In this essay, I
will first define what Communicative Competence is and what it includes.
Secondly, making reference to the European Common Framework of Reference for
Languages, I will synthesize why gaining Communicative Competence in a foreign
language is so important and why it should be the main goal in an English
Classroom. To finish with, I will summarize the best ways of teaching
Communicative Competence.
Task-based language teaching will be the model I will
use as an example of how Communicative competence should be taught and the role
instruction should pay in the Classroom.
Communicative
Competence refers to the ability of understanding, producing, and interpreting
the different Communicative events taking into account not only their explicit
sense (what it seems to be more immediate for us), but also its implications;
that is to say, what the speaker wants to say, what the listener wants to
understand, their relationship, the social context, etc. Therefore,
Communicative Competence has to do with the social, cultural, and psychological
rules that determine the use of a particular language in a particular
situation.
This term was
introduced by Hymes in language teaching in 1972, to complete Chomsky’s
Linguistic Competence term which couldn’t explain all the factors which are
important for a communicative purpose or in a communicative situation.
According to him, Linguistic Competence only deals with the knowledge of
language rules and forms, and Communicative Competence includes as well the
knowledge that allows someone to communicate correctly and appropriately.
Therefore, Communicative Competence is the only means we use to transform
language into Communication instead of Linguistic Competence.
According to the
European Common Framework of Reference for Languages Communicative Competence
is divided in:
It refers to the
ability of producing utterances in an efficient way in all its grammatical
levels. It is formed by these competences: lexical, grammatical, semantic,
phonologic and orthographic competence.
Sociolinguistic
Competence:
It is the
ability of understanding and producing different utterances in different
contexts of use where different factors play an important role, such as the
relationship between participants, their situation, etc. Aspects to take into
account here are social relationships markers, politeness norms, popular wisdom
expressions, register differences, dialect and accent differences, etc.
It makes
reference to the ability of acting efficiently in a language taking into
account grammatical forms and meaning to complete a text (spoken or written) in
different communicative events. It includes student’s mastery of texts,
discursive genres, and community speech interpretation. To master this, there
are needed rhetorical, cohesive or cohesion devices for conversational
organization.
It has to do with the individual’s effective use of language by means of his
capacity for using verbal and non-verbal resources to fix errors that can be
produced when communicating due to different events that may limit the
communicative process.
Communicative
competence is the first of the eight basic competences that a learner has to
have acquired by the end of ESO, but not only this, it is in the same way
important to have acquired as well a B1 level of Communicative Competence in a
Foreign Language to be admitted in University as the European Common Framework
of Reference for Languages dictates.
Communicative Competence In Teaching
Teachers in ESO
should develop in students communicative abilities and strategies in order to
reach a B1 level in Communicative Competence by the end of this period, this
competence should be acquired in all areas: speaking, reading, listening, and
writing. Therefore, this has to be the main goal in the English Classroom. In
order to analyze how Communicative Competence is implemented in school, I’ve
chosen the task-based method, which is a continuation of Communicative Language
Teaching according to Rod Ellis.
Task-based
language teaching is a teaching method based on tasks whose main purpose is to
make learners use the foreign language. Tasks are based on authentic events
where authentic language is used: visiting a doctor, shopping, calling room
service for food, etc. Assessment of errors is not considered as important as
in other approaches because accuracy will be gained while practicing the L2 in
an incidental way. Besides, Rod Ellis defends that what students really acquire
is the implicit knowledge, and this is best facilitated looking at the language
as a whole rather than breaking it into pieces in an attempt to teach item by
item.
Tasks differ
from activities in that they focus on meaning rather than on form, in this
sense, learners will be creating their own language instead of reproducing the
language given to them. They also have an informational or reasoning gap which
will make the conversation interesting and therefore it will make them eager to
continue it even outside class. Learners also use their resources instead of
reproducing the language given to them. The goal of tasks is not to make
learners use a correct language, but to engage them in communication.
What Role Plays Instruction In a Task-based Learning Context?
Instruction
plays a different role in Task-Based Teaching:
Instruction is
seen in an interpretative rather than in a transmission perspective, so its
main goal must be to facilitate student’s processes of learning, which in this
case is the acquisition of implicit knowledge.
The goal of
language instruction is the development of implicit knowledge. If teachers make
their students to focus mainly on language form they won’t never be able to
communicate effectively. The only place where learning occurs is inside
learner’s minds, so teachers cannot just direct that learning. Therefore
attention to form will be paid only when communicating, and not all the time,
because excessive corrections may stop the conversation’s rhythm. That doesn’t
mean that Task-Based theorists don’t care about grammar, they defend explicit
teaching of rules as well, but only when necessary because the main goal is
communication.
Instruction has
to focus on meaning rather than on form. Rod Ellis thinks that “grammar is not
needed for basic communication. Basic survival in language relies on vocabulary
and formulaic sequences, not on grammar”. Students will need grammar as they
get involved in increasingly complex tasks, that is to say, the need to use a
determinate grammatical form will be created in their minds as complexity
increases in tasks.
Instruction
needs to be motivating, i.e. based on things that learners may find
interesting, because it’s very important to call their attention in order to
get them involved in the task.
To conclude, I
will sum up some characteristics a classroom should have to teach Communicative
Competence:
Inductive method
Preventing
method rather than corrective
Teach sequences
of language, not language in isolation.
Teach through
senses.
Promote
autonomy.
Give your lesson
an authentic and lucid character to make it interesting.
Set learning
goals taking into account the developmental cognitive level of the learner.
I have taken this article on Communicative Competence from
