ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

Importance of the Communicative competence in the ESL Classroom

There are several methods and approaches that are useful to teach a second
language, since the most historical approach like conductism to the most modern
one like communicative competence approach, all of them have as an objective to
help students when they are learning a second language.
Every method has their own advantages and disadvantages, as teachers we can
use the eclectic method in order to create a class where we can use a bit of each
method, and in that way we can have a good class. But it depends on several
factors that we have to keep in mind, for example the level of the students, the age,
the goals or objectives of the lesson, etc. It is not easy to plan a class with different
approaches but it is not imposible.
Nowadays there are different approaches that help students to express their ideas
in an easy way, without going deep to learn gramatical rules or to see different
things like, patterns that they have to learn, those approaches are concerned about
the person itself, when they have to face a problem using the language, one of this
approaches is the communicative competence, and in the following lines i will try to
explain the importance of this approach in the ESL classrooms.
First of all, I would like to mention what is communicative competence about, it is
focus on the learner's ability to use the language to communicate successfully.
Canale and Swain (1980) defined it as composing competence in four areas:
Words and rules
Appropriacy
ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

Cohesion (use of pronouns, conjunctions, synonyms,parallel structure) and
coherence (repetition, progression, consistency)
Use of communication strategies

Another definition for Bachmans and Palmers, (1996) said that communicative
competence is conceived only in terms of knowledge. It includes three basic
components language competence, sociolin- guistic competence and pragmatic
competence
The language competence refers to knowledge and the ability to use the language
in order to create messages. The sociolinguistic competence refers in how learners
use the knowledge they have in a social context, how well they can use it in real
situations. The pragmatic competence take into consideration 2 elements, the
discourse competence and the functional competence, the first one has to be with
the speech, how well is constructed in order to say something, and the functional
competence tends to focus in the aspect that how well the speech works in order to
obtain something.
As we can see, there are some elements that are essential in this method, as
teachers we can not forget to take into consideration this potential elements,
because in this way not just our class will be succesful but also our students will
learn in the appropiate way, because they will have the oportunitty to try this
method that is focus in practice the language.
ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

Along the years, there is a discussion between which skill has to be developed in a
language, it means which of those habilities are more important in teaching to
develop reading, writing or speaking perhaps, but at the end, the student has to be
able to commmunicate in an oral and writen way.
Another controversy that it is present in all the classrooms is if it is better to have a
learner who can speak gramatically correct but is a bit shy to talk or another
student who can not speak grammatically correct but he/ she can share their ideas
in order to communicate or to obtain something, this approach may help both kind
of students in order to give them enough knowledge for being a better learner.
The main goal of communicative competence according to Schellekens (2001) is
the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish
communication goals. In this case we can see how this approach has as a basic
statements to developed, the use of the language in a good and gramatically
correct way, in addition it is important to mention, that this approach is not just
focus in grammar or in one skill as the others, this one can help students to
achieve a good manage of the language in a social situations.
Talking about the importance of this approach in classrooms, I can infer that
nowadays in the class, teachers have lots of problems to choose which method
use for which topic, it is not easy to work just with one, as they require lot of
practice in order to make a lesson plan just with communicative competence
approach they have to study very hard in order to know which kind of activities can
help learners to developed their communicative ability.
ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

When we refer to the importance of communicative competence, we have to talk
about the importance of the language too, it is very important to know why a
person learn a new language, between those reasons are because they want to
learn it and have better opportunities in the life, that means they want to have a
better job, they want to visit another country or they want to learn how to
communicate with foreigners, those motivations help students to learn the
language easier than those who does not have any reason.
For that reason Schellekens (2001) agues Acquiring a level of English proficiency
and communicative competence to function succesfully in the classroom often
requires going beyond a basic command of English.
With this statement, as teachers we have to think about what are our students
needs in order to know which kind of knowledge they must acquire in that way they
use it in real situations, this imply that it is not enough just to teach simple words, it
has to be the whole package, how you use that words with all the skills, so in that
way our students can be able to communicate.
Communicative competence involves the ability to converse or correspond with a
native speaker of the target language in a real-life situation, with emphasis on
communication of ideas rather than on simply correctness of language form or
knowledge of grammar rules. It is facilitated when learners are engaged in
interaction and meaningful communication.
ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

This competence is mainly working in a diverse set of general and noncontroversial
principles. it can be interpreted in many different ways and can be used to support
a wide variety of classroom procedures and contexts.
Based on Johns (2001) There are six principles that a teacher or practitioner has to
take into account when they are using the communicative competence approach:
1) The goal of language learning is communicative competence
2) Learners learn a language by using it to communicate real messages.
3) Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom
activities.
4) Fluency and accuracy are both important dimensions of communication.
5) Communication involves the integration of different language skills.
6) Learning is a gradual process that involves trial and errors.
As a conclusin, with this six principles we can see the importance of
communicative competence, not just in the classroom if not in the life of the
students, if the teachers use more this method, the students can face some
situacions in the real context.
By using the communicative competence approach learners can develop their
ability to express their ideas in a fluently and coherent way, in both oral and written
form. In this way they can feel very prepared against to the real context, they can
have a better opportunities to live, better job, they can visit another country and
finally, they can really feel themselves as a completely bilingual persons.

ERICK RENE PREZ PREZ / WWU / COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE / MATRIKELNR: 403 357

References
Bachman, L.F., & Palmer, A.S. (1996). Language Testing in Practice:
Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests. Oxford etc.: OUP.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative
approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics,1,
1-47.
Johns, Ann and Donna Price-Machado. (2001) English for Specific
Purposes: Tailoring Courses to Student Needs and to the Outside World.
Found in Celce-Murcia, Marianne (ed.), Teaching English as a Second or
Foreign Language. Heinle and Heinle
Schellekens, Philida. (2001). English Language as a Barrier to
Employment, Education and Training, The Department for Education and
Employment. United Kingdom.