The development of communicative competence cannot be investigated without a consideration of the development of the context in which communica tion takes place. Contexts are elaborated historically, and constituted by the interplay of language, self-concepts, and social structure. The motivation of elaboration is ecological. Communicative competence is characterised as the level of control an individual exercises over the implications embedded in language, self-concept and social structure. These points are illustrated by a consideration of (1) historical examples of human conduct, and (2) contemporary studies of communicative development.
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