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Chomsky introduces the concepts of Performance and Competence.
-By competence, Chomsky means the shared knowledge of the ideal speaker-listener set in a completely homogeneous speech community -The term linguistic performance was used by Noam Chomsky to describe "the actual use of language in concrete situations" -
Widdowson views language learning not merely as acquiring the knowledge of the rules of grammar, but also as acquiring the ability to use language to communicate.
-According to Widdowson, the idea that once competence is acquired, performance will take care of itself is false. -He suggests that communicative abilities have to be developed at the same time as the linguistic skills; otherwise the mere acquisition of the linguistic skills may inhibit the development of communicative abilities. -
Hymes critiques the Chomsky’s theory on language behavior.
-Performance cannot be relevant to a linguistic theory for descriptive linguists. It involves too many performance variables to use as linguistic data, such as memory limitation, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors.
-Hymes points out that the theory does not account for sociocultural factors or differential competence in a heterogeneous speech community
-It is mediated by eight components of the linguistic interaction structured under the acronym SPEAKING. -
Widdowson views language learning not merely as acquiring the knowledge of the rules of grammar, but also as acquiring the ability to use language to communicate.
Widdowson distinguishes two aspects of performance: “usage” and“ use.”
He explains that “usage” makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his knowledge of linguistic rules, whereas “use” makes evident the extent to which the language user demonstrates his ability to use his knowledge of linguistic rules for effective communication. -
Rivers proposes methodological distinction between “skill-getting” and “skill-using” activities.
Through "skill-getting" activities, the teacher isolates spicific elements of knowledge or skill that composer communicative ability, and provides the learners with opportunities to practice them separately. In the "skill-getting" stage, as River points out, "the student must learn to articulate acceptably and construct comprehensible language sequences by rapid associations of learned elements. -
Halliday establishes a series of functions that involve the exchange of meanings and occurs when people simply interact.
The seven functions proposed by Halliday (1978) are grouped into instrumental, regulatory, interpersonal, personal, heuristic, imaginative and representative. -
Canale & Swain focuses their work on the interaction of social context, grammar, and meaning (more precisely, social meaning).
They defined communicative competence in terms of three basic components, largely picking up the Hymes model. Namely, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence. They strongly believe that the study of grammatical competence is as essential to the study of communicative competence as is the study of sociolinguistic competence. -
Canale & Swain focuses their work on the interaction of social context, grammar, and meaning (more precisely, social meaning).
They believe that at some point prior to the final selection of grammatical options, semantic options and social behavior options, grammatical forms must be screened for the following criteria: Grammatical complexity; Transparency with respect to the communicative function of the sentence; Generalizability to other communicative functions; The role of a given form in facilitating acquisition of another form; Degree of markedness in terms of social geographical dialects. -
Stern proposes a new language curriculum.
Stern maintains that language teaching can and should approach language learning objectively and analytically through the study and practice of structural, functional, and sociocultural aspects. It should offer opportunities to live the language as a personal experience through direct contact with the target language. -
Bachman & Palmer
They propose a new reorganization for communicative competence based on two major components called knowledge: organizational knowledge and pragmatic knowledge. -
Maturana proposes a definition for Communicative Competence.
Communicative competence can be defined as a “globalizing construct that encompasses the skills, abilities and knowledge that the language user must use to effectively interact in various social contexts”
