Competence and performance in the EFL teaching setting

1. Abstract
2. Competence and
   performance
3. Definition of
   competence
5. Implications
   of competence and performance in EFL
   teaching
6. Some practical
   considerations to be observed in an EFL teaching
   setting
7. References

Abstract:

The terms competence and performance are
said to be first coined by the prominent American linguist Noam
Chomsky. In this essay, we will define these terms and then focus
on an understanding of the different types of competence speakers
might have. Subsequently, we will refer to some of the EFL
teaching implications concerning competence. Finally, we will
provide some practical considerations to be observed in an EFL
teaching setting.

Key words: competence, performance, EFL,
teaching, learning, types of competence.

Competence and performance

The terms competence and performance are
said to be first coined by the prominent American linguist Noam
Chomsky. In this essay, we will define these terms and then focus
on an understanding of the different types of competence speakers
might have. Subsequently, we will refer to some of the EFL
teaching implications concerning competence. Finally, we will
provide some practical considerations to be observed in an EFL
teaching setting.

1. –
Definition of competence

Chomsky (1965) coined the term competence to
account for the unconscious knowledge speakers have of their
language. This unconscious knowledge refers to what someone
knows about the language, the mental representation of the
language (Fromkin and Rodman, 1981). Competence, however, has
been subdivided into two broad areas, namely, linguistic
competence and communicative competence.

1.1- Linguistic competence:

O’Grady, Dobrovolsky and Aronoff (1993) define
linguistic competence as the ability speakers have "to produce
and understand an unlimited number of sentences, including many
that are novel or unfamiliar" (p. 3). Normally, language users
speak a language without consciously knowing about the rules
governing it, i.e. the grammar behind it. For this reason, some
authors refer to linguistic competence as
grammatical competence. This knowledge has five
main components: phonological, syntactic, semantic, lexical and
morphological.