Predavanje Competence and Performance

Today’s webinar
P is for Performance
Scott Thornbury
@thornburyscott
• performance as usage
• performance as production
• performance as drama
Chomsky, N. (1971) Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton, p. 111.

Phrase structure rules ‘are linguists’ models of a

language user’s knowledge.’
Stewart, T.W. & Vaillette, N. (eds.) (2001) Language Files: Materials for an
introduction to language and linguistics (8th edn.) Columbus: Ohio State
University Press, p. 182.
‘We thus make a fundamental distinction

between competence (the speaker-
hearer’s knowledge of his language) and
performance (the actual use of language
in concrete situations).’
Chomsky, N. (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.

Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, p.4
competence ≠ performance
Crystal, D. & Davy, D (1975) Advanced Conversational Practice.

Harlow: Longman, p. 19.
‘Instead of rejecting what is messy, we accept

the mess and build it into the theory.’
Halliday, M.A.K. (1978) Language as social semiotic: The social

interpretation of language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold, p. 38.
what’s the X with

I mean
I don’t really see
because the X
how much does it cost to X
down the road
Davies, Mark. (2018-) The 14 Billion Word iWeb Corpus. Available online at
https://www.english-corpora.org/iWeb/.
‘Knowledge of a language can be

conceptualised in terms of the metaphor of the
mental corpus. Language is acquired by a
strictly “bottom-up” process, through exposure
to usage events, and knowing a language
consists, not in knowing a battery of rules, but
in accumulated memories of previously
encountered utterances and the generalisations
which arise from them.’
Taylor, J. R. 2012. The mental corpus: how language is represented in the
mind. Oxford University Press.
“If language is learned for worldly use, the learning

process itself must be use-based”.
Churchill, E., Okada, H., Nishino, T., and Atkinson, D. (2010) ‘Symbiotic
gesture and the sociocognitive visibility of grammar in second language
acquisition’. The Modern Language Journal, 94, p. 249.
performance → competence
Presentation
Practice
Production
The production stage:
‘It is a pity that language learning in the

classroom so often stops short at [this stage].
Many teachers feel that they have done their
job well if they have presented the new
material effectively and given their students
adequate, though perhaps controlled, practice
in it. All the same, no real learning can be
assumed to have taken place until the
students are able to use the language for
themselves.’
Byrne, D. (1976) Teaching Oral English. Harlow: Longman, p. 2.
Brumfit, C. 1979. ‘”Communicative” language teaching: an educational perspective”, in

Brumfit, C.J., & Johnson, K. (eds) The Communicative Approach to Language Teaching.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
A presentation methodology is based on the

belief that out of accuracy comes fluency. A
task-based methodology is based on the
belief that out of fluency comes accuracy,
and that learning is prompted and refined by
the need to communicate.’
Willis, D. (1990) The Lexical Syllabus London: Collins ELT. p.128

v
‘A key component of successful learning in contexts

using tasks has been found to be the presence of
feedback associated with repeated practice.’
Bygate, M. (2018) ‘Introduction’ in Bygate, M. (ed.) Learning language

through task repetition. Amsterdam: John Benjamin, p. 11.
Feedback Task
Repeat
Feedback
task
'There is a strong effect for task repetition…

The evidence strongly supports the view that
previous experience of a specific task aids
speakers to shift their attention from
processing the message content to working on
formulations of the message.’
Bygate, M. (2009) Effects of task repetition of the structure and control of

oral language.' In Van den Branden, Bygate, Norris (eds). Task-based
language teaching: a reader. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.270.
Scrivener, J. (2005) Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.

‘Video games operate by a principle of

performance before competence. Players
can perform before they are competent,
supported by the design of the game, the
“smart tools” the game offers, and often,
too, other, more advanced players (in the
game or in chat rooms).’
Gee, J.P. (2007) What video games have to teach us about
learning and literacy. p.218
performance → competence
“Ultimately all the meaning of all words

is derived from bodily experience.”
Malinowksi, B. 1935. Coral Gardens and their Magic, vol. 2. London:

Allen and Unwin, p. 58.
Lapaire, J-R. (2006) La grammaire

anglaise en mouvement. Paris:
Hachette.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZyTkLpy4qU&t=0s
“Language is not only about expressing

meaning, but shaping meaning and
performing meaning.”
Jean-Rémi Lapaire
'The results of our study suggest that the use of

drama techniques in language classrooms can have
a significant impact on L2 oral fluency relative to
other learner-centred communicative language
practices. [Moreover] the drama techniques
employed in our study appear to help learners
develop strategies that are generalisable to a variety
of novel speaking tasks.’
Galante, A. & Thomson, R.I. (2017). 'The effectiveness of drama as an

instructional approach in the development of second language oral
fluency, comprehensibility, and accentedness.' TESOL Quarterly, 51/1:
p.132.
https://handsupproject.org/
Online performance possibilities:
1. Teacher performs – learners respond

2. Individual learners perform, e.g. show and
tell, song, story, poem
3. Learners take turns to perform a scripted
or unscripted role-play/sketch
4. Learners write, rehearse, perform and
record a short play
‘One acquires a language in order to act,

and by acting, in a world where language
is performative. This is exactly why and
how children learn their first language, and
it accounts as well for most of the
second/additional language learning going
on in the world today.’
Atkinson, D. (2002). Towards a sociocognitive approach to second

language acquisition. Modern Language Journal, 86, p. 537.
Thank you
Scott Thornbury
The New A-Z of ELT

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Today’s webinar

Chomsky, N. (1971) Syntactic Structures. The Hague: Mouton, p. 111.

Phrase structure rules ‘are linguists’ models of a

‘We thus make a fundamental distinction

Chomsky, N. (1965) Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.

Crystal, D. & Davy, D (1975) Advanced Conversational Practice.

‘Instead of rejecting what is messy, we accept

Halliday, M.A.K. (1978) Language as social semiotic: The social

what’s the X with

‘Knowledge of a language can be

“If language is learned for worldly use, the learning

‘It is a pity that language learning in the

Brumfit, C. 1979. ‘”Communicative” language teaching: an educational perspective”, in

A presentation methodology is based on the

Willis, D. (1990) The Lexical Syllabus London: Collins ELT. p.128

‘A key component of successful learning in contexts

Bygate, M. (2018) ‘Introduction’ in Bygate, M. (ed.) Learning language

'There is a strong effect for task repetition…

Bygate, M. (2009) Effects of task repetition of the structure and control of

Scrivener, J. (2005) Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.

‘Video games operate by a principle of

“Ultimately all the meaning of all words

Malinowksi, B. 1935. Coral Gardens and their Magic, vol. 2. London:

Lapaire, J-R. (2006) La grammaire

“Language is not only about expressing

'The results of our study suggest that the use of

Galante, A. & Thomson, R.I. (2017). 'The effectiveness of drama as an

Online performance possibilities:

1. Teacher performs – learners respond

‘One acquires a language in order to act,

Atkinson, D. (2002). Towards a sociocognitive approach to second

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