The term 'communicative competence' was coined by Dell Hymes in 1966, reacting against the perceived inadequacy of Noam Chomsky's (1965) distinction between competence and performance. To address Chomsky's abstract notion of competence, Hymes undertook ethnographic exploration of communicative competence that included "communicative form and function in integral relation to each other" (Leung, 2005). The approach pioneered by Hymes is now known as the ethnography of communication.

     The notion of communicative competence is one of the theories that underlies the communicative approach to foreign language teaching. Canale and Swain (1980) defined communicative competence in terms of three components:
     - grammatical competence: words and rules
     - sociolinguistic competence: appropriateness
     - strategic competence: appropriate use of communication strategies
     Canale(1983) refined the above model, adding discourse competence: cohesion and coherence

     A more recent survey of communicative competence by Bachman (1990) divides it into the broad headings of "organizational competence," which includes both grammatical and discourse (or textual) competence, and "pragmatic competence," which includes both sociolinguistic and "illocutionary" competence.

     Strategic Competence is associated with the interllocutors' ability in using communication strategies ( Faerch & Kasper, 1983; Lin, 2009).
     Through the influence of communicative language teaching, it has become widely accepted that communicative competence should be the goal of language education, central to good classroom practice. This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority.

     The understanding of communicative competence has been influenced by the field of pragmatics and the philosophy of language concerning speech acts as described in large part by John Searle and J.L. Austin.

      Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as "communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the "communicative approach”.

      Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to the audio-lingual method (ALM), and as an extension or development of the notional-functional syllabus. Task-based language learning, a more recent refinement of CLT, has gained considerably in popularity.

      As an extension of the notional-functional syllabus, CLT also places great emphasis on helping students use the target language in a variety of contexts and places great emphasis on learning language functions. Unlike the ALM, its primary focus is on helping learners create meaning rather than helping them develop perfectly grammatical structures or acquire native-like pronunciation. This means that successfully learning a foreign language is assessed in terms of how well learners have developed their communicative competence, which can loosely be defined as their ability to apply knowledge of both formal and sociolinguistic aspects of a language with adequate proficiency to communicate.

      CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. As such, it is most often defined as a list of general principles or features. One of the most recognized of these lists is David Nunan’s (1991) five features of CLT:
      - an emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
      - the introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
      - the provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the Learning Management process.
      - an enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.
      - an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom.

      These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom. Under this broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities.

      In the mid 1990s the Dogma 95 manifesto influenced language teaching through the Dogme language teaching movement, who proposed that published materials can stifle the communicative approach. As such the aim of the Dogme approach to language teaching is to focus on real conversations about real subjects so that communication is the engine of learning. This communication may lead to explanation, but that this in turn will lead to further communication.[1]

      Classroom activities used in CLT:

      - Example activities
      - Role play
      - Interviews
      - Information gap
      - Games
      - Language exchange
      - Surveys
      - Pair work
      - Learning by teaching

      However, not all courses that utilize the communicative language approach will restrict their activities solely to these. Some courses will have the students take occasional grammar quizzes, or prepare at home using non-communicative drills, for instance.

      Critiques of CLT

      One of the most famous attacks on communicative language teaching was offered by Michael Swan in the English Language Teaching Journal on 1985[2]. Henry Widdowson responded in defense of CLT, also in the ELT Journal (1985 39(3):158-161). More recently other writers (e.g. Bax[3]) have critiqued CLT for paying insufficient attention to the context in which teaching and learning take place, though CLT has also been defended against this charge (e.g. Harmer 2003[4]).

      Often, the communicative approach is deemed a success if the teacher understands the student. But, if the teacher is from the same region as the student, the teacher will understand errors resulting from an influence from their first language. Native speakers of the target language may still have difficulty understanding them. This observation may call for new thinking on and adaptation of the communicative approach. The adapted communicative approach should be a simulation where the teacher pretends to understand only what any regular speaker of the target language would and reacts accordingly.

      A person who is interculturally competent captures and understands, in interaction with people from foreign cultures, their specific concepts in perception, thinking, feeling and acting. Earlier experiences are considered, free from prejudices; there is an interest and motivation to continue learning.

      Cross-cultural competence (3C), another term for inter-cultural competence, has generated its own share of contradictory and confusing definitions, due to the wide variety of academic approaches and professional fields attempting to achieve it for their own ends. One author identified no fewer than eleven different terms with some equivalence to 3C: cultural savvy, astuteness, appreciation, literacy or fluency, adaptability, terrain, expertise, competency, awareness, intelligence, and understanding.

      Organizations from fields as diverse as business, health care, government security and developmental aid agencies, academia, and non-governmental organizations have all sought to leverage 3C in one guise or another, often with poor results due to a lack of rigorous study of the phenomenon and reliance on "common sense” approaches based on the culture developing the 3C models in the first place.

      The U.S. Army Research Institute, which is currently engaged in a study of the phenomenon, defines 3C as: "A set of cognitive, behavioral, and affective/motivational components that enable individuals to adapt effectively in intercultural environments”.

      Cross-cultural competence does not operate in a vacuum, however. One theoretical construct posits that 3C, language proficiency, and regional knowledge are distinct skills that are inextricably linked, but to varying degrees depending on the context in which they are employed.

      In educational settings, Bloom’s affective and cognitive taxonomies serve as an effective framework to describe the overlap area between the three disciplines: at the receiving and knowledge levels 3C can operate with near independence from language proficiency or regional knowledge, but as one approaches the internalizing and evaluation levels the required overlap area approaches totality.

• knowledge of the language
• knowledge of how to use the language

Go to the http://ucheba.pro/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=624 You will find some examples of written  opinion essays. Topics will be various. Unfortunately I don't know the exact names of essay topics. My guesses - television, money, poliical situation, fashion, parents and children, modern art, hobbies, smoking, visit to a friend.

For letter writing it is also important how to finish the letter. I personally disagree with the point that a letter to a friend should finish with a number of questions to your pen-friend. Instead of questions one can use any other types of sentences depending on the intention and the goal.

For essay writing it is important a) to introduce the thesis statement in a paraphrased version and elaborate it a little bit, b) give arguments for and against, c) to formulate your own vision, d) to draw a conclusion. 

This approach  involves organising  an enquitable, respectful pedagogical communication with the student, in which the student is subject its activities.Every learner should feel that he or she is in the center of the foreign language learning tasks performed in and out of the classroom.In order to cope with the new learning standards, we need to develop teaching. Teachers should uderstand how to teach in ways that respond to diverse learning approaches of the students."It is also important for schools how to support teaching and learning of this sort, discuss the importance of personalizing language teaching by integratingfeelings, opinions and experiences of individual learners into lessons.This technique allows the maximum degree effectiveness of teaching self- choice activities, setting goals, finding ways to achieve it, self- evaluation.

Poltorakova M.V. school №67

• Downloading and installing Skype. Go to the Skype website  and download the Skype Setup. exe. executableSkypeSetup.exe.click"Run"

   Poltorakova Margarita . school №67