Although programs for teaching and testing of English as a second language (ESL) are often evaluated for their attention to communicative competence, there is no consensus on the nature of the communicative competence construct(s) and little empirical support for the various explanatory models. The theoretical literature related to communicative competence was surveyed to identify major variables said to comprise the construct. The presence and measurability of such variables were tested in typical native/nonnative speaker university academic communication, and a tentative model of communicative competence was developed. The relationship of scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the Test of Spoken English (TSE), and the Test of Written English (TWE) to the model was examined with 79 adult ESL students through video recordings and written responses. Results provide information about the comparative contributions of some theory-based communicative competence variables to linguistic, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competencies. Twelve oral and 12 written communication tasks were analyzed and rank ordered for suitability in eliciting communicative language performance. Sixteen tables present analysis results. An appendix lists the ordered tasks. (Contains 28 references.) (Author/SLD)