Pragmatics Archive

Results in BLC Posts

Workshop on pragmatics with Andrew Cohen, March 8, 2013

Learners’ Pragmatics: Divergence from the Norm by Andrew Cohen, University of Minnesota. The session will start with a brief introduction on just what L2 pragmatics is all about. Then we will look at divergence from L2 pragmatic norms. Participants will then be invited to do an exercise in pairs or small groups where they get…

Lecture by Andrew Cohen, February 25, 2011

Teaching Pragmatics in the L2 Classroom by Professor Andrew Cohen, Second Language Studies, University of Minnesota. This presentation makes the point that it is not enough these days for teachers simply to teach the language forms; that it is imperative that they also teach their learners strategies for interpreting the language used by others and…

Results in L2 Journal Articles

Reflections on a Career in Second Language Studies: Promising Pathways for Future Research

This paper highlights a series of areas deemed worthy of attention by language researchers. In some cases the research effort would entail following up on studies initiated some years ago and in other cases the effort would involve relatively new research thrusts. The paper includes ideas about research regarding: (1) pathways to success in language learning – language learners as informed consumers, the role of motivation in the L2-FL interface, the language of thought for learning the target language, the impact of L2/FL error correction over time, the use and impact of websites accessed in support of language learning, and language attrition over time; (2) language learner strategies – the fluctuating functions of strategies, refining strategies for language learning, the language strategies of hyperpolyglots, and test-taking strategies; and (3) pushing the envelope with regard to TL pragmatics – the less researched speech acts, the effects of explicit instruction in pragmatics, the learning of pragmatics in the TL classroom from native- and non-native teachers, and the teaching of pragmatics in World Englishes.

The Effects of L2 Proficiency on Pragmatics Instruction: A Web-Based Approach to Teaching Chinese Expressions of Gratitude

This study investigated whether the effects of pragmatics instruction delivered via a self-access website in a Chinese as a foreign language learning environment vary according to learners’ language proficiency. The website provided learners with explicit instruction in how to express gratitude appropriately in Chinese and offered them pragmatic consciousness-raising activities for practice. Two groups of learners who differed in Chinese proficiency received ...

Creating a Social Context Through Film: Teaching L2 Pragmatics as a Locally Situated Process

Pragmatics is an underrepresented area in L2 instruction, in spite of disciplinary emphasis on communicative skills (de Pablos-Ortega, 2011; Eisenchlas, 2011). Films have been shown to be capable of mitigating this lack of pedagogically prepared materials (Abrams, 2014; Kambara, 2011; Fernández-Guerra, 2008; Grant & Starks, 2001; Washburn, 2001), and may provide scaffolding for teaching pragmatics as a dynamic, context-dependent phenomenon. In line with current research in pragmatics ...

Sociocultural Theory and a Pragma-linguistic Pedagogical Intervention

L2 pragmatic instruction in grammar and writing is an area of second language acquisition that is underutilized by many teachers. This paper follows the process of one teacher as the instruction of the pragmatic speech act of requesting is integrated into a low-level grammar class. First, an argument is made for the importance of including explicit pragmatic instruction in an ESL classroom. Then, a recent pedagogical model based on Sociocultural Theory is utilized as a basis for ...

Teaching Japanese Pragmatic Competence Using Film Clips

Taking three common pragmatic errors by intermediate students of Japanese as a starting point, namely, overuse of the 1st person pronoun watashi, and incorrect use of hearsay markers and sentence final particles, this paper develops a strategy for employing film clips ...