Discourse Competence

Spoken Discourse : Interaction orally between and among persons in a social environment or
ability to make and interpret the meaning of different functions of speech acts in different
context.

Sinclair and Coultherd's has model of discourse reflects the basic function of intention and also
offers a hierarchical models where smaller units combine together to form larger units. It is
simple form hierarchy is as follows:

Transaction <--> Exchange <--> Move <--> Act

While "Transaction" is a combination of number of "Exchanges", "Act" at the lowest level ,

refers to speech acts , implying the function performed through language.

Speech Acts : That which Sinclair and Coulthard (1975) label as 'acts', Austin (1962) and Searle
(1969) name as 'speech acts'. In simple words, speech acts refer to the

functions of language, or the action that an utterance performs. Every sentence

of speech or writing carries the force of requesting, apologizing, instructing,

ordering, etc. then language is seen as doing a particular act, e.g., "Don't lie."

Discourse Competence Strategies

A lack of coherence in a text is often noticeable when ideas jump out of the blue. Teachers can
introduce the concept of coherence by using examples of the lack of this element in learners’
essays. As a follow-up activity, learners can work in pairs to connect the ideas, with teachers’
support if necessary.

Teachers can also direct learners’ attention to instances of how coherence is realised in reading
texts, which includes phrases such as in other words, for this reason, and as a result.

Enhancing cohesion in writing means making the flow from one sentence to another move
more smoothly. This can be achieved by using pronouns. Consider the following example:

Air pollution is a serious problem in some developing countries. It causes health problems and
harms the environment.

In order to teach discourse features in a particular genre, teachers can help learners identify
and apply these features. When learning to write topic sentences in argument essays, for
example, learners can identify typical grammatical realisations of these sentences and use them
as a guide.