It was interesting to learn about the different competences. Usually, when we are learning a language, we either focus on the grammar or the vocabulary without thinking about what skill it is actually teaching us besides telling us how to say something in the target language. However, after completing the reading, I realized that everything that are taught has an objective. For instance, when doing a simple exercise of writing a few sentences about myself, I discovered that it involved grammatical competence as the verbs needed to be conjugated properly, discourse competence as the sentences needed to be cohesive, sociolinguistic competence due to the need to use the words which are suitable for my context. Moreover, at times I would look for an objective for learning everything as it made the learning experience more meaningful.
The article also discusses the functions of a language. Although language has the universal purpose of communication, there are many functions of a language. It can be used to cause certain events to happen, it can serve to control events, to convey facts, express feelings and emotions, inquire, give form to our imaginations. Even though I use language for all the functions mentioned all the time, reading about the functions made me appreciate the significance of having a language.
I also found the discussion on pragmatics very intriguing. Growing up in one culture and learning a single language, it is very easy to overlook the implicit communication made in conversations depending on the context. One of the examples mentioned in the reading is the question "Would you like to read?" could have different meanings in different language mainly because of the difference of culture.
This reading has made me aware of the importance of learning about a culture along with the language because of their interdependence.
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