Pragmatics in the EFL classroom: teaching apologies with Socrative

Abstract

One of the main objectives of teaching English is for students to acquire intercultural communicative competence. This competence is the skill that EFL learners must acquire in order to be able to conduct a sensible and contextually appropriate conversation with speakers from other cultures. Having the ability to apologize is one of the elements of this competence. In order to achieve this competence, it is essential that students receive a rich, authentic and meaningful input, so that they can appreciate and make use of apology strategies in real-life conversation. Nonetheless, EFL teachers are aware that the input that textbooks provide is insufficient. Therefore, the different solutions offered by technology must be used in the classroom to complete the learning process of their EFL pupils. Technology has developed quite rapidly and has led to innovation in the teaching model. As a result, technology plays an essential role in English teaching. The present teaching proposal provides a series of activities and suggestions for teachers to take into account when educating their pupils in the classroom, and thus, getting students to acquire their apology communicative competence. I n order to facilitate the teaching of apologies, the application S ocrative has been chosen as a tool to conduct the activities constituting this work.