Glossary of Terms:

 

Coherence: it means the connection of ideas at the idea level, and cohesion means the connection of ideas at the sentence level. Basically, coherence refers to the “rhetorical” aspects of your writing, which include developing and supporting your argument (e.g. thesis statement development), synthesizing and integrating readings, organizing and clarifying ideas. Retrieved from: http://www.bothell.washington.edu/wacc/for-students/eslhandbook/coherence

 

Cohesion: refers to the degree to which sentences (or even different parts of one sentence) are connected so that the flow of ideas is easy to follow. To achieve good cohesion, you need to know how to use "cohesive devices", which are certain words or phrases that serve the purpose of connecting two statements, usually by referring back to what you have previously written or said. Retrieved from: http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/WRITING_BLOG_4.htm

 

Communicative Approach: The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language. Retrieved from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/communicative-approach

 

Discourse Analysis: Discourse can be defined in three ways:

• Language beyond the level of a sentence

• Language behaviours linked to social practices

• Language as a system of thought

Discourse Analysis (DA) is a modern discipline of the social sciences that covers a wide variety of different sociolinguistic approaches. It aims to study and analyse the use of discourse in at least one of the three ways stated above, and more often than not, all of them at once. Analysis of discourse looks not only at the basic level of what is said, but takes into consideration the surrounding social and historical contexts.  Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/discourse-analysis/what-is-discourse-analysis

 

Discursive Competence: Discourse competence is generally a term referring to the ability to understand and express oneself in a given language. Experts point out that there are different varieties of discourse competence that measure different aspects of communication. An examination of this subject shows how well an individual can communicate in a given context. The word “discourse” is a general one that covers conversations and other kinds of communication involving multiple parties. Retrieved from: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-discourse-competence.htm

 

Grammatical correctness: To say that a sentence is grammatical is to say that it conforms to the rules of English grammar as found in the way in which native speakers normally use the language and, in the case of Standard English, as codified in various academic works of grammar such as ‘The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English’ and ‘The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language’. Retrieved from: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/55533/can-grammatical-mean-grammatically-correct

 

Pragmatics: It looks beyond the literal meaning of an utterance and considers how meaning is constructed as well as focusing on implied meanings. It considers language as an instrument of interaction, what people mean when they use language and how we communicate and understand each other.  It is also:

• the study of the practical aspects of human action and thought.

• the study of the use of linguistic signs, (words and sentences), in actual situations.

Jenny Thomas [1] says that pragmatics considers:

• the negotiation of meaning between speaker and listener.

• the context of the utterance.

• the meaning potential of an utterance.

Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/all-about-linguistics/branches/pragmatics/what-is-pragmatics

 

Pragmatic Competence: Pragmatic Competence refers to the ability to use language appropriately in different social situations.  It is true to say that there is no correct way to use language; however, we can certainly define what is appropriate use of language in different circumstances.  What do we mean by different circumstances? Below are some ways to differentiate circumstances:

• Purposes for communicating, often referred to as functions, e.g., inviting, apologizing

• Relative status of those communicating

• Topic area about which participants are communicating, e.g. general, business, computing, medicine

• Situation, which refers to a physical location, e.g., in a bank, at the airport, in a restaurant

To communicate appropriately in these circumstances, whether using spoken or written language, we use an appropriate register, which may refer to level of formality, e.g., ‘Give me the book!', ‘Would you mind giving me the book?'  Register also refers to lexis in specific fields, e.g., jargon. Retrieved from: http://elearning.la.psu.edu/aplng/802/lesson-3/5.2-four-areas-of-communicative-competence

 

Sense-making Structures:  It refers to structures that make sense out of meaning for a speaker and a listener.  It describes how speakers form word meaning and not and how listeners interpret the meaning of what they hear. Retrieved from: http://www.mqup.ca/making-sense-out-of-meaning-products-9780773542051.php

 

Textual Competence: One kind of competence in discourse is often called textual competence. This is basically a measure of how well an individual can read different texts and understand them. Different kinds of text include fiction and nonfiction, narratives, instructional guides, and other types of written communications, like transcriptions of recorded conversations or technical materials. The better readers can understand these texts, the more textual discourse competence they have. Retrieved from: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-discourse-competence.htm

 

 

 

                       [1] Thomas, Jenny., (1995). Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman.