Being competent means being skilled at something. In practically all aspects of our lives, we use communication. Having competence in communication determines our success not only in the academic and professional settings but it also influences the quality of our interpersonal relationships. Steven Wilson and Christina Sabee (2003) further explained the importance of studying communicative competence by stating the following:
- within any situation, not all things that can be said and done are equally competent;
- success in personal and professional relationships depends, in no small part, on communicative competence; and
- most people display incompetence in at least a few situations, and a smaller number are judged incompetent across many situations.