English Teachers' Beliefs about Communicative Competence and their Relationship with their Classroom Practices

This article describes a research project conducted with two English Teachers from the Extension Program at Foreign Language Department, National University in Bogota. The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between what English teachers understand on communicative competence and what they actually do in their English classes. The teachers were observed during 4 months, and they were also interviewed. The findings show how hard it is to define what communicative competence is in teachers' own words. Data also show how important students are in the English classrooms. English teachers should make careful decisions to help them develop their language competence.