Block II. DDCI Nov. 2010 Some definitions of the word Competence:

 the quality of being adequately or well qualified physically and intellectually wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn  Competence is a standardized requirement for an individual to properly perform a specific job. It encompasses a combination of knowledge, skills and behavior utilized to improve performance. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competence_(human_resources)  The proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and/or methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and personal development. ... www.eqf-reference-nqf.net/terms.aspx

“All human competences contribute in one way or another to the language user’s ability to communicate and may be regarded as aspects of communicative competence”

CEFR (chapter 5) General competences: I. Declarative knowledge (savoir) ------Knowledge of the world Sociocultural knowledge: 1. Everyday living, e.g.: • wealth (income and inherited); • food & drink, meal times, table • regional cultures; manners; • security; • public holidays; • institutions; • working hours and practices; • tradition and social change; • leisure activities (hobbies, sports, • history, especially iconic reading habits, media). historical personages and 2. Living conditions, e.g.: events; • living standards (with regional, • minorities (ethnic, religious); class and ethnic variations); • national identity; • housing conditions; • foreign countries, states, • welfare arrangements. peoples; 3. Interpersonal relations (including • politics; relations of power and solidarity) e.g. • arts (music, visual arts, with respect to: literature, drama, popular music • class structure of society and and song); relations between classes; • religion; • relations between sexes (gender, • humour. intimacy); 5. Body language (see section 4.4.5). • family structures and relations; Knowledge of the conventions • relations between generations; governing such behaviour • relations in work situations; form part of the user/learner’s • relations between public and sociocultural competence. police, officials, etc.; 6. Social conventions, e.g. with regard • race and community relations; to giving and receiving • relations among political and hospitality, such as: religious groupings. • punctuality; 4. Values, beliefs and attitudes in relation • presents; • dress; to such factors as: • refreshments, drinks, meals; • social class; • behavioural and conversational • occupational groups (academic, conventions and taboos; management, public service, skilled • length of stay; and manual workforces); • leave-taking.

1 7. Ritual behaviour in such areas as: Intercultural awareness • religious observances and rites; Knowledge, awareness and • birth, marriage, death; understanding of the relation • audience and spectator behaviour (similarities and distinctive at public performances and differences) ceremonies; between the ‘world of origin’ and • celebrations, festivals, dances, the ‘world of the target discos, etc. community’ produce an intercultural awareness.

Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state

What knowledge of the world the language learner will be assumed/required to possess

What new knowledge of the world, particularly in respect of the country in which the language is spoken the learner will need/be equipped to acquire in the course of language learning

What prior sociocultural experience & knowledge the learner is assumed/required to have

What new experience and knowledge of social life in his/her community as well as in the target community the learner will need to acquire in order to meet the requirements of L2 communication;

What awareness of the relation between home and target cultures the learner will need soas to develop an appropriate intercultural competence.

II. Skills and know-how (savoir-faire) ------Practical skills and know-how include:

 Social skills: the ability to act in accordance with the types of convention set out in above and to perform the expected routines.

 Living skills: the ability to carry out effectively the routine actions required for daily life (bathing, dressing, walking, cooking, eating, etc.); maintenance and repair of household equipment,

 Vocational and professional skills: the ability to perform specialised actions (mental and physical) required to carry out the duties of (self-)employment.

 Leisure skills: the ability to carry out effectively the actions required for leisure activities,e.g.: • arts (painting, sculpture, playing musical instruments, etc.); • crafts (knitting, embroidery, weaving, basketry, carpentry, etc.); • sports (team games, athletics, jogging, climbing, swimming, etc.); • hobbies (photography, gardening, etc.).

 Intercultural skills and know-how These include: • the ability to bring the culture of origin and the foreign culture into relation with each other; • cultural sensitivity and the ability to identify and use a variety of strategies for contact with those from other cultures;

2 Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state: What cultural intermediary roles and functions the learner will need/be equipped/be required to fulfil

What features of the home and target culture the learner will need/be enabled/required to distinguish;

What provision is expected to be made for the learner to experience the target culture;

What opportunities the learner will have of acting as a cultural intermediary.

III. Existential competence (savoir-être)

The communicative activity of users/learners is affected not only by their knowledge, understanding and skills, but also by selfhood factors connected with their individual personalities, characterised by the attitudes, motivations, values, beliefs, cognitive styles and personality types which contribute to their personal identity.

These include: 1. attitudes, such as the user/learner’s degree of: 3. values, e.g. ethical and moral. • openness towards, and interest in, 4. beliefs, e.g. religious, ideological, new experiences, other persons, philosophical. ideas, peoples, societies & cultures; 5. cognitive styles, e.g.: • willingness to relativise one’s own • convergent/divergent; cultural viewpoint and cultural value- • holistic/analytic/synthetic. system; 6. personality factors, e.g.: • willingness and ability to distance • loquacity/taciturnity; oneself from conventional attitudes to • enterprise/timidity; cultural difference. • optimism/pessimism; 2. motivations: • introversion/extroversion; • intrinsic/extrinsic; • proactivity/reactivity; • instrumental/integrative; • communicative drive, the human need to communicate.

Attitudes and personality factors greatly affect not only the language users’/learners’ roles in communicative acts but also their ability to learn

Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state:

• the extent to which personality development can be an explicit educational objective; • how cultural relativism is to be reconciled with ethical and moral integrity; • which personality factors a) facilitate b) impede foreign or second language learning and acquisition; • how learners can be helped to exploit strengths and overcome weaknesses; • how the diversity of personalities can be reconciled with the constraints imposed on and by educational systems

3 V. Ability to learn (savoir-apprendre) This is the ability to observe and participate in new experiences and to incorporate new knowledge into existing knowledge, modifying the latter where necessary.

The Ability to learn has several components, such as language and communication awareness; general phonetic skills; study skills; and heuristic skills.  General phonetic awareness and skills Many learners, particularly mature students, will find their ability to pronounce new languages facilitated by: • an ability to distinguish and produce unfamiliar sounds and prosodic patterns; • an ability to perceive and catenate unfamiliar sound sequences; • an ability, as a listener, to resolve (i.e. divide into distinct and significant parts) a continuous stream of sound into a meaningful structured string of phonological elements; • an understanding/mastery of the processes of sound perception and production applicable to new language learning.  Study skills These include: • ability to make effective use of the learning opportunities created by teaching situations,e.g.: • to maintain attention to the presented information; • to grasp the intention of the task set; • to co-operate effectively in pair and group work; • to make rapid and frequent active use of the language learnt; • ability to use available materials for independent learning; • ability to organise and use materials for self-directed learning; • ability to learn effectively (both linguistically and socioculturally) from direct observation of and participation in communication events by the cultivation of perceptual, analytical and heuristic skills; • awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses as a learner; • ability to identify one’s own needs and goals; • ability to organise one’s own strategies and procedures to pursue these goals, in accordance with one’s own characteristics and resources.  Heuristic skills, These include: • the ability of the learner to come to terms with new experience (new language, new people, new ways of behaving, etc.) and to bring other competences to bear (e.g. by observing, grasping the significance of what is observed, analysing, inferencing, memorising, etc.) in the specific learning situation; • the ability of the learner (particularly in using target language reference sources) to find, understand and if necessary convey new information; • the ability to use new technologies (e.g. by searching for information in databases, hypertexts, etc.). Users of the Framework may wish to consider and where appropriate state: What steps if any are taken to develop the learner’s language and communication awareness; What auditory discrimination and articulatory skills the learner will need/be assumed/ equipped/required to possess. What study skills learners are encouraged/enabled to use and develop; What heuristic abilities learners are encouraged/enabled to use and develop; What provision is made for learners to become increasingly independent in their learning

4 and use of language.

Communicative & Linguistic Competences:

Communicative language competences: for the realisation of communicative intentions, users/learners bring to bear their general capacities as detailed above together with a more specifically language-related communicative competence.

Communicative competence in this narrower sense has the following components: • linguistic competences; • sociolinguistic competences; • pragmatic competences.

Linguistic competences No complete, exhaustive description of any language as a formal system for the expression of meaning has ever been produced. Language systems are of great complexity and the language of a large, diversified, advanced society is never completely mastered by any of its users.

GENERAL LINGUISTIC RANGE (see CEFR) pp. 110 - 130) Lexical competence Grammatical competence; Semantic competence; Phonological competence; Orthographic competence; Orthoepic competence which means the correct use of words, from the Greek orth- + -epos, correct + word, speech./ 'the study of correct or accepted pronunciation' accordind to wordreference.

I. Declarative knowledge (savoir) ------Knowledge of the world

II. Skills and know-how (savoir-faire)------Practical skills and know-how include:

III. Existential’ competence (savoir-être)------Attitudes

IV. Ability to learn (savoir-apprendre) ------Study skills

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