Discourse analysis examines patterns of language beyond individual words and how people organize what they say based on typical structures. It looks at the relationship between language and social/cultural contexts, and considers communicative competence as the ability to use language appropriately in different situations based on social and cultural settings. Discourse analysis draws together concepts like textual competence, discursive competence, generic competence, and social competence to describe how language allows people to respond to recurring and new communicative situations and take part in social interactions.