ABSTRACT
Wiemann created the Communicative Competence Scale (CCS) to measure communicative competence, an ability “to choose among available communicative behaviors” to accomplish one’s own “interpersonal goals during an encounter while maintaining the face and line” of “fellow inter-actants within the constraints of the situation”. The CCS appears to be internally consistent. Wiemann reported a.96 coefficient alpha for the 36-item revised instrument. Two studies found evidence of construct validity. Various studies have provided evidence of concurrent validity. In addition, Cegala et al. compared 326 college students’ CCS and Interaction Involvement Scale scores. Although this scale has existed for a number of years and the original article has been cited numerous times, relatively few research studies have actually used the CCS. Spitzberg (1988, 1989) viewed the instrument as well conceived, suitable for observant or conversant rating situations, and aimed at “normal” adolescent or adult populations, yet Backlund found little correlation between peer-perceived competence and expert-perceived competence when using the CCS.
