Aspects of communicative competence

Introduction Communicative competence is a concept introduced by Dell Hymes and discussed and redefined by many authors. Hymes' original idea was that speakers of a language have to have more than grammatical competence in order to be able communicate effectively in a language; they also need to know how language is used by members of a speech community to accomplish their purposes. The modules in this section identify eight aspects of communicative competence. They are grouped together in two groups of four: Linguistic aspects
y y y y

Phonology and orthography Grammar Vocabulary Discourse (textual)

Pragmatic aspects
y y y y

Functions Variations Interactional skills Cultural framework