Abstract

The current research aims to identify the communicative competence of university students, to identify the levels of communicative competence among university students and which of these levels are more common, and to identify the significance of differences in communicative competence among university students according to the variables of gender and specialization. The study population consisted of (782) male and female students, as the statistical analysis sample was limited to (400) male and female students to extract the psychometric properties of the current research tool. The study sample included (382) male and female students at the University of Baghdad who were chosen by the stratified random method from the scientific and humanity colleges. To achieve the objectives of the current study, the researcher developed a communicative competence test according to (Hymes, 1972) theory.  A stands for the high level of communicative competence given (3) degrees, b represents the medium level of communicative competence and is given (2) degrees, and c represents the low level of communicative competence and is given (1) degree. The results showed that university students have communicative competence. The moderate level (b) of communicative competence is the dominant and the most common level. There are no statistically significant differences between males and females. There are no statistically significant differences according to the specialization variable (scientific, human). Finally, there is no interaction between gender and the specialization of the study sample.