Competence Theories

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 [Page 149]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.