1 '()*+,- Can-do./0 A Theoretical Framework of the Can-do Studies in English Pedagogy Shigenori TANAKA

The “Can-do ” studies can have profound pedagogical implications for second language education. Conducting the full-scale research, however, requires a sound theory of communicative competence. This study questions the theoretical framework of the current “Can-do ” studies. Major criticism is directed toward the conventional way of defining communicative competence. This study proposes an alternative model, in which the concept of communicative competence is defined as the dynamic interplay of task handling and language resources. This new model suggests that due attention should be paid not only to the notion of “Can-do, ” but also to the notion of “Can-say. ” When both “Can-do ” and “Can-say” are being described in principled ways, we will be able to obtain a valid scale of measurement of communicative competence