Ethnicity, Contact and Communicative Competence in a Second Language11The author is grateful to Dr. R. C. Gardner for his comments on a draft of this paper.

ABSTRACT A theoretical framework is presented which traces and relates the individual's acquisition, practice and maintenance of communicative competence in a second language to the social/structural characteristics of a community. These characteristics are mediated by a two-stage motivation process hypothesised to impact on fluency in a second language. Such competence will in turn, depending on structural aspects of the milieu, bring about integration or assimilation as social consequences. The implications of this formulation for future research are discussed and specific hypotheses outlined.