Redefining multicompetence for bilingualism and ELF

Cook's construct of multicompetence has been criticized for not being usage-based and for failing to account for language variation associated with different contexts and interlocutors. This paper argues that a usage- based reconceptualization of multicompetence should involve not only bilingualism but also biculturalism, so that it can accommodate bilinguals' sense of their own reality as well as that of the native speaker. The paper then argues for a reconceptualization of multicompetence that accounts for ELF, whose users operate in an `interculture' of bilingualism with multiculturalism. Operating in an interculture involves having a sense of one's own reality and that of other ELF users. Thus, usage-based multicompetence for bilingualism should be distinguished from that for ELF with regard to native-speaker norms and conventions of accuracy and appropriateness.