Reflection Paper (optional)

[Jocelyne Rodriguez]

Jocelyne Rodriguez
Response Paper 2

Language carries more than just a direct meaning of words but also a sense of what is appropriate for certain scenarios. Different forms of speech are acceptable (or expected) under different circumstances. There are many social informal rules that dictate how one should address certain people or what constitutes formal and informal language. In the case of Portuguese, there are different norms that dictate what is appropriate for different scenarios across different cultures. For example, in Brazil there is no use of the informal second person (you) but instead only the formal form of ‘you’ is used. Meanwhile, in Portugal both the informal second person and the formal second person are used and so you have to be able to distinguish when each of them is used. Furthermore, there are certain words that carry underlying meanings that are not evident to language learners who are not familiar with the culture of the target language and it is very easy to offend someone or come across as rude simply because one is not familiar with cultural practices and expectations in the language. It is important for language learners to keep in mind that cultural practices and expectations of what is acceptable do not always translate across cultures and languages. In other words, it is important to become informed about the culture in countries where the target language is spoken in order to be able to determine the appropriate way of using the language. Language learning includes not only learning grammatical rules but the cultural meanings behind expressions and the ability to understand and adapt to a different cultural standard of evaluation for meaning.
According to H.D. Brown, Communicative competence refers to competence that enables us to convey and interpret messages and to negotiate meanings interpersonally within specific contexts. CC is not so much an interpersonal construct but rather a dynamic, interpersonal construct that can be examined only by means of the overt of two or more individuals in the process of communication. Communicative competence then can be improved through the study of functional meaning of expressions during communication with others rather than the simple knowledge about different language forms and patterns.
Other kinds of competences from the readings by H.D. Brown that I need to consider to make tangible advances in my linguistic abilities include grammatical competence. This competence includes knowledge of lexical items, rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics, and phonology. Grammatical competence can improve the proper use of formal speech and aid by providing rules that serve as language guidelines. Another important competence is discourse competence, which enables us to connect sentences in a meaningful way to create significant utterances. Moreover, as discussed in the first part of this paper, sociolinguistic competence is also very important since it provides the knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language and discourse. Lastly, strategic competence is a useful competence for language learners as it provides strategies to compensate for imperfect knowledge of rules.