3. Communicative competence: development, elements, application in TFL.

Teaching grammar, vocabulary,

culture, pronunciation.

Communicative competence is a crucial part of language learning and teaching, especially when it comes to
Teaching Foreign Language (TFL). The term “communicative competence” was first used in the mid-sixties
and has been in use ever since.
Development of communicative competence
This is not a skill that one can acquire overnight. This competence Is developed through a long exposure to
the language, guidance by teachers and doing enough exercises. Every learner begins his “journey” towards
acquiring the communicative competence from basic comprehension of simple sentences to the point where
they can understand and produce a specific type of language, based on the situation they find themselves in.
Main elements of the “Communicative competence”
Many researchers state, that the communicative competence is comprised of several main elements, some
which are: Grammatical competence; Sociolinguistic competence, Discourse competence and Strategic
competence.
- Grammatical competence: A person can be deemed grammatically competent not when he/she knows all
the grammatical rules of the foreign language, but when he/she can use this knowledge to produce
grammatically acceptable sentences when speaking or writing.
- Sociolinguistic competence/ Sociocultural: This has to do with the usage of the right language/manner of
speaking and understanding the cultural rules and social context in which language is used
- Discourse competence: Combining both grammatical rules and vocabulary in order to achieve a unified
written or spoken text. Discourse competence is the ability to organize and structure language coherently and
meaningfully in both spoken and written forms. Discourse competence goes beyond grammatical accuracy
to effectively convey meaning, engage the audience, and achieve communicative goals.
- Strategic competence: Strategic competence refers to the ability to use communication strategies
effectively to overcome communication breakdowns or to enhance communication. It involves skills such as
using circumlocution, repairing misunderstandings, and employing compensatory strategies when faced
with linguistic or communicative challenges. Strategic competence allows individuals to navigate and adapt
their communication in various situations, ensuring successful interaction with others.

Application in TFL
From the previously written, it is clear that knowing all the grammatical rules or all the words of a language
is not enough for the learners to be able to communicate freely. The learner needs to possess not only
grammatical and vocabulary competence, but also sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and
strategic competence.
Teaching grammar
Grammar is one of the main “building blocks” of a language. Teaching grammar in order to acquire
communicative competence, the teacher should use exercises focusing not only on memorization of
grammatical rules, but also focusing on exercises that involve authentic language use. Great activities that
can be implemented in the classroom in order to use and practice grammar include: Role plays, discussions
on a certain topic, problem solving tasks and many more
Teaching vocabulary
Vocabulary is the other main part of language learning. There are many ways to learn and teach vocabulary.
The most popular, that’s been used for ages, is the one where a teacher gives the students a sheet of paper
with a number of words and their translation and the students’ task is just to remember them. But when
we’re trying to teach them communicative competence, this can hardly be described as the best way to teach
vocabulary. This process should occur naturally. There are many great ways to teach vocabulary such as:
dialogues, reading texts and finding unknown words or words that have several meanings, exposure to
audio, TV shows, movies and music in the foreign language, different vocabulary games and activities,
word Association games, etc.
Teaching culture
Learning and teaching about the foreign culture is extremely important in TFL. Culture knowledge gives the
learner an insight of how the society in a country operates, what the social norms are, what values and
customs different people may have. By understanding these cultural nuances and differences, the learner will
be able to speak more freely and efficiently with people from the said country.
Teaching pronunciation
If a person wants to be understood when speaking a foreign language, he/she should be able to pronounce
the words as accurately as possible. There are many ways to teach pronunciation: repetiton of
words/sentences after listening to them, listening to audio books or movies and trying to imitate the sounds,
speaking with native speakers, doing pronunciation drills and many more.