Communication has been accepted as an essential result of language teaching, but has been neglected as an essential component of the language teaching process. This paper suggests that teaching comprehensively for communicative competence will cater to a large extent to developing linguistic competence, whereas teaching for linguistic competence will tend to cater very little to developing communicative skills. Reorienting language teaching towards a major focus on communicative skills involves three basic elements: (1) samples of the target language; (2) guidance concerning the nature of the target language; and (3) management or directed learning activities. These elements can all be brought together in communication practice. A course at the Essex Language Centre is cited as one model of an ESL course stressing communication. This course combined English and new student orientation, and stressed having the student retrieve information on his own rather than having information given to him. (AM)