2.

Describe the elements of communicative competence and explain their

relevance in an intercultural situation on the basis of a literary piece or a
film.

1. Communicative competence (by me: CC) – Hymes (1972):

- the ability to use language appropriately in a target language
- communicative competence leads to greater awareness of the relationship between
linguistic and sociocultural components
- we develop this in our mother tongue, but have to learn when learning a foreign
language
- 4 types of knowledge needed:
-> possibility = knowing if the utterance makes sense
-> feasibility = knowing if the utterance can be understood
-> appropriateness = knowing if the utterance is socially, pragmatically and
stylistically suitable
-> attestedness = knowing what is customary (example: fish and chips not
chips and fish + “How are you” -> “I’m fine thanks.” – automatically positive)

2. Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983) – 4 components of CC

- Grammatical (or linguistic) competence:
-> basis of CC, we have to know them
-> the knowledge of language items, lexis and grammar (grammar rules,
vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, etc.)
-> only sentence level -> so discourse is added
- Discourse competence (added later):
-> the ability to organise language structures into different types of cohesive
and coherent texts
-> i.e., to form texts larger than a sentence (e.g., lectures, diary entries, letters,
notes, speeches, poetry, stories, academic essays, conversations, memos,) and
to understand these
- Sociolinguistic competence:
-> the appropriate use (and decoding) of the sociocultural rules of language and
discourse in the given social context. (the appropriate use of vocabulary,
register, politeness, and style)
- Strategic competence:
-> the ability to overcome difficulties in communication caused by lack of
proficiency, fatigue or other factors through the use of verbal or non-verbal
strategies, or to heighten the quality of communication thereby
-> i.e., paraphrasing, repetition, guessing, circumlocution, hesitation,
avoidance, body language, simplification, etc.
- all these come together to help communicate efficiently
3. van Ek (1986) communicative ability – adding 2 more categories:
- Linguistic competence:
-> the ability to produce and interpret meaningful utterances which are formed in
accordance with the rules of the language concerned and bear their conventional
meaning
-> that meaning which native speakers would normally attach to an utterance when
used in isolation
- Sociolinguistic competence:
-> the awareness of ways in which the choice of language forms... is determined by
such conditions as setting, relationship between communication partners,
communicative intention, etc., etc.
-> covers relation between linguistic signals and their contextual/situational meaning
- Discourse competence:
-> ability to use appropriate strategies in the construction and interpretation of texts
- Strategic competence:
-> when communication is difficult we have to find ways of 'getting our meaning
across' or of 'finding out what somebody means'
-> these are communication strategies, such as rephrasing, asking for clarification
- Socio-cultural competence:
-> every language is situated in a sociocultural context and implies the use of a
particular reference frame which is partly different from that of the foreign language
learner
-> apart from factual knowledge, we also need sensitivity to understand differences
-> sociocultural competence presupposes a certain degree of familiarity with that
context -> sensitivity to understand that the most unexpected things can be different
- Social competence:
-> involves both the will and the skill to interact with others, involving motivation,
attitude, self-confidence, empathy, curiosity and the ability to handle social situations
-> interpersonal skill: wanting to and being able to conduct conversation
-> e.g.: knowing when we have spoken too much/little

4. Kramsch (1993): native speaker as a norm is impossible and the wrong type of
competence to achieve (would lose their own identity)
- A FL user who can see and manage the relationships, cultural beliefs, behaviours
and meanings between their and the target culture
- always have to keep their voice BUT paying attention to not being offensive

5. Gudykunst (1994) – model of competent communicator

- focus on psychological factors
- motivation: satisfy different needs – serving the comfort of FL speaker
o sense of security/predictability/inclusion, avoiding anxiety, sharing
- knowledge: cultural and linguistic too
o how to gather info on similarities and differences
- skills: directly related to reducing uncertainty and anxiety
o be mindful, tolerate ambiguity, manage anxiety, empathise, adaptation
EXAMPLE – My Big Fat Greek Wedding:
- Linguistic competence: Ian trying to learn Greek expressions
o Nick (Toula’s brother) teaches him fake expressions
o later on Ian goes with their daughter to Greek school
- Strategic competence:
o party after Ian’s christening:
 repetition, paraphrase: Toula describing that Ian is a vegetarian and
aunt Voula doesn’t understand -> Toula repeats using different
words (doesn’t eat meat) and now she understands
- Socio-cultural competence: knowing what can be said and what cannot in a
certain social context -> engagement party (not factual knowledge)
o Voula is sharing too much information with the Miller’s
o in the Greek social context it is normal and expected, BUT in the US it is
just too much
o the Miller family experiences uneasiness during this encounter
- Social competence: Ian is the one who is definitely trying to get to know Toula’s
family, but Toula’s family is also curious towards him
o party after Ian’s christening:
 Ian -> trying to learn Greek expressions
o engagement party:
 Voula -> sharing personal information with Ian’s parents