Three articles on fostering communicative competence in the English as a second language classroom are presented. In "How to Foster Communicative Competence," Sue Khyat examines the sociocultural aspects of communicating. A contribution from the Language Teaching Branch of the Australian Department of Education entitled "Integrating the Skills of Communication: The Beginnings of Communicative Competence" takes a fresh look at some of the principles underlying the teaching of English as a second language and suggests a set of strategies designed to maximize practice with the language of a reading core. Two techniques by which students may be stimulated to express themselves are proposed in "Two Forms of Stimulus to Self-Expression: The Use of Action Pictures and the Excursion" by E. A. Liew. (JB)