Discourse

Theory/Communicative
Competence

Discussed by:
Edilberta N. Cuizon, Marguerite Alofa P. O’Brien & Glynnie P.
Pangatungan
 Introduction
• Discourse theory generally derives from the
“linguistic turn” in the humanities and social
sciences that traces back to the work of
influential figures such as Ferdinand de
Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Michel
Foucault (Rorty, 1992 )
 “Linguistic Turn”
The linguistic turn was a major
development in Western philosophy
during the early 20th century, the most
important characteristic of which is the
focusing of philosophy and the other
humanities primarily on the relations
between language, language users, and
the world.
 Proponents
of the
Discourse Theory
 M.A.K He highlights three aspects
Halliday within a child’s language
development. They are:
learning language, learning
through language and learning
about language.(He focused
on language development of
children)
 Dell Hymes proposed the term
‘ethnography of speaking’, later
Hymes amended to ‘ethnography of
communication’ .

Ethnography of communication:
 is the analysis of
communication within the
wider context of the social and
cultural practices and beliefs of
the members of a particular
culture or speech community.
Hymes argues:
…that the study of language must concern
itself with describing and analyzing the
ability of the native speakers to use
language for communication in real
situations (communicative competence)
rather than limiting itself to describing the
potential ability of the ideal speaker/listener
to produce grammatically correct sentences
(linguistic competence)
To help ethnographers
of communications (S) Setting
(P) participant
frame their
(E) ends
investigation of speech (A) act
(K) key
acts and events, Hymes
(I) instrumentalities
offers the mnemonic (N) norm
(G) genre
device of the
SPEAKING.
 Part 2
Discussion
 What is Discourse?
• Any written or spoken communication.

• Refers to a unit of language longer than a single

sentence.

• The word discourse is derived from the Latin

prefix dis- meaning "away" and the root
word currere meaning "to run".
 Discourse, therefore, translates to "run away"
and refers to the way that conversations
flow. To study discourse is to analyze the use
of spoken or written language in a social
context.
Discourse can be
found in…
Levels of Language
Phonology
Morphology
Semantics
Syntax
Discourse
 Communication
Competence
Dell Hymes coined the term communicative competence
(1972), in contrast to Noam Chomsky's linguistic
competence (1965).
▫ Communicative competence is the ability to
communicate in everyday situations.
 Hymes' view of
communicative competence
are the following:
1. A child acquires language not only as a grammatical but also
as an appropriate system, i.e. when and where to speak,
what to speak and with whom to talk to.

2. He emphasizes the rules of use because without these

rules the grammatical rules will be useless.
3. Grammatically, the same sentence may function differently as
a request, an order and a commitment as: 'Close the
window', may be an order if a teacher says this to his
student; may be a request if a student says it to his
friend. So, this particular sentence performs differently
according to varying social contexts. On the other hand,
grammatically two different sentences may function in same
way as: 'Please give me your pen' and 'May I take your
pen?'. Both are requests, yet they are grammatically
different.
4. Within the developmental sequences in which
knowledge of the sentence of a language is
acquired, a child also acquires knowledge of a set
of rules in which utterances are used.

5. Competence includes the knowledge of

structures and the ability to use them in a
given social context.
 Different Views on
Communicative Competence
 LANGUE VS. PAROLE
(Ferdinand de Saussure)
Langue is the system of
language: all the possible rules
that make up the language in
theory. Parole on the other
hand, is how these rules are
put into action by the speakers
of that language.
COMPETENCE VS. PERFORMANCE
(Noam Chomsky)
Competence is the native
speaker's knowledge of
his/her language and the
ability to produce and
understand large stretches of
sentences. Performance is the
actual use of these utterances
in routine life.
Note:
Chomsky's linguistic competence and
performance is the same as Ferdinand de
Saussure's langue and parole dichotomy. But
it differs in the sense that langue is the same
with every individual while competence
differs from person to person.
 USE VS. USAGE
(Henry Widdowson)

Usage is the perfection of

linguistic system whereas
use is the realization of the
language system as
meaningful spoken
behaviour.
 Communicative
Competence
Michael Canale and Merrill Swain (1980)

Grammatical Discourse
Competence Competence

Sociolinguistic Strategic
Competence Competence
 What is the
Discourse Theory?
 Discourse theory refers to the process
in which language can learn by
communicating with the target
language speaker.
Main Principles
of the
Discourse Theory
I. Second Language Acquisition
(SLA) follows a natural route in
syntactical development

SLA is largely influenced by the following:

a. learner’s age
b. Context of learning
c. Learner’s language 1 background
 II. Native speakers adjust their
speech in order to negotiate
meaning with non-native speakers
In this principle, the native speaker enables the non-
native speaker to communicate while the latter using
various strategies in the negotiation of meaning.
Together, they strive to overcome the communicative
difficulties which are always likely to arise as a result of
the learner’s limited second language resources.
 III. Conversational strategies used to
negotiate meaning, and the resulting
adjusted input influence SLA in a number
of ways
1. The first structures that the L2 learner acquires are
those that he/she is exposed to most frequently.
2. The learner acquires commonly occurring formulas
and then later analyzes these into their component
parts.
3. The learner is helped to construct sentences vertically.
Learner utterances are constructed by borrowing
chunks of speech from the preceding discourse.
 IV. The natural order of second
language acquisition is the result of
the learner’s learning to make
discourse interactions (how to hold
conversation).

• This is the strongest claim for the role of interaction

in SLA. It emphasizes the role of the linguistic
environment, which is shaped jointly by the L2
learner and the native speaker in discourse, and
plays down the role of internal processing factors.
Discourse Theory & Second
Language Acquisition
Discourse theory has a very important role in second
language teaching. There are so many methods and
techniques that we use for teaching and learning the
target language in language classroom. Discourse
theory supposed to one of the very effective method for
learning the target language. teacher should create an
interactive environment in language classroom. They
try to make them involve in discussion in target
language.
 Research Example:
Title: Bridging Discourses in the
ESL Classroom. Students, Teachers
and Researchers
Author: Pauline Gibbons (2006)
⬩ The focus of the study: This book is centrally
concerned with the nature of talk in multilingual
classrooms where students are learning in and
through English as a second language, and on
the ways in which such talk can support both the
curriculum learning and language development
of students.
⬩ Research site: ESL classroom
 Findings:
⬩ Typically ESL learners in school rapidly become
fluent in day-to-day, face-to-face contexts of
interpersonal communication.
⬩ One pedagogical response to a situation where large
groups of learners are learning in what is often their
less well developed language is for a teacher to
continuously simplify or modify the language.
⬩ Entering the discourse on one’s own terms and
engaging in sustained talk encourages
participation.
⬩ Having extended conversation with the teacher,
being given time to reconsider the form of the
message and having one’s participation rights
respected produce affordances for language
development.
 Conclusion
⬩ There is a need for teachers to have as
part of their own cognitive resources an
explicit model on language-in-context.
(Ability to connect situational context and
appropriate language for that context)
⬩ Second language learners should have a
curriculum where talk is not restricted to
the primary instructional field but also
includes a focus on how language is used
and how collaborative learning is to be
enacted in the classroom.
 Part 3:
Criticism/ Weakness of
the Discourse Theory
The main criticism/weakness of the Discourse
Theory is the methodological weakness. There is
no certain method that we imply to the learners
directly. Language cannot be learnt while learners
have no interest to make interaction. It depends
on the mood of the learners.
 The following support
criticisms/weaknesses
of the Discourse Theory

⬩ Principle of learning : Learning is

activated by the learner himself
⬩ Law of Readiness
 Part 4:

Pedagogical Implication
of the
Discourse Theory
Discourse theory is very useful for child
learners.
According to Betty Birner from the Liguistic Society of
America:
Children acquire language quickly, easily, and
without effort or formal teaching. It happens
automatically, whether their parents try to teach
them or not. Children acquire language through
interaction
The discourse theory has great implications
in an educational context. It emphasizes
that in order to learn, it is important to have
an interaction between the teacher, student
and peers.
Thanks for listening!