A look at communicative competence

Communicative competence has been one of the great key-words and buzz-words of language teaching for many years. It still is. In recent years, there has been a certain amount of controversy as to what the concept actually comprises, and whether all that, for example, pupils have to learn to do is talk. For this reason, we felt it was relevant to compile a number of Sprogforum that takes stock of how the concept can meaningfully be used at present.

Communication is not just a matter of language. When we speak, our speech is accompanied to a greater or lesser extent by so-called non-verbal communication: gestures, facial expressions, distance, body attitudes, sighs, etc. We furthermore transmit many signals about ourselves, via our clothing, hairstyle, etc. Visual texts - images, films, etc. - are highly important modes of communication nowadays - also in language teaching. So communicative competence is extremely comprehensive and complex.

Non-verbal communication is something we share with other living creatures, but language is a specifically human mode of communication, a complex system of units of meaning that are expressed with the aid of sounds produced by the speech organs - or secondarily with the aid of the written word. (Deaf people have their own languages, expressed through signs.) In this number of Sprogforum we focus on the verbal aspect of communicative competence, although we do not leave non-verbal communication completely out of account.

The verbal part of communicative competence comprises all the so-called four skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing. It is important to emphase this, since there is a very common misunderstanding that communicative competence only refers to the ability to speak. Communicative competence is both productive and receptive.

All of us have developed communicative competence in our native language, oral proficiency and later, possibly, written proficiency. The acquisition of communicative competence in a foreign or second language therefore takes place on the basis of the fact that we already have a native language. So we are dealing with the development of two systems that interact. The question of how this occurs has been investigated in research on bilingualism, and elsewhere.

When one speaks of communicative competence, one is thinking of the individual: we are dealing with a competence that an individual has or is in the process of developing. In actual fact, one could talk of communicative competence at higher levels: the communicative competence of the group, the institution, the company, the state. After all, much of communication in society takes place between such non-individual social players - and these players can be said to make use of a communicative competence that is not the same as the sum of the competences which the individuals involved possess. Much of present-day social research has to do with the communication such social players have with the outside world, e.g. within public relations, marketing and international politics.

Such a perspective could possibly strongly influence our long-term view of communicative competence in language teaching, e.g. whether it will be appropriate to talk about the communicative competence the class/team/project group develop both internally and externally.

Over the years, the concept communicative competence has become more and more full-blown, as linguistic research has glimpsed more and more aspects of communication by language. Today, communicative competence no longer describes just a particular proficiency or skill, even though the word competence invites such a narrow interpretation. Communicative competence also covers conditions that affect the communication and, for example, facilitate international communication.

Communicative competence is the central aim of foreign and second language teaching, but it is not the sole one. Depending on the nature of the course of teaching there will also be other goals - a broad socio-cultural competence, for example. It is important to stress that some aspects of socio-cultural competence are contained in communicative competence (cf. Karen Lund's article in this issue). But a great deal of socio-cultural competence is independent of communicative competence - first and foremost general knowledge of the world and of human nature. One could take as examples such things as: The wind often comes from the west in Denmark; many Danish men often help in the home; there is a greater class consciousness in Great Britain than in Denmark; in certain societies pets are treated as members of the family; it is a good idea to have worked on one's prejudices and tolerance threshold.

This number of Sprogforum focuses on communicative competence in foreign and second languages, providing a number of suggestions as to how one can give pupils optimum frameworks for acquiring as good a communicative competence as possible.

We start with an article by Karen Lund, which gives an overview of the various components of the concept of communicative competence in relation to foreign and second language acquisition. Then comes an article by Michael Svendsen Pedersen, who discusses how one can integrate the various aspects of such competence in specific activities which, in English, go by the word 'Task'.

The next article deals with receptive competence: Rineke Brouwer describes a method of developing reading proficiency using free reading and reading reports. The subsequent articles deal with written competence: Ulla Pia Ohrt mentions a number of tasks that can encourage pupils to write in class; and Uwe Geist writes about how one can use imitations in a fruitful way in teaching and in written communication.

Karen Risager describes how one can use an ethnographically inspired model to develop all aspects of communicative competence, including the non-verbal. And Karen-Margrete Frederiksen writes about a number of experiences with conversations between students as part of an oral exam. Finally, Johannes Wagner reviews two sets of textbooks which, in different ways, are the answer to many of the language teacher's present needs concerning communicatively oriented materials.

We very much want to include further contributions on this subject in future issues, so that the debate can continue!

The editors
Translated by John Irons