Grammar in the Real World: Enhancing Grammar Lessons with Pragmatics

Abstract

Previous work in the field of interlanguage pragmatics suggests that learners of a second or foreign language benefit from metapragmatic instruction (e.g., Félix-Brasdefer 2008a; Kasper and Rose 2002; Koike and Pearson 2005). The most common approach taken in studies on instruction is to focus on a speech act and to develop a lesson that acts as a separate unit for the learners (or study participants). The current article presents a slightly different approach, suggesting that language educators enhance grammar lessons that are already part of the curriculum with instruction on pragmatics. Instead of developing additional units, this article shows how grammar lessons can be extended and enhanced using internet searches on Google and YouTube to find authentic materials in addition to authentic written texts. These lessons, in addition to providing metapragmatic instruction, also present opportunities to make cross-cultural comparisons between different Spanish-speaking countries and the United States.

Hispanic Linguistics Instruction: How Should We Teach It?

“…A good activity for this would be performing audio recordings of interactions with local people. By performing cross-cultural comparisons, students can better understand the nature of language and the concept of culture itself (Rose, 2012).…”

Exploring the Potential of a Formula-Enhanced Approach for Speech Act Teaching in Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada

“…These two methods are considered to be two main types of awareness-oriented instruction (Takimoto 2007) and have been extensively debated in the literature on L2 pedagogy due to inconsistencies in their definitions (Takahashi, 2010). Rose (2012) defines explicit instruction of pragmatics as a method where learners are provided with direct instruction on how linguistic forms are used in context, whereas implicit instruction of pragmatics implies exposing learners to pragmatic aspects of language and providing them with a means to make generalizations and conclusions about how language is used in context. In particular, availability of metapragmatic information during the course of the instruction can be considered a key factor in distinguishing between explicit and implicit instruction (Taguchi, 2015).…”

“…These observations suggest that more fine-tuned, formfocused instruction techniques are needed when dealing with pragmatic formulas containing grammatically complex structures as part of their slot-and-frame patterns. This could be achieved by 'reuniting' grammar and pragmatics, as has been suggested in the number of previous studies (Kasper, 2001;Bardovi-Harlig, 2003;Rose, 2012;Félix-Brasdefer & Cohen, 2012), and integrating the state-of-the-art principles of form-focused instruction (Ranta & Lyster, 2018) into the existing models of speech act teaching.…”