Reflections on the effectiveness of pragmatic instruction: a search for optimum approach

In recent years, a considerable scholarly literature has accumulated regarding the most effective techniques for EFL students to develop what is termed ‘pragmatic competency’, a notion which is somewhat obscurely defined as ‘the capacity to use English language appropriately in spontaneous speaking contexts’. Striving for communicative language acquisition, a pedagogic debate has emerged which differentiates two approaches to pragmatic competency. These techniques or heuristic approaches have become known as ‘explicit’ and ‘implicit’ instructional pedagogies. In the case of the explicit pragmatic language acquisition process, the learner is introduced to the range of explicit rules which are reckoned to be foundational to the form of linguistic constructions required, when these rules function as a coherent combinatory set. On the other hand, the heuristic of implicit pedagogy “makes no overt reference to rules or forms” (Doughty, 2007, p.265), but forms of speech that depend upon rule-governed pragmatics are not made explicit, but are intended to be discovered by students through their actual participation in the conversational exchange. The central objective of this paper will be, within the limited space available; to critically evaluate the current debate between the respective proponents of explicit and implicit instructional pedagogies designed to maximize the acquisition of pragmatic competency skills