Four position papers are presented that were given during a study-week dealing with questions related to language as communication, the notion of argumentation in second language teaching methodology, and ways of introducing argumentation phenomena into the language class. The papers, representing four different positions, are the following: (1) "Strategies communicatives et expression orale fonctionnelle (Communicative Strategies and Functional Oral Expression)," by Richard Duda and Marie-Jose Gremmo; (2) "Argumentation dans le discours de l'apprenant (Argumentation in Learners' Speech)," by Evelyne Berard-Lavenne and Claudine Girod; (3) "Notes sur le discours argumentatif (Notes on Argumentative Discourse)," by Michel Charolles; and (4) "La mise en scene des concepts-cles dans un discours argumente: sequences periodiques et pochoirs actantiels (The Staging of Key Concepts in Argumentative Discourse: Periodic Sequences and Acting-Relational Models)," by Jean-Luc Descamps. Examples of situational communication activities are attached to each presentation. (AMH)