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presenting examples of authentic indirect complaint discourse and
discussing various types of responses (see above for examples);
2
presenting indirect complaints to have learners produce the responses;
3
presenting responses to indirect complaints to have learners produce
complaints that precede the responses;
4
discussing the impact of the setting, context, and speaker characteristics
in the above exchanges;
5
learners’ reconstruction of short sample conversations through the
ordering of lines;
6
videotaping of learners’ mini-drama role-plays based on the given
gender, social status, and distance; and
7
analyzing pragmatic language use in the videotaped role-plays.
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The authors of this article provide an abundance of examples of indirect
complaints from spontaneous speech, which can provide authentic models
for L2 learners. These suggested activities draw learners’ attention to inter-
actional issues by constantly presenting speakers’ complaints along with
their listeners’ responses. Some of the sample dialogues consist of multiple
turns, and the speech elicited in the tasks could be stretched into extended
discourse.
Teaching requests in an academic setting
Requesting is a popular speech function that can often be found in language
textbooks. Textbook coverage of the requests is often associated with the
grammatical structures and modals (e.g., could, would, and may). In other
cases with textbooks utilizing a functional syllabus, a list of formulaic
expressions may be provided, but little information is found in textbooks as
to how to use them (e.g., in what situations they are appropriate and to
whom the expressions can be addressed). In the teaching of pragmatics, in
addition to teaching how to form single-sentence requests (e.g., “Could 
I please have a glass of water?”), the pragmatics of requests can also be 
introduced to learners in a more extended discourse. For example, samples
of authentic conversation can show learners how the discourse opens up, 
proceeds, and concludes, how indirect and subtle requests can be used, and
in what situations and in what sequences they can be used.
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The sequence of activities is from Boxer and Pickering (1995: 52–5).

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