Introduction

This chapter focuses on current research on second language (L2) interactional competence (IC) and on its pedagogical implications. While research on L2 IC has been developing since the 1990s, the pedagogical implications of such research have hardly been discussed, and only a few attempts have been made to bridge the gap between research and practice with regard to the teaching of IC in the L2 classroom. It provides extended responses to the questions raised by both practitioners and researchers during the workshops and the symposium organized at the center. The chapter connects theoretical discussions on the concept of IC, empirical findings, potential pedagogical implications, and outcomes of actual research-based pedagogy primarily in the first two years of university L2 instruction. It addresses this important challenge, either directly or indirectly, whereas the section on testing provides readers with the most comprehensive analysis of actual implementations of testing procedures that incorporate the co-constructed nature of interaction in general and IC in particular.