Language and communicative competence concept

Language is a medium of communication within the family and society. Every tongue expresses the culture of a society. It is the communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. Noam Chomsky said: “A very important aspect of language has to do with the establishment of social relations and interactions. Often, this is described as communication”.

It is very important for one to learn how to communicate with their surroundings as it is impossible to live without communication. If a person is mute or deaf, they must learn how to speak by using sign language. One characteristic of language as the mother tongue is finding names for objects and people within the child´s, so it is possible for a child to graso, repeat and understand the world.

"Communicative competence is an ability to choose right verbal and non-verbal medium as well as to take into consideration the specific speaking situation” Hymes, 1994. Features:

• Communication is the exchange and negotiation of information between at least two individuals.
•  We can differentiate verbal and non-verbal, written and oral, formal and informal, and intentional and unintentional communication
•  It is a form of social interaction, and it is normally acquired and used in such an interaction.
•  It always has a purpose.
•  It involves verbal and non-verbal language, such as gestures and body language.
• The role of context is essential when analyzing the meaning conveyed by any communicative act.
•  It usually involves a high degree of unpredictability and creativity.

Diferent authors speak about the meaning of communicative competences, for instance:

• 1966 Hymes criticized the simplicity of Chomsky’s theories: He introduced the concept of communicative competence, paying special attention to the sociolinguistic component, which connected language and culture.
•  1980 Canale and Swain. Communicative sub-competences: Grammatical competence, Strategic competence and Sociolinguistic competence
•  1983 Canale: the main goal to attain with strategic competence is not only to compensate for breakdowns in communication, but also to enhance the effectiveness of communication.
•  1990 Bachman in a more recent research of communicative competence, divides it into "organizational competence," which includes both grammatical and discourse (or textual) competence, and "pragmatic competence," which includes both sociolinguistic and "illocutionary" competence.
•  Council of Europe, communicative competence can be broken down into three sub-competences: linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and pragmatic or discourse competence. Strategic competence can also be added.