Abstract
Interactional competence (IC) lies at the heart of the communicative skills an EFL learner is supposed to master. This paper investigates the meanings, assessment methods, and implications of IC in a second/foreign language setting and particularly in the Saudi context. The first part charts a theoretical background to the study of language from the early debate of the notions of competence and performance, through the evolution of communicative competence and the emergence of the term interactional competence. The second part of the paper outlines how IC has been described in the literature from multiple perspectives; interactional patterns, resources and strategies, IC authenticity, raters’ interpretations of IC and finally how the term was used in the Saudi context. However, it was aimed through this paper to draw an advantageous picture that provides a comprehensive understanding to how the term interactional competence has been taken up in the field of second/foreign language assessment. Needless to say, IC assessment is still an under-researched field in Saudi Arabia, and needs further efforts from the teachers, researchers and policy makers to provide thorough insights into assessing and employing interactional skills in the Saudi EFL classrooms.
Highlights
Communicative skills are essential in learning a foreign language and they are fundamental objectives of teaching and learning English as a foreign language
The first part charts a theoretical background to the study of language from the early debate of the notions of competence and performance, through the evolution of communicative competence and the emergence of the term interactional competence
It was aimed through this paper to draw an advantageous picture that provides a comprehensive understanding to how the term interactional competence has been taken up in the field of second/foreign language assessment
Summary
Communicative skills are essential in learning a foreign language and they are fundamental objectives of teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Ikeda (2017) in her study for the assessment instrument for L2 pragmatics performance in university settings, equated discourse-oriented L2 pragmatic ability as interactional competence In her distinguished publication, Hall (2018) proposed the term interactional repertoires “as a more empirically useful term to refer to the objects of L2 learning” While some researchers called for reconsidering the notion of IC, Hall suggested replacing the concept of IC with interactional repertoires She argued that it is beneficial to apply this term as it reflects the changing nature of the various resources that learners employ and develop in their own contexts which can reinforce the studies of L2 learning as well as second language acquisition. Content knowledge and language proficiency were the major focus of researchers in terms of assessing their second/foreign language as shall be seen
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