Conclusion glossary References Introduction The actuality of the theme of the course work

The usage of discourse competence and the

main ways to develop it
Interactive technologies can be characterized by the presence of a dialogue, exchange of
opinions and arguments for and against the disputable matter. Any lesson based on discussion is
effective if the participants have basic knowledge of the issue and if a teacher has planned the main
stages and key points in advance. During the planning stage a teacher chooses and formulates an
issue, plans ways of stimulating and monitoring participants’ activity. He must prepare necessary
equipment to record students’ ideas. When the discussion starts, the teacher performs as an
intermediary. It is very important to perceive different points of view on a particular problem, to
have his own opinion, to be able to make conclusions and evaluate achievements. You can use
various techniques of introducing the topic to the audience: describe problematic situation, put
problem questions, show video, role play of the situation, presenting a few opinions on an issue.
A discussion should comprise different points of view which at the end evolve the decision.
One effective kind of discussion is a “round- table” technique. 10-15 students are seated
around the table and discuss a particular problem. A host has a leading role; it can be a student or a
teacher. The aim of the activity is not to find a final solution, but to discuss the problem, collect as
much information as possible, realize the importance of solving the problem, find ways to reach the
goals. When students sit at a round table, they have eye contact with all members of discussion,
everyone feels involved and equally important. It stimulates conversation, increases the number of
utterances and encourages using non-verbal means of communication (miming, gestures).
A “round-table” technique can be combined with a role play or a business play.
Project method is a complex of research, data processing and other activities carried out by
students on their own or in small groups with a view to practical or theoretical solution of a
significant problem. Project-based learning involves a fundamentally different philosophy of
building the educational process through students’ purposeful activity in accordance with personal
interest and goals.
It is obvious that the project method opens up opportunities for students to express
themselves, to identify their skills and to outline future professional activity. In other words, the
student receives an opportunity to try and test himself in different areas, to reveal something
intimate and interesting and focus at his desires, strengths and abilities. And, most importantly, all
his activities are focused on the formation of his thinking, which is based on personal experience.
He shares responsibility for his own development, the level of training for self-employment in the
future.
Method of projects always provides a solution to some problem. A solution to the problem
involves, on the one hand, the use of combination of various methods and means of education, and
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 71 55
on the other - the need for the integration of knowledge and skills from different fields of science,
engineering, technology and creative areas. The main objectives of project-based learning are:
- creating the conditions in which students independently and willingly acquire the missing
knowledge from different sources;
- learning to use the acquired knowledge to solve practical and cognitive problems;
- acquiring communication skills by working in different groups;
-developing their research skills (the ability to identify problems, gather information,
observations, experiments, analysis, construction of hypotheses, generalizations);
- developing systematic thinking.
In foreign methodical literature there are the following stages of the project:
- defining a project theme, a problem, objectives;
- discussing a project structure, composing a plan;
- presenting language material;
- collecting information;
- analyzing and discussing data in groups with a teacher;
- preparing presentation;
- demonstration of project results;
- evaluation of a project.
The last phase includes not only control of mastering linguistic material and development of
speech and communicative competence, but also an overall assessment of the project, which
concerns the content of the project, the theme, the final result, the participation of individual
students in the organization of the project work and so on.
Project-based learning involves essentially the use of a wide range of research techniques,
important for the student, on the one hand, and on the other, for the development of the problem
holistically, taking into account a variety of factors and conditions for its solution and
implementation of results. Project-based learning has been widely used in many countries around
the world, mainly because it allows you to seamlessly integrate students' knowledge from different
areas around the solution of a problem, makes it possible to apply this knowledge in practice, at the
same time generating new ideas. As it was mentioned before, at the heart of the project there is
some problem. To solve it, students need not only knowledge of the language, but also the
possession of a large amount of subject knowledge, necessary and sufficient to deal with the
problem. In addition, students must possess certain intellectual, creative, communicative abilities.
They include the ability to work with information, with a text (highlight the main idea, search for
the right information in a foreign language text), to analyze information, make generalizations,
conclusions, etc., the ability to work with a variety of reference material. Formation of these skills is
the aim of teaching different types of speech activity.
Interactive technologies can be characterized by the presence of a dialogue, exchange of
opinions and arguments for and against the disputable matter. Any lesson based on discussion is
effective if the participants have basic knowledge of the issue and if a teacher has planned the main
stages and key points in advance. During the planning stage a teacher chooses and formulates an
issue, plans ways of stimulating and monitoring participants’ activity. He must prepare necessary
equipment to record students’ ideas. When the discussion starts, the teacher performs as an
intermediary. It is very important to perceive different points of view on a particular problem, to
have his own opinion, to be able to make conclusions and evaluate achievements. You can use
various techniques of introducing the topic to the audience: describe problematic situation, put
problem questions, show video, role play of the situation, presenting a few opinions on an issue.
A discussion should comprise different points of view which at the end evolve the decision.
One effective kind of discussion is a “round- table” technique. 10-15 students are seated
around the table and discuss a particular problem. A host has a leading role; it can be a student or a
teacher. The aim of the activity is not to find a final solution, but to discuss the problem, collect as
much information as possible, realize the importance of solving the problem, find ways to reach the
goals. When students sit at a round table, they have eye contact with all members of discussion,
everyone feels involved and equally important. It stimulates conversation, increases the number of
utterances and encourages using non-verbal means of communication (miming, gestures).
A “round-table” technique can be combined with a role play or a business play.
Project method is a complex of research, data processing and other activities carried out by
students on their own or in small groups with a view to practical or theoretical solution of a
significant problem. Project-based learning involves a fundamentally different philosophy of
building the educational process through students’ purposeful activity in accordance with personal
interest and goals.
It is obvious that the project method opens up opportunities for students to express
themselves, to identify their skills and to outline future professional activity. In other words, the
student receives an opportunity to try and test himself in different areas, to reveal something
intimate and interesting and focus at his desires, strengths and abilities. And, most importantly, all
his activities are focused on the formation of his thinking, which is based on personal experience.
He shares responsibility for his own development, the level of training for self-employment in the
future.
Method of projects always provides a solution to some problem. A solution to the problem
involves, on the one hand, the use of combination of various methods and means of education, and
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 71 55
on the other - the need for the integration of knowledge and skills from different fields of science,
engineering, technology and creative areas. The main objectives of project-based learning are:
- creating the conditions in which students independently and willingly acquire the missing
knowledge from different sources;
- learning to use the acquired knowledge to solve practical and cognitive problems;
- acquiring communication skills by working in different groups;
-developing their research skills (the ability to identify problems, gather information,
observations, experiments, analysis, construction of hypotheses, generalizations);
- developing systematic thinking.
In foreign methodical literature there are the following stages of the project:
- defining a project theme, a problem, objectives;
- discussing a project structure, composing a plan;
- presenting language material;
- collecting information;
- analyzing and discussing data in groups with a teacher;
- preparing presentation;
- demonstration of project results;
- evaluation of a project.
The last phase includes not only control of mastering linguistic material and development of
speech and communicative competence, but also an overall assessment of the project, which
concerns the content of the project, the theme, the final result, the participation of individual
students in the organization of the project work and so on.
Project-based learning involves essentially the use of a wide range of research techniques,
important for the student, on the one hand, and on the other, for the development of the problem
holistically, taking into account a variety of factors and conditions for its solution and
implementation of results. Project-based learning has been widely used in many countries around
the world, mainly because it allows you to seamlessly integrate students' knowledge from different
areas around the solution of a problem, makes it possible to apply this knowledge in practice, at the
same time generating new ideas. As it was mentioned before, at the heart of the project there is
some problem. To solve it, students need not only knowledge of the language, but also the
possession of a large amount of subject knowledge, necessary and sufficient to deal with the
problem. In addition, students must possess certain intellectual, creative, communicative abilities.
They include the ability to work with information, with a text (highlight the main idea, search for
the right information in a foreign language text), to analyze information, make generalizations,
conclusions, etc., the ability to work with a variety of reference material. Formation of these skills is
the aim of teaching different types of speech activity.
3. RESULTS
One of the most effective activities is a discussion on various topics at the lesson. Discussions
on professionally-oriented topics are useful for students’ future communication at a working place,
enriching their vocabulary in a definite sphere. A teacher should involve students in a discussion
after reading an article or a text which is connected with their future job. A teacher organizes,
facilitates the discussion by formulating the questions, pointing out interesting, original ideas,
contradictive issues, helping to settle disagreements.
Interactive technologies can be characterized by the presence of a dialogue, exchange of
opinions and arguments for and against the disputable matter. Any lesson based on discussion is
effective if the participants have basic knowledge of the issue and if a teacher has planned the main
stages and key points in advance. During the planning stage a teacher chooses and formulates an
issue, plans ways of stimulating and monitoring participants’ activity. He must prepare necessary
equipment to record students’ ideas. When the discussion starts, the teacher performs as an
intermediary. It is very important to perceive different points of view on a particular problem, to
have his own opinion, to be able to make conclusions and evaluate achievements. You can use
various techniques of introducing the topic to the audience: describe problematic situation, put
problem questions, show video, role play of the situation, presenting a few opinions on an issue.
A discussion should comprise different points of view which at the end evolve the decision.
One effective kind of discussion is a “round- table” technique. 10-15 students are seated
around the table and discuss a particular problem. A host has a leading role; it can be a student or a
teacher. The aim of the activity is not to find a final solution, but to discuss the problem, collect as
much information as possible, realize the importance of solving the problem, find ways to reach the
goals. When students sit at a round table, they have eye contact with all members of discussion,
everyone feels involved and equally important. It stimulates conversation, increases the number of
utterances and encourages using non-verbal means of communication (miming, gestures).
A “round-table” technique can be combined with a role play or a business play.
Project method is a complex of research, data processing and other activities carried out by
students on their own or in small groups with a view to practical or theoretical solution of a
significant problem. Project-based learning involves a fundamentally different philosophy of
building the educational process through students’ purposeful activity in accordance with personal
interest and goals.
It is obvious that the project method opens up opportunities for students to express
themselves, to identify their skills and to outline future professional activity. In other words, the
student receives an opportunity to try and test himself in different areas, to reveal something
intimate and interesting and focus at his desires, strengths and abilities. And, most importantly, all
his activities are focused on the formation of his thinking, which is based on personal experience.
He shares responsibility for his own development, the level of training for self-employment in the
future.
Method of projects always provides a solution to some problem. A solution to the problem
involves, on the one hand, the use of combination of various methods and means of education, and
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 71 55
on the other - the need for the integration of knowledge and skills from different fields of science,
engineering, technology and creative areas. The main objectives of project-based learning are:
- creating the conditions in which students independently and willingly acquire the missing
knowledge from different sources;
- learning to use the acquired knowledge to solve practical and cognitive problems;
- acquiring communication skills by working in different groups;
-developing their research skills (the ability to identify problems, gather information,
observations, experiments, analysis, construction of hypotheses, generalizations);
- developing systematic thinking.
In foreign methodical literature there are the following stages of the project:
- defining a project theme, a problem, objectives;
- discussing a project structure, composing a plan;
- presenting language material;
- collecting information;
- analyzing and discussing data in groups with a teacher;
- preparing presentation;
- demonstration of project results;
- evaluation of a project.
The last phase includes not only control of mastering linguistic material and development of
speech and communicative competence, but also an overall assessment of the project, which
concerns the content of the project, the theme, the final result, the participation of individual
students in the organization of the project work and so on.
Project-based learning involves essentially the use of a wide range of research techniques,
important for the student, on the one hand, and on the other, for the development of the problem
holistically, taking into account a variety of factors and conditions for its solution and
implementation of results. Project-based learning has been widely used in many countries around
the world, mainly because it allows you to seamlessly integrate students' knowledge from different
areas around the solution of a problem, makes it possible to apply this knowledge in practice, at the
same time generating new ideas. As it was mentioned before, at the heart of the project there is
some problem. To solve it, students need not only knowledge of the language, but also the
possession of a large amount of subject knowledge, necessary and sufficient to deal with the
problem. In addition, students must possess certain intellectual, creative, communicative abilities.
They include the ability to work with information, with a text (highlight the main idea, search for
the right information in a foreign language text), to analyze information, make generalizations,
conclusions, etc., the ability to work with a variety of reference material. Formation of these skills is
the aim of teaching different types of speech activity.
3. RESULTS
One of the most effective activities is a discussion on various topics at the lesson. Discussions
on professionally-oriented topics are useful for students’ future communication at a working place,
enriching their vocabulary in a definite sphere. A teacher should involve students in a discussion
after reading an article or a text which is connected with their future job. A teacher organizes,
facilitates the discussion by formulating the questions, pointing out interesting, original ideas,
contradictive issues, helping to settle disagreements.
Interactive technologies can be characterized by the presence of a dialogue, exchange of
opinions and arguments for and against the disputable matter. Any lesson based on discussion is
effective if the participants have basic knowledge of the issue and if a teacher has planned the main
stages and key points in advance. During the planning stage a teacher chooses and formulates an
issue, plans ways of stimulating and monitoring participants’ activity. He must prepare necessary
equipment to record students’ ideas. When the discussion starts, the teacher performs as an
intermediary. It is very important to perceive different points of view on a particular problem, to
have his own opinion, to be able to make conclusions and evaluate achievements. You can use
various techniques of introducing the topic to the audience: describe problematic situation, put
problem questions, show video, role play of the situation, presenting a few opinions on an issue.
A discussion should comprise different points of view which at the end evolve the decision.
One effective kind of discussion is a “round- table” technique. 10-15 students are seated
around the table and discuss a particular problem. A host has a leading role; it can be a student or a
teacher. The aim of the activity is not to find a final solution, but to discuss the problem, collect as
much information as possible, realize the importance of solving the problem, find ways to reach the
goals. When students sit at a round table, they have eye contact with all members of discussion,
everyone feels involved and equally important. It stimulates conversation, increases the number of
utterances and encourages using non-verbal means of communication (miming, gestures).
A “round-table” technique can be combined with a role play or a business play.
Project method is a complex of research, data processing and other activities carried out by
students on their own or in small groups with a view to practical or theoretical solution of a
significant problem. Project-based learning involves a fundamentally different philosophy of
building the educational process through students’ purposeful activity in accordance with personal
interest and goals.
It is obvious that the project method opens up opportunities for students to express
themselves, to identify their skills and to outline future professional activity. In other words, the
student receives an opportunity to try and test himself in different areas, to reveal something
intimate and interesting and focus at his desires, strengths and abilities. And, most importantly, all
his activities are focused on the formation of his thinking, which is based on personal experience.
He shares responsibility for his own development, the level of training for self-employment in the
future.
Method of projects always provides a solution to some problem. A solution to the problem
involves, on the one hand, the use of combination of various methods and means of education, and
International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences Vol. 71 55
on the other - the need for the integration of knowledge and skills from different fields of science,
engineering, technology and creative areas. The main objectives of project-based learning are:
- creating the conditions in which students independently and willingly acquire the missing
knowledge from different sources;
- learning to use the acquired knowledge to solve practical and cognitive problems;
- acquiring communication skills by working in different groups;
-developing their research skills (the ability to identify problems, gather information,
observations, experiments, analysis, construction of hypotheses, generalizations);
- developing systematic thinking.
In foreign methodical literature there are the following stages of the project:
- defining a project theme, a problem, objectives;
- discussing a project structure, composing a plan;
- presenting language material;
- collecting information;
- analyzing and discussing data in groups with a teacher;
- preparing presentation;
- demonstration of project results;
- evaluation of a project.
The last phase includes not only control of mastering linguistic material and development of
speech and communicative competence, but also an overall assessment of the project, which
concerns the content of the project, the theme, the final result, the participation of individual
students in the organization of the project work and so on.
Project-based learning involves essentially the use of a wide range of research techniques,
important for the student, on the one hand, and on the other, for the development of the problem
holistically, taking into account a variety of factors and conditions for its solution and
implementation of results. Project-based learning has been widely used in many countries around
the world, mainly because it allows you to seamlessly integrate students' knowledge from different
areas around the solution of a problem, makes it possible to apply this knowledge in practice, at the
same time generating new ideas. As it was mentioned before, at the heart of the project there is
some problem. To solve it, students need not only knowledge of the language, but also the
possession of a large amount of subject knowledge, necessary and sufficient to deal with the
problem. In addition, students must possess certain intellectual, creative, communicative abilities.
They include the ability to work with information, with a text (highlight the main idea, search for
the right information in a foreign language text), to analyze information, make generalizations,
conclusions, etc., the ability to work with a variety of reference material. Formation of these skills is
the aim of teaching different types of speech activity.
3. RESULTS
One of the most effective activities is a discussion on various topics at the lesson. Discussions
on professionally-oriented topics are useful for students’ future communication at a working place,
enriching their vocabulary in a definite sphere. A teacher should involve students in a discussion
after reading an article or a text which is connected with their future job. A teacher organizes,
facilitates the discussion by formulating the questions, pointing out interesting, original ideas,
contradictive issues, helping to settle disagreements.
The integration of the four skills in relation to texts, one of the basic tenets of modern language teaching, depends on the development of the discourse competence in the classroom. There is a direct relationship among the three concepts as only through the use of texts can we integrate skills and only through an integrated, holistic approach to text can we develop the discourse competence in the classroom. First, the discourse competence will be defined in relation to the most relevant models of the communicative competence. Second, a number of teaching procedures will be discussed to develop the discourse competence in FLT. Third, evaluation will be considered as an important aspect in the learning and teaching process, providing criteria and procedures to evaluate the discourse competence. Finally, some further issues related to the discourse competence will be studied which represent innovations for research and avant-garde language instruction.¹
The curriculum, according to Stern, consists of four main elements: purposes (aims, goals or objectives), content, instruction (treatment or procedures) and evaluation. The fact that these four components are basic for language teaching is not under question.
However, “purposes” being the starting point of the process, it is totally necessary to consider in detail the definition of objectives. Once the choice of objectives has been made, they generate many of the other variables in the language teaching process.
Furthermore, Stern makes a more precise distinction within the “purposes” category:
‘In educational discussions and in language teaching, a hierarchical distinction is sometimes made between “goals” as a very broad and ultimate category, “aims” as a more specific set of purposes, and “objectives” as the most precisely defined ends in view which can often be described in terms of behavioral outcomes.’
Goals, aims and objectives can help us make real the general purpose of language learning. In particular, that threefold distinction lies under the use of the communicative competence as the goal in language learning. Taking Chomsky’s dichotomy of ‘competence’ and ‘performance’, language teaching theorists have defined competence as the main goal in language learning assuming that control of underlying rules of language is the basis of language performance. ‘Competence’ in the chomskian original referred to ‘linguistic competence’, a set of organized knowledge which consists of several sub-competences, the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and lexical components.
However, in the early 70s the anthropologist Dell Hymes introduces the concept of ‘communicative competence’ as a result of his ethnographic research on the relation of culture, society and language. ²
Pérez Martín studies the move from the linguistic competence to the communicative competence. This distinction aims “to highlight the difference between knowledge “about” language rules and forms, and the knowledge that enables a person to communicate functionally and interactively”. In that sense, the communicative competence is defined as the knowledge which enables us to use language as a communication device in a give-social context; it is a dynamic concept based on the negotiation of meanings among interlocutors, which can be applied either to written or spoken modes of communication.
The discourse competence had to a wait until the communicative competence was broken into sub-competences to appear as a goal in FLT. However, there is not a total agreement about the analysis of the communicative competence. Munby defends a model with four distinct elements: ‘linguistic encoding’, ‘sociocultural orientation’, ‘socio-semantic basis of linguistic knowledge’ and ‘discourse level of operation’. One of the most relevant models of the communicative competence, Canale and Swain (1980) and Canale (1983), took up this notion of communicative competence and distinguished four aspects of communicative competence:
a. Grammatical/linguistic competence, which includes knowledge of the lexicon, syntax and semantics (mastery of language codes).
b. Sociolinguistic competence, concerned with the appropriateness of communication depending on the context including the participants and the rules for interaction.

c. Strategic competence, a set of strategies devised for effective communication and put into use when communication breaks down

(grammatical and socio-linguistic strategies).
d. Discourse competence, which is concerned with the cohesion and coherence of utterances/sentences.
Van Ek (1984), one of the experts responsible for the works of the Council of Europe, introduces six components: apart from the linguistic, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competences, he adds the social and the sociocultural. Bachman, and Bachman and Palmer, analysis the ‘communicative language ability into three components: language competence, strategic competence and psychological mechanisms. Then, language competence is divided into ‘organizational competence’, which includes grammatical and textual competence, and ‘pragmatic competence’, which includes illocutionary and sociolinguistic competence.³
Finally, the Council or Europe (2001:108) analyses the communicative language competence in three related levels: the sociolinguistic, the linguistic and the pragmatic components or sub-competences.

The Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages defines the pragmatic competences as being “concerned with the user/learner’s knowledge of the principles according to which messages are: a) organised, structured and arranged (‘discourse competence’); b) used to perform communicative functions (‘functional competence’); c) sequenced according to interactional and transactional schemata (‘design competence’). ⁴
The discourse competence is, then, defined as “the ability of a user/learner to arrange sentences in sequence so as to produce coherent stretches of language. It includes knowledge of and ability to control the ordering of sentences in terms of:
• topic/focus;
• given/new;
• ‘natural’ sequencing: e.g. temporal: He fell over and I hit him, as against I hit him and he fell over.
• cause/effect (invertible) – prices are rising – people want higher wages.
• ability to structure and manage discourse in terms of:
o thematic organization; o coherence and cohesion; o logical ordering; o style and register; o rhetorical effectiveness; o the ‘co-operative principle’ (...)
• Text design: knowledge of the design conventions in the community concerning, e.g.:
o how information is structured in realizing the various macro-functions (description, narrative, exposition, etc.);
o how stories, anecdotes, jokes, etc. are told; o how a case is built up (in law, debate, etc.);
o how written texts (essays, formal letters, etc.) are laid out, signposted and sequenced”.
Thus, Discourse Competence can be seen as the ability to understand, create and develop forms of the language that are longer than sentences (stories, conversations, letters, …) with the appropriate cohesion, coherence and rhetorical organization to combine ideas.
. Definition of some important concepts
The study of the discourse competence owes discourse analysis and text linguistics the repertoire of notions, concepts and terms language teaching theorists may use to understand the role of discourse in language learning and teaching. There are many introductions to discourse analysis the reader may turn to for a more detailed account of that but we would like to highlight here some important concepts which may help us deal with discourse competence instruction and evaluation. ⁵
Llobera summarizes some important notions in relation to the discourse competence. He starts with the distinction between ‘discourse conveyed in the FLT classroom’ and ‘discourse generated in the FLT classroom’, which calls our attention towards the fact that discourse competence is a dynamic procedural competence which is constantly in action during the teaching and learning processes. Then, he goes on commenting upon some important concepts in the field of relationships between participants: status (as exemplified in the use of forms of address), social roles, distance (as related to the categories of intimate, acquaintance and stranger), politeness and face, theme and rhyme, new and given information, genre, turn-taking and repairing. To this list we would like to add two other concepts equally i A text is any piece of language, spoken or written, of whatever length, which forms a unified whole. A speaker of a language can easily distinguish between a text and a collection of sentences. This is because texts have texture, that is, the quality of functioning as a unity.
For a text to have texture it must include “ties” that bind it together. These “ties” are called cohesive ties and, given that cohesion is expressed partly through the grammar and partly through the vocabulary, there are different types of cohesive ties, such as: reference, substitution, ellipsis, discourse markers and lexical cohesion. These ties produce cohesion. Cohesion “refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text”. (There is cohesion when the interpretation of an element in the text is dependent on that of another, that is, “cohesion is a semantic relation between an element in the text and some other element that is crucial to the interpretation of it important.
Richards, Platt and Platt define coherence as the relationships which link the meanings of sentences in a discourse. Let’s see the following example:

• 
  John hid Bill’s keys. He was drunk.
  

• 
  John hid Bill’s keys. He likes spinach.
  

In the first utterance, we presume that hiding someone’s keys can be an effect of being drunk, so both sentences make sense even though they do not have anything in common related to grammar or lexicon; we simply know that when someone drinks a lot, he or she behaves in strange ways. However, in the second utterance, there is no coherence: the fact that John likes spinach does not have any relationship with that of hiding Bill’s keys. ⁶
DISCUSSION 1
a) Try to define Communicative and Discourse Competence with your own words.
b) Give your opinion about the distinction made by Stern within the ‘purposes’ category.
c) In your opinion, which is the most important competence? Why?
d) When is it more important to develop the discourse competence, in the first years of learning EFL/E2L or in the upper levels (ESO)? Give reasons for your answer.