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By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

Pragmatics, or “meaning as communicated by a speaker (or writer) and interpreted by a listener (or reader) (Yuul, 1996, pp.3-4), is critical for successful communication. While often the source of funny anecdotes, pragmatic missteps can cause frustration for learners as they interact with expert speakers of their target language.  Take, for example, the common English greeting, “Hey, how are you?” with the typical response of “I’m well.” or “I’m fine.” For a speaker who interprets “How are you?” to be a sincere inquiry into one’s well being, their response can extended beyond a short phrase and can be interpreted as too much sharing. This pragmatic misstep, due to mismatched expectations, can cause frustration on the part of both speakers. If one is expecting to talk about their day and the other is expecting a short greeting sequence both are not interacting in the way they had hoped. 

Explicit pragmatic instruction and attention to pragmatic behaviors in the language classroom can help learners avoid miscommunication, and, when missteps occur, analyze their implications. In InterCom this month, we will explore issues relevant to the teaching and learning of pragmatics.  This includes key principles for teaching and learning pragmatics, technology in the service of interlanguage pragmatic development, and pragmatics in study abroad contexts.