No matter how hard we try to assess and to predict learners' communication needs, to determine the situations requiring foreign language use which they are most likely to find themselves in, and to help the learners to identify those language forms which are most likely to enable them to cope with these situations, there will always be a very broad margin of unpredictability. And even if the demands of a particular communication situation do not exceed those which the learners have been thoroughly prepared for, there are likely to be failures of recall, failures to activate, on the spur of the moment, certain items of knowledge or elements of skill that were acquired during the learning process.

This means that even if we were to confine ourselves to the requirements of everyday situations, predictable to a certain extent, the learner will have to be prepared to cope with unpredicted demands as well as with failures of recall.

To some people skill in coping comes naturally. Somehow they manage, whatever their lack of skill or knowledge with regard to the ‘proper’ forms of communication. Most people, however, will benefit substantially by being given ample opportunity, in the course of their learning process, to develop their skill in this respect. It is not primarily a matter of being ‘taught’ how to cope, but of being led to develop one's own strategies for doing so.