Die kommunikativ-pragmatische Orientierung im Fremdsprachenunterricht und ihre theoretische Grundlegung – Kritik und Perspektiven aus glottodidiaktischer Sicht

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss theoretical assumptions as well as point out strengths and weaknesses of the communicative-pragmatic approach to foreign language teaching. The author underlines the fact that pragmatics and the theory of speech acts by J. Austin and J. Searle, which emerged under the influence of the pragmatic approach in American philosophy, sociology and semiotics, as well as the theory of language games by L. Wittgenstein, the notion of communicative competence by D. Hymes and the theory of communicative action by J. Habermas all influenced the proponents of the pragmatic-communicative approach either directly or indirectly. The implementation of these theories, however, has not always been cautious and critical enough, which is exemplified by, for instance, overemphasizing fluency and communicative efficiency over morphosyntactic accuracy of speech. In other words, changing the role of communicative competence and downgrading the significance of linguistic competence in the foreign language teaching process. The author concludes that the essence of natural languages lies in their immanent structure rather than the communicative purposes they serve.