ABSTRACT
At the start of this study, we asked, What is it about social interaction that makes competence development possible? Now that we have joined Xuân and Lành in their guest-escorting walks for about a year, in this chapter, we step back for an overview of their changes over time and discuss possible answers to that question. We will consider how our findings provide additional purchase on the nature of interactional competence and its development. We will also assess how this study advances research on L2 acquisition and learning in general, as well as EMCA research on human social interaction, especially in institutional settings. Bringing the findings to the practical level, we discuss how our study may inform language learning, teaching, and testing. Finally, we consider some of the limitations of the study and suggest directions for future research.
