Master pragmatic communication across cultures

Diagnose and repair cross-cultural communication breakdowns pragmatically

Building conversational fluency beyond grammar by teaching learners to decode hidden meanings, adjust formality, and navigate face-saving in their target culture

• · transcribed conversation or text sample
• · source and target language/culture context
• · learner's perceived intent vs. hearer's interpretation

• · speech act analysis (locutionary, illocutionary, perlocutionary)
• · politeness strategy assessment (face-threatening acts, mitigation)
• · implicature detection (flouted maxims per Grice)
• · register/formality mismatch diagnosis
• · recommended pragmatic repair

Bilinguals or advanced learners; understanding of L1 communication norms required; willingness to examine social context, not just grammar

Treating indirect speech acts as literal questions; applying one culture's implicature rules to another; ignoring power dynamics (formal vs. informal register)

• · Speech act framework from Austin (1962) and Searle (1969) — 70-year-old foundational work
• · Grice's Cooperative Principle (1975) with four concrete maxims and implicature examples
• · Brown & Levinson politeness theory cited (face, face-threatening acts, mitigation strategies)
• · Cross-cultural communication contrasts (direct vs. indirect cultures) exemplified