Comunicative competence

How to develop the communicative competence with students.

1. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE TEACHER: DOLORES ORTEGA STUDENTS: AURA VILLA

2. Definition : -It is the aspect of our competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages an to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specifi contexts. ( Dell Hymes 1967) -Communicative competence is relative, not absolute and depends on the cooperation of all the participants involved. ( Savignon, 1983:9) In general, It is the learner’s ability to understand and use language appropriately to communicate successfully.

3. Components of communicative competence According to Michael Canale and Merril Swain (1983) there are four components or subcategories that make up the construction of CC: 1. Reflecting the use of the Longuistic system Grammatical Competence: lexical items, syntax,sentence-grammar Discourse Compentence: connect sentences in to discourse. 2. Functional aspects of communication Sociolinguistic competence: sociocultural rules of language. Strategic Compentence: verbal and nonverbal communation strategies.

4. HOW TO DEVELOP COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE WITH THE STUDENTS: 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 the purpose throught linguistic forms . They ways or steps to develop communicative competence are :

5. 1. LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS: Language functions refer to the purposes in which we use language to communicate. Examples : Persuasion Asking questions Summarizing Predicting . All these exercises help students to acquiere knowledge , and to really understand how to speak or converse. Lets remember that the practice plays a very important role in acquiring Second language learnig . Speaking, listening, specially to native speakers.

6. According to Michael Halliday ( 1973) Function is the purposive nature of communication , and outlines seven different functions of language : 1 . The Instrumental F unction : manipulate the environment , to cause certain events to happen 2. The Regulatory Function : is the control of events . 3. The Representational Function : is the use of language to make statements , conveys facts and knowledge , esplain or report-that is , to “ represent ” reality as one sees it . 4. The Interactional Function : serves to ensure social maintenance . “ Phatic communication ” 5. The personal Function : allows a speaker to express feelings , emotions , personality , “ gut-level reactions ” 6. The Heurisitic Function : Language used to acquire knowledge , to learn about the environment . 7. The imaginative Function : serves to create imaginary system or ideas. Ex: telling fairy tails , joking , or writing a novel.

7. 2. FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUSES A syllabus in which the content of the language teaching is a collection of the functions that are performed when language is used ( Krahnke , 1987:16). Functional syllabus is organized around communicative functions, such as identifying, reporting, correcting, describing, and so forth (Brown, 1995:10 ). Positive Characteristics: They reflect a more comprehensive view of language than grammar syllabuses They can link to other types of syllabus contents (topic, grammar) They provide a convenient framework for the design of teaching materials

8. 3. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: It is the analysis of the realtionship between forms and functions of language , which encompasses the notion that language is more than a sentence-level phenomenon . With the increasing communicative emphasis on the discourse level of language in classroom , teachers can see that approaches that emphasized only the formal aspects of learner language overlooked important discourse functions . Conversation Analysis : Conversations are excellent examples of the interactive and interpersonal nature of communication . To stablish conversation we have learned the following rules: attention getting , topic nomination , topic development , turn-taking , clarification , shifting , avoidance , and interruption , and finally Topic termination .

9. 4. PRAGMATICS It is the s tudy of the use of linguistic signs, words and sentences, in actual situations. It looks beyond the literal meaning of an utterance and considers how meaning is constructed as well as focusing on implied meanings. It considers language as an instrument of interaction, what people mean when they use language and how we communicate and understand each other. Pragmatic contraints on language comprenhension and production may be loosely thought of as the effet of context on strings of linguistic events .

10. Language and gender One of the major pragmatic factors affecting the acquision of communicative competence in virtually every language is the effect of one´s sex on both productive and reception language . Among American English speakers , girls have been found to produce more “standard” language than boys , and tan continues on through adulthood .

11. 5. STYLES AND REGISTERS A style is not a social or regional dialect , but a variety of language used for a specific purpose . Styles vary considerably within a single language user`s idiolect . Ex: when we converse informally with a friend , we use a different style tan we use in an interview for a job . Adult second language learners must acquire stylistic adaptability in order to be able to encode and decode the discourse around them correctly .

12. Martin Joos (1967) provided the most common classifications of speech styles using formality , who describes five levels of formality : 1. An Oratorical style : it is used in public speaking before a large audience , wording is carefully planned in advanced and intonation is exaggerated . 2. A deliberative style : used in large audiences to permit effective interchange between speaker and hearers . Ex: a University Class lectura is often carried out in a deliberative style . 3. A consultative style : typically a dialogue, words are chosen with some care . 4. Casual conversations between Friends, in this context words need to be guarded and social barriers are moderatly low . 5. An intimate style : complete absence of social inhibitions . Ex: talk with loved ones and very close Friends.

13. 6. NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION Nonverbal communication is so subtle and subconscious in a native speaker that verbal language seems , by compariso quite mechanical and systematic . The expressions of culture is so bound up in nonverbal communication that the barriers to culture learning are more nonberval than verbal. Verbal language requires the use of only one of the five sensory modalities : hearing

14. Communicative repertoire senses 1. Kinesics : it is the body language used by every culture in unique and clearly interpetable ways . In kinesic communication there is tremendous variation cross-culturally and cross-linguistically in the specific interpretations of gestures . 2. Eye contact : the gestures of the eyes are in some instances keys to communication . Eyes can signal interest , boredom , empathy , hostility , attraction , understanding , etc. 3. Proxemics : or physical proximity . Cultures vary widly in acceptable distances for conversation . 4. Artifacts : clothes often signal a person`s sense of self-steem , socioeconomic class and general carácter. Such artifacts can be a significant factor in lifting barriers , and setting a general mood . 5. Kinesthetics : or known as “ touching ”. How we touch others and where we touch them is sometimes the most misunderstood aspect of nonverbal communication . In some cultures touching signals a very personal register , while in others extensive touching is commonplace .

15. CONCLUSION: Communicative competences is very important in Second language acquisitons , however most of students learn it in different ways , and it is a job of the teacher to help them . There are many ways a teacher can help students to develop communicative competence , specially by supporting them emotionally and motivating them to succeed .