How Context Influences Communication

Applied linguists need to reconsider the concept of communicative competence afforded by the means of communication offered by modern technology today. This context includes large volumes of information, multi-modal texts, evolving technologies, etc. So the construct of communicative competence needs to accommodate the fact that communication media exerts an influence in the meaning making process. We need to broaden our constructs of reading and writing to include the affordances of computer, mobile devices, web and internet. Language and literacy skills need to be redefined to adapt to the new media. In short, we need to reconsider communicative competence in the light of technology.

Communicative Language Ability is a theory that takes into consideration the context in which language is used. Here, situational factors are considered important for the specific abilities needed to perform in particular contexts. One should know the register of the context in order to communicate ‘about’ that context. This framework for communicative language ability exists, but need further work in its particulars. For this, one must study contexts of communication, the registers, and the strategic competencies. Since learners will have to have control over these in order to communicate effectively, a teacher/theoretician should understand them well. They are tools for communication today. English speech communities today are becoming more and more specialized niches that use particular registers of their own. Thus further studies need to take lead in this direction.