Unit 4: La Competencia Comunicativa. Análisis de sus Componentes

Question 1

According to the CEF, competences are…

Answer 1

The sum of knowledge, skills and procedures that allow a person to perform actions.

Question 2

By general competences, the CEF refers to…

Answer 2

Those which are not specific to language but are called upon for actions of all kinds.

Question 3

Communicative language Competence refer to

Answer 3

Those which enable a person to act using linguistic means. They include linguistic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences.

Question 4

Historical Evolution of the term: authors to mention

Answer 4

Chomsky (1965)
Campbell & Wales (1970)
Hymes (1971)
Halliday (1973)
Widdowson (1978)
Canale & Swain (1980)
Canale (1983)
Sauvignon (1983)
Bachman (1990)
Kramsch (2002)

Question 5

Chomsky 1965

Answer 5

Distinguished between competence and performance.
By competence he referred to the perfect -and innate- knowledge of a language in an ideal community of speakers. He separated this linguistic competence from sociocultural features and defined performance as the ability to use this linguistic competence in specific situations; that is, in any sociocultural context.

Question 6

Campbell & Wales 1970

Answer 6

They argued that Chomsky, and many of the psychologists who had influenced him, had failed to give enough attention to what they called communicative competence.

Question 7

Hymes 1971

Answer 7

First coined the term CC, as he considered Chomsky’s concept of grammatical competence incomplete. He instead stated that to be able to communicate, speakers need the ability to use the grammatical knowledge in different situations, thus introducing the concept of sociolinguistic competence.

Question 8

Halliday 1973

Answer 8

Introduced the notion of linguistic functions. He stated that the factual function of language is to provide links between itself and the situation in which it takes place. Then the ability to use language in a variety of socially determined situations is as important as grammatical knowledge.

Question 9

Widdowson 1978

Answer 9

He distinguished between usage and use.

Usage is the knowledge of the linguistic system, whereas use is the ability to use this knowledge in communication.

Question 10

Canale & Swain 1980

Answer 10

They defined CC as the underlying system of knowledge and skills required for communication. Actual communication is the realisation of this competence under limiting psychological and environmental factors.

Question 11

Canale 1983

Answer 11

Proposed four components for CC
Grammatical
Discourse
Sociolinguistic
Strategic

Question 12

Grammatical competence (Canale)

Answer 12

Mastery of the language in the Chomskinian sense

Question 13

Discourse competence (Canale)

Answer 13

Ability to combine form and meaning so as to produce coherent speech or writing.

Question 14

Sociolinguistic competence (Canale)

Answer 14

The extent to which utterances are understood in different social contexts

Question 15

Strategic competence (Canale)

Answer 15

Mastery of communication strategies to make up communication breakdowns or improve effectiveness

Question 16

Other authors

Answer 16

Sauvignon (1983) Interaction
Bachman (1990) reformulated Canale & Swain’s approach
Kramsch (2002) Intercultural competence

Question 17

Components of Communicative Competence

Answer 17

Linguistic
Sociolinguistic
Pragmatic

Question 18

Linguistic Competence

Answer 18

It includes lexical, phonological and grammatical knowledge and skills regardless of its sociolinguistic value and the pragmatic functions of their realisations..

Question 19

Lexical Competence (linguistic competence)

Answer 19

It is the knowledge of the ability to use vocabulary of a language, including elements such as fixed expressions or closed word classes.

Question 20

Grammatical Competence (linguistic competence)

Answer 20

It is the mastery and the necessary skills to use grammatical resources of language such as: elements, categories, structures, classes, processes and relations.

Question 21

Phonological Competence (linguistic competence)

Answer 21

It involves a skill in the perception and production of sound units and their realisations in a given context, the phonetic features that distinguish phonemes and prosody

Question 22

Orthographic Competence (linguistic competence)

Answer 22

It involves the knowledge of and skills in the perception and production of the symbols of which written texts are composed.

Question 23

Othoepic Competence (linguistic competence)

Answer 23

It is required when reading out aloud, it is the ability of producing correct pronunciation from the written form.

Question 24

Sociolinguistic Competence

Answer 24

Addresses the extent to which utterances are produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts, depending on contextual factors.

Question 25

Appropriateness of utteances (sociolinguistic competence)

Answer 25

It refers to both: appropriateness of meaning and of form.

Question 26

Appropriateness of Meaning (sociolinguistic competence)

Answer 26

Is the extent to which particular communicative situations, attitudes and ideas are judged to be proper in a particular situation.

Question 27

Appropriateness of Form (sociolinguistic competence)

Answer 27

Is the extent to which given meaning is represented in a verbal and non-verbal form that is proper in a given sociolinguistic context.

Question 28

Pragmatic Competence

Answer 28

Includes the traditional discourse competence (how messages are arranged) and the functional competence (how language is used to fulfil communicative functions).

Question 29

Discourse Competence (pragmatic competence)

Answer 29

It is the ability to organise sentences in terms of topic, focus, time sequence, cause/effect, as well as the ability to structure and manage discourse in terms of thematic organisation.

Question 30

Cooperative Principles by Professor Grice

Answer 30

Quality
Quantity
Relevance
Manner

Question 31

Functional Competence (pragmatic competence)

Answer 31

Concerned with the use of spoken discourse and written texts for particular functions.

Question 32

Micro functions (pragmatic competence)

Answer 32

functional use of utterances, usually as turns in interaction.

Question 33

Macro functions (pragmatic competence)

Answer 33

Functional use of spoken discourse or written texts consisting of a sequence of utterances or sentences.