Analyze a Communicative Language Task:

Describe symptoms to a pharmacist in order to get an appropriate medication

Linguistic competence (Knowing the language itself, its form and meaning: spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, word formation, grammatical structure, sentence structure, etc)

· Learners to work on their vocabulary to be able to explain their needs.

· Grammar (putting words in the correct order, pronunciation, sentence structure, question formation)

Pragmatic competence (Ability to use language appropriately in a social context)

· Learners need how intonation works to translate the correct meaning (for example, there’s no intonation in Spanish questions)

· Specific vocabulary to express politeness, respect and other feelings (“Please forgive me” instead of “I’m sorry”)

· Grammar (for example, when we use imperative mood for commands – “Open the window” or use the modal verb Could to make polite requests.

Discourse competence (Competence concerned with the cohesion and coherence of sentences/utterances)

· Learn to begin and close the dialogue

· Learn to use linking words to show the relationships between the sentences

· Learn how to produce more complex sentences. Very often non-English speakers produce a lot of simple sentences and ignore tenses that native speakers use quite often ( Present and Continuous, for example)

· Learn commonly used introductory phrases to keep the conversation cohesive. (“What I’m trying to say is…”, “As well as that…”

Strategic competence ( Knowing how to cope in an authentic communicative situation” and how to keep the conversation going ( Canale & Swain, 1980in Hedge, 2012, p.52))

· In case the learner needs to answer more specific questions, they will need to know how express hesitation or doubt (“Let me think about it”, “I actually doubt …”)

· Learn how to use fillers and redundant language when necessary (“Well you know…”, “Well to be honest…”)

Fluency (Being able to “link units of speech together with facility and without strain, or undue hesitation” (Hedge, 2012, p.54))

· Learn to produce long responses

· Learn to use cohesive features in their speech