It is argued that teaching and learning a second language for communicative competence should not lead to neglect of students' understanding of the way the language works, but rather should include constant development of language awareness. While use of the language in a variety of communicative activities is the central goal of instruction, discussion of how the language works as it does can enhance both comprehension and production. It is also proposed that the communicative approach need not be limited to oral communication, especially the everyday conversation that is commonly the focus of communicative instruction, to the exclusion of written discourse. Language awareness and written text can be productively integrated into a communicative activity. For example, students might be presented with a text, communicate about its content, and only after exploiting its communicative potential, be invited to observe language features at work in it. (MSE)