Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Intercultural communication, understood here as global communication between members of communities with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, has gained considerable prominence in the area of Global Studies and has particularly impacted the field of education as it relates to teaching English as a second or foreign language. Its designation as a Lingua Franca has led to the development of pedagogical practices aimed at facilitating language users’ communicative abilities at a linguistic and cultural level. As a result, developing L2 learners’ pragmatic skills has become an important goal in ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) pedagogy. The challenge lies in finding level-appropriate instructional materials that reflect authentic language use while providing opportunities for learners to critically analyze the contextual features of the language. The author demonstrates how to incorporate pragmatics in a variety of pedagogical contexts through a web-based collection of audio-visual materials and instructional guides for teachers and teacher trainers. In this paper participants learn how to adapt the materials available on the website, as the presenter models classroom activities and leads the audience through useful techniques for incorporating pragmatics into an ESL/EFL class that meets the needs of a globalized world.