TEACHING PRAGMATICS IN CONTEXT Fanny Law & Cherry Ngai San Francisco State University

Project Motivation  Personal experiences  New international students  Awkwardness in conversation  Background  Pragmatics is not a focus of academic English  Pragmatics is a multi-disciplinary subject  However,  Essential in daily social interaction

What is Pragmatics? Kasper, G. & Rose, K.R. (2001), Leech (1983), Thomas (1983) Pragmatics SociopragmaticsPragmalinguistics

Sociopragmatics  Intercultural Communication  Conceptual Differences of Pragmatic Norms  A Relative Concept (Moeschler, 2004)  Situation-Based (Wolf & Polzenhagen, 2006)

Pragmalinguistics  Interlangauge Pragmatics  Language Proficiency ≠ Pragmatic Competence  Exposure to the target language context  Pragmatic Transfer  Learning Process Kasper & Schmidt (1996), Kasper (1992)

Pedagogical Implications  Teachability  Implicit Instruction & Explicit Instruction (Koike & Pearson, 2005)  Awareness Raising (Bardovi-Harlig & Griffin, 2005)

Guideline for Teaching Pragmatics Pragmatic Competence Context Register Cross-cultural Differences Semantics & Syntax Interlocutors’ Status Non-verbal Communication Utterance Interpretation Utterance Inferences

Material Development  Speech Act Research  Conversation Analysis

Speech Act Corpus Data Apologies The Suzuki SAC (Speech Act Corpora) Cohen & Olshtain. (1981). Americen apologies.

Video

Student Worksheet – Awareness Raising Activity Where did it happen?In a meeting room What is the relationship between the speakers? Classmates Is the language exchange formal or informal? Informal What are the cultural backgrounds of the speakers? 2 Americans, 1 Chinese

Student Worksheet (Con’t) Notice the language use or word choices of their dialogues. e.g. modals, slang, questions, hesitations (“hm,” “ah,”) or pauses, etc. “Sorry I’m late” “At least you came” Do you notice any gesture or facial expression of the speakers? Tapping of the fingers Keep checking the watch to look at the time What are the speakers’ intentions?1)“That’s okay”, “It’s alright” - Acknowledge of possible offense; but no offense is taken 2)“Yeah” – Agree with what her friend said What are the listeners’ interpretations?1)The late comer thought her classmate didn’t mind 2)Offence is taken because the late comer didn’t provide any explanation of her fault

Follow-up Activities  Group Discussions  Elicit Ss’ background pragmatic knowledge  Negotiations raise their awareness of differences  Instructions  Applying Corpus data to teaching materials  Script writing / Role play  Have the Ss provide solutions

References  Bardovi-Harlig, K. & Griffin, R. (2005). L2 pragmatic awareness: Evidence from the ESL classroom. System 33 (3):  Crystal, D. (1985). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics. 2 nd. Edition. Oxford: Blackwell.  Kasper, G. (1992) Pragmatic transfer. Second language research, 8 (3),  Kasper, G. & Blum-Kulka, S. (1993). Interlanguage pragmatics: An introduction. In G. Kasper & S. Blum Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage pragmatics. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.  Kasper, G. & Rose, K.R. (2001). Pragmatics and language teaching. In K.R. Rose & G. Kasper (Eds.), Pragmatics in language teaching. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.  Kasper, G. Schmidt, R. (1996). Developmental issues in interlanguage pragmatics. Studies in second language acquisition, 18 (2),  Koike, D. A. & Pearson, L. (2005). The effect of instruction and feedback in the development of pragmatic competence. System 33(3):  LoCastro, V. (2003). An introduction to pragmatics: social action for language teachers. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.  Mey, J. L. (1993). Pragmatics: An introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.  Moeschler, J. (2004). Intercultural pragmatics: a cognitive approach. Intercultural pragmatics 1 (1),  Robinson, J. D. (2004). The sequential organization of “explicit” apologies in naturally occurring English. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 37(3):  Suzuki, T. (2007). The Suxuki SAC (Speech Act Corpora).  Wolf, H. G. & Polzenhagen, F. (2006). Intercultural communication in English: Arguments for a cognitive approach to intercultural pragmatics. Intercultural pragmatics, 3 (3),

Thank you for coming! Special thanks go to all our friends at San Francisco State University! Fanny Law: Cherry Ngai: