Pragmatic awareness in intercultural language learning

This chapter examines theoretical understandings and research findings related to the notion of pragmatic awareness within the field of intercultural language learning, highlighting important points of connection with the field of intercultural pragmatics. It first presents a critical overview of dominant theoretical understandings of pragmatic awareness within the field of language learning and then delineates key assumptions about the relationship between pragmatics and culture that have informed work on pragmatic awareness with a distinctly intercultural orientation. This discussion brings into focus a number of ways that sociocultural and socio-cognitive perspectives within intercultural pragmatics have contributed to an enlarged understanding of the nature of pragmatic interpretation and the close links between pragmatics and moral judgments. The chapter then addresses key findings and perspectives from empirical studies on pragmatic awareness within the field of intercultural language learning, highlighting implications for the field of intercultural pragmatics and areas for future development