Technology-mediated tasks for the development of L2 pragmatics

Abstract

Developing pragmatic competence implies the learning of the norms and principles that affect the behavior of participants in a culture (i.e. sociopragmatics) and the ability to choose the language to realize those norms (i.e. pragmalinguistics). Learning to be pragmatically appropriate in the second language (L2) is not easy, and although it is possible without instruction, research shows that instruction helps development (Plonsky & Zhuang, 2019). This article advocates that technology-mediated tasks are an excellent and effective pedagogic tool to promote L2 pragmatic development. The article will introduce some key findings of studies that incorporate technology and pragmatics as well as those that have investigated tasks and L2 pragmatics to then focus on those studies that incorporate the three elements: tasks, technology and L2 pragmatics. These studies are grouped by their main focus of investigation: (1) the task, (2) the technology, or (3) the L2 pragmatic feature. As a whole, these studies show the possibilities that tasks and technology-mediated contexts have to engage learners in discursive practices that may not be possible otherwise, exposing them to the cyberpragmatics of an ever-growing digital world. Finally, lines of new research to advance the field are suggested.