Linguistic competence, Communicative Competence and Interactional Competence

Abstract

Linguistic competence, communicative competence, and interactional competence have had profound impact on second language teaching, learning, and testing. Although a significant number of studies have been conducted on these three competences, they have not been conflated for discussion in a single study. Adding this piece to the jigsaw, the current paper explores all the three competences in more depth. This paper had a twin purpose of 1) providing a historical account of the linguistic, communicative and interactional competences, and 2) reviewing of the literature on them in order to identify gaps, if any, with the intention to propose new research ideas pertinent to the three types of competence. In order to achieve the study aims, intensive literature survey was conducted.  Based on the review of the related studies on linguistic, communicative and interactional competences, this article provides recommendations for effective classroom practice and future research.