Communicative Competence
In relation to any given language, a speaker`s grammatical competence plus knowledge of the rules and conventions governing the accurate, appropriate and effective use of the language in a wide range of social settings
Communicative competence is 1) a synthesis of an underlying system of knowledge and skill needed
for communication;
2) «the ability to function in a truly communicative setting – that is, in a dynamic exchange in which linguistic competence must adapt itself to the total informational input, both linguistic and paralinguistic, of one or more interlocutors” (Savignon, 1972:8)
The nature of communicative competence is not static but dynamic, it is more interpersonal than intrapersonal and relative rather than absolute. It is also largely defined by context.
Recent theoretical and empirical research on communicative competence is largely based on three models of communicative competence.
1) According to Canale and Swain, grammatical competence is concerned with mastery of the linguistic code (verbal or non-verbal) which includes vocabulary knowledge as well as knowledge of morphological, syntactic, semantic, phonetic and orthographic rules. This competence enables the speaker to use knowledge and skills needed for understanding and expressing the literal meaning of utterances.
In line with Hymes’s belief about the appropriateness of language use in a variety of social situations, the sociolinguistic competence in their model includes knowledge of rules and conventions which underlie the appropriate comprehension and language use in different sociolinguistic and sociocultural contexts.
Canale (1983, 1984) described discourse competence as mastery of rules that determine ways in which forms and meanings are combined to achieve a meaningful unity of spoken or written texts. The unity of a text is enabled by cohesion in form and coherence in meaning.
In the model of Canale and Swain, strategic competence is composed of knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that are recalled to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to insuffi cient competence in 98 METODIKA:Vol. 8, br. 14 (1/2007), str. 94-103 one or more components of communicative competence. These strategies include paraphrase, circumlocution, repetition, reluctance, avoidance of words, structures or themes, guessing, changes of register and style, modifi cations of messages etc. Canale (1983) pointed out that this competence can also be used to enhance the effectiveness of communication.
2)Taking into consideration the results of prior theoretical and empirical research, in the late 1980s, Bachman proposed a new model of communicative competence or, more precisely, the model of communicative language ability
In Bachman and Palmer’s model, organisational knowledge is composed of abilities engaged in a control over formal language structures, i.e. of grammatical and textual knowledge. Grammatical knowledge includes several rather independent areas of knowledge such as knowledge of vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, and graphology. They enable recognition and production of grammatically correct sentences as well as comprehension of their propositional content. Textual knowledge enables comprehension and production of (spoken or written) texts. It covers the knowledge of conventions for combining sentences or utterances into texts, i.e. knowledge of cohesion (ways of marking semantic relationships among two or more sentences in a written text or utterances in a conversation) and knowledge of rhetorical organisation (way of developing narrative texts, descriptions, comparisons, classifi cations etc.) or conversational organisation (conventions for initiating, maintaining and closing conversations).
3)The model or description of communicative language competence in the CEF (2001), the model which is intended for assessment as well as for learning and teaching of languages. In the CEF, communicative competence is conceived only in terms of knowledge. It includes three basic components – language competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic competence. Thus, strategic competence is not its componential part.
The subcomponents of language competence are lexical, grammatical, semantic, phonological, orthographic and orthoepic competences. Sociolinguistic competence refers to possession of knowledge and skills for appropriate language use in a social context. The following aspects of this competence are highlighted: language elements that mark social relationships, rules of appropriate behaviour, and expressions of peoples’ wisdom, differences in register and dialects and stress. The last component in this model - pragmatic competence - involves two subcomponents: discourse competence and functional competence
⠀ Bachman, L.F., & Palmer, A.S. (1996). Language Testing in Practice: Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests. Oxford etc.: OUP. Canale, M. (1983).