ABSTRACT
The importance of conversation as the foundation of all language learning cannot be overstated. As Clark (1996) writes, “face-to-face conversation is the cradle of language use” (p. 9). This chapter begins with a discussion of what is still lacking in the teaching of conversation and introduces conversation analysis (CA) as a unique and innovative tool for achieving this goal. Against the backdrop of communicative competence and interactional competence, a heuristic model of interactional practices is proposed. The model lays out a
comprise the rest of this volume.
