METHODOLOGY OF DEVELOPING STUDENTS' PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE ON THE BASIS OF SPEECH ACTS

Abstract

The present article is devoted to the theoretical foundations and practical methodology of developing the pragmatic competence of language-learning students through the framework of speech act theory. Pragmatic competence - the learner's ability to use language appropriately in social context, to perform and interpret communicative functions, and to relate utterances to the speaker's intentions — is increasingly regarded as a central, yet frequently neglected, component of communicative competence. The article situates pragmatic competence within the influential models of Hymes, Canale and Swain, and Bachman, and then turns to the speech act theory of Austin and Searle as the principal analytical instrument for describing what learners actually need to learn. It distinguishes pragmalinguistic from sociopragmatic knowledge, examines the phenomenon of pragmatic transfer and cross-cultural pragmatic failure, and reviews the empirical evidence in favour of explicit instruction. Building on this foundation, the article proposes a staged, five-phase methodology - diagnosis, awareness-raising, input and noticing, controlled and communicative practice, and assessment - and illustrates it with concrete classroom techniques for teaching requests, apologies, refusals, complaints, suggestions and compliments. The contribution of the article is a coherent, theoretically grounded yet classroom-applicable procedure that teachers may adopt to make the pragmatic dimension of language an explicit object of instruction