It concludes both the knowledge about the language and the knowledge about how to use the language appropriately in communicative situations. Speakers not only have to know functional meaning of the language but also the social context where the message is given.
There are five components of communicative competence: linguistic competence, pragmatic competence, discourse competence, strategic competence, and fluency.
Linguistic competence is concerned with knowledge of the language itself, its form and meaning. Pragmatic competence refers to the appropriate use of the language in social context. That is to say, the choice of the vocabulary and structure depends on the setting, the relative status of the speakers, and their relationships. Discourse competence refers to one‘s ability to create coherent written text or conversation and the ability to understand them. Strategic competence is similar to communication strategies. It refers to strategies one employs when there is communication breakdown due to lack of resources. Fluency means one‘s ability to link units of speech together with facility and without strain or inappropriate slowness or undue hesitation.