A01 cohe4573 01 se fm. Qxd

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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
Learners’ observations can be further reinforced in activities such as group
discussion, oral presentation, reflective journaling, skit construction, and
role-plays. The entire lesson plan and caveats can be found in Teaching
Pragmatics.
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Teaching conversational implicature
A characteristic of daily language interactions is that messages often have
implicit elements which need to be interpreted from the context. For 
example, if we say, “Do you have any coffee?” in a restaurant, we mean a cup
of coffee ready to drink; in the grocery store, the same utterance refers to
coffee beans to be roasted
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(see Chapter 4 for the definition of conversational
implicature). Research shows that conversational implicature in an L2 is
learned only slowly unless it is explicitly taught and that formal instruction
can accelerate the learning of most types of conversational implicature. Below
is an example of how conversational implicature might be addressed in an
advanced ESL/EFL classroom (see Chapter 4 for the classifications and 
examples):
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1
introduction of each type of implicature with the label, definition, and
several examples for each;
2
discussion of new examples of implicature:
■
identification of the implicature;
■
explanation of how literal meaning did not hold and how the
implicature was detected;
■
identification of what is actually implied in the messages;
■
illustration of learners’ experiences with implicature;
■
identification of similar implicature in learners’ L1s;
3
group work creating dialogues containing implicature;
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Teaching Pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig and Mahan-Taylor 2003, see above for the
URL) is a practical and accessible online source that reflects current thinking with
regard to the teaching of L2 pragmatics. The other chapters in this teachers’ resource
guide deal with: general pragmatic awareness and comprehension (e.g., politeness,
greetings, terms of address, and pragmatic variation), conversational management
(e.g., the use of discourse markers, correcting and contradicting, and contrasting),
conversational openings and closings, and other speech acts (requesting, refusing,
complimenting and responding to compliments).
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Bouton (1994a: 88).
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Bouton (1994a: 102).

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