Shuttling Communicative Competence to the 21st Century

Abstract

This paper examines English’s linguistic imperialism and the resulting widespread use of the language among speakers of various linguistic backgrounds. It challenges the mistaken belief that native speakers (NS) are inherently better at speaking English simply due to their birthplace. Despite the growing number of non-native speakers (NNSs), English is still taught, learned, and marketed as if primarily used for communication with NSs, on account of being based on the concept of communicative competence and deeply rooted in native-speakerism. The paper argues that it is inappropriate to project this model to NNSs and advocates a redefinition of communicative competence, in favor of language proficiency and intelligibility. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new framework for assessing spoken mastery in social and pedagogical contexts, challenging traditional views on language ownership and teaching practices. The paper will explore the implications of this new approach and provide practical recommendations for practicing teachers.