Course presentation on pragmatics for linguistic analysis class, MATESOL,

1. Layla Alamri
Concept Presentation
12/12/2017
Language Analysis: Grammar and Discourse

2. What answer would you go for?
You’re having dinner at home, and your husband tells you: “is there any
ketchup?” how would you answer that question?
A- “yes there is.” and you go get the ketchup for him.
B- “yes there is” and you continue eating
C- “why don’t you go find out yourself?”
Is there any Ketchup, Vera? Article By Debora Cameron (1998)

3. Pragmatic Language
Pragmatic Failure:
• Linguistic barriers
• Lack of shared knowledge

4. Pragmatic Language
1. What is pragmatics?
2. Why is it important in language teaching?
3. How to help learners understand pragmatic
language?

5. What Is Pragmatics?
• “the study of how language is used and interpreted by its users in real-
world situations” (Throunbury, 2006)
A: Are you the fish?
B: No, I’m the meat balls.
Pragmatics >>> WHY (Crystal,2014)

6. Why is pragmatic important in language teaching?
• To avoid communication breakdown
“explaining pragmatic uses that are expected to be shared
knowledge leads to breaking down the communication among people”
(Schmitt, 2017)
• To learn when and how to use the appropriate language in the
appropriate context:
e.g.: addressing people, greetings, complimenting, apologizing…

7. How to help learners understand pragmatic
language?
Teaching pragmatics is difficult. As discussed earlier, pragmatics can be
tricky to interpret.
• Teachers can use the opportunity whenever possible to introduce
certain uses of language that help learners with their communicative
competence
• Learners can compare their pragmatic language in their own language
to the English pragmatics to be able to see the differences and
similarities in their own cultural and social contexts and in English.
(e.g. how apology is different or similar in English and in Chinese
(Yin, 2009)