Communication competence is not one competence, but many competencies, and goes well beyond the proverbial message delivery skills commonly associated with the term.  From a liberal arts perspective, communication competence can include such things as conflict resolution skills, integrative problem solving, how to deal with cultural styles in conflict, understanding how knowledge is constituted in communicative interaction, how to develop group climate, assuming roles in collaborative dialogue, how to use difference in perspective to build consensus, etc.  The capacity for skilled social discourse is among the signal attributes of the educated person, both encompassing and enacting what it means to be fully human.

Communication competence is therefore the seasoned capability for speech that allows each of us to relate to one another in the fullest and most productive ways.

Communication competence distinguishes itself from mere tool knowledge  in two ways:  1.) as a higher order human skill that encompasses and constitutes the human relations that define us, and 2.) it melds or knits together theory and practice in a way that is distinctive of humanist education. <e.g.>

No one class or semester can begin to encompass the vast array of competencies that fall under this acquired capacity, but students can be sensitized to its many aspects, to be reflective about its practices, and to be challenged to become its life-long student.