Assessment of communicative competence in a foreign language

Abstract

When referring to the academic literature regarding foreign language teaching, the most relevant methodology is the communicative one since it helps the student develop the necessary competence for an efficient communication when interacting in real environments. This competence is known as communicative competence and has been discussed by various authors. The definition used in this paper is based on the one by Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983) and comprises structural competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence and intercultural competence. The purpose of this paper is to propose different strategies for the assessment of each of these competences in an international university context.