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the influence of social environment in communicative competence.
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1
Communicative competence
There are rules of language use without
which the rules of grammar are useless.
(Widdowson, 1978)
Overview of the lecture
• What is communicative competence
• Components of communicative
competence
• Communicative competence and language
teaching
• Communication strategies: Definitions,
characteristics, taxonomies, teachability
The father of communicative competence –
Dell HymesCommunicative competence also involves
knowing what to say to whom in what
circumstances and how to say it. (Hymes)
acceptability as a criteriongrammaticality as a criterion
language function & uselanguage form
external to linguistic structureinternal to linguistic structure
real speech of interlocutors in a
social world
intuition and linguistic
knowledge of an abstract,
isolated, ideal speaker-hearer
eating the apple thrusting the
perfect speaker-hearer into a
fallen world
innately-derived power in the
Garden of Eden
linguistic performancelinguistic competence
The communicative competence of
a native speaker (Hulstijn, 2006)Core competence – Hulstijn, 2006
2
2. Components of communicative
competence. A) Canale & Swain (1980)
• 1. Linguistic competence – the knowledge
of the language code (grammatical rules,
vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, etc.);
• 2. Sociolinguistic competence – the
mastery of the socio-cultural code of
language use (appropriate application of
vocabulary, register, politeness, and style
in a given situation);
2. Components of communicative
competence cont.
• 3. Discourse competence – the ability to
combine language structures into different types
of cohesive and coherent texts (e.g. letter,
political speech, poetry, academic essay,
cooking recipe);
• 4. Strategic competence – the knowledge of
verbal and non-verbal communication strategies
which can enable us to overcome difficulties
when communication breakdowns occur and
enhance the efficiency of communication.
B) Bachman (1990) B) Bachman (1990)
I. Language competence
I.1. Organizational competence
A. Grammatical competence
B. Textual competence
I.2 Pragmatic competence
A. Illocutionary (functional competence) – knowledge of functions e.g. ideational, manipulative, heuristic, imaginative
B. Sociolinguistic competence – dialects, varieties, register, cultural references etc.
2. Strategic competence: It helps determine communicative goals, assess one's resources to communicate one's message, plan communication and execute the communicative intention.
3. Psycho-physiological mechanisms: neurological and psychological processes involved in producing and understanding language (e.g.auditory, visual and neuromuscular skills).
Communicative competence and
language teaching
• Traditional language teaching:
grammatical competence
• Modern language teaching: the whole of
communicative competence
• Neglected area: strategic competence
Read the following paragraph and answer the question at thebottom:
The leading causes of amnesia are either physical or
psychological. In antergrade amnesia, the subject is unable to
recall the events that occur after a shock or an injury to the
brain; however, past memories will not be lost. In retrograde
amnesia, the patient is capable of recalling events that occur
after the trauma; interestingly enough, information stored
before the shock, is lost and cannot be retrieved. In
paraamnesia, established memories are contorted. In
psychogenic fugue, the subject may venture into a new
lifestyle, trying to .repress memories which lead to
trepidation.The eventshappening during psychogenic fugue
are non retrievable. Nonetheless, the experiences that
happened before the onset can be recovered. Among the most
popular treatments for psychologically related amnesia are
psychotherapy, the use of drugs, and hypnosis.
In line 8, the word "trepidation" could best be replaced by
Anxiety /restrain / intimidation / self-denial
3
1) When did Mary _____ college?
graduate
graduate from
graduating
graduating from
2.) The American Good Samaritan Charity Organisation has established a shelter for the homeless next to your house. This has met with the disapproval of the neighbourhood. Since you are the most proficient speaker of English in the neighbourhood, you have been selected to write a letter of complaint of approximately 150-200 words to the head of the charity organisation in which you outline the situation and ask for immediate action.
Communication strategies - Definitions
1. devices used to compensate for lack of L2 knowledge: "CSs are potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal" (Faerch & Kasper, 1983, p. 23).
2. meaning negotiation mechanisms: "CS relate to a mutual attempt of interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures do not seem to be shared" (Tarone, 1980, p. 420).
3. general problem-solving mechanisms in L2 communication: "every potentially intentional attempt to cope with any language related problems of which the speaker is aware during the course of communication" (Dörnyei & Scott, 1997, p. 179).
Characteristics of CS
1. Problem-orientedness
• Resource deficit – gap in the L2 learner's knowledge
• Own-performance problems – uncertainty in the correctness of the message
• Other-performance problems – problems processing the interlocutor's speech
• Processing time pressure – problems in conveying the message fluently
2. Consciousness
• Consciousness as awareness of a problem: the L2 learner is aware of the fact that he/she is having a problem. This distinguishes CS from mistakes.
• Consciousness as intentionality: the speaker uses the CS intentionally to solve a problem.
Types of CS
1. Message adjustment strategies
• Message abandonment: giving up the message
• Message reduction: reducing the message to avoid certain structures or topics
• Message replacement: substituting the original message with a different one
2. Achievement strategies
• Paraphrase or circumlocution – describing or exemplifying the target object or action whose name the learners do not know (e.g. ‘the thing you open wine bottles with’ for corkscrew)
• Approximation – using an alternative term which expresses the meaning of the target word as closely as possible: (e.g. ‘ship’ for sailing boat)
• Use of all purpose words (e.g. thing, stuff)
• Restructuring (e.g. He looks … he does not look interested)
• Literal translation (e.g. cuckoo clock for pendulum clock)
• Word coinage: creating a non-existing L2 word (e.g. unrelevant for irrelevant)
• Non-linguistic means: mime, gestures, imitation, mumbling
• Appeal for help – eliciting the word you are looking for from your communication partner by asking questions like ‘What’s the word for …’
3. Time gaining strategies
Fillers and hesitation devices to gain time (e.g. well, I mean, actually, as a matter of fact, what I’m trying to say is that, now let me think, I see what you mean, to be quite honest)
Teachability of CSDörnyei (1995): CS are teachable and should be taught
The teaching of certain types of CS was successful as students used these strategies more frequently after instruction, and the participants' fluency also increased.
Counter-arguments against the teaching of CS: CS can help fossilization
Summary• What are the components of communicativecompetence?
• What are communication strategies?
• How can they be characterised?
• List some CS.