Linguistic competence is a person's knowledge of the
forms of a language. This knowledge is not sufficient
for communication because communication involves a
knowledge of appropriate ways to use the language, that
is, when to say what to whom. A part of this total
capacity which may be termed 'social competence' is the
knowledge and ability to create and maintain a harmonious
atmosphere in social interaction.
� Social competence is acquired as a person grows up
in a given society, learning to play different roles. In
social interaction, social competence enables a person to
live up to the expectations of these roles, and to act in
such a way as to satisfy the interests of others in
exchange for satisfaction of his own. One of the
individual's interests in interaction is 'face': a desire
for freedom from imposition and for appreciation. The
preservation of a harmonious atmosphere in social
interaction largely depends on how well the interactants
preserve their own and each other's face. Certain speech
acts are intrinsically face threatening, so mitigating
strategies must be used to redress these acts.
Owing to the differences in social values and
personal relations in different societies, Chinese speakers
of English may not perceive the threat to face involved in
doing certain acts in the same way that English native
speakers would perceive it. As a result, they may
unwittingly threaten native speakers' face. Moreover,
Chinese speakers may not be able to use mitigating
strategies appropriately and may therefore be unable to
maintain the desired harmonious atmosphere in
interaction with native speakers of English.
Therefore, in addition to learning the forms of
English language, Chinese speakers should be encouraged
to develop social competence, by learning the target
language culture and by practising the appropriate
polite strategies in social interaction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219497 |
| Date | January 1983 |
| Creators | Zheng, Zhong, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Liberal Studies |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Zhong Zheng |
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