LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

( FROM COOK, G. Applied Linguistics. Oxford: OUP, 2003. cap. 5, pag 40-48)

 Conceptualizing the idea of knowing a language well 

depends on the perspective of the person being asked
 Traditional grammar-translation teaching  knowing the
rules and being able to use them were the same thing.
 speed of use;
 understanding the point but not being able to respond;
 stilted or old-fashioned style;
 lack of knowledge of body/facial signals;
 failing to understand the non-literal use of language.

Prof. Rogério Azeredo 1

 Learning the formal systems of language is a useful
step towards a later deployment of such rules.
 Chomsky: human capacity for languages is not a
product of general intelligence or learning ability but an
innate, genetically determined feature of the human
species Universal Grammar (UG)
 Chomsky and AL LA is something more biological
than social( reductive and constraining effect on the
very core of AL)
 COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (Dell Hymes, late
1960s)  only linguistic competence doesn’t lead to
communication.
 Successful communication depends on: possibility,
feasibility, appropriateness and attestedness.

Prof. Rogério Azeredo 2

 Possibility: what is formally possible in the
language.
“Me go sleep now” x “I’m going to sleep now”
 Feasibility: limitations to what can be
processed by the mind accessibility of
information.
 The cheese the rat the cat the dog the man beat
saw chased ate was green.
 Appropriateness: conformity to social
conventions.
 Calling a police officer “darling”/using slang or taboo
words in a formal letter/answering a cell phone during a
funeral/ not showing respect to an elderly

Prof. Rogério Azeredo 3

For AL this issue is of paramount importance since it deals directly
 with the way
 actual communication takes place .

Attestedness : “ whether…something
is done.’
Chips and fish
possible/feasible/appropriate
…
however it doesn’t occur
frequently ( CORPUS
LINGUISTICS)
 The influence of communicative
competence

 First-language education: mechanicity  communication

 Information design the need for accessibility
 ESL/EFL teaching: the Communicative Approach
 Early CLT: separation of the parameters
 Natural approaches use and exposure
 Idea of appropriateness  abandoning stds’ cultures in order
to acquire the new culture.
 Ironic point  one of the strengths of CC is the
possibility of non-conformity to rules
 The notion of appropriateness has led AL towards two new areas
of enquiry: discourse analysis and cross-cultural communication.

Prof. Rogério Azeredo 5

Communicative competence
BROWN, H. D Principles in Language Learning and Teaching. 4 ed. New York: Longman. 2000.
cap. 9. pag. 245-248.

 Canale and Swain (1980)

 Grammatical competence: mastering the linguistic
code of the language  Hymes’ linguistic competence
 Discourse competence : the ability to connect
sentences in stretches of discourse and to form a
meaningful whole out of a series of utterances.
 Sociolinguistic competence : “an understanding of the
social context in which language is used” (Sauvignon
1983: 37)
 Strategic competence ; the ability to make repairs, to
cope with imperfect knowledge and to sustain
communication through paraphrase, circumlocution,
repetition, hesitation, avoidance, and guessing, as well
as shifts in register and style.
Prof. Rogério Azeredo 6
Prof. Rogério Azeredo 7