Competence and performance in the EFL teaching setting (página 2)

1.1.1) Phonological competence refers to
the knowledge speakers have of the sounds and possible sound
combinations of a language. This implies that speakers of a
language can recognize the words of their language (or those who
might be) by simple listening to them, i.e. a speaker of English
can determine whether a word might
belong to English or to another language only by listening to
it.

1.1.2) Syntactic competence refers to the
knowledge the speakers have about the possible syntactic
combinations of their language. Usually speakers know most (if
not all) of the possible combinations of their native language.
e.g. a speaker of English knows that "the dog the boy bit" is not
a grammatical English sentence.

1.1.3) Semantic competence refers to the
knowledge speakers have of the meanings of words in their
languages. Speakers know, for instance, the relationship between
the word "dog" and the reality represented by this word, although
there is apparently no natural connection between the two. That
is why in French the same reality is represented with the word
"chien" and in Spanish "perro".

1.1.4) Lexical competence refers to the knowledge
speakers have of an extensive amount of words in their language.
It also refers to the ability that speakers have to use these
words according to the appropriate context. For instance, in the
paradigm of nouns, speakers can choose from a quite extensive
variety of nouns when building a sentence, however, the speakers
know that in a sentence such as "the _______ died in that
car-accident" only biological beings could be placed in that
position because only biological things "die"; however, inanimate
or non-existing nouns could fill the blank for representing
abstract ideas, or other different purposes such as irony and
humor (this is usually referred to as a pragmatic
meta-knowledge).

1.1.5) Morphological competence refers to the
knowledge speakers have of the formation of words in their
language, or better said, word structure. Usually, speakers know
that, in general, to create a plural noun they need to add an "s"
at the end of the word. For instance, the word "table" can be
pluralized into "tables". In this case, in linguistics, it is
said that the word is composed by two morphemes –considered
to be the minimal meaningful units in a language- which are
"table-s". Speakers of languages know about word-formation in
their languages. They create words, for fun or fashion, that
"sound" like their languages, but that maybe they do not
"officially" constitute a part of their lexicon.

1.2.- Communicative competence:

Communicative competence is a broad term that involves
not only the structural features of language, but also its
social, pragmatic and contextual characteristics. Therefore, it
is necessary to understand communicative competence as the sum of
a series of competences.

1.2.1) Grammatical competence refers to the
ability to speakers have to use the different functioning rules
of the system of their language. This competence, actually, is
what we referred previously as linguistic competence.

1.2.2) Sociolinguistic competence refers to the
ability speakers have to produce sentences according to the
communicative situation. Speakers (usually) know when, where and
whom to say things.

1.2.3) Discursive competence refers to the
ability speakers have to be able to use the different types of
discourse. Usually language users know what is being referred to
in different contexts, i.e. they discern between new and old
information, and are able to determine the discourse topics. For
instance, speakers know when a "he" refers to "John" or to "the
child" according to the text context in the sentence: John went
to the park, and he found a child who was sick. The young
boy was crying because he didn’t know where his
mother was.

1.2.4) Strategic competence refers to the
knowledge speakers have to maintain communication. Therefore,
this competence accounts for the strategies language users have
to be understood, and to understand others. Gestures,
expressions, mimics and intonation are among others some of the
most strategies used.

2.- Definition of performance

Performance is considered to be the physical
representation, usually in utterances of any type, of the human
competence (Chomsky, 1965). It refers to "how"
someone uses language (Fromkin and Rodman, 1981). Chomsky
considered performance as a faulty representation of competence
because of psychological "restrictions such as memory lapses and
limitations, distractions, changes of directions halfway through
sentence, hesitation and so on" (Villalobos, 1992, p. 20).
Performance, in a way, accounts for the failures language users
have when transposing their competence into actual linguistic
production.

3.- Implications of competence and performance in
EFL teaching

EFL teachers who consider the elements involving both
linguistic and communicative competence in a classroom setting
tend to understand more the new linguistic challenges faced by
students when learning an L2. Some teachers might understand, for
instance, the nature of some mistakes in terms of interference
from the L1. Others might interpret mistakes as the lack of
cultural and social knowledge of the target language. In any
case, the important point is that teachers might be able to
understand better the nature of the learning process and apply
certain orientations towards the syllabus design and classroom
activities (Bell, 1981). Besides, a language teacher who
understands and distinguishes competence from performance
necessarily has a different vision of the students difficulties
when learning the L2 and, as so, conceives the learners roles
differently, e.g. not as a passive learner, but as an active
member of the teaching-learning process (Nunan, 1991; Nunan,
1999).

4.-
Some practical considerations to be observed in an EFL teaching
setting

The following considerations are an attempt to simplify
the acquisition of L2 competences into the mental framework of
students. They are issued in terms of the activities that are
considered to promote actual involvement of the students in the
teaching-learning process (Nuttal, 1982; Omaggio, 1986; Wallace,
1991; Weaver, 1994).

4.1) Contextualized activities: one of the
problems that may be faced by students is that out-of-context
activities might frustrate the development of linguistic and
communicative L2 competences. It is, therefore, of paramount
importance to promote authentic activities that encourage
students to see language as it actually works.

4.2) Interactive activities: interaction is
considered to be a key factor in the L2 classroom. Interaction of
the sort student-teacher-student is of paramount importance to
the development of the linguistic and communicative competences
of students. However, such interactivity must be contextualized
in actual language use situations so that students understand the
real purposes of language.

4.3) Professor’s Feedback: it is relevant
to consider the effects of teachers’ feedback in the
development of the linguistic and communicative competences in
the L2 classroom setting. However, a question arises in terms of
the effectiveness of correcting mistakes explicitly. This
discussion is still at stake in the current literature. In this
sense, it is better that teachers explore the learning strategies
of each student and try to determine what they need. In any case,
it is important to foster activities that involve students in
cognitive processes that allow them to solve linguistic problems
related to competence. At the end, they might not need explicit
grammar instruction to learn the L2.

4.4) Contextual factors: it is important to
account for contextual factors that are present in the teaching
and learning process, i.e. the environment, the L1 linguistic
competence, the authenticity of the activities, the linguistic
distance between the L1 and the L2, among others.

As it was mentioned before, this is merely a short list
of suggestions attempting to promote the development of both
linguistic and communicative competence in students. However this
list is in no way (and it does not attempt to be) the
solution for helping students in developing such competences.
However, the most important issue here is to consider the
importance of terms such as competence and
performance in real-life learning-teaching environments
and the L2 pedagogical implications they acquaint for.

References

Bell, R. (1981). An introduction to applied
linguistics. Approaches and methods in language teaching.
London: Batsford. Academic and Educational.

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of
syntax. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Fromkin, V. and Rodman, R. (1983). An introduction
to language. New York, NY: Holt Saunders.

O’Grady, W., Dobrovolsky, M., and Aronoff, M.
(1993). Contemporary linguistics. An introduction. New
York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Nunan, D. (1991). Language teaching methodology. A
textbook for teachers. London: Prentice Hall
International.

Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching &
learning. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Nuttall, C. (1982). Teaching reading skills in a
foreign language. London: Heinemann.

Omaggio, A. (1986). Teaching language in context.
Proficiency-oriented instruction. Boston, MA: Heinle &
Heinle.

Wallace, M. (1991). Training foreign language
teachers. A reflective approach. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Weaver, C. (1994). Reading process and practice
(2nd. Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Lic. Jhony M. Jaimes S.

Universidad de Los Andes.
Mérida-Venezuela

Octubre, 2006

The author is currently an English teacher at the
University level.