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.