Communicative Competence

Competent language communication for an adult would include sufficient receptive understanding and expressive ability to listen, speak, read and write meaningfully in different situations. For example, if an adult is purchasing groceries s/he would need to understand the cashier’s questions and respond with comprehensible sentences; perhaps using strategic competence tactics such as rewording phrases. Work and leisure environments would include discourse on a wide range of topics and challenge the language learner to employ and integrate knowledge of the different language competencies (grammar, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic). S/he would become aware of the cultural meaning attached to words and other language elements (such as tone of voice); and have coping strategies to compensate for areas of language deficit in order to adequately communicate his/her needs and wants in a variety of situations.
An adult who has accomplished this level of language development would be competent communicator. The level of competence will gradually increase in all modalities (listening, speaking, reading and writing) as s/he gains more structural knowledge and experiences an increasingly number of opportunities to use the language.