View Content #26286

By Stephanie Knight, CASLS Assistant Director

Ishihara and Cohen (2010) offer a nice summary of the field of pragmatics in the subtitle to their book, “Teaching and Learning Pragmatics: Where Language and Culture Meet.” One one hand, this subtitle supports a rhetoric that is common in language teaching circles - that language and culture are inextricably intertwined. On the other hand, however, truly engaging learners in understanding "where language and culture meet" necessitates a considerable shift from traditional teaching methods. It necessitates that teachers not only teach grammar and vocabulary in context, but also critically examine the context of targeted communication tasks to identify what skills and knowledge learners need to communicate successfully. For example, learning the required grammar and vocabulary to engage in extending an invitation is not enough. Learners need to also be aware of target culture expectations regarding that invitation extension: What are face-saving techniques that might be incorporated? Is it considered pushy or polite to extend the invitation multiple times after an initial no? Does yes really mean yes? Knowing the answers to these questions not only increases the authenticity of language course content, but also empowers learners to take on communication with expert speakers confidently.

 Making the shift to pragmatics-centered instruction is not instantaneous, nor is it highly supported by common, popular resources (textbooks, for example, tend to only identify cultural expectations as they relate to communication in superficial or inconsistent ways). The question then presents itself as to what teachers, many of whom have not studied the field of pragmatics and are completely strapped for time, can logically do to make this important shift. The suggestions below address this concern.

1. Identify common points of misunderstanding that arise from something other than than how language is coded. Consider your past interactions in the target language. Did you ever extend an apology that wasn’t accepted? Did you ever offend someone unintentionally? Use those interactions to help you identify a few learning targets for your students. When you aren’t sure what exactly to teach (how can you teach how to have an apology accepted when you aren’t sure why yours was rejected in the first place?), a few minutes of research on the internet can provide enough insight to adequately supplement the information that you already have in your text. And speaking of your text…
2. Critically evaluate the contexts for communication embedded in your text or other teaching resources. Have a casual conversation with a friend in the context for communication presented in your text to see if the accompanying, prescribed grammar appears in real life. You may discover quite a few imperfect matches. For example, though Spanish textbooks commonly present reflexive verbs in the context of describing one’s daily routine, reflexive verbs aren’t actually commonly used this way. Instead, it might be more salient to present reflexive verbs in the context of learning how to make suggestions/give advice as it is common to use said verbs to help a child get ready for the day (Put on your shoes!, Don’t forget to brush your teeth!) or when sharing a bathroom with a roommate (Why don’t you shower tonight, and I will in the morning?).
3. Incorporate a process for analyzing authentic resources in your class. Learners will be able to create knowledge If you provide them with processes to guide how they view, analyze, and otherwise use authentic resources. Ishihara and Cohen (2010) suggest that learners first engage in observation (usually of authentic texts), then analysis, and ultimately some sort of extension when engaging in the study of language pragmatics. You can see examples of this sequence in last week's and this week's Activities of the Week. While adopting this framework is certainly up to the discretion of the teacher, teachers should come up with a similar routine that allows learners to glean what is observable, analyze what they see, and practice the language at hand or investigate more.
4. Consider how power differentials and social distance (how close people are) impact the language functions you teach. While you may not have studied pragmatics in the past, it is relatively easy to conceive of, research, and find examples for a language function being used among interlocutors of varying power differentials and degrees of social distance. For example, when greeting a friend (a situation in which the speakers are of equal power and the social distance between them is low), one would likely use different language from when greeting a potential employer (the speakers are of unequal power and the social distance between them is high). Embed considerations of how those differences impact language in your class throughout the year as much as is possible. For more discussion of these two variables along with rank of imposition, see this Topic of the Week article. 
5. Start small. It is impossible to change one’s syllabus overnight, particularly given that most educators aren’t autonomous actors when it comes to textbook and resource selection. Pick a few lessons, especially those that already involve authentic resources, and think about how you can update them to have learners focus on language pragmatics. Alternatively, pick one language function per chapter or unit and update your lesson to involve more consideration of the cultural expectations embedded in the function at hand.
6. When in doubt, use linguistic corpora. When there is a target structure that you wish to incorporate in your class, but you are unsure of how to contextualize it or of how to have your learners explore and analyze it, use linguistic corpora. If you aren’t familiar with corpora, Linguee (linguee.com), is a great place to start. It is a world language dictionary that links to external sources that use the word or phrase that you searched for in context. These results can be used and analyzed by learners for their accuracy and validity and provide considerable grounding into understanding how certain terms are used by expert speakers.

The shift to incorporating language pragmatics in instruction is a necessary and worthwhile endeavor. It builds salience and relevance while simultaneously helping learners to develop critical thinking skills that will help them in the classroom and beyond. By approaching the shift thoughtfully and carefully, all teachers, even those without training in language pragmatics, can make the change.

Reference

Ishihara, N. & Cohen, A. (2010). Teaching and Learning Pragmatics: Where Language and Culture Meet. New York: Routledge.