Name : Hafifah

Bayanul Azhari

Group: IV

Learning and Teaching

Communicative Competence

• Defining Communicative Competence
• Language Functions

Defining Communicative Competence

Communicative Competence is a linguistic term which refers to a language learner’s second language ability. According to Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman, communication competence can be described as the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom. In Canale and swain’s a nd later in canale’s (1983) definition, four different components, or subcategories, made up construct of CC, the first two caegories reflected the use of linguistic system itself, the last two defined the functional aspects of communication.

1. Grammatical competence is that aspect of CC that encompasses “knoledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentnce-grammar semantict and phonology.

2. The second subcategory is discourse competence, the complement of grammatica competence in many ways.

3. Sociolinguistic competence is the knowledge of sociocultural rules of language and of discourse.

4. The fourth subcategory strategic competence, constract this is exceedingly complex.

Language Functions

Language functions refer to the purposes in which we use language to communicate. We use language for a variety of formal and informal purposes, and specific grammatical structures and vocabulary are often used with each language function

Holliday’s seven function of language:

1. The instrumental function serve to manipulate the environment, to cause certaint events to happen.
2. The regulatory function of language is the control events.
3. The representational function is the use of language to make statements, convey facts and knowledge, explain or report-that is, to “represent” reality as one sees it.
4. The intractional function of language serve to ensure social maintenance.
5. The personal function allows a speaker to express feeling, emotion, personality, “gut-level” reactions.
6. The heuristic function involve language used to acquire knowledge, to learn about the environtment.
7. The imaginative function serve to create imaginary system or ideas.