Communication Competence: a Malaysian Perspective

Human Communication. A Publication of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association. Vol. 11, No. 3, pp.303 – 312.

Communication Competence: A Malaysian Perspective

Lailawati Mohd Salleh, PhD Faculty of Economics and Management Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 Serdang, Selangor Malaysia Email: [e-mail]

304 Communication Competence

Introduction Communication competence has been studied in a diverse array of scholarship such as human-computer interaction, marketing, gerontology, institutional contexts, conflict, and intercultural relations (for more, see Wilson & Sabee, 2003). Interesting to note though, despite this vast literature, communication competence lacks definitional consensus (Jablin & Sias, 2001; Wilson & Sabee, 2003). Even though a plethora of studies on communication competence exist, scholars studying the concept are still perplexed with what constitutes communication competence and also there are others who express concern about the lack of theory (Wilson & Sabee, 2003). Tracing the related literature on communication competence might provide some insights into the underlying elements of communication competence. This essay attempts to put forth those elements. Definitions of the Term For decades, linguists have been interested in the notion of competence (Cooley & Roach, 1984). Chomsky’s (1965) earlier conception that competence is “the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language” (p. 4) omits performance which to Hymes (1972) lacks the interactional (behavioral) element of communication. Based on this critique, Hymes (1972) offers a description of communication competence as:
I should take competence as the general term for the capability of a person. Competence is dependent on both (tacit) knowledge and (ability for) use. … The specification of ability for use as part of competence allows for the role of noncognitive factors, such as motivation, as partly determining competence. In speaking of competence, it

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