The ability to use not only words but strings of sentences to communicate is a mark of which competence?

• A. Fluency
• B. Accuracy
• C. Phonology
• D. Discourse competence

Answer: (D)

This item is about how well you connect ideas across longer stretches of language. Discourse competence means you can take individual sentences and weave them into a coherent, cohesive whole—keeping a clear topic, using linking devices, and referring back to earlier ideas so the overall message makes sense. It’s not just saying things smoothly (that’s fluency), not just being grammatically correct in each sentence (that’s accuracy), and not about the sounds of speech (that’s phonology). When you tell a story, explain a process, or argue a point, you rely on discourse skills to organize your thoughts, signal transitions with connectors, and maintain the thread from start to finish. That broader ability to communicate across multiple sentences is what this option captures best.