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In this paper we investigate L2 interactional competence and its development over time. We first provide a historical overview of the advancements in L2 acquisition research that originated from a concern with communicative competence and led to the current concern with interactional competence, and discuss the results of existing conversation analytic work on interactional competence. We then present two empirical studies, one focusing on directives and the other on humor in L2 interactions. Based on our findings, we argue that the development of interactional competence implies a diversification of speakers’ ’methods’ for accomplishing social actions in the L2, allowing them to increasingly tailor their interactional conduct to their interlocutors and to situational contingencies.