Communicative Competence

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION ( FROM COOK, G. Applied Linguistics. Oxford: OUP, 2003. cap. 5, pag 40-48)

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Conceptualizing the idea of knowing a language well  depends on the perspective of the person being asked Traditional grammar-translation teaching  knowing the rules and being able to use them were the same thing.  speed of use;  understanding the point but not being able to respond;  stilted or old-fashioned style;  lack of knowledge of body/facial signals;  failing to understand the non-literal use of language. Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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Learning the formal systems of language is a useful step towards a later deployment of such rules. Chomsky: human capacity for languages is not a product of general intelligence or learning ability but an innate, genetically determined feature of the human species Universal Grammar (UG) Chomsky and AL LA is something more biological than social( reductive and constraining effect on the very core of AL) COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (Dell Hymes, late 1960s)  only linguistic Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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Possibility: what is formally possible in the language. “Me go sleep now” x “I’m going to sleep now” Feasibility: limitations to what can be processed by the mind accessibility of information.  The

cheese the rat the cat the dog the man beat saw chased ate was green.

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Appropriateness: conformity to social conventions.  Calling

a police officer “darling”/using slang or taboo words in a formal letter/answering a cell phone during a funeral/ not showing respect to an elderly Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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For  

AL this issue is of paramount importance since it deals directly with the way actual communication takes place .

Attestedness : “ whether…something is done.’ Chips and fish  possible/feasible/appropriate… however it doesn’t occur frequently ( CORPUS LINGUISTICS)

The influence of communicative competence   

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First-language education: mechanicity  communication Information design the need for accessibility ESL/EFL teaching: the Communicative Approach  Early CLT: separation of the parameters  Natural approaches use and exposure  Idea of appropriateness  abandoning stds’ cultures in order to acquire the new culture.  Ironic point  one of the strengths of CC is the possibility of non-conformity to rules The notion of appropriateness has led AL towards two new areas of enquiry: discourse analysis and crosscultural communication. Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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Communicative competence BROWN, H. D Principles in Language Learning and Teaching. 4 ed. New York: Longman. 2000. cap. 9. pag. 245-248.

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Canale and Swain (1980)  Grammatical competence: mastering the linguistic code of the language  Hymes’ linguistic competence  Discourse competence : the ability to connect sentences in stretches of discourse and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances.  Sociolinguistic competence : “an understanding of the social context in which language is used” (Sauvignon 1983: 37)  Strategic competence ; the ability to make repairs, to cope with imperfect knowledge and to sustain communication through paraphrase, circumlocution, repetition, hesitation, avoidance, and guessing, as well as shifts in register and style. Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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Prof. Rogério Azeredo

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