ABSTRACT

The dominant, indeed all but universally accepted paradigm in Modern Foreign Language teaching is currently provided by the notion of so-called communicative competence. Writers attempting to present this concept are inclined to refer to Hymes’s (1972) article, itself entitled On Communicative Competence’, in which the character of language used as a social rather than a purely intellectual ability is emphasised. The more erudite among such writers may also refer to such linguistic philosophers as Wittgenstein (1953) who draws attention to the way meaning is defined by use and Austin (1962) and Searle (1969), the titles of whose relevant works (How to do Things with Words and Speech Acts) provide useful slogans to emphasise the main thrust of the language teaching and learning process based on the communicative idea.