Webinar II

Group: Carla

GilbertoRoberto

Communicative Competence

Defining communicative competence Investigating its development

What is communicative competence? Mid 1960s:

Competence -> Grammatical Knowledge

Hymes Hymes – investigated extended concept of

competence Hymes argued that the ability to speak competently

not only entails knowing the grammar of a language, but also knowing what to say to whom, when, and in what circumstances

Hymes

Hymes (1972:45) “There are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless”.

Eg.: Open the window Would you open the window? Use of modal auxiliary – formal. Making requests to intimate friends – they are not

generally used.

Hymes Cultural interference – rely on one’s native

culture when communicating in another.

Boss: North American (English native speaker) – in his culture, he is unaccustomed to intimate small talk: feels uncomfortable.

Employee: Mexican speaking English (ESL)

Halliday (1970)

Functions of language – “[it] is the use to which a grammatical structure is put”

According to Halliday, Language performs three basic functions: Ideational : language serves for the expression of

content (speaker’s experience of the real world)

Halliday (1970)

Interpersonal: Language serves to establish and maintain social relations, also functioning in the expression and development of the individual personality.

Textual: Listener or reader are enabled to distinguish a text from a random set of sentences (making links with language itself and with features of the situation in which it is used).

Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974) Repair system – enable speakers to fix or repair

conversational difficulties. It is used to correct grammar, vocabulary or even clarify status or intentions. Eg.: Jean: Hello, Dr. Stanley, um, er, I mean, Jim. (“um”

and “er”: Pause fillers). Repairs can be initiated by speaker or hearer.

Speaker: self-repairs Hear: other-repairs

Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974)Eg.: Lori: But y’ know single beds are awfully thin thu sleep on. Sam: What? Lori: Single bed//they’re Ellen: Y’mean narrow? Lori: They’re awfully narrow, yeah.

Ellen’s repair is intended to clarify the meaning of Lori’s message.

Austin (1962) and Searle (1969)

Speech acts – used in a wide number of purposes to command, request, describe, define, agree and promise.

Direct Speech Act: Language directly corresponds to the actual words used. Eg.: Turn down the heat (request)

Indirect Speech Act: what’s done in a language only indirectly correspond to the language used. Eg.: It’s hot in here, (request – indirect one). Ps. Non-native English speakers often have great difficult acquiring indirect

speech acts.

SavignonCharacteristics of communicative competence:

1. It is dynamic – It depends on the negotiation of meaning between two or more persons who share to some degree the same symbolic system

2. It applies to both written and spoken language3. It is context-specific. It requires making appropriate choices of

register and style in terms of the situation and the participants. 4. Difference (theoretical) between competence and

performance. Competence is what one knows (presumed underlying ability). Performance is what one does (manifestation of that ability) and can be observable.

5. It is relative and depends on the cooperation of all the participants involved.

Canale and Swain (1980)

For them, communicative competence involves four areas of knowledge and skills:

1. Grammatical Competence: “Just as Hymes (1972) was able to say that there are rules of grammar that would be useless without rules of language use, so we fell that there are rules of language use that would be useless without rules of grammar.”

Eg.: Excuse me. I need Main Street.

2. Sociolinguistic competence: addresses the extent to which sentences are “produced and understood appropriately” (Swain 1984:189). Such competence enables speakers to vary their language appropriately according to the addressee (politeness and formality).

Canale and Swain (1980)

3. Discourse competence: it enables speakers to start a conversation by using appropriate greetings (Hi! How are you?) and keep a conversation going by using appropriate pause fillers (um, er, as I was saying).

4. Strategic competence: “refers to the mastery of the communication strategies that may be called into action either to enhance the effectiveness of communication or to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting factors in actual communication or to insufficient competence in one or more of the other components of communicative competence”

Author’s Interpretation of Canale and Swain They agree and add some points, as

Guessing (from the context in reading and listening)

Paraphrasing (speaking and writing) Brainstorming Revising strategies in writing.

Communicative Competence and Second Language Development Grammatical Competence

Ability to understand and use morphology and syntax. Sociolinguistic Competence

Way second language learners acquire the rules and norms governing the appropriate timing and realization of speech acts.

Discourse Competence

Strategic Competence

CC Principles

1. Teachers provide students with exposure to a diverse registers they need to know.

2. Whenever possible teachers use authentic language.

3. Teachers emphasize meaning.

4. Teachers get students to involve themselves in real communicative activities.

CC Principles

5. Teachers give students opportunities to express their own ideas and opinions.

6. Teachers encourage students to work in cooperative learning groups.

7. Teachers create activities that promote the students’ exposure to and use of the diverse components of communicative competence.

Video: Communicative Competence http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=FcIz2zP0n48

References