THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERCULTURAL PRAGMATICS IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Abstract

This article focuses on the role of intercultural pragmatics in modern foreign languages teaching and, on the notion, issues of intercultural pragmatics. It also analyses the importance of intercultural communication in the teaching of foreign languages, pragmatic aspects of intercultural communication, the interdependence of linguistic and cultural phenomena. While pragmatics is a branch of linguistics, intercultural pragmatism is developing as a new supplement to pragmatics. The process of intercultural communication includes linguistic and socio-cultural elements. The importance of intercultural communication in the study of a foreign language is that it eliminates cultural misunderstandings, mistrust and helps to adapt to other civilizational traditions of intercultural communication. Nowadays, according to communicative language teaching the main focus is on the development of communicative competence in foreign languages teaching. Sociolinguistic and pragmatic competencies are the integral aspects of this competence. Cultural and social factors are important in developing intercultural communicative competences in order to avoid difficulties that may arise in understanding interlocutors of different cultural backgrounds. Knowledge of the components of a language and cultural foundations such as phraseological units, words and proverbs help to overcome difficulties in intercultural communication and lead not only to understanding of “foreign” culture through “own” culture, but also the pragmatic factors that arise in this case. Given that English is the lingua franca in the world, there are many problems with intercultural pragmatics in the process of communication in this language. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the development of intercultural communication competence in the process of teaching English. However, there are a number of problems in the process of teaching a foreign language. The problem can be divided into linguistic, lingua-didactic and methodological aspects.