Second Language (L2) Pragmatics and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

In today’s era of globalization with advancements in technology, where communication transcends spatial and temporal boundaries, pragmatic competence plays a key role. The ability to use language in socially, culturally, and contextually appropriate ways is highly important as pragmatic failures can lead to miscommunications, cultural stereotyping, and unintended consequences in high stake situations. Consequently, research in studying the nature of pragmatic competence and its development, in addition to educational endeavors in teaching pragmatic in formal and informal instructional settings play an important role in second language learning and teaching. The interactional limitations in traditional face-to-face classrooms have brought researchers and educators to recognize that technology can provide environments exposing language learners to a larger variety of contexts to test and develop their L2 pragmatic competence. Technology-informed approaches to L2 pragmatic development have prompted great interest by both researchers and practitioners alike. The research on L2 pragmatic instruction and development using CALL demonstrates that technological innovation can facilitate research and teaching by providing more control in data collection and offering access to multiple forms of input and interaction while overcoming many barriers to L2 pragmatic instruction in traditional settings. In this review paper, we explore the intersectionality that exists between L2 pragmatic development, instruction, and research (interlanguage pragmatics) and a variety of technologies, innovations and resources that have emerged and have the potential to facilitate pragmatic development of learners. Following that, we provide some suggestions for future research where technology could be used to aid the development of pragmatic competence.