Teaching Pragmatics
Complete abstract:
This Colloquium features practical applications of teaching pragmatics. The topics in this colloquium include, a video-based lesson plan based on various speech acts, a language variation collection project, shifting desu/masu forms to mark pragmatic meaning, and a study of 'suggesting' in peer responses. John Rylander will give an overview of the rationale for using particular video clips extracted from feature films and television shows along with an explanation of classroom worksheets to guide learners in their discovery of pragmalinguistic forms and sociolinguistic features.Yuki Kakiuchi will illustrate a language variation project in which learners seek out and collect real language data thereby raising their awareness of the importance of pragmatics in language learning. Kazutoh Ishida will illustrate a way to raise learners awareness about shifting desu/masu forms when addressing the same person to mark specific pragmatic meanings.Mayumi Fujioka will focus on a Japanese university EFL writing course and introduce a series of lessons in which learners receive instruction in specific strategies for appropriate suggestions in English including the use of hedged or softened expressions.All the presentations point out the relevance of pragmatics in an EFL context. All the participants are authors in the pedagogical innovation section of Prag SIG’s newly released book, Pragmatics in Language Learning, Theory, & Practice, which is the first volume in the Pragmatic Resources series.
