Communicative skills and the evaluation of the reading and writing processes

For Gumperz and Hymes (1982:209), from the point of view of interaction, communicative skills can be defined as: “knowledge of linguistic and communicative conventions in general, that speakers must possess in order to create and maintain a conversational cooperation.” Saville Troike (1989, 1982:21) states that: “Communication skills imply knowledge not only about the linguistic code, but also about what and how to relay a message in an appropriate manner, whatever the given situation. This relates to the social and cultural knowledge of the speakers, which allows them to use and interpret the linguistic forms.

In Colombia, researchers like María Cristina Torrado, Guillermo Bustamante, Sergio Tobón and Eduardo Serrano have studied the concept of skill. From this pint of view, the context and the situation in which the competence develops constitute the dialogical unity that puts knowing above being, knowing how to do and being able to do it, which is the ultimate goal of the comprehensive social education at the University.