Present day society is marked by complexity and uncertainty in the political, economic, educational arena to name just a few (e.g. B ECK 1986; WIMMER 2014), posing growing challenges to its members. In order to cope with these challenges social skills and reflexivity are becoming increasingly important. This article focuses on how English language classrooms can contribute to these generic competences. Relevant literature in the field of EFL learning and eaching suggests that certain aspects of cooperative learning may contribute to these skills. The article presents the main findings of three empirical studies which analyzed students’ interaction in cooperative settings. All three projects display generic skills in different ways. In this article, these findings are compiled systematically for the first time. It focuses on the questions of how social and individual skills and reflexivity interplay in the students’ group interactions and what role these skills play in the process of coping with uncertainty.