Chapter 1. L2 pragmatics in action

Abstract

Over the last four decades, interlanguage pragmatics studies have paid special attention to instructional pragmatics; that is, to what extent instruction plays a role in developing learners’ second/foreign language (L2) pragmatic ability in instructional settings (Plonsky & Zhuang, 2019). Research has traditionally focused on the teaching-learning process, but there is still a lack of scholarly interest in the two main protagonists: the teachers and the learners. To address this research gap, the present chapter presents an overview of the current picture of L2 pragmatics in instructional contexts by focusing on the teachers (i.e. what they know, believe and do regarding L2 pragmatics), the learners (i.e. who they are, and how they learn L2 pragmatics) and the pedagogical approaches that bring together teachers and learners in action.