This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Gunn, C. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Exploring second language communicative competence

The American University of Sharjah, cgunn{at}aus.ac.ae

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.

Language Teaching Research, Vol. 7, No. 2, 240-258 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/1362168803lr124oa


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Slimani-Rolls Rethinking task-based language learning: what we can learn from the learners Language Teaching Research, April 1, 2005; 9(2): 195 - 218. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. Gunn Prioritizing practitioner research: an example from the field Language Teaching Research, January 1, 2005; 9(1): 97 - 112. [Abstract] [PDF]