Communicative competence and the conversation course: A social interaction perspective

Using a type-case analytic approach, this study investigates the teaching/learning process during an intermediate-level Spanish conversation course (college level) to answer questions relative to the development of communicative competence in the target language. Systematic analysis was conducted on selected small-group speaking opportunities ( n = 12) that ethnographic observations showed to be analogous recurring events, which were constructed of both stable and variable elements within which the academic work of the course took place. In this study, instruction was conceptualized as a conversational process in which academic learning was nested. Specifically, this study demonstrates the constraints and limitations on developing communicative competence in a foreign language within a formal academic setting. The findings suggest the need to reconceptualize theoretical and methodological approaches to exploration of life within foreign language classrooms, especially if the goal of such research is to identify sources of influence on student learning. Recommendations are made for further research.