Exploring second language communicative competence

Reporting a classroom investigation within the framework of Exploratory Practice (EP) as set out in the introductory paper to this issue, this paper illustrates first how EP offers a successful and coherent approach to doctoral research, and secondly how learner and teacher/researcher understanding can be developed together. EP principles were used to integrate teaching practices and research in an applied setting to aid both the students and myself, through a collegial process, to develop our own understandings of what happens in the language classroom. Data collected through the use of various classroom activities included both analysis of the students’ performances and the students’ reflections on their performances. The combination of the various forms of data permitted comprehensive discussion of communicative competence over time, by looking at what the students actually do, what the students say about what they do, as well as what others say about what the students do. With the data collected from a small number of students learning English at an International school in Thailand, two girls and two boys ranging in age from 11 to 13 representing four different nationalities, over a six-month period, I was able to see how their communicative competence developed over time. This information ultimately enabled me to better understand my puzzle area concerning the challenges of helping students develop communicative competence.