Knowledge of Language and Ability for Use

This paper seeks to clarify the notion of competence in language and to draw on its relevance to language teaching practices. It is suggested that Hymes's account of communicative competence as incorporating language beyond grammar and ability as well as knowledge raises problematic issues concerning the analysability and accessibility of knowledge and the scope and application of linguistic rules. A consideration of these issues suggests the possibility that competence for use may involve not so much the generation of expressions by direct reference to rules as the adjustment of pre-assembled and memorized patterns. The ability to use language, therefore, may have to do with access which is relatively independent of the analytic knowledge of grammar as defined in Chomsky's original concept of competence.