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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
F I G U R E 1 1 . 1 Teaching a fish vs. teaching how to fish
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providing communication strategies for pragmatic L2 use; and
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referring teachers and learners to resources on L2 pragmatics.
Now we will take a look at each of these principles, drawing examples from
the web-based and classroom-based curricula for intermediate learners of
Japanese in a foreign-language context.
Explicitly stating the primary goal and approach to 
L2 pragmatics
The primary importance of a pragmatics-focused curriculum may be to instill
in learners a sense of contextualized use of language (rather than to develop
grammatical accuracy or fluency in decontextualized discourse). Because
there is pragmatic variation across cultures and within cultures, a primary
concern for curriculum writers may be to equip learners with a learning tool
with which they become able to learn situational language behavior inde-
pendently, in other words, teaching them how to fish in addition to feeding
them some fish. Consequently, the curricular materials may neither aim to
provide comprehensive and detailed coverage of various norms of pragmatic
behavior, nor to focus just on linguistic forms without their interactional
contexts. Rather, the curricular goal may be to raise learners’ awareness of
the pragmatic use of language that will enable them to take the initiative in
developing their own pragmatic ability over time.
In the development of a pragmatics-focused curriculum, it is important
to communicate its primary goals as well as the curriculum writer’s approach
explicitly to teachers and learners. This may be done first in the preface of
the materials written specifically for learners and teachers. For example, in the

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C U R R I C U L U M W R I T I N G F O R L 2 P R A G M A T I C S
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sample curriculum for Japanese pragmatics, the preface to the curriculum
states its main goals and the curriculum writers’ approach to language learning
and teaching, particularly in relation to L2 pragmatics.
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More specifically,
the initial section of the curriculum includes information about:
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the importance of learning language in sociocultural context, a
definition of speech acts, and the reason why they are focused on in 
the curriculum;
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the nature of pragmatic variation and diversity of pragmatic norms and
curricular efforts to illustrate the variety;
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the pedagogical approach to learning and teaching pragmatics;
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the variety of the L2 being dealt with in the curriculum;
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the scope of situations (e.g. academic situations that college-age
speakers might find themselves in);
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the structure and the content of the curriculum;
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information about supplementary materials; and
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the curriculum writers’ consideration of learner agency, that is, the
capacity of learners to decide whether or not to follow native-speaker
norms.
Because the focus of this curriculum may be different from what teachers are
accustomed to, it can be beneficial to support the teachers by inserting into
the curriculum occasional illustrations as to how to include elements of a
pragmatics curriculum in everyday classroom practice. Examples of this
teacher support will be shown in the following sections.
Utilizing empirically established information and
naturalistic speech samples
Following the current argument that instruction in pragmatics should be
research-based,
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curriculum writers may choose to rely largely on empirical
findings from research reports (see Chapters 3 and 4). Since language often
operates automatically below the level of the speakers’ consciousness, it is
important to ensure the authenticity of the language material, rather than
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See Ishihara and Maeda (2010), for an example. The preliminary attempts can 
also be viewed at http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/japanese/introtospeechacts/
forstudents.htm and http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/japanese/introtospeechacts/
forteachers.htm (accessed December 10, 2009).
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For instance, Kasper and Rose (2002).

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