COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN LANGUAGE TEACHING (LT)

This paper describes the notion of communicative competence in language learning, and it relates the discussion to the application of the theory of communicative competence to the teaching of English as a foreign language, especially to the one we are now doing at the State University of Medan in English language and literature Department. There are four main components of communicative competence namely (1) Grammatical Competence, (2) Sociolinguistic Competence, (3) Discourse Competence, and (4) Strategic Competence. Every component of communicative competence gives some contribution to the language learners and makes them aware of developing their English in terms of linguistic competence and linguistic performance. Linguistic competence is understood in terms of acquiring knowledge of language structure. Linguistic performance is understood in terms of using and expressing the linguistic forms.