Teaching Pragmatics from a Task-Based Approach: A Focus on Requests in Email Communication

Abstract

In English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching pragmatics is of utmost importance due to the scarcity of opportunities to interact in English out of school. In addition, within the communicative approach, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has significantly drawn teachers’ and researchers’ attention. However, the intersection between pragmatics and TBLT is still at its initial stages. The aim of this paper is to design a teaching proposal to teach pragmatics from a TBLT approach. This proposal is designed for high school students (2nd Bachillerato) and includes two task-based lessons to teach the speech act of requesting in email communication. This proposal shows the potential benefits of teaching pragmatics from a TBLT approach in EFL classrooms.