FL and SL pragmatic competence acquisition: how context affects language learning

Abstract

Language learning is a complex process which involves the acquisition of four skills; reading, writing, listening and speaking. Moreover, to appropriately use a language there are several aspects that need to be taken into account. What to say and how to say it is considered to be one of the most important things when trying to communicate efficiently. Avoiding possible breakdowns in communication turns out to be one of the most intricate tasks in interaction and requires much preparation and effort. It results even more complicated when talking about learning a SL or a FL. This is actually the objective of teaching pragmatic competence to learners; to achieve a fluent and effective interaction among learners. Thus, the aim of this paper is to provide a literature review on the role that the SL and FL environments actually play in the development of adult learners’ pragmatic competence of the new language. In order to do so, this paper is divided into five sections; first, the definition of some language concepts and pragmatics itself is provided. Then, attention is given to factors that affect pragmatic competence learning. Finally, some pedagogical suggestions are suggested.