Alongside of the concept of academic competence, this paper introduces the notion of “academic interaction” in reference to all aspects of communicative and non-communicative behaviour in academic situations. It is argued that we must undertake more inquiry of the processes and outcomes of academic interaction in naturally occurring situations, not just the written texts that students produce. Focussing upon Japanese university students studying overseas, some new research is introduced that follows an academic interaction approach, and then a number of issues, emerging from this research, is raised, specifically, problems with the common L1/L2 categorization, the relative importance of difficulties facing students, the neglect of research on activities other than writing, the empowerment of students and facilitators of student transitions, academic paradigms and the superiority of English academic norms, and finally, the notion of major intellectual styles.