Communicative competence:

Def: To be communicative competent means, roughly speaking, to be able to communicate that which you wish to communicate.

To be communicative competent you need skills within the following areas:

Grammatical competence
the ability to use the rules of the language to understand and produce the language correctly the ability to understand and produce coherent texts (written and oral) within various genres

Discourse competence Pragmatic competence

the ability to understand and produce utterances that are suitable for the context in which they are uttered
the ability to efficiently use the skills available to you to get your message across - strategies

Strategic competence Fluency Interrelation between the elements of communicative competence

Competence definition:
Competence: proficiencies within and knowledge of the competences described above meta-communicative knowledge (knowing about): language and language usage and elements which affect various communication situations

Communication:
written and oral communication proficiencies sender and receiver speaking, listening, writing, and reading all communication is unique authentic communication is demanding in terms of collaboration, and its unpredictable we communicate and understand communication based on the context in which it takes place / in which we find ourselves

Teaching from a communicative perspective

focus on both form and content and their interdependence involve all the 4/5 competences together NOT separately listening, reading, writing and speaking (the 4 proficiencies) authentic language usage

Grammatical competence
= the linguistic code Phonetics
Pronunciation and prosody

Morphology
Word function and inflection

Syntax
Structure of language

Lexis
Vocabulary and semantics

Grammatical competence
= the linguistic code
Lexis
What does it mean to know a word?
Semantic networks Using context to process input (current lang.acq. theory) Interlanguage

Teaching grammar
Language acquisition view vs. teaching methods

Why grammar?
The rules of the game

Grammar in practice
Communicative need relate form to content

Correction or reparation?
Errors are natural

Interlanguage definitions I
intersprog bestr af strukturer, som finpudses og udvikles cirkulrt i retning af mlsproget.
(Sprogfagenes didaktik, p. 48)

Det specielle elevsprog, som man i dag antager, at en elev udvikler p vejen mod fremmedsprog udviklende og dynamisk.
(Tornberg p. 64)

Interlanguage definitions II
A learners developing second language knowledge. It may have characteristics of the learners first language, characteristics of the second language, and some characteristics that seem to be very general and tend to occur in all or most interlanguage systems. Interlanguages are systematic, but they are also dynamic. They change as learners receive more input and revise their hypotheses about the second language.
(Spada and Lightbown p.201)

Interlanguage definitions III

Thus interlanguage consists of both the rules about the target language that have become automatic and of the language which is still being developed.
(Tornberg p.66 min oversttelse)

Extensive empirical research suggests that grammar teaching has no direct effect on the pupils interlanguage. Interlanguage rather seems to develop in sequences that follow certain rules independent of grammar teaching.
(Tornberg p.67 min oversttelse)

Discourse competence
Oral
Gambits/samtalemarkrer = tools to organize who says sth. in a conversation /whose turn it is to speak

Written
coherence: to do with the content and structure of the text (global) cohesion: more formal, linguistic context (local)
content related logical/ structure related

Why is discourse important to teach? And is it?

Pragmatic competence
Pragmatics: the social context in which the language is used
Speech acts Culture

Pragma-linguistics
how speech acts are realised in the target language

Socio-pragmatics
factors in the social context which influences the linguistic realisation

Why? What about culture and language? How are they linked?
World Englishes

Strategic competence
AIM: to make available problem solving strategies on all levels of the communicative competence (communication strategies) Why important? (in EFL teaching) Strategic competence as problem solving strategies
evasive approach creative utilization approach

Strategic competence
continued I

Utilization strategies as learning strategies Communication strategies (utilisation strategies)

based on native language based on interlanguage based on interaction

Strategic competence
continued II

Which strategies are best?

most researchers agree that strategies based on the interlanguage will be more successful than those based on native language when the aim is communicative conscious knowledge of strategies help pupils utilize their potentials

Why teach communicative strategies is it necessary? Draw backs

Why teach from a communicative perspective?

Karen Lund argues:
AIM: to achieve as high a degree of correctness as possible within all levels of communicative competence
(p.8)

The core reason for using communicative syllabuses in teaching is that it drives the acquisition of a new language forward. (p.20)

Why teach from a communicative perspective?

continued

the central factor in acquisition of a new language lies in the students search for means that enable them to communicate and interact with the aid of language[the
students search for linguistic means of expression that enables them to encode and decode communication (p.20)] It is this search that

drives acquisition forward. (p.19)

communicative teaching in itself is the means towards this end (p.20) So there are not only one but two good reasons for communicative teaching: one based on a view of language, the other on acquisition (p.20)

Intercultural competence
Should it be a separate competence? Why / why not? Where do you see it in this communicative competence perspective?

Intercultural competence
Grammatical competence: direct translations are not always possible (i.e. small pizza vs. personal pizza); connotations (the owl: wisdom stupidity) Discourse competence: genre manifestations; gambits; pause between utterances Pragmatic competence: speech acts in communication contexts; politeness; Strategic competence: might vary which are most effective

Literature
Vivian Lindhardsen og Bjarne Christensen, Sprogfagenes didaktik, 2. reviderede udgave, Kroghs Forlag 2006 Karen Lund, Communicate competence where do we stand? Sprogforum nr. 4, 1996 Ulrika Tornberg, Sprogdidaktik, L&R Uddannelse 2001 Patsy Lightbown and Nina Spada, How Languages are Learned, 3rd edition, OUP 2006