Assessing Pragmatic Competence Of L2 Learners

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore the
components of pragmatic competence for L2 learners.
Developing pragmatic competence in a second/foreign
language has been addressed in many articles and
publications on cross-cultural and interlanguage
pragmatics (Bardovi-Harlig, 1999; Barron, 2003;
Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper, 1989; Cohen &
Ishihara, 2005; Ishihara & Cohen, 2010; Kasper
& Blum-Kulka, 1993; McConachy & Hata, 2013;
Trosborg, 2010; Wigglesworth & Yates, 2007; etc.).
The Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages (Council of Europe, 2001) also addresses
this issue. Their stance is that communicative language
competences include linguistic, sociolinguistic and
pragmatic competences. Pragmatic competence itself
includes learner’s knowledge of the principles according
to which messages are: a. organized, structured and
arranged (discourse competence); b. used to perform
communicative functions (functional competence); c.
sequenced according to interactional and transactional
schemata (design competence) (Council of Europe, 2001,
p. 123). Roever (2005) chose three components for his
web-based test of pragmatic competence: speech acts,
implicatures and routines. Research on interlanguage
pragmatics often focuses on speech acts, politeness, use
of formulaic expressions, mitigation, etc.
In determining L2 learner’s pragmatic
competence we face two major problems:
1. what components of learner’s interlanguage to
measure; and
2. how to measure them.
In this paper, we first define interlanguage
pragmatics. Then we refer to issues referring to
pragmatic competence and components that are relevant
for its development. Finally, we discuss instruments and
methods of testing interlanguage pragmatic competence.