ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an interactional approach to teaching pragmatics that views meaning and action as constituted through social interaction. It presents how pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic knowledge, as well as using that knowledge in interaction, can be taught under the framework of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT). The chapter argues that the TBLT model needs a fourth dimension, pragmatic appropriateness, that is, appropriate use of sociopragmatic knowledge and pragmalinguistic resources to accomplish a task. It illustrates how pragmatics can be incorporated into a task-based unit by showing sample pedagogic tasks. Research in second language (L2) pragmatics has been getting closer to the field of TBLT because L2 pragmatics researchers have started to incorporate tasks that are recognized as such by the TBLT community. The chapter reviews L2 pragmatic studies in three areas of TBLT research: task modality, task design, and task complexity.
