Welcome to TeachingPragmatics.com!

It is not uncommon that learners of English as a second or foreign language find that mastering grammatical structures is not sufficient to communicate successfully during social interactions. English courses often fail to prepare learners for situations in which a pause or eye contact might be more effective—or cause more trouble—than the words themselves.

"I'm trying to tell a story! Why do you keep interrupting me??"
"I just gave her a compliment... Why does she seem so upset?"
"I really don't want to go to that dinner party, but I don't want to upset my neighbor... What do I say?"

These and many other questions related to how we use language in context will be the focus of the teaching resources you’ll find here. Pragmatics has become a crucial component of second and foreign language teaching and learning, but it is still considerably difficult to find adequate materials to develop learners’ pragmatic ability. This website was developed to help fill the gap between the growing need to include pragmatics instruction in language courses and the lack of materials available.

The resources available on TeachingPragmatics.com include a series of videos and related teaching materials, which can be easily adapted to most ESL and EFL teaching contexts.

The website will be updated regularly, as new materials will continue to be added.

Who is this website for?

TeachingPragmatics.com is meant to be used as a resource for English language teachers intending to incorporate pragmatics instruction into their ESL or EFL classrooms. The website can also be useful to anyone interested in learning how language (verbal and non-verbal) is used to communicate meaning.

All materials available on the website have been carefully designed to teach pragmatics effectively. Because classroom contexts and teaching styles can vary greatly, the lesson plans were created to be easily modified to fit the needs of the teachers.