From Communicative Competence to Language Development

Communicative competence is a term which alludes to tacit knowledge of language and the ability to understand and use the language effectively for communication purposes. Simply put, it refers to the ability of forming correct utterances and using them appropriately. This paper looks briefly at the concept of communicative competence and how it is acquired. The second issue that the paper raises is the components of different communicative competence models which are seen as central to further language development. Finally, the paper summarizes the essence and core tenets of communicative language teaching.