Communicative competence
(Del Hymes, 1970’s), (Michael Canale and Merrill Swain, 1980)
Grammatical
Competence
Discourse
Competence
includes lexical
items, morphology,
syntax and
phonology
allows a language
user to connect
utterances and
sentences into a
meaningful whole
Sociolinguistic
Competence
requires an
understanding of
the social context in
order to choose and
use language
appropriate to the
situation
Strategic
competence
allows people to
enhance
communication or
compensate for
imperfect
communication
techniques
Communicative competence
So what does this mean in the languages classroom?
Richards (2001) classifies Communicative Language Teaching as an approach rather than a
method. He posits the following set of principles that reflect a communicative view of
language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of
classroom procedures.

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

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Learners learn a language through using it to communicate.
Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.
Fluency is an important dimension of communication.
Communication involves the integration of different language skills.
Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error.
Larsen-Freeman (1986) focuses on the need for communicative language classrooms to be
student-centred, where the teacher is a facilitator of students’ learning, a manager of
classroom activities, with responsibility for establishing situations likely to promote
communication.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Richards, J.C. (2002). Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice. Cambridge University Press.
Jo Guthrie
U C Education Plus
2009