The Communicative Competence of Learners in English as a Foreign Language (EFL)

Abstract

More language teachers have shifted away from the 'focus on form' teaching approach, which includes grammar translation and audio lingualism, and toward communicative language teaching (CLT). The communicative competency approach stresses communicative competence, which can be described as learners' capacity to effectively present themselves in the target language and successfully communicate in real-life circumstances. Learners must acquire not only linguistic but also pragmatic knowledge of the TL in order to do so. Competence, both linguistic and pragmatic, is knowledge created and acquired through exposure and usage, according to Kasper (1997). In other words, communicative competence is unlikely to be promoted without the essential exposure for learners to detect and acquire linguistic input, as well as opportunities to apply the information. The purpose of this research is to show that introducing computer-mediated communication (CMC) into English as a foreign language (EFL) learning may increase both intake (exposure) and output (use) of the target language, both of which are necessary for learners to improve their linguistic and pragmatic competence.