Three Components Of Communication Competence

Communication Competence Communication competence is the ability to choose a communication behavior that is both appropriate and effective for a given situation. Interpersonal competency allows one to achieve their communication goals without causing the other party to lose face. The model most often used to describe competence is the component model (Spitzberg & Cupach, 1984) which includes three components: 1) knowledge, 2) skill, and 3) motivation. Knowledge simply means knowing what behavior is best suited for a given situation. Skill is having the ability to apply that behavior in the given context. Motivation is having the desire to communicate in a competent manner.
“Communication competence is the degree to which a communicator’s
goals are achieved through effective and appropriate interaction.” SIX CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE 1. Adaptability (flexibility) a. The ability to change behaviors and goals to meet the needs of interaction b. Comprised of six factors 1. Social experience - participation in various social interactions 2. Social composure - refers to keeping calm through accurate perception 3.
Social confirmation - refers to acknowledgment of partner’s goals 4. Appropriate disclosure - being sensitive to amount and type of info 5. Articulation - ability to express ideas through language 6. Wit - ability to use humor in adapting to social situations; ease tensions 2. Conversational Involvement a. Behavioral and cognitive activity b. Cognitive involvement demonstrated through interaction behaviors c. Assessed according to three factors 1. Responsiveness - knowing what to say, know roles, interact 2. Perceptiveness - be aware of how others perceive you 3. Attentiveness - listen, don’t be pre-occupied 3. Conversational Management a. How communicators regulate their interactions b. Adaptation and control of social situations c. Who controls the interaction ebb and flow and how smoothly the interaction proceeds d. How topics proceed and change 4. Empathy a. The ability to demonstrate understanding and share emotional reactions to the situation b. Need not lead to “helping” the other
person c. Cognitive understanding d. Parallel emotions 5. Effectiveness a. Achieving the objectives of the conversation b. Achieving personal goals c. A fundamental criteria for determining competence 6. Appropriateness a. Upholding the expectations for a given situation b. A fundamental criteria for determining competence |
What is communication competence?
Initially, Spitzberg (1988) defined communication competence as "the ability to interact well with others" (p.68). He explains, "The term 'well' refers to accuracy, clarity, comprehensibility, coherence, expertise, effectiveness and appropriateness" (p. 68). Communication competence is best understood as "a situational ability to set realistic and appropriate goals and to maximize their achievement by using knowledge of self, other, context, and communication theory to generate adaptive communication performances."
Communicative competence is measured by determining if, and to what degree, the goals of interaction are achieved. As stated earlier, the function of communication is to maximize the achievement of “shared meaning.” Parks (1985) emphasizes three interdependent themes: control, responsibility, and foresight; and argues that to be competent, we must "not only 'know' and 'know how,' we must also 'do' and 'know that we did'" (p. 174). He defines communicative competence as "the degree to which individuals perceive they have satisfied their goals in a given social situation without jeopardizing their ability or opportunity to pursue their other subjectively more important goals" (p. 175). This combination of cognitive and behavioral perspectives is consistent with Wiemann and Backlund’s (1980) argument that communication competence is:
The ability of an interactant to choose among available communicative behaviors in order that he (sic) may successfully accomplish his (sic) own interpersonal goals during an encounter while maintaining the face and line of his (sic) fellow interactants within the constraints of the situation. (p. 188)
A useful framework for understanding communication competence was designed by Spitzberg & Cupach (1984) and is known as the component model of competence because it is comprised of three specific dimensions: motivation (an individual’s approach or avoidance orientation in various social situations), knowledge (plans of action; knowledge of how to act; procedural knowledge), and skill (behaviors actually performed).
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The component model asserts that communication competence is mutually defined by the interdependency of the cognitive component (concerned with knowledge and understanding), the behavioral component (concerned with behavioral skills), and the affective component (concerned with attitudes and feelings about the knowledge and behaviors) by interactants in an interpersonal encounter within a specific context.
Rubin (1985) explains that communication competence is “an impression formed about the appropriateness of another's communicative behavior” and that “one goal of the communication scholar is to understand how impressions about communication competence are formed, and to determine how knowledge, skill and motivation lead to perceptions of competence within various contexts” (p.
173).
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Aspects of Communicative Competence Introduction | | Communicative competence is a concept introduced by Dell Hymes and discussed and redefined by many authors. Hymes' original idea was that speakers of a language have to have more than grammatical competence in order to be able to communicate effectively in a language; they also need to know how language is used by members of a speech community to accomplish their purposes. | | The modules in this section identify eight aspects of communicative competence. They are grouped together in two groups of four: | | Linguistic aspects * Phonology and orthography * Grammar * Vocabulary * Discourse (textual) | | Pragmatic aspects * Functions * Variations * Interactional skills * Cultural framework |