14 TESL Reporter 38, 2 (2005), pp. 14-28 The Theoretical Relevance and Efficacy of Using Cooperative Learning in the ESL/EFL Classroom Kassim Shaaban and Ghazi Ghaith American University of Beirut, Lebanon Contemporary conceptualizations of language proficiency underscore the importance of teaching and using language in the context of authentic communication (Bachman, 1990; Omaggio-Hadley, 2001). These conceptualizations suggest that while a skill-based perspective on language teaching that focuses on the linguistic skills involved in listening, speaking, reading, and writing might be useful in identifying and teaching certain syntactic and semantic elements of language proficiency, such a perspective does not encompass all the requisite competencies involved in authentic communication. For instance, the speaking skill can be thought of as an interpersonal skill involving two-way communication and negotiation of meaning when two or more interlocutors converse about a certain topic. Speaking can also be thought of as a presentational skill when a speaker addresses an audience. These two communicative situations require a variety of linguistic as well as pragmatic competencies relative to the appropriateness of utterances, naturalness of language, sensitivity to the register, awareness of cultural referents and so forth. Similarly, listening, reading, and writing require a variety of linguistic and paralinguistic competencies that vary according to the demands of certain textual as well as contextual variables that impact communication. Specifically, a certain act of communication such as listening to an academic lecture versus carrying out a conversation, reading an expository text versus reading a short story, or drafting a memo or a business letter versus composing an argumentative essay or a research article requires a variety of grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and pragmatic competencies. Consequently, there is a need for a balanced instructional approach in teaching English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) that addresses and integrates the pedagogical implications of the sub-skills as well as the functional and interactional models of language. Such an approach would focus on developing the learner's linguistic as well as pragmatic competencies through the provision of classroom opportunities for interaction and practice that break down the stereotypes of traditional