Twelve Activities for Teaching the Pragmatics of Complaining to L2 Learners

2 ENG L I S H T E AC H ING FO R UM 2 0 1 7 americanenglish.state.gov/english-teaching-forum
AMANDA HILLIARD
United States
Twelve Activities for
Teaching the Pragmatics of
Complaining to L2 Learners
Take a moment to think of your students. Can they use English
politely to talk to a variety of people without offending anyone?
Would they be able to interact with someone from Asia just as
effectively as with someone from South America? Do they know how
to complain appropriately in English and to respond in English to the
complaints of others? If you answered “no” to any of these questions,
your students would definitely benefit from an increased focus on
pragmatics in your English language classes.
Pragmatic competence, or the ability to use
language appropriately in a variety of contexts,
is a critical skill for communication in a second
language (L2). Thus, teaching that focuses on
developing students’ abilities to communicate
effectively in an L2 must also include a focus on
developing students’ pragmatic competence.
This article discusses issues related to pragmatics
in general as well as specific pragmatic challenges
one group of English as a second language
(ESL) students in the United States faced
when complaining in their L2. Next, activities
for teaching the pragmatics of complaining
are suggested. It is hoped that by highlighting
specific problems with one group of students
and presenting ways to address these issues,
this article will encourage teachers to examine
their own classes, discover their own students’
pragmatic issues, and incorporate activities to
teach pragmatics into their own classes.
SECOND-LANGUAGE LEARNERS AND
PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE
Research clearly shows that cultural differences
lead to pragmatic differences among learners
from different language backgrounds (Olshtain
and Weinbach 1993; Murphy and Neu 1996).
Even advanced learners tend to transfer
pragmatics from their first language and culture
to their L2. For example, when comparing the
complaints of native and non-native speakers
of Hebrew, Olshtain and Weinbach (1993)
found that non-native learners tended to give
longer and less severe complaints, while native
speakers’ complaints were shorter, more
direct, and more severe.
Although pragmatic differences can result in
positive transfer if the speech act is similar
in the first and second languages, it can also
result in negative transfer if there are cultural
and pragmatic differences between the two
languages. For example, when Russians and
Moroccans were asked to react to the idea
of someone stealing their parking space in
a parking lot, the Russians responded with
warnings and threats, while the Moroccans
either opted not to complain or used much
softer strategies. The Russians felt that people
should “play fair” in a parking lot, while
the Moroccans felt that it was not a serious