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described and illustrated various characteristics of pragmatics instruction,
drawing both on published literature and on strategies-based internet sites
for learner self-access. We have given attention both to classroom lessons
and to websites specializing in pragmatics. We have also made efforts to
illustrate practical strides that have been made to provide instruction in
pragmatics to L2 learners.
The book has also dealt with two other dimensions that have a crucial
bearing on the potential success of a pragmatics focus in the curriculum. The
first is that of students’ strategies for learning pragmatics and performing
what they have learned. The intention is for teachers to encourage learners
to review their repertoire of strategies, with an eye to enhancing their learn-
ing of pragmatics, a complex and challenging area for learners at all levels.
The other dimension is that of assessment, which is an area inextricably
intertwined with instruction. In our opinion, one means of boosting student
motivation for learning is by getting them to understand the value of learn-
ing pragmatics, by making sure that their pragmatic ability is assessed, and
by making sure that they get feedback regarding their use of pragmatics. So
we have devoted Chapters 14 and 15 to issues of assessment in the class-
room, an area that is largely neglected in many professional volumes on
pragmatics, which usually focus on assessment for research purposes.
We would hope that exposure to the issues voiced in this volume has
encouraged you to undertake this enterprise, or to take it on with renewed
vigor. Your efforts might start small, such as by just asking learners to com-
ment on the likely relationship between the conversational partners in 
dialogues. Learners could then be invited to consider how language might
differ according to their given partner in a particular interaction, since degree
of acquaintance, relative social position, and the context of the interaction
can all influence the nature of the interaction (see Chapter 8). Or you may
want to adapt currently available material quite extensively, or even design
a new curriculum with pragmatics as an organizing principle. In any case, if
explicit teaching of pragmatics is yet to be recognized or practiced systemat-
ically in your local context, there could be some challenges in the process.
In this conclusion, we would once again encourage those of you who are
teacher readers to engage in focused reflection and goal-setting. First, in order
to further organize your knowledge and beliefs about teaching pragmatics, it
may be helpful to go back to the reflective prompts introduced in Activity 2.1
in Chapter 2. These prompts invite the teacher readers among you to 
articulate how your experience of learning L2 pragmatics and professional
preparation may have shaped your beliefs as to how you teach pragmatics.
The prompts also focus attention on certain logistical issues with regard to

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how to teach and assess pragmatics, as well as raising the fundamental ques-
tion as to whose norms for pragmatics to use in the classroom. In the
reflective portion of the exercise, it may be beneficial to review the thoughts
and reflections that you have engaged in while working through Chapters 6,
10 and 11. As we have discussed in Chapter 2, teachers can benefit from
becoming fully aware of the knowledge and beliefs that they have about
pragmatics. Once they have heightened their awareness, they have a better
chance of making informed choices about how to link their beliefs to daily
practices. This process can be an empowering one, in which teachers find
themselves better able to make decisions about whether or how to change
their practice when necessary.
Next, we would like to suggest some goal-setting for pragmatics instruc-
tion, if it in fact is part of our teacher readers’ ongoing professional pursuit.
Incorporating pragmatics into the classroom (especially using research-
based information) may require determination even on the part of a most
committed teacher. This is because it is a multi-step process, which includes
deciding on the L2 pragmatics content to teach, planning the instruction,
preparing the materials, and conducting assessment to determine what has
been learned. What is a realistic timeline for these efforts? What resources
would be necessary, which would actually be available, and what instruc-
tional materials would assist this new teaching endeavor? What steps would
need to be taken in order to access these resources and to obtain the neces-
sary instructional materials? What issues might still need to be resolved
before launching into the teaching of pragmatics?
In addition, there may be a need for institutional support in order to 
add a pragmatics focus to the curriculum. Those of you who are teacher
readers may wish to enlist your colleagues’ support in this endeavor. It 
facilitates this process if you have colleagues who already see the value of
teaching appropriate language use in context. If this does not reflect the
reality, then you might need to advocate for the integration of pragmatics
into the existing curriculum. How can this begin? Is there some kind of col-
laborative group or task force to join, or would it be possible to form one?
And again, what is a realistic timeline for such efforts?
At times you may have the impression that you are on your own in the
efforts to develop a pragmatics component in the curriculum. In fact, a con-
nection to a professional network may be effective in order to sustain the
enthusiasm and commitment to teaching pragmatics. The good news is that
the professional community does offer regional, national, and international
support on a variety of subjects, including instruction in L2 pragmatics. For
example, various professional organizations for language teaching have
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interest groups for pragmatics, intercultural communication, sociolinguistics,
and other related areas. Annual conferences of these organizations typically
have sessions on teaching pragmatics. If you already have experience teach-
ing pragmatics or even in conducting classroom-based research on your
instructional practices (as described in Activity 2.2 in Chapter 2), it would be
fruitful to present at one of these sessions in the near future.
Workshops and summer institutes are another place where professionals
sharing the same instructional and research interests congregate. In fact, the
summer institute at the University of Minnesota’s CARLA has been a pro-
ductive and inspiring place since 2006, where interested teachers share their
passion for advocating pragmatics in language education, learn from each
other, and become part of this exciting professional community.
Finally, we would like to emphasize that the effort to promote systematic
teaching of pragmatics in the L2 curriculum instruction is a relatively recent
endeavor. This is precisely why there are challenges ahead and there are
areas that were not covered in this volume that need to be dealt with in the
future. For example, there are issues of authenticity to consider at multiple
levels. How can we make efforts to teach pragmatics truly consistent with
learners’ genuine needs? What situations and whose norms are most rele-
vant to the learners’ purposes (especially in foreign-language contexts)?
Furthermore, how can we teach authentic language use and authentic prag-
matic variation if the bulk of the research-based information is based on
elicited data?
There also are issues of teacher education. How prepared are teachers to
provide pragmatics instruction? How can we better incorporate pragmatics
into teacher education? Should we teach L2 pragmatics to learners at a young
age, and if so, how might the instruction and teacher education be different
from those for teaching adults? These issues of authenticity and teacher 
education are two of the questions voiced in professional conferences in the
past few years. We need to address these issues by accumulating enhanced
research results and by reconciling creative pedagogical innovations.
In closing, let us just reiterate our aim that this book serve as a spring-
board for active discussion regarding pragmatics. It is our hope that the
book will foster the fruitful collaboration of teachers, curriculum writers,
researchers, and teacher educators who are of like mind in their willingness
to enhance the teaching of pragmatics. The empirically validated instruc-
tion of pragmatics can be truly possible only through the collaborative
insights of all engaged in language education. Consequently, contributions
of each of our readers can most definitely play a crucial role in the future
development of instructional pragmatics.