Revisiting communicative competence in languages for specific purposes
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This document discusses revisiting the concept of communicative competence in languages for specific purposes. It argues that applied linguists have not fully understood or implemented communicative competence, which is an important concept for language teaching and learning. The document outlines different perspectives on communicative competence from second language researchers, teachers, and testers. It proposes reexamining previous work to develop a richer understanding of communicative competence and provide suggestions for language instruction.
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“
”
a separate linguistic
system […] which
results from the
learner’s attempted
production of a
target language
norm
FORMALIST L2 RESEARCH
➤ competence versus
performance (Chomsky 1965)
➤ code linguistics
➤ significance of learner errors
(Corder 1967)
➤ interlanguage (Selinker
1972)
➤ generative grammar,
cognitivist approaches
Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ccinlsp-180119134041/85/Revisiting-communicative-competence-in-languages-for-specific-purposes-20-320.jpg)
Revisiting communicative competence in languages for specific purposes
- 1. REVISITING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES: What counts as effective interaction and who is to judge? wp.me/p28EmH-169 Département Langues et Cultures EA7437 Laboratoire Culture Education Sociétés(LACES) Université de Bordeaux, jeudi 18 janvier 2018 SHONA WHYTE
- 2. Université Côte d’Azur, CNRS, BCL Shona Whyte • MCF-HDR anglais, Scottish-born, PhD Linguistics Indiana University • Département des langues, section études anglophones, Université Nice Sophia Antipolis • EFL, TEFL, CALL, ESP • UMR 7320 Bases, Corpus, Langage ECRIN Second Language Studies whyte@unice.fr @whyshona efl.unice.fr Whyte, Université de Bordeaux 18.01.2018 3wp.me/p28EmH-169
- 3. REVISITING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES What counts as effective interaction and who is to judge? 4Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 4. ARGUMENT ➤ we haven’t done a good job of understanding, interpreting, and implementing the concept of communicative competence to develop this capacity in our learners ➤ this is unfortunate, because it is arguably the most important concept in language for specific purposes 5Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 5. “ LSP is generally used to refer to the teaching and research in language in relation to the communicative needs of speakers of a second language in facing a particular workplace, academic, or professional context. In such contexts, language is used for a limited range of communicative events Basturkmen & Elder, 2004: 672 6Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 6. ARGUMENT ➤ we haven’t done a good job of understanding, interpreting, and implementing the concept of communicative competence to develop this capacity in our learners ➤ this is unfortunate, because it is arguably the most important concept in language for specific purposes 7 ➤ applied linguists in different domains related to L2 learning and teaching have tackled communicative competence: L2 researchers, L2 teachers, L2 testers ➤ revisiting this work can help interrogate our own understanding and practices ➤ and provide suggestions for a richer, more nuanced interpretation of communicative competence Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 7. PLAN ➤ what is communicative competence? ➤ different perspectives ➤ L2 researchers ➤ L2 teachers ➤ L2 testers ➤ conclusions and recommendations 8Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 8. MEDIA & COMMUNICATION CLASS 10 ➤ task-based class for second year English majors ➤ authentic, real-world activity ➤ slide presentation on an idea worth sharing (TED talks) ➤ story slam (Moth stories) ➤ evaluation of task success ➤ peer feedback on negotiated criteria ➤ story slam judging panel ➤ focus on form/reflection ➤ teacher feedback on audio recordings ➤ smartphone, SoundCloud, Google apps Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 9. MEDIA & COMMUNICATION CLASS 11 ➤ task-based class for second year English majors ➤ authentic, real-world activity ➤ slide presentation on an idea worth sharing (TED talks) ➤ story slam (Moth stories) ➤ evaluation of task success ➤ peer feedback on negotiated criteria ➤ story slam judging panel ➤ focus on form/reflection ➤ teacher feedback on audio recordings ➤ smartphone, SoundCloud, Google apps Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 10. EVALUATING TASK SUCCESS (1) 12Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 11. EVALUATING TASK SUCCESS (2) 13Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 12. EVALUATING TASK SUCCESS (3) 14Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 13. TEACHER ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 15 Excellent 3 Good 2 OK 1 Poor 0 Pronunciation 3 3 2 1/2 0/1 Grammar/ vocabulary 3 3 2 1/2 0/1 Communication 3 2 2 1/2 0/1 Total/10 9 8 6 4 2 Bonus 0.5 or 1 0.5 or 1 0.5 or 1 0.5 or 1 Grade /20 18 16 12 8 4 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 14. 16 From the teacher I got a really bad feedback. The pronounciation is not good, “too many stresses, no weak forms”; same thing about the vocabulary and the grammar “3rd person singular present s.” And for the communication, it’s also not very good. From the other students, I got a good feedback. They reproached me my grammar mistakes and also that I was too nervous. “Maybe be more confident and less shy.” Otherwise, they liked it. They found the topic interesting and that I was myself really interested by my topic, and it was a good thing. The contradictions are mainly about my grade. How can I get a grade around 15 with the students and only 7 with the teacher? I think the students are maybe too nice with me, but I also think that the teacher is expecting too much from me. Or maybe it’s two different sets of criteria: how you present, and how good your oral English is Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 15. PLAN 17Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018 ➤ what is communicative competence? ➤ successful completion of communicative task ➤ and/or accuracy/complexity/ fluency relative to NS norm ➤ different perspectives ➤ L2 researchers ➤ L2 teachers ➤ L2 testers ➤ conclusions and recommendations
- 16. L2 RESEARCH: FORMALIST VERSUS FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVES ➤ competence versus performance (Chomsky 1965) 18 “ ” ideal speaker-hearer in a homogeneous speech community Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 17. 19Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 18. 20 “ ” we cannot really teach language, we can only create conditions in which it will develop spontaneously in the mind in its own way (Von Humboldt 1769-1859) ➤ competence versus performance (Chomsky 1965) FORMALIST L2 RESEARCH ➤ code linguistics Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 19. 21 “ ” errors (not mistakes) made in both second language learning and child language acquisition are evidence that the learners uses a definite system of learning at every point in his development. This system, or ‘built-in’ syllabus … FORMALIST L2 RESEARCH ➤ competence versus performance (Chomsky 1965) ➤ code linguistics ➤ significance of learner errors (Corder 1967) Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 20. 22 “ ” a separate linguistic system […] which results from the learner’s attempted production of a target language norm FORMALIST L2 RESEARCH ➤ competence versus performance (Chomsky 1965) ➤ code linguistics ➤ significance of learner errors (Corder 1967) ➤ interlanguage (Selinker 1972) ➤ generative grammar, cognitivist approaches Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 21. ➤ context linguistics ➤ communicative competence (Hymes 1972) ➤ possible ➤ feasible ➤ appropriate ➤ performed (= attested) 23 “ ” there are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless FUNCTIONALIST L2 RESEARCH Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 22. ➤ context linguistics ➤ communicative competence (Hymes 1972) ➤ possible ➤ feasible ➤ appropriate ➤ performed (= attested) 24 “ ” what people want to do through language is more important than mastery of language as an unapplied system FUNCTIONALIST L2 RESEARCH Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018 ➤ notional/functional syllabus (Wilkins 1972) ➤ sociolinguistic, pedagogical research
- 23. PLAN 25Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018 ➤ what is communicative competence? ➤ different perspectives ➤ L2 researchers ➤ interlanguage ➤ rules of use ➤ L2 teachers ➤ L2 testers ➤ conclusions and recommendations
- 24. L2 TEACHING ➤ Canale & Swain 1980 ➤ grammatical competence ➤ sociolinguistic competence ➤ discourse competence ➤ strategic competence ➤ Widdowson 2017 26 “grammatical competence should not be included in the construct of communicative competence because grammar relates to semantics and therefore to the language code, whereas communication involves language use in context, that is, pragmatics. To claim otherwise is to misrepresent the nature of communication” Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 25. CER ➤ “CEFR can be seen as the functional equivalent to the formalist concept of interlanguage” Widdowson 2017 ➤ Common European Reference Framework for Languages (CER, CEFR; FR = CECRL) ➤ cross-linguistic competency framework based on fine-grained ‘can do’ statements ➤ both are concerned with identifying stages of approximation of native- speaker competence ➤ “shaky ground” (Hulstijn 2007) - descriptors written by teachers 27Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 26. ENGLISH GRAMMAR PROFILE: O’KEEFFE & MARK (2017) ➤ CER-calibrated learner corpus ➤ Cambridge written exams ➤ 55M words (64M tokens) ➤ 13 years’ data (1999-2012), 267K pass scripts, 143 first languages ➤ corpus analysis ➤ Sketch Engine - annotation, concordancing ➤ comparison with British National Corpus (written) 28 ➤ search inventory based on “ELT canon” ➤ 19 superordinate grammatical categories (e.g., adjectives, negation, present time) ➤ criteria-based approach ➤ frequency (> BNC pmw) ➤ accuracy (formal + pragmatic) > 60% ➤ range/dispersion (user, L1 family, context, task) ➤ empirical findings ➤ increasing lexicogrammatical complexity and pragmatic subtlety ➤ complement to error analysis Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 27. PLAN 29Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018 ➤ what is communicative competence? ➤ different perspectives ➤ L2 researchers ➤ L2 teachers ➤ grammar dimension ➤ ELT canon ➤ L2 testers ➤ conclusions and recommendations
- 28. LSP TESTING ➤ high-stakes tests (gatekeeping - Fulcher 2013): physicists, students (EAP), veterinarians, medical doctors, airline pilots ➤ performance tests: content, method, assessment criteria ➤ inclusion of indigenous criteria (= views of occupational experts, non- language specialists, linguistic laypersons) ➤ use of actual examples of test performance and thematic coding of commentary ➤ Elder, McNamara, Kim, Pill & Sato 2017, Douglas 2001 30Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 29. PHYSICS CONFERENCE PRESENTATION 31 problem characterise academic talk involving L1 and L2 speakers participants academics, researchers, graduate students at lab meetings method observation, conversation analysis, grounded theory for categorisation findings ➤ focus entirely on content: effective presentation of scientific material ➤ no attention to L1 or L2 speech Jacoby 1999, Jacoby & McNamara, 1999 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 30. ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES 32 problem hypothesised mismatch between linguist and lay interpretations of oral competence participants lay judges of Chinese College English Test- Spokent English Test (monologue) and Cambridge English (paired interaction) method thematic coding findings ➤ discrepancies between lay and language testers’ criteria ➤ overall impression + content (1/3 grade); linguistic resources (1/10) Sato 2014, Elder et al. 2017 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 31. VETERINARY CONSULTATION 33 problem evaluate special Rural and General Practice option in veterinary programme via Individual Process Assessment (role-play) participants veterinary professionals, veterinary students, applied linguists method comparison of categories across three groups findings ➤ veterinary experts used most explicit and widest range of categories ➤ applied linguist and student views differed Douglas & Myers, 2000 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 32. MEDICAL CONSULTATION 34 problem Overseas English Test failed to identify proficient International Medical Graduates participants medical professionals method comparison of indigenous criteria with language testing specialists findings ➤ discrepancies between doctor and linguist criteria ➤ revision of test to include new categories and delete irrelevant rubrics Pill 2013, Elder et al. 2017 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 33. PILOT-TRAFFIC CONTROLLER EXCHANGE 35 problem Korean English Proficiency Test for Aviation perceived as poor indicator of professional competence participants pilots and air traffic controllers method professionals’ feedback on recordings of abnormal/emergency/distress situations findings ➤ discrepancies between pilot and language test criteria ➤ communication errors by both L1 and L2 speakers Kim 2012, Kim & Billington 2016, Clark 2017, Elder et al. 2017 Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 34. PLAN 36Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018 ➤ what is communicative competence? ➤ different perspectives ➤ L2 researchers ➤ L2 teachers ➤ L2 testers ➤ indigenous criteria ➤ less grammar/NS norms ➤ conclusions and recommendations
- 35. REVISITING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LSP ➤ native-speaker norms are NOT the most relevant in LSP ➤ indigenous criteria are also important ➤ grammatical accuracy is less important to non language specialists ➤ native-speakers also need to learn intercultural skills and accommodation strategies for LSP communication 37Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 36. REVISITING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LSP ➤ communicative language testing - and teaching - should involve a range of skills and abilities ➤ speakers should be able to ➤ accommodate ➤ tolerate different varieties of English ➤ rapidly attune to new patterns of phonology, syntax, etc ➤ use phonological features crucial for intelligibility with a given interlocutor ➤ negotiate meaning; notice and repair breakdowns in communication ➤ ascertain and deploy appropriate pragmatics (Harding 2014) ➤ appropriate content, method, but also assessment criteria 38Whyte, Université de Bordeaux http://wp.me/p28EmH-169 18.01.2018
- 37. whyte@unice.fr @whyshona efl.unice.fr 39 wp.me/p28EmH-169 What counts as effective interaction and who is to judge? REVISITING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES Département Langues et Cultures EA7437 Laboratoire Culture Education Sociétés(LACES) Université de Bordeaux, jeudi 18 janvier 2018 Shona Whyte