Example of Total Physical Response - M A final Year

study skills-MA Final year

Study skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. They are generally critical to success in school, considered essential for acquiring good grades, and useful for learning throughout one's life.

There are an array of study skills, which may tackle the process of organizing and taking in new information, retaining information, or dealing with assessments. They include mnemonics, which aid the retention of lists of information, effective reading and concentration techniques^[2], as well as efficient notetaking.

While often left up to the student and their support network, study skills are increasingly taught in High School and at the University level. A number of books and websites are available, from works on specific techniques such as Tony Buzan's books on mind-mapping, to general guides to successful study such as those by Stella Cottrell.

More broadly, any skill which boosts a person's ability to study and pass exams can be termed a study skill, and this could include time management and motivational techniques.

Study Skills are discrete techniques that can be learned, usually in a short time, and applied to all or most fields of study. They must therefore be distinguished from strategies that are specific to a particular field of study e.g. music or technology, and from abilities inherent in the student, such as aspects of intelligence or learning style.

Historical context

The term study skills is used for general approaches to learning, skills for specific courses of study. There are many theoretical works on the subject, and a vast number of popular books and websites. Manuals for students have been published since the 1940s

In the 1950s and 1960s, college instructors in the fields of psychology and the study of education used research, theory, and experience with their own students in writing manuals.^[4][5] Marvin Cohn based the advice for parents in his 1979 book Helping Your Teen-Age Student on his experience as a researcher and head of a university reading clinic that tutored teenagers and young adults.^[6] In 1986, when Dr. Gary Gruber’s Essential Guide to Test Taking for Kids was first published, the author had written 22 books on taking standardized tests. A work in two volumes, one for upper elementary grades and the other for middle school, the Guide has methods for taking tests and schoolwork.^[7][8]

Types of study skills

Methods based on memorization such as rehearsal and rote learning

One of the most basic approaches to learning any information is simply to repeat it by rote. Typically this will include reading over notes or a textbook, and re-writing notes.

Methods based on communication skills e.g. reading and listening

The weakness with rote learning is that it implies a passive reading or listening style. Educators such as John Dewey have argued that students need to learn critical thinking - questioning and weighing up evidence as they learn. This can be done during lectures or when reading books.

One method used to focus on key information when studying from books is the PQRST method.^[9] This method prioritizes the information in a way that relates directly to how they will be asked to use that information in an exam. PQRST is an acronym for Preview, Question, Read, Summary, Test.^[10]

1. Preview: the student looks at the topic to be learned by glancing over the major headings or the points in the syllabus.
2. Question: then questions to be answered once the topic has been thoroughly studied are formulated.
3. Read: reference material related to the topic is read through, and the information that best relates to the questions is chosen.
4. Summary: the student summarizes the topic, bringing his or her own ways of summarizing information into the process, including written notes, spider diagrams, flow diagrams, labeled diagrams, mnemonics, or even voice recordings.
5. Test: then the student answers the questions created in the question step as fully as possible, avoiding adding questions that might distract or change the subject.

There are a variety of studies from different colleges nation-wide that show peer-communication can help increase better study habits tremendously. One study shows that an average of 73% score increase was recorded by those who were enrolled in the classes surveyed

Methods based on cues e.g. flashcard training

Flash Cards are visual cues on cards. These have numerous uses in teaching and learning, but can be used for revision. Students often make their own flash cards, or more detailed index cards - cards designed for filing, often A5 size, on which short summaries are written. Being discrete and separate, they have the advantage of allowing students to re-order them, pick a selection to read over, or choose randomly to for self-testing.

Methods based on condensing information, summarising and the use of keywords

Summary methods vary depending on the topic, but most involve condensing the large amount of information from a course or book into shorter notes. Often these notes are then condensed further into key facts.

Organized summaries: Such as outlines showing keywords and definitions and relations, usually in a tree structure.

Spider diagrams: Using spider diagrams or mind maps can be an effective way of linking concepts together. They can be useful for planning essays and essay responses in exams. These tools can give a visual summary of a topic that preserves its logical structure, with lines used to show how different parts link together.

Methods based on visual imagery

Some learners are thought to have a visual learning style, and will benefit greatly from taking information from their studies which is often heavily verbal, and using visual techniques to help encode and retain it in memory.

Some memory techniques make use of visual memory, for example the method of loci, a system of visualising key information in real physical locations e.g. around a room.

Diagrams are often underrated tools. They can be used to bring all the information together and provide practice reorganizing what has been learned in order to produce something practical and useful. They can also aid the recall of information learned very quickly, particularly if the student made the diagram while studying the information. Pictures can then be transferred to flash cards that are very effective last minute revision tools rather than rereading any written material.

Methods based on acronyms and mnemonics

A mnemonic is a method of organizing and memorizing information. Some use a simple phrase or fact as a trigger for a longer list of information. For example, the points of the compass can be recalled in the correct order with the phrase "Never Eat Shredded Wheat". Starting with North, the first letter of each word relates to a compass point in clockwise order round a compass.

Methods based on exam strategies

The Black-Red-Green method (developed through the Royal Literary Fund) helps the student to ensure that every aspect of the question posed has been considered, both in exams and essays .^[11] The student underlines relevant parts of the question using three separate colors (or some equivalent). BLAck denotes 'BLAtant instructions', i.e. something that clearly must be done; a directive or obvious instruction. REd is a REference Point or REquired input of some kind, usually to do with definitions, terms, cited authors, theory, etc. (either explicitly referred to or strongly implied). GREen denotes GREmlins, which are subtle signals one might easily miss, or a ‘GREEN Light’ that gives a hint on how to proceed, or where to place the emphasis in answers

Methods based on time management, organization and lifestyle changes

Often, improvements to the effectiveness of study may be achieved through changes to things unrelated to the study material itself, such as time-management, boosting motivation and avoiding procrastination, and in improvements to sleep and diet.

Time management in study sessions aims to ensure that activities that achieve the greatest benefit are given the greatest focus. A traffic lights system is a simple way of identifying the importance of information, highlighting or underlining information in colours:

• Green: topics to be studied first; important and also simple
• Amber: topics to be studied next; important but time-consuming
• Red: lowest priority; complex and not vital.

This reminds students to start with the things which will provide the quickest benefit, while 'red' topics are only dealt with if time allows. The concept is similar to the ABC analysis, commonly used by workers to help prioritise. Also, some websites (such as FlashNotes) can be used for additional study materials and may help improve time management and increase motivation.

Ramamurti Committee -M A Finalists

Ramamurti Committee

The National Policy of Education 1986 has implied that all children, irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex, have access to elementary education of a comparable quality. While reviewing the implementation of this policy, the Ramamurti Committee (1990) considered the development of Common School System (CSS) to be “very vital component of overall strategy for securing equality and social justice in education” (in Chakraborty: 2006).  Bihar has taken the lead in starting the process of adopting a uniform educational system and has constituted a Common School System Commission (CSSC) to look into its long term implementation. The three member commission is to submit report within nine months and will focus on ways to introduce the CSS that aims at providing uniform education without discrimination based on one’s economic condition to all boys and girls of the state.

It is important to recall the Education Commission (1966) recommendation that put forward the concept of neighbour-hood schools for equitable quality education for all children. But with the growing number of private schools and deteriorating standard of government schools led to the delocalization of schooling in search of better quality education. Only either poor or marginal people send their children to government schools or those who could not secure admission of their children in these schools for one reason or other. The recommendation of the above commission is the terms of reference for the CSS Commission.

The government has also nurtured the concept of differential treatment in schooling for different categories of children in terms of Kendriya Vidyalayas(KVs), Sainik Schools, Navodaya vidyalayas (NVs)  etc.  However noble the mission of the government may be in opening such schools but they make these exclusive systems inconsistent with the common school system.  The Acharya Ramamurti Report also criticized the NV school system as it was very costly and inconsistent with the idea of common schooling for all. Each school should be developed into quality school only then the concept of neighbour-hood schooling can get voluntary materialization. Otherwise there is only one way left and that is to send all children to government designed common school i.e. forcing all to study in schools where the government wants them to study.

Ramamurti Report on Education in Retrospect Amrik Singh In May 1990 the National Front government appointed a committee under Acharya Ramamurti to go into the distortions in the country's educational system. The committee's report outlines its principal concerns as equity and social justice, decentralisation of educational management, establishment of a participative social order, inculcation of enlightened and humane values and empowerment for work. This paper undertakes a detailed evaluation of the contents of the report.

Error analysis and remedial teaching for M.A Finals

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of error analysis in specifying and planning remedial treatment in second language learning. Part 1 discusses situations that demand remedial action. This is a quantitative assessment that requires measurement of the varying degrees of disparity between the learner's knowledge and the demands of the situation. This leads to the qualitative assessment of the knowledge lacking in the learner, as measured against the language of the situation. Part 2 discusses the nature, scope, and problems of error analysis. Of fundamental importance are: a deep analysis of type of error and reasons behind it; an understanding of the process of second language learning; and a description of the learner's model of the target language, as a basis for remedial treatment. A final conclusion is that the study of the learner's model needs refinement, as it can now reveal information only about the learner's code, not about his communicative competence. (AM)

Remedial Teaching | What is Remedial Teaching?

Remedial Teaching (RT) means that help is offered to pupils who need (pedagogical/didactic) assistance. These are often children who function at a lower than average level because of a certain learning- or behavioural problem/disorder, but RT can also be offered to pupils who achieve at a higher than average level, they too can do with the extra attention and care. The best known learning disorder is dyslexia.

The parents of children with a learning- and/or behavioural disorder/problem have their own association: "Balans" (balance).

The help includes the pupil who is being put forward for RT to the remedial teacher (rt ‘er) is examined by means of an intake conversation, checks, tests and/or observations. The rt’er tries to form a picture of the pupil also by way of talks with the group teacher and the parents in order to discover where the problem lies. When this is clear (diagnosis) a therapy plan is drawn up. In a therapy plan it states amongst others which aims should be achieved. The treatment that ensues is called remedial teaching. It is help that is completely specialized in the problem of the pupil, it is custom-made.

The therapy plan is drawn up for a fixed period of time. Remedial teaching is usually given during 6 weeks to 3 months, once or twice a week at school or in the remedial teacher's own practice. The aim being that the pupil can join his own group again after this period of time (or possibly after a continuation).

Remedial teaching is offered at many schools. However, a school is allowed to establish its own priorities and is not obliged to offer R.T.. There has to be a course of care though, the organization of which is determined by the whole team, although the directives and rules are laid down by the Ministery of Education an Science (OC&W).

There is a clear distinction between remedial teaching and coaching. Coaching is a repetition of lessons already offered before (re-teaching).

RT in short:

·         individual counselling (also in small groups)

·         working systematically: observing, diagnosing, remedy, evaluation

·         working purposefully and intensively with a pupil or pupils

·         custom-made help following from a request for help

·         acquiring skills in order to deal with learning problems/-disorders

·         seeing to it that the pupil can remain at his/her school

·         making a plan that can be used in the group when the RTer is absent

·         providing information to the child and the persons involved (below)

·         REMEDIAL TEACHING

·         Remedial teaching is to ensure the desired quality of learning. It is very essential for ensuring effective learning and in improving the quality of education. It is a ty peof teaching aimed at correcting errors or addressing gaps in knowledge. The teacher, like the physician, uses test instruments to find out the difficulties in English language learning.Therefore, diagnostic test provides a detailed picture of strengths and weaknesses in the areas of students¶ learning.The stages of diagnostic testing are: Identifying the students who need help,locating the error/learning difficulties, and discovering the causal factors. After locating the areawhere the difficulty lies, as a teacher we should devise some strategy to overcome the problemsin learning. Therefore r emedial education teachers should be trained to tailor their classes to awide range of different learning styles. They should assess each student's individual proficiencylevel and then create a plan for that student's learning. From time to time during the classes,teachers should evaluate the progress of individual students and modify their learning plan asneeded. Thus, teachers help each student improve their self-confidence throughout the course of the program.

·         Remedial teaching for slow learners 

·         REMEDIAL TEACHING is identifying slow learners and giving them the necessary guidance tohelp them overcome their problems, after identifying their areas of difficulty. Contrary to what issaid, remedial teaching is done perfunctorily without identifying their areas of difficulty andunderlying cause for lagging behind. Some students are unsympathetically branded as `block heads' without an earnest attempt to know the real cause of their slow learning.Slow learnersWho is a slow learner? In the present system of education, students are identified as slowlearners purely on the basis of their poor performance in the examination, which, in most casesdeviates from what is taught. Consequently even talented students are sometimes misconstruedas dullards. So, a slow learner is one whose performance is very dismal in the examination. He isneither mentally retarded nor is on the lower rungs of intelligence scale.The reasons for some students learning slowly are innumerable. One of the main reasons is the`no detention system' at the primary and upper primary level. Students are promoted to higher classes on the basis of attendance, even if they score low marks. The heterogeneous composition(mental age & physical age) of over crowded classes in all government run schools and privateschools also produces slow learners. So the incapacity of the teacher to pay individual attentionto a student over a long period makes a student a slow learner. A slow learner is thus a product of negligence of school at different stages of learning, inspite of his innate capacity to learn.There are some problems very specific to the individual. Ill health, lack of concentration, lessexposure to the subject taught and parental background are some causative factors for slowlearning. Talents differ. A childs capacity to learn different subjects varies from student tostudent. For instance, learning mathematics is a knack. All students do not do well inmathematics just as they do in other subjects. While other subjects can be learnt at any stage, it is

very difficult for students to learn mathematics without the basics. Students show interest in thesubjects they like and neglect other subjects if not taken care of. An urban child learns languageslike English well while a rural child cannot, however well the teacher tries to explain.Remedial measuresLearning takes place from simple to complex. If for some reason the student has not learnt the basics, it is futile to teach him the advanced topics. Remedial teaching is not revising the topicstaught repeatedly. Careful analysis of the students' performance in the examination anddiagnosing the areas of difficulty are key aspects in remedial teaching. Once the difficult areasare identified, the next task is to plan the learning experiences to teach the basics to understandthe given topic.Teachers often feel that what has not been learnt at the primary level, cannot be taughtsimultaneously with the prescribed topics at the secondary level as they are busy completing thesyllabus. Experience shows that once the basics are taught, the learning process is acceleratedand the slow learners comprehend and grasp the given topics of the class, since they have alreadyattained the mental age.In government run residential schools in Andhra Pradesh and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayasnation wide, the students are admitted in class VI based on a selection test consisting of a varietyof questions to test intelligence and aptitude of the students.It has been observed that many students thus selected do not possess the basics which they aresupposed to learn at the primary level. But these schools have produced excellent results over theyears by introducing bridge courses in their academic planning.Subjects like physics pose difficulty for students when compared to biology. In biologicalsciences, students can see and find meaning in what they study. Whereas physics is somewhatintricate and difficult for students without good knowledge of mathematics. Poor performance in physics can be remedied by first teaching the required basic mathematical operations. Sometimeslanguage becomes a barrier for students to understand the vast areas in subjects like geography.The innumerable new words used to describe various phenomena baffle the students. Students donot find these words in English language textbooks although they learn English language to pursue others subjects in an inter- disciplinary approach. The teacher has to explain all the wordsand their usage related to his subject before he teaches the concept.The new words used in questions could confuse students and elicit wrong answers from them.Students should be exposed to a variety of questions with antonyms and synonyms - all thewords used to frame a question to test the topic taught. Merely tagging the slow learners with bright students or segregating them into separate sections will not help the slow learners. Slowlearners harbour themselves unobtrusively in the group of bright students.Students learn a lot from the peer group. Unconscious learning does not take place if students aresegregated. Keeping the slow learners in the peer group of bright students and paying individualattention to them by the teacher will enable them to overocme their difficulties.

Student is central in the learning process. The learning experiences should be activity-orientedand the teaching should motivate and create interest in the student to learn on his own. Whengroup discussions are held in the classroom, the slow learners are benefited much.Suitably tailored lesson plan by the teacher and careful monitoring by the school administrationwill help slow learners have a better grasp of all lessons in schools.Y. SREEDHAR RAO

NEED AND UTILITY OF DIAGNOSTIC TESTING

Diagnostic tests are useful to the teachers of English for many reasons. They help theteachers toa)Identify pupils who make slow progress inEnglish language learning,b) Identify the causes of slow progress amongpupils,c) Locate specific weaknesses in an area of Englishlearning,d) Identify the specific areas which needremediation,e) Ascertain the basis for planning remedialteaching in an area of linguistic skills,f) Provide proper feedback to pupils,g) Place the pupils properly in the learning processof English,h) Hasten the process of English language learning,i) Heighten the efficiency of teaching learningprocess, j) Modify and adjust methods of providing learningexperiences.PROCEDURE TO FRAME DIAGNOSTIC TESTSThe procedure to frame diagnostic tests involves two steps. They are- A) Analysis of complex performance into its component sub skills. For ex:- Thecomponent of µIndirect narration¶ are ±



Understanding the dialogue from together with reporting verbs and reportedspeech.



Understanding the correct reference of pronouns use in reported speech.



Recognizing the types of sentences used in the reported speech.



Recognizing the tense used in the reported speech.



 Ability to modify pronouns, tense forms reporting verbs, and sentenceconstructions.



Skill to use proper punctuation marks.B) Developing tests for each of the component skills.

The second step involved in developing diagnostic tests is to frame suitable test itemsfor each minute skill in the sub skill of a learning area. There should be many test itemsso that the entire area of sub skill is covered. Generally objective type of test items arepreferred and while doing so all the norms of objectives test items should be followed.

ADMINISTRATION OF DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

 Administration of diagnostic tests is similar to that of administration of unit tests andachievement tests. However, some precautions must be taken. They are as followsa)Introduction by the teacher:- The purpose of the diagnostic test should be clarifiedto the pupils.b) Proper instructions to pupils:- Proper instructions regarding the method of answering the questions should be given.c) Time limit: Generally, no time limit is prescribed for diagnostic tests so that eachpupil works at his own speed.

CONCEPT OF REMEDIAL TEACHING

Diagnostic testing and remedial teaching go hand in hand. Diagnostic testing ismeaningless and useless without remedial teaching.µTo remedy¶ means to cure against a defect. Therefore, remedial teaching is providinginstructional corrective ness. It is a process of filling in the gaps in the previous learning,a process of removing distortions that have crept into pupils learning. It is a type of instruction through which errors are corrected and repetition of earlier flows isprevented.It is a purposeful effort to reinforce the forgotten ports introduced earlier. To sum up, itis an instructional effort to upgrade underachievers by remedying their errors.Need and utility of remedial teaching:Remedial teaching is useful to pupils and teachers because of following reasons.a) It fills in the gaps that have crept into pupil¶s learning.b) It provides for reinforcement of the parts or structures that are forgotten due todisuse.c) It rectifies the concepts in English that have been misunderstood.d) It provides correct and necessary foundation which is useful for future learning.e) It hastens the process of English language learning.f) Underachievers are promoted to put in more efforts to update their learning as aresult of which there is homogeneity in the class.Procedure of organizing remedial teaching:Procedure of organizing remedial teaching involves four steps. They areA)Classification of underachievers:The pupil¶s who commit similar errors in an area of English learning can be groupedtogether.B) Principles to be followed:For effective remedial teaching, following maxims should be followed.a) Some errors and unaccepted norms creep into learning because of factors like lackof motivation, poverty, bad health, ineffective teaching. Therefore, sympathetictreatment is a must. It is a part of remedial teaching.b) Emotional security should be provided to the pupils.c) Accuracy of diagnosis and correct classification should be ascertained.d) Multi-media approach should be used.

e) Skills of reading and writing should be developed together with good studyhabits.C) Selection of correctives:Selection of correctives depend on the nature of errors and causes of those errors.e.g. Errors might be caused due to inadequate learning in the past and therefore re-teachwould become necessary.D) Use of correctives:Once a diagnosis is made, classification of pupils is properly made and correctives areproperly selected, the correctives can be put to use. Correctives can be appliedindividually i.e. one pupil at a time or to a group. The teachers who take up the remedialteaching should have a suitable attitude and skill remedial teaching cannot be equate todaily teaching. It is a compensatory teaching.Evaluation of outcomes from remedial teaching:-Evaluation is said to be a continuous process. Therefore, effectiveness of correctives,methods used and the difference in achievement in an area of underachievementshouldbe evaluated. The diagnostic test given earlier to detect flows can be treated as thepretest.The same test can be used as the ost-test.The average scores of two tests can be compared. A significant difference betweenthe two average score would mean that application of correctives and use of methodshave resulted in remediation. If not, suitable modifications are needed. Thus, evaluationrefers not only to average scores but every aspect of diagnosis and remediation

Communicative competence for M.A Final Years students

Communicative competence

Communicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately.

The term was coined by Dell Hymes in 1966,^[1] reacting against the perceived inadequacy of Noam Chomsky's (1965) distinction between competence and performance.^[2] To address Chomsky's abstract notion of competence, Hymes undertook ethnographic exploration of communicative competence that included "communicative form and function in integral relation to each other".^[3] The approach pioneered by Hymes is now known as the ethnography of communication.

Debate has occurred regarding linguistic competence and communicative competence in the second and foreign language teaching literature, and scholars have found communicative competence as a superior model of language following Hymes' opposition to Chomsky's linguistic competence. This opposition has been adopted by those who seek new directions toward a communicative era by taking for granted the basic motives and the appropriateness of this opposition behind the development of communicative competence.

Use in education

The notion of communicative competence is one of the theories that underlies the communicative approach to foreign language teaching

Canale and Swain (1980) defined communicative competence in terms of three components: grammatical competence: words and rules

1. sociolinguistic competence: appropriateness
2. strategic competence: appropriate use of communication strategies

Canale (1983) refined the above model, adding discourse competence: cohesion and coherence

A more recent survey of communicative competence by Bachman (1990) divides it into the broad headings of "organizational competence," which includes both grammatical and discourse (or textual) competence, and "pragmatic competence," which includes both sociolinguistic and "illocutionary" competence.^[6] Strategic Competence is associated with the interlocutors' ability in using communication strategies (Faerch & Kasper, 1983; Lin, 2009).

Through the influence of communicative language teaching, it has become widely accepted that communicative competence should be the goal of language education, central to good classroom practice.^[7] This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority. The understanding of communicative competence has been influenced by the field of pragmatics and the philosophy of language concerning speech acts as described in large part by John Searle and J.L. Austin

Linguistic competence is the system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language, it is in contrast to the concept of Linguistic performance, the way the language system is used in communication. The concept was first introduced by Noam Chomsky^[1] as part of the foundations for his Generative grammar, but it has since been adopted and developed by other linguists, particularly those working in the generativist tradition. In the generativist tradition competence is the only level of language that is studied, because this level gives insights into the Universal Grammar, that generativists see as underlying all human language systems. Functional theories of grammar tend to dismiss the sharp distinction between competence and performance, and particularly the primacy given to the study of competence.
According to Chomsky, competence is the 'ideal' language system that makes it possible for speakers to produce and understand an infinite number ^{[nb 1]} of sentences in their language, and to distinguish grammatical sentences from ungrammatical sentences. This is unaffected by "grammatically irrelevant conditions" such as speech errors.^[1]

Competence versus performance

"Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community, who knows its (the speech community's) language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of this language in actual performance." ~Chomsky,1965^[1]
Chomsky differentiates competence, which is an idealized capacity, from performance being the production of actual utterances. According to him, competence is the ideal speaker-hearer's knowledge of his or her language and it is the 'mental reality' which is responsible for all those aspects of language use which can be characterized as 'linguistic'.^[2] Chomsky argues that only under an idealized situation whereby the speaker-hearer is unaffected by grammatically irrelevant conditions such as memory limitations and distractions will performance be a direct reflection of competence. A sample of natural speech consisting of numerous false starts and other deviations will not provide such data. Therefore, he claims that a fundamental distinction has to be made between the competence and performance.^[1]
Chomsky dismissed criticisms of delimiting the study of performance in favor of the study of underlying competence, as unwarranted and completely misdirected. He claims that the descriptivist limitation-in-principle to classification and organization of data, the "extracting patterns" from a corpus of observed speech and the describing "speech habits" etc. are the core factors that precludes the development of a theory of actual performance.^[1]

Competence and components of grammar

One's competence is defined by the grammar,^{[nb 2][3]} or set of language rules, that is represented mentally and manifested based on his or her own understanding of acceptable usage in a given linguistic idiom. Therefore, grammatical competence defines an innate knowledge of rules rather than knowledge of items or relations. According to Chomsky, it is regarded to be innate because one does not have to be trained to develop it and will still be able to apply it in an infinite number of unheard examples.^[4]
The core components of the grammar are included in the speaker's linguistic competence and these components corresponds to five of the major subfields of linguistics:

• Phonetics: The physical production and perception of the inventory of sounds used in producing language.
• Phonology: The mental organization of physical sounds and the patterns formed by the way sounds are combined in a language, and the restrictions on permissible sound combinations.

E.g.: slip vs *slib and *sbill

• Morphology: The identification, analysis and description of units of meaning in a language. One will know the inflectional and derivational morphology present in the language, such as the affixes of words.

E.g.: re-cuddle can be derived but not *re-rich

• Syntax: The structure and formation of sentences. One can distinguish between grammatical sentences and ungrammatical sentences.

E.g.: My hair needs washing is acceptable but not *My hair needs wash

• Semantics: Understanding the meaning of sentences. This is also how a user of the language is able to understand and interpret the non-literal meaning in a given utterance. They are three distinctions drawn here:

(i) Meaningful and non-meaningful sentences

E.g.: The accident was seen by thousands is meaningful but not *The accident was looked by thousands

(ii) Same structure but different meanings

E.g.: The cow was found by the stream but not *The cow was found by the farmer

(iii) Different structures and still be able to relate the meanings

E.g.: The police examined the bullet.

The bullet was examined by the police.

Schools of thought

Chomsky and Generative Grammar

Chomsky's perspective of language learning basically revolves around the idea that all humans have an internal capacity to acquire language. In other words, it implies that this ability to learn and analyze linguistic information is universal and innate, and Chomsky likened it to a language acquisition device, being a result of human evolution.^[5] One of the key figures quoted by Chomsky as a spark for his ideas included Wilhelm von Humboldt who advocated the "creative" aspect of language and that a grammar must be existent to describe the process that makes a language possible to "make infinite use of finite means".^[1] Another key figure is Ferdinand de Saussure and his idea of langue and parole but however, Chomsky rejects Saussure's notion of langue as "merely a systematic inventory of items" but rather chooses to conceptualize a model of underlying competence regarded as "a system of generative processess".^[4] Another major influence is René Descartes whose concern with the creative powers of the mind leads him to regard human language as an instrument of thought.^[4]
A generative grammar is a finite set of rules that could hypothetically produce an infinitive number of utterances. It enables humans to generate all kinds of sentences and never to produce an ungrammatical sentence.^[5] In Chomsky's own words:
"...by a generative grammar I mean simply a system of rules that in some explicit and well-defined way assigns structural descriptions to sentences."^[1]
Chomsky's notion of linguistic competence is purely syntactic.

Other generativists

Linguistic competence is treated as more comprehensive term for lexicalists, such as Jackendoff and Pustejovsky, within the generative school of thought. They assume a modular lexicon, a set of lexical entries containing semantic, syntactic and phonological information deemed necessary to parse a sentence.^{[6] [7]} In the generative lexicalist view this information is intimately tied up with linguistic competence. Nevertheless, their models are still in line with the mainstream generative research in adhering to strong innateness, modularity and autonomy of syntax.^[8]
 Ray S. Jackendoff
Ray S. Jackendoff's model deviates from the traditional generative grammar in that it does not treat syntax as the main generative component from which meaning and phonology is developed unlike Chomsky. According to him, a generative grammar consists of five major components: the lexicon, the base component, the transformational component, the phonological component and the semantic component. ^{[nb 3][9]} Againsting the syntax-centered view of generative grammar(syntactocentrism), he specifically treats phonology, syntax and semantics as three parallel generative processes, coordinated through interface processes. He further subdivides each of those three processes into various "tiers", themselves coordinated by interfaces. Yet, he clarifies that those interfaces are not sensitive to every aspect of the processes they coordinate. For instance, phonology is affected by some aspects of syntax, but not vice versa.

James Pustejovsky

In contrast to the static view of word meaning (where each word is characterized by a predetermined number of word senses) which imposes a tremendous bottleneck on the performance capability of any natural language processing system, Pustejovsky proposes that the lexicon becomes an active and central component in the linguistic description. The essence of his theory is that the lexicon functions generatively, first by providing a rich and expressive vocabulary for characterizing lexical information; then, by developing a framework for manipulating fine-grained distinctions in word descriptions; and finally, by formalizing a set of mechanisms for specialized composition of aspects of such descriptions of words, as they occur in context, extended and novel sense are generated.^[10]

Katz & Fodor

Katz and Fodor suggests that a grammar should be thought of as a system of rules relating the externalized form of the sentences of a language to their meanings that are to be expressed in a universal semantic representation, just as sounds are expressed in a universal semantic representation. They hope that by making semantics an explicit part of generative grammar, more incisive studies of meaning would be possible. Since they assume that semantic representations are not formally similar to syntactic structure, they suggest a complete linguistic description must therefore include a new set of rules, a semantic component, to relate meanings to syntactic and/or phonological structure. Their theory can be reflected by their slogan "linguistic description minus grammar equals semantics".

Functionalist critiques of the generativist concept of Competence

Functionalist linguists forward a usage-based perspective on linguistic competence. They argue that linguistic competence is derived from and informed by language use, performance, taking the directly opposite view to the generative model.
 As a result, in functionalist theories emphasis is placed on experimental methods to understand the linguistic competence of individuals.
An argument used by functionalist linguists against the strict division between competence and performance and the primacy of competence, is that a language theory based on an autonomous level of competence encounters difficulties when trying to explain language change and grammaticalization, which can only be explained as changes in performance directly causing changes in the competence level.
 Another common critique of the generativist concept of competence is that the underlying presupposition that the felicity of grammatical constructions is judged based only on its relation to competence is incorrect and does not fit the data from actual usage where the felicity of an utterance often depends largely on the communicative context.
 Functionalist theorists have also argued that the competence/performance distinction basically serves to privilege data from certain linguistic genres and socio-linguistic registers that are judged by speakers to be more prestigious, while discounting evidence from low-prestige genres and registers as being simply mis-performance.
 Cognitive grammar, one of several functionalist theoretical frameworks, was developed by Ronald Langacker to understand language as a result of cognitive mechanisms and processes and not from the grammar of the language.^[3] Within this school of thought, linguistic competence involves the ability to adequately construct and fully understand expressions by means of language itself and additional resources such as memory, intentionality, general knowledge etc. It also includes our knowledge to make abstractions, which allows us to conceive of words in isolation.^[8]

Competence in Psycholinguistics

Psycholinguistics is primarily concerned with language as a psychological phonomenon  It provides insights into how we assemble our own speech and writing and how we understand that of others; into how we store and use vocabulary; into how we manage to acquire language in the first place.^[19] According to experimental linguist N.S. Sutherland, the task of psycholinguistics is not to confirm Chomsky's account of linguistic competence by undertaking experiments. It is by doing experiments, to find out what are the mechanisms that underlie linguistic competence.^[20] Psycholinguistics generally do not see the distinction between performance and competence to accurately reflect the empirical data, but tend to prefer usage based theories.^[21]
There are 3 important elements of psycholinguistics that are used to describe the mechanisms underlying our language understanding and production.
(i) The language signal
This refers to all forms of language expression, such as writing and speech, which are generated and perceived by language users. The most striking characteristic of the language signal is its perceptual invariance, both in writing and in speech, as there is always a salient and stable form that stands out against its physical environment. In our perception of such forms, gaps are closed, and irregularities are overlooked.
 (ii) Operations of our neuropsychological system
The operations of our neuropsychological systems determine how language signals are perceived and generated. For both speech and writing, there are two very different sorts of biological system involved. Speech involves auditory pathways from sensory organs to the brain then the vocal tract whilst writing involves motor pathways from sensory organs to the brain followed by the hand-arm system. However, they do have a similarity in that both involve short pathways to the central processing areas in the brain, regarded as the central language area.^[18]
(iii) Language System
This is more abstract than the first two since it may be implemented even when we are not using palpable language signals at all, as in silent verbal reasoning, contemplation of our language and general language knowledge .^[18]

Communicative competence

Another functionalist theory advances the notion of communicative competence, which focuses on socially-situated performance, was developed by Dell Hymes in response to the abstract nature of linguistic competence.^[22][23] Communicative competence is also sometimes referred to as pragmatic or sociolinguistic competence, especially when the emphasis is on how to interpret the speaker's intended meaning in a particular utterance, apart from the literal meaning.^[24]
The major criticism towards Chomsky's notion of linguistic competence by Hymes is the inadequate distinction of competence and performance. Furthermore, he commented that it is unreal and that no significant progress in linguistics is possible without studying forms along with the ways in which they are used. As such, linguistic competence should fall under the domain of communicative competence since it comprises four competence areas, namely, linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic.^[25]

Related areas of study

Linguistic competence is commonly used and discussed in many language acquisition studies. Some of the more common ones are in the language acquisition of children, aphasics and multilinguals.

Child language

The language development of a child since birth to the time when he or she is able to utter full sentences is much studied. One view, strongly advocated by Chomsky, is that this ability is innate and that a universal grammar governs the human language system. He proposes the language acquisition device (LAD), which is able to encode the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures in a child's brain. Children can then learn new vocabulary and apply the syntactic structures from the LAD to form sentences. His idea of the universal grammar thus, indicates that this theory can be extended to other languages such that all of them contain nouns, verbs, consonants and vowels and children appears to be 'hard-wired' to acquire the grammar.^[26]
Another view, held by scientists specializing in Language acquisition such as Tomasello argues that young children's early language is concrete and item-based which implies that their speech is based on the lexical items known to them from the environment and the language of their caretakers. In addition, children do not produce creative utterances about past experiences and future expectations because they have not had enough exposure to their target language to do so. Thus, this indicates that the exposure to language plays more of a role in a child's linguistic competence than just their innate abilities.^[27]

Aphasia

Further information: Aphasia

Aphasia refers to a family of clinically diverse disorders that affect the ability to communicate by oral or written language, or both, following brain damage. It is an umbrella concept combining a multiplicity of deficits involving one or more aspects of language use.^[28] In aphasia, the inherent neurological damage is frequently assumed to be a loss of implicit linguistic competence that has damaged or wiped out neural centers or pathways that are necessary for maintenance of the language rules and representations needed to communicate. The measurement of implicit language competence, although apparently necessary and satisfying for theoretic linguistics, is complexly interwoven with performance factors. Transience, stimulability, and variability in aphasia language use provide evidence for an access deficit model that supports performance loss.^[29]

Multilingualism

The definition of a multilingual ^{[nb 4]} is one that has not always been very clear-cut. In defining a multilingual, the pronunciation, morphology and syntax used by the speaker in the language are key criteria used in the assessment. Sometimes the mastery of the vocabulary is also taken into consideration but it is not the most important criteria as one can acquire the lexicon in the language without knowing the proper use of it.
When discussing the linguistic competence of a multilingual, both communicative competence and grammatical competence are often taken into consideration as it is imperative for a speaker to have the knowledge to use language correctly and accurately. To test for grammatical competence in a speaker, grammaticality judgments of utterances are often used. Communicative competence on the other hand, is assessed through the use of appropriate utterances in different setting.^[24]

Understanding humour

Language is often implicated in humor. In relation to the generative grammar, the relationship between deep structure and surface structure can be easily demonstrated by the structural ambiguity of sentences which is a key source for jokes. For instance Groucho Marx's line from Animal Crackers: One morning I shot an elephant in my pyjamas; how he got into my pyjamas I'll never know. The humor aspect lies in the fact that the surface structure of the main sentence expresses two possible grammatical sentences, in my pyjamas I shot an elephant and I shot an elephant who was wearing my pyjamas. Hence, the discrete unit in my pyjamas plays a different grammatical role in the deep structure of the sentence.^[4]
Propositions by linguists such as Victor Raskin and Salvatore Attardo have been made stating that there are certain linguistic mechanisms (part of our linguistic competence) underlying our ability to understand humor and determine if something was meant to be a joke. Raskin puts forth a formal semantic theory of humor, which is now widely known as the semantic script theory of humor(SSTH). The semantic theory of humour is designed to model the native speaker's intuition with regard to humor or, in other words, his humor competence. The theory models and thus defines the concept of funniness and is formulated for an ideal speaker-hearer community i.e. for people whose senses of humor are exactly identical. Raskin's semantic theory of humor consists of two components - the set of all scripts available to speakers and a set of combinatorial rules. The term "script" used by Raskin in his semantic theory is used to refer to the lexical meaning of a word. The function of the combinatorial rules is then to combine all possible meaning of the scripts. Hence, Raskin posits that these are the two components which allows us to interpret humor