STRATEGIC COMPETENCE AS SUBJECT OF LINGUODIDACTIC DISCUSSION

Abstract

The article attempts to resolve the contradictions between various concepts and views on strategic competence demonstrating the author's understanding of the phenomenon. The «STRATEGY» frame covers the sequence of stages of mental activity: goal-setting, planning, selection of necessary moves / tactics, forecasting, regulation and reflection (evaluation of results of activity, implementation of the set goals). In other words, the strategy involves defining the goal, a series of necessary moves (tactics), the means of their implementation, and managing the process of their application and implementation, as well as the anticipated result of the activity. There is not a unanimous interpretation of this phenomenon among scholars when the latter correlate strategic competence with compensatory skills, metacognitive processes and a speech act, together with the process of language learning. The necessity of differentiating between the educational-strategic and communicativestrategic competences is defined, as they reflect two different types of activities – communication and education. The article analyzes the views of the scholars who adhere to communicative-pragmatic, metacognitive and compensatory approaches to the interpretation of strategic competence. The article proves the implausibility of identifying the strategic competence with compensatory one. Communicative-strategic competence is defined as system of knowledge, skills and abilities which presuppose the ability and readiness of the learner to use communication strategies with the purpose to achieve the necessary perlocutionary effect in the process of communicative interaction. It has been proved that the competent speaker should be able to choose the leading communicative strategy aimed at achieving the communicative goal (in speech production) and adequate perception and interpretation of the communicative purpose (in speech reception), to use a series of interrelated and interdependent tactics represented by verbal and nonverbal means of communication. The implementation of the communicative strategy is ensured by psychological processes of goal-setting, planning, management and reflection.