La formation aux compétences langagières : pour un réexamen des rapports entre langues et discours

This article first summarizes the history of the notion of competence, showing that it emerged simultaneously in linguistics and in the field of labor, with two different meanings. It then examines the multiple and diverse definitions of this notion and argues for an understanding of competence restricted to the processes involved in the praxeological dimension of activities. The article then deals with the conceptions of linguistic competences put forward in the field of didactics of language. After commenting the different problems raised by these theories, the article refers to several themes of the Saussurean conception of language, as it is reconstructed at present, in order to work out an alternative conception of linguistic competence, as a process involved in the interactions between internal language, normative language and discourse. Finally, on this basis, the article reexamines the objectives of language teacher training and of language student education, introducing several proposals for reconsidering the function of gnoseological aspects (i.e. knowledge) and praxeological aspects (i.e. competences) in the teaching and learning of language.