Even with perfect grammar, learners can offend a conversational partner or trigger misunderstanding without using the target language appropriately in the sociocultural context. How, for example, are learners supposed to address strangers, close friends, or people of higher social status in another culture? What linguistic choices should your students make if they are offering unsolicited advice to you without being intrusive or face-threatening? These are aspects of language use that are often overlooked in the second/foreign language curriculum.

While acquiring cultural norms and discourse practices can take learners many years, research has shown that the process can be accelerated through explicit classroom instruction. This session focuses on the pragmatics of a second/foreign language and addresses possible ways to highlight appropriate language use in the classroom. Despite the common myth that pragmatics is the “fine-tuning” reserved for advanced learners, it can be incorporated into our every-day instruction from the first day of instruction for learners of all ages. This session provides sample activities and practical insights for teachers with an intention to facilitate this type of instruction at the crossroads of language and culture.

外国語を効果的に使いその文化の中で信頼や人間関係を築くためには、文法的正確さのみならず、相手や状況に合った丁寧度や親密さを的確に表現するためのプラグマティックス能力 (語用論的能力) も必要である。そのような社会的規範は文化や話し手の背景によって異なり、それを把握しておくことは異文化間コミュニケーションの成功の一つの鍵ともなる。本発表では、プラグマティックスの領域の研究や理論を取り入れ、適切な言語の使い方に焦点を当てた外国語教育を考える。プラグマティックスの基礎知識と考え方を具体的な実践例を通して紹介する。