James is great at talking to his peers but is not so skillful when communicating with authority figures. this illustrates how communication competence is

Situational

Explanation:

In linguistics, Communicative Competence refers to our knowledge of the language (that includes the syntax, morphology, and phonology) and our ability to use it appropriately and effectively, that is to say, the ability to know how and when to use it. This term was coined by linguist Dell Hymes.

One of the characteristics of communication competence is that it is situational, meaning that it exists in degrees or areas of competence. So, James can have a high level of communicative competence when talking to his peers, as he knows how and when to use the language (words, expressions) to address them, thus, his communication is effective and appropriate, but he may not be skillful when communicating with authority figures for he may lack the adequate vocabulary to address them.