Linguistic competence includes knowledge of phonology, orthography, vocabulary, word formation and sentence formation.
Sociolinguistic competence includes the ability to use language with the appropriate social meaning for the situation of communication (knowing and understanding how to speak in the circumstances you are in). It also deals with the use of the appropriate grammatical forms for different communicative functions in different sociolinguistic contexts.
Discourse competence is the ability to convey information appropriately and coherently, construct long stretches of language, so that parts together make up a whole coherent unit. It also refers to a speaker’s knowledge of the rules governing the language.
Socio-cultural competence is the ability to behave appropriately in the specific situations, to choose the appropriate form of social etiquette, to decode the social code of the partner, to use different vocabulary, to understand the meanings of the words in the definite contexts.
Social competence is the ability of a person to get along with other people.
Strategic competence is a person’s ability to keep communication going when there is a communication breakdown. It means that in case of linguistic, sociolinguistic and discourse difficulties a person uses repetition or request for repetition, paraphrase, clarification, slower speech, mime, pause fillers (er, um, you know),etc.
Aims and content of profile education
The chief aim of the profile education is to prepare the students of the final grades for their future professions. It is necessary for pupils to find their place in life because it is really easy to get lost in the choice of professions. During the last two years of school children will not just study standard blocks of subjects but will have an opportunity to get a deeper knowledge in special disciplines in their areas of studies. It can help university entrants to prepare for the entrance exams and not to think about the subjects they don’t really need. School leavers won’t have to attend additional classes, advanced courses and hire individual instructors. Profile education will relieve young people of such extra strain. Preliminary profiling instruction can help teenagers make their decision.
Profile training is expected to include advanced studies of the disciplines which students are to select themselves as well as optional courses. The program of profile education also includes a practice of combining different subjects, creating a common educational environment based on the usage of information technologies. For example English, History, Computer technologies can be combined to make a special project.