communication run well, one should know aware with whom and from where he talks to, so he can use the appropriate strategies in communication. Thus, the next
competence which linked to discourse competence will provide some component that one should know in maintaining communication that is sociocultural
competence. This comprises the non-linguistic, contextual knowledge that communicators rely on to understand and contribute to a given communicative
activity. This aspect competence includes knowledge of, ability to use, the rules, norms and expectations governing the larger social context of the activity.
2.1.3 Sociocultural Competence
Sociocultural competence refers to the speaker‟s pragmatic knowledge, i.e. how to express messages appropriately within the overall social and cultural context of
communication. This includes knowledge of language variation with reference to sociocultural norms of the target language. In fact a social or cultural blunder can
be far more serious than a linguistic error when one is engaged in oral communication Celce-Murcia et al: 1995.. Celce-Murcia argued that the
pedagogical challenge lies in the fact that second and foreign language teachers typically have far greater awareness and knowledge of linguistics rules than they
do of the sociocultural behaviors and expectations that accompany use of the target language. Based on her perspective, even when good cultural descriptions
are available, it is hard to get learners to change their native verbal behaviour based on a new set of assumptions.
Further, Celce-Murcia et al 1995: 23-24 described several sociocultural variables, three of which are most crucial in terms of the current model.
a. Social contextual factors: the participants‟ age, gender, status, social distance
and their relations to each other. b.
Stylistic appropriateness: politeness strategies, a sense of genres and registers.
c. Cultural factors: background knowledge of the target language group, major
dialectsregional differences, and cross-cultural awareness She added that the above competencies can be acquired in part through some
knowledge of the life and traditions as well as knowledge of the history and literature of the target language community. An extended living experience
among members of the target language group is probably the best experience for language acquisition if the learner has adequate basic preparation in both
linguistic and sociocultural competence coupled with good powers of observation. Both linguistic competence and sociocultural competence are the way we know
which strategy that may proper to communicate and how to form words into sentences, so we can convey our intention to the hearer appropriately. Even so, we
cannot make a good communication and may cause the communication fail if we do not know how to convey it well. Thus, the next component of communicative
competence is added by Celce-Murcia et al. in 1995 that is actional competence. Based on Celce-Murcia et al 1995 actional competence refers to the ability to
comprehend and produce all significant speech acts and speech act sets.
2.1.4 Actional Competence
