ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on coverage of second language (L2) pragmatics issues for Asian learners at the notion of research altogether, then at politeness, and then at speech acts, the favorite focus of pragmatics research. It also focuses on other areas of pragmatics: conversational overlap, back channeling, phatic communication, humor, sarcasm, and the pragmatic function of discourse markers. Discourse markers are an important means for signaling pragmatic functions, both in speaking and in writing. The following are two studies that highlight the issue: frequency of use of discourse markers and the cross-cultural misuse of discourse markers. The chapter investigates L2 pedagogy: teaching L2 learners a less-commonly taught speech act (criticism), teaching L3 learners a commonly taught speech act (refusals), teaching pragmatics to learners for whom English is a lingua franca. It also investigates materials development for L2 pragmatics, construction of pragmatics websites, and assessment of pragmatics.
