SPECIAL ISSUE APPLIED PRAGMATICS (John Benjamins) Vol. 5, No. 2, 2023 Describing and Assessing Interactional  Competence  in a Second  Language Hello Everyone We are pleased to present the first special issue of Applied Pragmatics on Interactional Competence. Editors Zia Tajeddin (Tarbiat Modares University) Naoko Taguchi (Northern Arizona University) Associate Editors Minoo Alemi (IAU, West Tehran Branch) Anne Barron (Leuphana University of Lüneburg) Zohreh R. Eslami (Texas A&M University) The issue link is as follows: https://benjamins.com/catalog/ap.5.2 Special Issue Editors Emma Betz Taiane Malabarba Dagmar Barth-Weingarten Introduction Taiane Malabarba & Emma Betz Articles The Competence  in Little Words: Response Patterns  in German L2 Interaction Sam Schirm, Budimka Uskokovic & Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm Commentary Naoki Ikeda Grammar as Validity Evidence for Assessing Interactional Competence: The Case of Requests in Role-Play Interaction Soo Jung Youn Commentary Tim Greer Assessing Interactional Competence: Exploring Ratability Challenges Daniel M. K. Lam, Evelina Galaczi, Fumiyo Nakatsuhara & Lyn May Commentary Joan Kelly Hall Assessing Interactional Competence in Secondary Schools: Action Accomplishment in English  as a Foreign Language Dagmar Barth-Weingarten & Britta Freitag-Hild Commentary Anna Filipi Discussions L2 Interactional Competence and Assessment: Insights and Challenges Simona Pekarek Doehler Testing and CA: The Test Makers' Perspectives Carsten Roever