This seminar will be conducted by 3-hour online Zoom sessions for four days: Saturday, July 4, Sunday, July 5, Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12 from 9:00 to 12:00 (JST). Students taking this seminar for credit must attend all four days. Students can add/drop this seminar course by 13:00 on Saturday, July 4.

The pre sign-up (or course registration for those who are taking this seminar for credit) is required for anybody attending the public session on Saturday, July 4 from 9:00 to 12:00. The sign-up process must be completed through the "Distinguished Lecturer Series Seminar Sign-Up Form" that is available on TUJ Grad Ed website. The sign-up deadline is Friday, July 3 at 12:00 p.m. The public session Zoom link will be provided to those people who completed the online sign-up (or course registration) process by 18:00 on Friday, July 3.

Pragmatics, an area within linguistics, is concerned with how people use language in a social context and why they use it in particular ways. The aim of this course is to develop awareness of pragmatics phenomena in our everyday communication, as well as to understand opportunities and challenges that second language (L2) learners face when learning pragmatics in L2. The course is divided into three units. The first unit, theory, surveys theories of pragmatics and pragmatic competence drawing on two distinct yet complementary fields, linguistics and second language acquisition (SLA). The second unit, research, examines the application of pragmatics theories to SLA research through critical discussions of recent empirical findings. The third unit, pedagogy, introduces issues related to teaching and assessment of pragmatic competence. We will examine pragmatics-related materials in a textbook and curriculum, major findings from instructional studies, and common assessment methods and their implications. Through critical examinations of the literature in these three areas, the course will help develop an understanding of the role of pragmatics in L2 research and teaching.