A01 cohe4573 01 se fm. Qxd

1 3 2
T H E N U T S A N D B O L T S O F P R A G M A T I C S I N S T R U C T I O N
Relative status
(age, gender, 
social status)
Distance/
role
Other 
information
(compliment
topics)
Appropriate?
(sincere/
spontaneous?)
E.g., (from Father 
of the Bride):
Dad: You look all 
lit up inside.
Annie: Oh, I feel 
all lit up inside.
. . .
Dad: You smell 
pretty good, too.
Annie: Oh, you like 
it? It was a present.
M to F
40s 
→ early 20s
L
H
Very close
C
D
Father 
→
daughter
Appearance
Perfume
Sincere/
spontaneous/
appropriate
Interaction 1
A:
B:
(continues)
(h) thanking;
(i) complaining;
(j) congratulating;
(k) well-wishing;
(l) understanding and using implied meaning (implicature);
(m) something else (specify).
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Sample material:
worksheet for learners’ data collection (stage B, above)
Giving and responding to compliments: data collection
For the coming week, pay attention to any compliments that you give, receive, or 
overhear in English. Jot them down in a notebook or elsewhere as accurately as poss-
ible after the conversation has ended. Observe carefully the context in which these
compliments were given and received in terms of age, gender, role, distance/close-
ness, and compliment topics. Fill out the following form and then decide how 
appropriate the interaction seemed to be.
20
Tasks similar to those presented in this lesson plan can be used for teaching and
researching these speech acts.

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C L A S S O B S E R V A T I O N A N D T E A C H I N G D E M O N S T R A T I O N S
1 3 3
Relative status
(age, gender, 
social status)
Distance/
role
Other 
information
(compliment
topics)
Appropriate?
(sincere/
spontaneous?)
Interaction 2
A:
B:
Interaction 3
A:
B:
Teaching Demonstration 2: Teaching requesting (EFL)
21
Learners and the context
The instruction is designed for false beginners in a university EFL context with the learners’
scores ranging from 370 to 429 on the paper-based TOEFL® ITP (International Testing
Program) Level 2. The target audience are adult Japanese non-English majors, taking a
required freshman English course. They have been studying English for at least six years,
but most have very little exposure to authentic L2 use and L2-speaking cultures. If learners
received traditional English education until high school, they are usually unfamiliar with
communicative language teaching, and their oral proficiency is typically extremely limited.
Learners’ goals include scoring high on a proficiency test like the TOEIC (Test of English for
International Communication) or TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) for better
job prospects after university and improving English skills to better communicate in that
language.
22
Instruction in the English medium can motivate learners at this level if it is 
supported with visual materials and made comprehensible. However, because learners
share a first (or dominant) language, the instruction may be more effective if selected parts
are given bilingually. For example, learners’ understanding would most likely be reinforced
if imaginary scenarios and reflective prompts are accompanied by written Japanese trans-
lations, and learners are allowed to use Japanese in providing reflections if they wish. For
this particular foreign-language audience, several varieties of English have been incor-
porated into the lesson plan as you see below.
21
The instruction/assessment procedures have been adapted from a research study
that has been investigating teacher-based assessment of L2 pragmatics in the class-
room: Ishihara (2009).
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Learners often lack an authentic need for studying English and have limited 
opportunities to use the L2; thus, teaching such a population of learners is some-
times characterized as Teaching English for No Apparent Reasons (TENAR) (Kubota and
McKay 2008).

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