The main objective of this research was to explore communication competence traits deemed as essential for initial teacher training of schoolteachers of language – in both the Spanish and Mapuzugun – by primary school teachers and university teachers who are familiar with linguistic diversity in the southern-central area of Chile in order to establish comparisons between their views of initial formation. Dialogic model (kishu kimkelay ta che) participatory research method was used on two sample groups: one made up of teachers working in schools and another involving university teachers who train teachers-to-be. Results show an enormous gap between the concept of communication competence proposed by both groups; while one is rooted in bilingualism and biculturality linked to the territory in which they work, the other emphasizes formal and procedural aspects of the dominant language.