Canale & Swain’s

Communicative competence

1980

A U T H O R : M E L I S S A TA P I A

TEACHER: G.CONCHA

April 23th, 2024

Table of contents
1. Definition of Communicative Competence
2. Components and main characteristics of the model
3. Brief description of each component
4. Diagram of the model and very brief ideas
5. References
 Definition
The concept of
communicative competence,
originating from the field of linguistics,
emerged as a response to perceived
limitations in the concept of linguistic In linguistics, communicative competence
competence. Coined by Dell Hymes in refers to a language user's thorough
1966, it was a reaction to what was seen as knowledge of grammatical features such as
the insufficiency of Noam Chomsky's syntax, morphology, and phonology, as well
definition from 1965. as social awareness of how to utilize
utterances appropriately in various
circumstances.
Dell Noam
Hymes Chomsky
 The model
Canale & Swain developed their theory Their initial framework was proposed in 1980 and
of communicative competence based on included three main components:

Dell Hymes’work.
1. Grammatical competence: words and rules,
ability to create grammatically correct utterances.
2. Sociolinguistic competence: ability to produce
sociolinguistically appropriate uttereances.
3. Strategic competence: appropriate use of
communication strategies, ability to solve
communication problems as they arise.
Michael Merrill
Canale Swain
 Components of the model:
Grammatical competence

Includes knowledge of lexical items and

of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-
grammar, semantics, and phonology.
 Components of the model:
Sociolinguistic competence
Proverbs:
Is made up of two sets of rules:
Actions
sociolinguistic rules of use and rules of
speak
discourse. They believe that knowledge of
louder
these rules will be crucial in interpreting
than
utterances for social meaning.
words!
 Components of the model:
Strategic competence

Is made up of verbal and non-verbal

communication strategies that may be
called into action to compensate for
breakdowns in communication due to
performance variables or to insufficient
grammatical competence.
Diagram of the model
1980

Grammatical Strategic
competence competence

Sociolinguistic
competence
 References
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing.
Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/applin/I.1.1

Cazden, C. B. (2011). Dell Hymes’s Construct of “Communicative Competence.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 42(4),
364–369.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41410139

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, January 12). Communicative competence. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved
21:20, April 22, 2024, from
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communicative_competence&oldid=1195030165