Comparison of Grammatical Competence and Performance - Essay Example

s: Details: Due "Grammatical competence" vs. "Grammatical performance" Grammatical performance refers to how much command one has in a particular language, while grammatical competence refers to how much one knows in a language. Taking Koreans and the use of English language, it will be realized that the command in English language may be a serious problem, despite having knowledge on the language. They may generally be termed to be grammatically competent, but their grammatical performance is relatively low. There are many factors that could have led to the situation as will be realized in the subsequent sections. Considering English and Korea, English is neither a first nor a second language to Koreans. It is not also an official language although it has become necessary in the recent past prompting the government to enforce instructions on it in order to give the knowledge to the nationals for industrial purpose (Brown et al. 10). Grammatical Competence has been a paramount concern for the government to enforce mechanisms for instilling English knowledge. When looking at grammatical competence, knowledge on phonology command in orthography proper use of vocabularies proper word and sentence formation must be under consideration. It may also be viewed as the ability to have recognition for distinctive grammatical language structures and apply them effectively during communication. It applies for all languages depending on an individual’s command. Grammatical competence goes along with using grammatical structures without knowledge or attention while speaking. This is a hugely crucial aspect in communication as wrong use of grammatical structures may lead to misinformation. It has been a problem for me to find Koreans speaking English fluently. However, it is worth appreciating that they have taken progressive steps in acquiring the knowledge of the language. The aspects looked into would include pronunciation as a part of phonetics. The manner of word inflection and function termed as morphology language structure and the order in which they are applied in a sentence most commonly referred to as syntax are given meticulous attention (Brown et al. 745). The application of vocabulary and control on semantics play a part in determining grammatical competence and collectively form the lexis. Cracking the code of linguistics, one has to understand the meaning of words and acquire the language rightfully through appropriate teaching methods. In learning a language, errors must be encountered but perfected through practice and compulsion by the need to speak. Learners may be in a position to know more about the language with an interest to learn it as a second language. Most commonly, a learner who takes a language as a second language may exhibit characteristics of learners as a second language. This occurs in most systems composed of inter-languages which appear to be more dynamic and systematic at the same time. This is realized in the process of receiving more input hence, revision of hypothesis concerning the language being learnt as a second language. Koreans learning English for the first time will have problems in pronunciation and language use in terms of word order and proper sentence construction. This depicts that theirs grammatical performance may be low despite being grammatically competent (Brown et al. 67). Grammar performance, on the other hand, refers to the description and explanation on the judgment on how well a sentence is formed. The language understanding and use may call for an account of the applied syntactic phenomena observed. The syntactic processing may be viewed from a functional or positional stage according to most language production. It may be described as language given a view that utterances produced by a native speaker. The idea that may be held when conceptualizing language typically describes competence. Illustrating with reference to Koreans may record low grammatical performance considering that most of them would not make proper sentences in English. The abstract rule system of a language may not be adhered to during utterance and performance. Use of incomplete sentences hesitations during the utterance and unfinished structures may be expressed due to varied difficulties experienced by the speaker. The factors may include biological limitations regarding breath or memory lapse. In psycholinguistics, these performance limitations are given a keener scrutiny when dealing with systematic construction of sentences. The problem of comprehension and reception may be investigated after issues to do with production are dealt with. Grammar performance may be relative depending on ones culture or area of origin. Koreans are affected by most of these factors including utterances hence; they may be termed to be grammatically incompetent. Studies on theory relating to linguistics looks into the interaction between a speaker and a listener in a homogenous speech communication, thus it determines a perfect command of the language with no grammatically irrelevant situations in the process (Brown et al. 79). The expression of knowledge on the language in real practice without such problems would be termed performance. Competence, on the other hand, points at the appropriate use of language socially. The art of speaking or writing in a particular language with fluency and appropriate use of language; caters for competence in the language in question despite it being a second or first language. To simplify the whole explanation, competence looks into the knowledge of a language while performance involves the use of the language. Performance is related to the interest of psychologists than it would be for the linguists. This difference becomes useful when one studies about a language. Knowledge of a language and its assessment scoring would define an individuals capability and mastery of the said language. Language performance relates lack of the mastery to a given condition which may be mental or physical. Language competence involves organizational and pragmatic competence. Under the organizational competence, textual and grammatical competence must be considered. Pragmatic competence, on the other hand, involves instrumentals and socialistic competence. Strategic competence emerges from knowledge of the world and language competence. Psychological mechanisms can be derived from strategic competence so as to understand the context of a defined situation. Both these are geared towards defining the language function. From the above analysis, it is worth noting that, recognition and production of ones ability can be demonstrated through grammar competence. The internalization of the language helps in running the language "program". There are individuals who may not be highly fluent in a given language. This situation would be described by the term, grammatical performance. For instance, people from the east, in this case Koreans have difficulty in using some words appropriately and constructing sentences well. On the other hand, knowledge of a language without putting much emphasis on the use of words would be referred to as grammatical competence. An example is that some Koreans may know English from their own interest or institutions; the knowledge of English language in this case is being grammatically competent. Work Cited Brown, Gillian, Malmkjaer, Kirsten and Williams, John. Performance and Competence in Second Language Acquisition: applied linguistics non series. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996, print. Read More