LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AND

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

In general, language proficiency may be defined as the ability to use a language effectively
and appropriately throughout the range of social, personal, school, and work situations that
comprise daily living. In literate societies, language proficiency includes both oral and written
language.

As English language teachers, we want our students to become competent in four language
processes: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Furthermore, we want our students to
acquire the sense and sensibility to choose the best words and phrasings to achieve
whatever purpose they wish as they speak and write. Finally, we want them to be familiar
with various genres of extended discourse such as stories, newscasts, and essays.

Let’s take a moment to elaborate on our definition of language proficiency.

Language proficiency includes knowledge of the structural rules governing sounds, word
forms, and word orders (phonology, morphology, and syntax). These structural rules work
together along with vocabulary choices to convey meaning (semantics). Language
proficiency also includes pragmatic knowledge. Pragmatics refers to the social conventions
of language use, such as how to start and end a conversation smoothly; how to enter a
conversation without interrupting others; how to show politeness; how and when to use
informal expressions such as slang as opposed to more formal ways of speaking; and how,
whether, and when to establish a first-name basis in a formal relationship.

The term communicative competence is often used instead of language proficiency to

emphasize that proficient language use extends beyond grammatical forms and meaning to
include social conventions required for successful communication (Canale, 1984; Canale &
Swain, 1980; Hymes, 1972; Savignon, 1972; Wallat, 1984).

Experts have made a distinction between communicative competence (knowledge of the

linguistic and social rules of communication) and communicative performance (the ability to
apply those rules during any communicative act) (Savignon, 1972). Although we aim to
teach our students all they need for communicative competence, we are never able to
observe that competence directly. We must infer competence based on instances of
communicative performance. The more performance examples you have, the better able
you are to make sound judgments of a student’s competence. The
competence/performance distinction is, therefore, especially relevant to assessing and
evaluating student knowledge of their new language, both oral and written.

No picture of communicative competence is complete without reference to written

language. A fully competent language user must be able to read and write effectively and
appropriately throughout the range of social, personal, school, and work situations of
day-to-day life. Reading and writing require knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation,
text structure, and other discourse conventions. Like oral language, written language
conventions are subject to social and cultural norms. For example, the text structure of an
academic essay, including the quantity and sequence of details, may vary across cultures.
Furthermore, writers need to adjust their style to suit their intended audience and purpose.
For example, if you are writing a text message to a friend, you might use various
abbreviations and telegraphic sentences, which would be inappropriate in a formal essay for
a college course. As you reflect on a typical day in your life, you will notice how often you
use written language, formal and informal, for a variety of purposes: from shopping lists to
text messages; from letters to the editor to online recipes; from helping your child with a
school assignment to planning a lesson of your own.

Bilingual Communicative Competence

Students learning English as a new language face a complex task that must take place
gradually over time. Simultaneously, they may also develop and maintain proficiency in their
home language, including literacy skills, thereby becoming bilingual and bi-literate.
Maintenance of the home language represents a vitally important aspect of communicative
competence: bilingual communicative competence (Grosjean, 1982; Romaine, 1989).

Consider, for example, the fact that the home language may be a child’s only means of
communicating with parents or grandparents. As a result, the home language becomes the
primary vehicle for the transmission of cultural values, family history, and ethnic identity—the
very underpinnings of self-esteem (Wong Fillmore, 1991a, 1991b). Furthermore, knowing
one language provides a good foundation for learning subsequent languages, a topic
already mentioned in a previous section of this module.

Figurative Language
Beyond literal meanings conveyed by words and their sequence in utterances, most of us
use figurative languages, such as metaphors and idiomatic expressions, every day. When
someone says, “That car of mine is a real lemon,” we understand that the car breaks down a
lot. We do not expect it to produce lemonade. In this example, lemon is used metaphorically.
Young children and second language learners have to grapple with these non-literal uses of
words as they grow in language proficiency.

Idioms, like metaphors, are fixed expressions or “figures of speech,” the meanings of which
do not correspond literally to the words that comprise them. Like metaphors, idioms present
challenges to young children and second language learners, a topic that must be addressed
by your teaching.

In addition to using figurative language, it is possible to say something but mean its
opposite, as in irony or sarcasm. For example, if you have just received notice that fare
rates have gone up, you might say, “Oh great!” But you really mean “Oh no!” or “Oh how
awful!” or perhaps something much more colorful. These examples of nonliteral language
illustrate the complexity of linguistic communication, explaining why they can be difficult for
language learners.

Once Again

To sum up the discussion of language proficiency and communicative competence, we

defined language proficiency as the application of linguistic rules (phonology, morphology,
and syntax) to create meanings (semantics) in a manner appropriate to the social context of
communicative acts (pragmatics). We underscored the fact that language use, oral and
written, is constrained by social and cultural conventions. We then discussed how fully
developed language proficiency, or communicative competence, includes the development
of a repertoire of oral and written linguistic strategies from which to choose to achieve
communication across a range of social situations, including academic situations.
Think About It

1. Reflect on bilingual communicative competence. Do you agree that developing

proficiency in the first language is important to proficiency development in a second
language?