Recommended books on teacher resources on pragmatics
By Jono Ryan - Head of Materials Development
Pragmatics is the difference between saying something in an ordinary, unremarkable way that gets the job done, and saying it in a way that could inadvertently cause offence, ruin a budding friendship, and even lead to conflict. It's absolutely crucial for most language learners but too often gets overlooked, both by teachers and textbook publishers. Judging by the feedback we've received from many subscribers, CTE’s Pragmatics lessons are helping to fill that void for a number of teachers and learners around the world. Of course, there's a big appetite for further resources, and so in this post, I point to my favorite options out there.
Ronald, J., Rinnert, C., Fordyce, K., & Knight, T. (Eds.). (2012). Pragtivities. JALT Publications.
The JALT Pragmatics SIG continues to be a shining light in the field, with regular events, a newsletter, and also occasional publications. This volume contains over 60 pragmatics-oriented lesson plans by a wide range of teaching practitioners. Although even its staunchest supporters would concede it’s a mixed bag, the volume as a whole stands apart for its breadth of topics and provides further evidence of a rich underground of teacher-made materials, few of which are made widely available. Fair warning though: this volume can be tricky to purchase from outside Japan.
Riddiford, N., & Newton, J. (2010). Workplace talk in action: An ESOL resource. Victoria University of Wellington.
This superb book is another that may be difficult to find (try Vicbooks.co.nz). It is aimed at intermediate and advanced learners preparing for English in the workplace and has an emphasis on NZ and Australian contexts and speech patterns. Perhaps uniquely (at least in recent times) it is based on data recorded in actual workplaces and so includes an authenticity that seldom found elsewhere. The 7 units cover small talk, requests, refusals, suggestions, disagreements, complaints and apologies, and focus on both listening and speaking (and, where appropriate, emails). While the others listed here are collections of stand-alone lessons, this book could form the backbone of a short language program. It’s also the only one of the three books listed here with a format and binding that make it readily useable in the classroom.
Houck, N. R., & Tatsuki, D. (Eds.). (2011). Pragmatics: Teaching natural conversation. TESOL.
Alongside a companion volume focused on speech acts, this has probably been the most high-profile and perhaps the most influential resource book to drawn on Conversation Analysis. Like Ronald et al (2012), there’s a diverse range of approaches, but in focusing on just a dozen units, here the contributors have the opportunity go deeper into each of those topics. The units cover such topics as compliments, turn-taking, expressing gratitude, and how to open and close telephone calls. Published by TESOL Press, this is easily the most well-known and widely distributed of the three books.