Interactional Competence and SLA: A Systems-Thinking Perspective

Abstract

The present study theoretically examined the concept of interactional competence. It, in the main, took account of the definition and features of the interactional competence to clarify its relationship with the communicative competence models. In brief, interactional competence involves the ongoing process of face-to-face interaction emerged out of language practices that follow the sociocultural rules of use defined within a given discourse community. More to the point, interactional competence is characterized with respect to interactive practices, discursive practices, interactional resources, and the contingency of language competence that were concisely explored in the paper. What is more, interactional competence was described with respect to the chaos and complexity theory. Another issue worth considering deals with the impact of interactional competence on the field of SLA and L2 classroom interaction, which was also taken into consideration.