group 7

Mei 12^nd 2015

Group 7 : Anis Rovita 2130730001

               Samrotul Ma’sumi 2130730022

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Communicative competence is a construct that has been a topic of interest for at least four decades, recent trends have put less emphasis on structural and cognitive characteristics of communication and more on the myriad social, cultural, and pragmatic implications of what it means to communicate in a second language. This new wave of interest brings social constructive perspectives into central focus and draws our attention to language as interactive communication among individuals, each with sociocultural identity.

Defining Communicative Competence

In Canale and Swain’s and later in Canale’s (1983) definition, there four different components, or subcategories, made up the construct of CC. the first two subcategories reflected the use of the linguistic system itself; the last two defined the functional aspects of communication, such as:

1. Grammatical competence.
2. Discourse competence.
3. Sociolinguistic competence.
4. Strategic competence.

Language Functions

In Bachman's model of CC, illocutionary competence consists of the ability to manipulate the functions of language, a component that Canale and Swain subsume under discourse and sociolinguistic competence. Functions are essentially the purposes that we accomplish with language. Functions are sometimes directly related to forms. Communication may be regarded as a combination of acts, a series of elements with purpose and intent. Communication is not merely an event, something that happens; it is functional, purposive, and designed to bring about some effect-some change, however subtle or unobservable-on the environment of hearers and speakers. Second language learners need to understand the purpose of communication, developing an awareness of what the purpose of a communicative act is and how to achieve that purpose through linguistic forms.