposition, etc.)
d) Phonological competence: It involves a knowledge of the perception
and production of issues such as: distinctive features of phonemes,
syllable structure or strong and week forms.
e) Orthographic competence: It involves skills in the perception and
production of the symbols used for writing (letters): spelling,
punctuation, conventions and varieties of font, etc.
9
 f) Orthoepic competence: It implies being able to produce a correct
punctuation from the writing from, including: knowledge of spelling
conventions, ability to consult a dictionary and to resolve ambiguity, etc.

 Sociolinguistic competences

This competence is concerned with the knowledge and skills required to deal with the
social dimension of language use.

a) Linguistic markers of social relations , they include conventions for turn-taking,

choose of address forms (dear, mate, love…), etc.
b) Politeness conventions, for example, expressing regret, appropriate use of
“please” and “thank you”, impoliteness, etc.
c) Expressions of folk wisdom, including idioms, familiar quotations, proverbs,
etc.
d) Register differences. This category deals with the differences in level formality.
For example:
 Neutral: Shall we begin?
 Informal: Right. What about making a start?
 Familiar: O.K. Let’s get going.
e) Dialect and accent, for instance, lexicon, grammar, phonology, etc.

 Pragmatic competences

These competences are concerned with the speakers’ knowledge of and ability to
develop the following competences:

a) Discourse competence: which refers to the ability to organize structure and

arrange discourse (topic/focus, natural sequencing, coherence, cohesion, etc.)
b) Functional competence: it is the ability to perform communicative functions.
Within this category we may differentiate between:
 Macrofunctions are categories for the functional use of single
utterances, usually as turns in an interaction.
 Macrofunctions are categories for the functional use of spoken
discourse or written texts consisting of a sequence of sentences:
description, narration, etc.
c) Design competence: which refers to the ability to use patterns of social
interaction that underline communication, such as: question/answer,
10
 agreement/disagreement, etc. Their right combination in conversation is
essential for the effectiveness of communication.

3. CONCLUSION?

11