Investigating pragmatic language learning in foreign language classrooms

Abstract

A lot of research addressing learners' development of pragmatics has recently been conducted (Kasper and Schmidt 1996; Bardovi-Harlig, 2002; Kasper and Rose 2002). From this same approach, a review of theoretical perspectives on pragmatic learning and how they have been operationalised in interlanguage pragmatic research is presented. Second, by paying attention to studies on learning the speech act of requesting that have been conducted in the EFL classroom, the author addresses the issue of whether cognitive and socially-oriented theories are complementary and, if so, how they can be integrated into classroom research on pragmatics. Taking into account the debate between positivism and relativism in SLA theory construction, here the author suggests relativism as a viable paradigm in research on interlanguage pragmatics. At the same time, language classrooms are presented as settings where cognitive and socially-oriented approaches can merge, and new perspectives on investigating pragmatic learning in foreign language contexts arc discussed.