An evaluation of the contemporary status of pragmatics within the field of second language learning and teaching

This paper aims to evaluate the current position of pragmatics in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) with focus on teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL). First it attempts to reach an overall understanding of pragmatics by looking into its history and its main definitions in the relative literature. Building on this understanding, pragmatics is given a definition that suits the SLA paradigm, including second language learning and teaching (SLLT). Then the concept of pragmatic competence will be discussed and how it can be achieved. This paves the way for shedding light on the status of teaching of pragmatics within the field of SLA/TEFL. This will include its representation in published TEFL materials and the difficulties that face assessing pragmatic competence.