Communicative competence.. :)

Jeni D. Bayona          1POL1

Communicative Competence is believed to be the ultimate goal of language learning and teaching. Would standard Philippine English in one way or another, be detrimental to one’s continuing development of communicative competence? Please explain.

No and at the same time, yes. In answering this question, it is not location that needs to be considered. Instead, we should take into account who we are talking to. Since communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs that involves people, then they are the ones that we should actually consider and not anything else. In this way, we can determine if standard Philippine English can be really harmful in our objective of being communicatively competent.

In any situation, we are communicating with only two kinds of people, those who practice standard Philippine English or are at least exposed to it and those that observe another variety of English such as the Australian and British English. The first kind of people is those that have been exposed to standard Philippine English. They are the ones who may have grown up here in the Philippines which is the country of the language. Although it is stated that location is not the main condition by what we should consider in the situation, it is also beneficial. By this, they can be very exposed to the language itself which can greatly contribute to the proficiency of anyone in speaking the language. This is true since people around you would be using the language and familiarization will be acquired at first until learning follows. People who belong to this group are also those who may not be an actual grown-up in the country but individuals who are open to other elements of language learning such as instances when the language is practiced in the house even if the community actually doesn’t. The next group of speakers is the one where the people who belong are those who may have any idea about standard Philippine English at all. It may also include those that are foreigners since they are not exposed to this language and also those who may be Filipinos but doesn’t possess awareness about this language. All on all, they are the people who cannot express themselves in standard Philippine English.

I can straightway say that it cannot detriment to our continuing development of communicative competence if and only if the ones whom we are talking to are exposed to standard Philippine English itself. The standard Philippine English has its own terms that are not accepted or even existing in other varieties of English. Therefore, it is very important for both parties to be well-informed about this situation. If that is the case then, there would be understanding in both factions. If there is understanding then the goal of communicative competence has been reached. Why conclude it as harmful for the development when even the aim of communicative competence has already been reached? Anyway, it is understanding that matters. In this perspective, they have acquired it therefore; the usage of standard Philippine English is not a hindrance to our development only if we are communicating with people who also have the capacity to express themselves just like the way we do it through standard Philippine English.

Since we have here two situations, the next situation’s answer is yes. The next situation is where the communication attempt is between a person who has the ability to express himself through standard Philippine English and a person that is incompetent in the art of conversation by means of the language used by the first speaker. If it would be this way, then our development as a competent communicator would really be affected in an adverse fashion. We have different varieties of English and if we ever communicate with these people observing their own varieties, there would always be misunderstandings in these cases that will not be adhering to communication’s main goal which is to have over-all understanding. Although it doesn’t actually mean totally yes since we have these exceptions in our situation, there will still be terms and words by which the parties won’t agree and would eventually cause wrong ideas to those who are involved. Each variety has its own terms and these are the things that will cause the conflict. At first these may only be minor misunderstanding due to culture gasp and such, but as time goes by and as different factors affect the variance, then that would be the time that it will be concluded as a major-major discord among the bloc. With these, inconsistency from the language itself would arise. Issues questioning its credibility would keep popping up from the minds of the speakers. It will continue until it would be further regarded with negative meaning, suggesting qualms upon the minds of its speakers that will eventually affect their confidence in expressing themselves through the language.

Since understanding is the ultimate goal of language learning and teaching, then, standard Philippine English is not detrimental to one’s continuing development of communicative competence if in the situation: a speaker that has the ability to express himself in the language is conversing to someone with the same knowledge about the language, too. The goal, understanding, will not be exigent to get hold of given that they are sharing the same knowledge that is an element of understanding. And with this situation, the native speaker is self-assured that whatever he says, the receiver would convey correct information and shall not cause them fuss just because of a misinterpreted word. But, if the speaker of standard Philippine English would be talking to someone who is practicing or even an expert in another variety of English, it is the time when he gets most conscious about the way he would speak or what he would speak of. Confidence to express himself in the language that he prefers the most would be lessened and he will be obliged to use terms that he is not even comfortable with. If he already cannot be confident, then doubts would follow-up thus making him uneasy of his self-expression. It will affect his communicative competence through the way of subconsciously restraining the speaker to speak his mind the way he wanted to and warning him about disturbing events that may happen in the future due to these  caveat of committing errors that non-native speakers believe to be wrong for them yet accepted in standard Philippine English itself.