Other-orientation (Linell, 2009) is an essential element of language in that all speakers dialogue with an "other" when communicating. They take into consideration the other's assumed perspective, knowledge, and needs, and manipulate their language in response to these assumptions. This study investigated the extent to which other-orientation was present in second language (L2) Spanish learners and, if so, how it affected L2 learners' production of direct object nominal, pronominal, and null expressions. The results indicated that L2 Spanish learners were sensitive to their interlocutors' perspective. However, the actual effect that other-orientation had on direct object expressions was constrained by the limits of the learners' interlanguage in that only higher-level learners were capable of manipulating direct object expressions in accordance with the assumed accessibility of the referents. The results support Bardovi-Harlig's (1999) argument that grammatical competence is a necessary condition of pragmatic competence.