Developing pragmatic awareness: closing the conversation

Abstract Many commercially available English-language materials do not provide natural, or even pragmatically appropriate, conversational models for learners. This paper argues for increasing the role of pragmastics in English-language instruction. Classroom teachers can integrate pragmatics into the language curriculum by drawing on natural conversations, students' observations, and incomplete dialogues in textbooks. The paper provides guide-lines for pragmatically-centred lessons, as well as examples of specific activities, using closings in American English to illustrate these examples.