A01 cohe4573 01 se fm. Qxd

1 2 4
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
■
What are the overall objectives of this class and what are the objectives
that specifically target pragmatics? (E.g., exactly what learners’
pragmatic awareness to enhance and what specific productive
pragmatic skills to improve)
■
How does the teacher trigger learners’ noticing and understanding 
of the target pragmatic function/features? More specifically, what
awareness-raising exercises or tasks does the teacher use in this class?
How effective do they seem to be in accomplishing the goals of this
instruction? (See Chapter 6 for pragmatic awareness-raising.)
■
What interactive or output opportunities are provided in this class?
How effective do these language production tasks seem to be in
accomplishing the goals of instruction?
■
How is pragmatic variation demonstrated in the instruction? How
might the diversity of pragmatic norms be taken into account in 
the assessment of learners’ pragmatic ability and development?
■
How might learners’ knowledge of their first language and culture 
be used as a resource?
■
What is the learners’ general proficiency level? How much cultural
knowledge of the L2 do they seem to have? In what ways does the
instruction accommodate learners’ levels of proficiency and cultural
knowledge?
■
How motivated do learners appear to be to learn pragmatics? What
factors probably contribute to their level of interest and motivation?
■
How does the teacher formally or informally assess learners’ pragmatic
awareness and production? To what extent is the evaluation of learners’
production based on how native-like it is? How much of the assessment
is made on the basis of the learners’ intentions? (See Chapter 15 for
assessment based on learners’ goals and intentions.)
■
What do I like about this lesson? What can I directly incorporate into
my own teaching?
■
What modifications, if any, would I need to make in order to
accommodate my learners’ needs and institutional context?
■
Other points of interest:
The remainder of the chapter provides descriptions of two sets of 
pragmatics-focused instruction in the ESL, EFL, and JFL contexts. Teacher
readers are invited to follow along and critically reflect on the instruction
with a selected observational focus in mind.

---

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 2 5
Teaching Demonstration 1: Teaching giving and responding
to compliments (ESL)
2
Learners and the context
The instruction is designed for high-intermediate learners in an oral skills course in a US
university ESL context. The target audience are adult international students from various
cultures, speaking a range of L1s, who have lived in the L2 community for varying periods
of time. Learners’ goals include improving English skills to better communicate in their
daily lives, as well as to use English more effectively for academic or business purposes in
the near future. American English is most relevant to this audience but instruction can be
altered to accommodate other varieties of English for other groups of learners.
Objectives
Giving and responding to compliments is culturally bound communicative behavior, largely
reflecting the values of the society and the conversational partners. Due to the cultural dif-
ferences in norms of behavior, ESL learners sometimes experience embarrassment, dismay,
and may accidentally offend someone by the way that they give or respond to compliments
in English.
3
In the USA, compliments are often used as a “social lubricant,” establishing 
ties of solidarity between conversational partners.
4
In academic setting, compliments from
teachers and peers can boost students’ confidence, reinforce desirable behavior, and con-
tribute to the development of a cooperative learning environment. How to compliment can
be modeled and practiced even at an elementary level and can be used in teacher–student
classroom meetings, during peer editing of writing, and when students meet in literature
circles.
5
Below are the objectives of instruction for university ESL:
1
Learners will be able to identify differing norms of behavior across cultures with
regard to giving and responding to compliments.
2
Learners will be able to assess appropriateness, sincerity, and spontaneity of
compliments and responses to compliments, considering the relative social status of
the conversation partners, their familiarity with each other, and suitability of the topic
of compliments.
2
This instructional description has been adapted from Ishihara (2003a) and Ishihara
(2009). Student worksheets can be accessed from a link at: http://www.i.hosei.ac.jp/
~ishihara.
3
Dunham (1992); Holmes and Brown (1987).
4
Billmyer (1990); Dunham (1992).
5
See Estrada et al.’s (2006) lesson plan for an intermediate fourth-grade ESL course
developed in the summer institute on teaching pragmatics at the CARLA. Although
pragmatics-focused analysis may need to be rather simple for young learners, an
enhanced awareness of context and language can be developed through interactional
practice.

---