Communicative competence is often characterized as an integrated control of language reflected in the speaker's ability to understand and use language appropriately for communication in various situations. The theoretical basis for the communicative competence construct is the anthropological, sociolinguistc, and pragmatic view of language. Communicative competence can be characterized as various systems of knowledge and skills. Some see it as grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence; others see it as a combination of roles, settings, topics, functions, notions, and language activities. Measurement of communicative proficiency faces many problems, some related to the vagueness of the concept or trait to be measured. Measurement problems are compounded by the fact that the usual measurement of communicative competence is based on global rating scale approaches, while linguistic competence is generally measured by a discrete item method. The presumed difference between measured linguistic and communicative competence may actually reflect a difference in measurement techniques. Sone of the challenges in constructing communicative competence tests are the resolution of the reliablity/validity tension in language testing; the accuracy/fluency distinction; questions of content; and the test-taking event itself, which may be affected by a number of extralinguistic factors. (MSE)