This article is addressed mainly to second language acquisition researchers. It questions what communicative competence means in terms of language teaching today, particularly with regard to the goals for student language learning and the limited nature of classroom interaction. The author argues for reorienting foreign language education in terms of communities of practice. She discusses the Standards in terms of their potential for focusing language learning around the construction of meaning, and thereby for shaping both what students learn and the process of learning itself.#BookSection #Teachers and teaching #Research #Substantialmention #Curriculum #All5Cs #All #Teachers and teaching #All