Guo-Ming Chen. Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. Editor: Stephen W Littlejohn & Karen A Foss. Sage Publications. 2009.
Although competence has been examined from different disciplines and perspectives, it can be simply conceptualized as an individual’s ability to interact appropriately and effectively with another person in a specific context. As a basic need of human beings, competence can be understood as the extent to which a person produces the intended effect in the process of interaction. The concept is usually discussed by social scientists and communication scholars under several generic categories, including fundamental competence, linguistic competence, social competence, interpersonal competence, and relational competence.
Fundamental competence concerns the cognitive ability that helps individuals communicate effectively in different situations; social competence emphasizes a person’s specific skills that lead to an effective interaction; linguistic competence focuses more on the knowledge of and the ability to execute language and messages in the process of interaction; interpersonal competence is more goal oriented and concerned with the individual’s ability to accomplish tasks by demonstrating certain successful communication skills; and relational competence highlights the importance of the reciprocal process of interaction, in which the interactants are able to establish relationships with each other to achieve goals. However, all these generic categories can be put under the concept of communication competence.
Debates about Communication Competence
Although the definition of competence is commonly accepted, debates continue to exist among scholars regarding whether competence is a trait, state, or perception. The trait approach argues that competence is an inherent predisposition or ability; thus some people are born to be more competent than others. The state approach argues that competence is based on performance or behavioral skills, which are influenced by the particular context, time, or place of interaction. The perception approach argues that competence is neither an intrinsic trait nor extrinsic skills but is the perception or impression resulting from the characteristics and behaviors of the interactants within the relational or interactional context of a communication interaction.
In addition to these debates about the essential nature of competence, another conceptual ambiguity related to defining competence is the use of competence and effectiveness in similar and overlapping ways. Because effectiveness mainly refers to behavioral performance, and competence requires appropriateness, which is based more on individual knowledge about or motivation toward the situation to complete its meaning, competence and effectiveness should not be used interchangeably. Instead, effectiveness should be considered one of the criteria in conceptualizing competence.
Theoretical Approaches
An array of theories have been developed to conceptualize the diversity of approaches to competence, including psychological, social, and critical. Theories of communication competence from the psychological perspective basically focus on message processing and production. The psychological perspective of communication competence emphasizes the individual’s mental process underlying behaviors. In 2003, Steven Wilson and Christina Sabee specified expectancy theories and attribution theories as the two categories of communication competence theories for message processing; these theories concern how people attend to, interpret, and evaluate communicative behaviors in interaction. Wilson and Sabee described goals-plans-action theories and hierarchical theories as the two categories of theories for message production; they concern goal attainment through the process of generating and enacting communicative behaviors.
Theories of communication competence from the social perspective emphasize the relational, functional, and contextual nature of competence. Represented by dialectic theories of human relationship, the social perspective of communication competence takes a dialectical and dialogical stance to examine the change and multiplicity of communicative behaviors in interaction.
The critical perspective for studying communication competence is a less advanced area, drawing on the critical metatheoretical approach developed by Jürgen Habermas. Based on the belief that truth is embedded in the universal pragmatic relations between speech acts, between speakers, and between speech situations, this perspective claims that the emancipated form of life must be anticipated in every act of communication. Thus, competence can be reached only in an open and unconstrained communication context. In other words, communication competence refers to the authentic, accurate, and appropriate exchange of messages in the absence of a dominance-subordination hierarchical structure of social relationship. This approach shows its potential strength when identifying competence in the context of intercultural communication.
Common Themes
The theories contained within each of these perspectives are often incompatible in terms of approaches to communication competence; nonetheless, examining the common themes that cut across these differences is important to a comprehensive understanding of competence. These common themes, based on the criteria of effectiveness and appropriateness as valid indicators of competence, dictate that communication competence should comprise three dimensions: cognitive, affective, and behavioral abilities.
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive abilities are reflected in the individual awareness of relevant communication situations and their requirements. This situational understanding may include knowing the verbal context, in which one should know how to make sense in terms of expression; knowing the relationship context, in which one should know how to match the messages to the particular relationship at hand; and knowing the environmental context, in which one should know the constraints imposed by the symbolic and physical environments on message making. This cognitive knowledge is equivalent to self-awareness or self-monitoring in the process of communication. Self-awareness or self-monitoring helps one detect the social appropriateness of self-presentation and to further control and modify one’s own expressive behaviors to meet the requirements of particular situations.
Affective Elements
The affective perspective of competence mainly concerns personal emotions or changes in feelings caused by different communication contexts or people involved in the interaction. In other words, to be competent in communication, the individual must be able to project and receive positive emotional responses in the process of interaction and demonstrate respect for differences between interactants. Scholars have identified five common personal attributes that reflect affective ability: self-concept, empathy, open-mindedness, social relaxation, and nonjudgment.
Self-concept is the way we see ourselves, which directly impacts how a person communicates and relates to the surrounding world. A person with positive self-concept, especially self-esteem, is more likely not only to think well of himself or herself and be accepted by others, but also to feel more comfortable and perform better in an ambiguous situation. Other aspects of self-concept, including optimism, extroverted personality, and self-reliance, also contribute to the enhancement of communication competence.
Empathy, or perspective taking, is the ability to see the event from one’s counterpart’s perspective during the interaction. Empathic persons are able to project themselves into another person’s point of view and feel the same feelings and think the same thoughts as that person. Being able to step into another person’s shoes in order to sense what is inside another person’s mind helps the individual adopt different roles as required by different communication contexts, which in turn leads to reciprocity, active listening, and the establishment of rapport between the interactants.
Open-mindedness is the willingness to share with others what is on one’s mind. It also is the willingness to recognize, appreciate, and accept different views and ideas from others. This process of mutual validation and confirmation of each other’s identity is key to fostering a favorable impression in an interaction.
Social relaxation is the ability to regulate anxiety in interactions. A feeling of uneasiness is caused by the uncertainty or unpredictability that is created by an ambiguous situation during an initial encounter. A less competent person tends to feel insecure psychologically when entering a new situation, in which the social anxiety may lead to rigid posture, hesitation, speech disturbances, and limited communication.
Finally, being nonjudgmental is an effective way to avoid stereotypes and prejudices that prevent a person from listening sincerely and actively to others during the interaction. In this regard, a lack of communication competence is reflected in a person’s tendency to hastily jump to conclusions in conversation without sufficient information. Such evaluative messages often lead to defensive reaction from one’s counterparts, putting the interaction and the relationship in jeopardy. In contrast, being nonjudgmental fosters a feeling of enjoyment of personal differences and allows for the development of a satisfactory and supportive communication climate.
Behavioral Aspect
The behavioral aspect of competence is a dimension that concerns the ability to attain communication goals through effective application of behavioral skills. Such skills are demonstrated by adroit verbal and nonverbal behaviors that enable an individual to get the job done effectively and appropriately in communication. Five key factors of competent behavioral skills have been identified by scholars: message skills, interaction management, behavioral flexibility, identity management, and relationship cultivation.
Message skills form the foundation of linguistic competence in communication. They demand the knowledge of linguistic rules and the ability to skillfully use verbal and nonverbal language during the interaction. For example, the effective use of communication codes, the ability to identify and distinguish main ideas and message types, and the capacity for organizing, expressing, and evaluating ideas clearly and precisely are important behavioral skills that lead to a competent communication.
Interaction management is the ability to implement the interactional rules of verbal and nonverbal messages, which mainly refers to conversational turn taking. A competent person is able to make an accurate assessment of the needs of others in order to appropriately initiate, terminate, and take turns in interaction. In other words, in the process of initiating and terminating a conversation, a competent person indicates interest, tolerance, and the ability to orient toward the others in the interaction. A successful interaction management also involves affiliation and support through speech alternation, eye contact, head nods, smiling, and physical proximity, which will naturally manifest the personal abilities of attentiveness, perceptiveness, and responsiveness in terms of communication.
Behavioral flexibility shows a person’s ability to adapt to different communication situations by selecting appropriate and effective strategies to achieve personal goals in interaction. Behavioral flexibility is accompanied by a comfortable feeling when interacting with different people in different contexts. In addition to feeling easy and relaxed about getting along with new people and fitting in with different groups of people, a person with behavioral flexibility is also good at making choices in terms of messages to mark the status and relationship of the people involved in the interaction.
Identity management is based on the ability of knowing oneself as an entity, and at the same time being able to inform the counterparts about who they are. Identity cannot be developed alone by oneself; instead, it is formed through the process of negotiation and reinforcement between the interactants in communication, which reflects a dynamic and multifaceted process. Thus, how to display the salience and intensity of each other’s identity in different temporal and spatial situations is the sine qua non of being competent in communication.
The last factor of the behavioral aspect of communication competence is the ability to develop a positive relationship with others. Relationship cultivation is dictated by the independent and reciprocal interactions between the two parties; only through this dimension can one’s needs be satisfied and a positive outcome of interaction be attained. Usually, being friendly, showing concern and commitment, and displaying courtesy and cooperativeness during the interaction will ensure the development of a beneficent relationship.
Assessment of Communication Competence
A final issue for the study of communication competence that needs to be addressed is how to assess communication competence. Scholars have taken three approaches to resolving this problem: (1) soliciting data from individuals through self-assessment of their own abilities, (2) training raters to provide objective and reliable observations of interactants’ behaviors, and (3) soliciting interactants’ views of their counterparts’ communication abilities in communication. The issues and methods of the assessment of communication competence were organized and discussed in depth by Brian Spitzberg in 2003, providing clear direction for future researchers interested in pursuing this specific area of study.