AELIC Spring 2012

DLIELC

Dr. Michael W. Campbell

Communicative Competence

KWLHistoryCompetenciesReferences

Agenda

What I Know

What I Want

To Know

What I have Learned

              

 

                 

What do we know when we know a

language?

LinguisticSociolinguisticDiscourseStrategic

Communicative competence

History

Communicative Competence

Competence-linguistic knowledge of the ideal native speaker

Performance-language in use

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

ChomskyCompetence vs performance

Phrase structure tree

PHONOLOGY: The mental organization of physical sounds and the patterns formed by the way sounds are combined in a language, and the restrictions on permissible sound combinations.

E.g.: slip vs *slib and *sbill

Linguistic competence

SYNTAX: The structure and formation of sentences. One can distinguish between grammatical sentences and ungrammatical sentences.

E.g.: My hair needs washing is acceptable but not *My hair needs wash

MORPHOLOGY: The identification, analysis and description of units of meaning in a language. One will know the inflectional and derivational morphology present in the language, such as the affixes of words.

E.g.: re-started can be derived but not *re-rich

SEMANTICS: Understanding the meaning of sentences. This is also how a user of the language is able to understand and interpret the non-literal meaning in a given utterance. They are three distinctions drawn here:

(i) Meaningful and non-meaningful sentences E.g.: The accident was seen by thousands is meaningful but not *The accident was looked by thousands

(ii) Same structure but different meanings E.g.: The cow was found by the stream but not *The cow was found by the farmer

(iii) Different structures and still be able to relate the meanings E.g.: The police examined the bullet. The bullet was examined by the police.

Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-communication, who knows its (the speech community's) language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of this language in actual performance. (Chomsky, 1965, p. 3)

Problems

Sociolinguistic context

What about

argued that a speaker can be able to produce grammatical sentences that are completely inappropriate

also points out that Chomsky's notion of performance seems confused between actual performance and underlying rules of performance

Dell Hymes

Canale and Swain (1980)1. grammatical competence-concerned with

mastery of the language code itself: knowledge of the lexical items and rules of morphology, syntax, sentence grammar semantics, and phonology

2. discourse competence-concerns mastery of how to combine grammatical forms and meanings to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres- Intersentential meanings

Canale & Swain (1980)

3. sociolinguistic competence-addresses the extent to which utterances are produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts depending on contextual factors

4. strategic competenceis composed of mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action for two main reasons: (a) to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting conditions in actual communication or to insufficient competence in one or more of the other areas of communicative competence; and (b) to enhance the effectiveness of communication

how well a person speaks and is understood in various social contexts. This depends on factors such as status of those speaking to each other, the purpose of the interaction, and the expectations of the interaction. The main question is: how socially acceptable is the person’s use of English in different settings?

Sociolinguistic competence

Sociolinguistic activity

The Three Most Common Patterns: 1. NOUN PHRASE is/looks (really) ADJECTIVE.

"Your new kitchen looks great!"

"That dress is beautiful I" 2. I (really) like/love NOUN PHRASE.

" I love your tie!"

" I really like that presentation you made during the meeting."

3. PRONOUN is (really) (a) ADJECTIVE NOUN PHRASE.

"Those are really nice shoes!"

"That was a good point you brought up in class." • Isn't NOUN PHRASE ADJECTIVE!

e.g. "Isn't your ring beautiful!"

" Isn't your room nice!"

Compliments

• You VERB (a) (really) ADJECTIVE NOUN PHRASE.e.g. "You did a good job.""You have beautiful hair."

• You VERB (NOUN PHRASE) (really) ADVERB.e.g. "You really handled that situation well.""You explain things so clearly."

• What (a) ADJECTIVE NOUN PHRASE!e.g. "What a wonderful little girl you have!"''What a terrific opportunity for you!"

• ADJECTIVE NOUN PHRASE!e.g. "Nice game!""Good job!"

Other Possibilities:

Adjectives most often used:1. nice2. good3. beautiful4. pretty5. great

Verbs most often used:like, love

Some other possibilities:wonderful, amazing, neat,gorgeous, cute, cool~ (used informally)

1. Compliments are given most often to friends and co-workers, and less often to

strangers or people in your immediate family.

2. Gender

• Women receive far more compliments than men, especially compliments on

appearance.

• Both men and women give women compliments. It is less common for a man to give another man a compliment, especially on appearance.

• When men do receive compliments from someone, they are most often

complimented on their ability or accomplishments.

3. Status Compliments on ability Qr accomplishments are most often given

by a superior to a subordinate, such as a boss telling a worker "Good job!" or a teacher telling a student "Nice paper!"

• A high status woman may receive compliments on her appearance, but a high

status man will very rarely receive such compliments.

: Use of compliments depends on the situation

1. Self-praise avoidance strategies• This strategy involves downplaying some aspect of that which was complimented,but without disagreeing with the person making the compliment.• Often the newness or the cost of an object is downplayed.e.g. A person tells you they like your hat, and you respond with "Really?, I'vehad it forever!" or "Oh, I got it on sale, you wouldn't believe bow little it costme."• Americans value equality and use self-praise avoidance strategies as a way ofexpressing that they are not better than the other person. This strategy is m:::stoften used with friends.

2. Returning compliment3. Thank you

• Used when the compliment cannot be returned to the other person.• Also often used to respond to a compliment from a superior.

Responses to compliments:

the ability to fully analyze a languages meaning in its proper context

Discourse competence

Student 1: Got the time? Student 2: Yes, noon.Waiter: Another drink? Customer: No thanks?Parent: Lunch time. Reply: Just 10 more minutes please.!Teacher: Thinking caps on.

Examples

TELEPHONE COVERSATIONS

Ring....Child answers: Hello

Voice: Is your father home?

Child: Yes, just a minute.

Child: Dad, telephone!

Dad: I’m busy, take a message.

Child: My dad can’t come to the phone right now can I take a message?

Voice: Yes, please have him call Dr. Smith at his earliest convenience.

TECHNICAL EXAMPLEChild: Mom I need a new mouse, my other one died.Mother: I don’t want a mouse in the house!Child: Mom...for the computer.

EDUCATION

Teacher: Oh Vyta, would you like to read the paragraph on the top of page 27?

ESL Student: I would rather not.

Oratorical Style

Deliberative Style

Consultative Style

Casual Style

Intimate Style

Discourse styles

It is something like a chair that you put a child in and push it (Stroller)-Circumlocution

The car is unmoved. (The car is broken down)-Word coinage

Electrical stairs (escalator)-Literal translationWhat is this called? –Appeal for helpThe car was damaged (The car broke down) –

ApproximationHe just completed his road…his way.-Self-correctionThey are cleaning stuffs,…,things (detergent)-All

purpose word strategy

Strategic competence

Appeal for helpAsking for repetition-Pardon, beg your pardon, what, can you say

that againAsking for clarificationAsking for confirmation-You mean he did not understand itComprehension check

Most common strategies

Canale, M.; Swain, M. (1980). "Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing". Applied Linguistics 1 (1): 1–47.

Chomsky, Noam(1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague/Paris: Mouton. pp. 15.

Hymes, D., "The Ethnography of Speaking", pp. 13–53 in Gladwin, T. & Sturtevant, W.C. (eds), Anthropology and Human Behavior, The Anthropology Society of Washington, (Washington), 1962.

References