Registration ends 07.4.2026 at 23:59 h

This seminar introduces students to the field of contrastive linguistics, and in particular to contrastive pragmatics with a particular focus on its relevance for language teaching. While grammar and vocabulary are central to language learning, successful communication also depends on pragmatic competence—the ability to use language appropriately in context. Speech acts such as requests, apologies, compliments, refusals, and complaints are realized differently across languages and cultures, and these differences can lead to misunderstanding even when grammatical forms are correct.

Drawing on cross-linguistic data, we will explore how speech acts are structured and modified in different languages, how politeness and indirectness are encoded, and how social variables such as power, distance, and imposition shape linguistic choices. We will analyse data and consult empirical studies in contrastive pragmatics to understand where learners may experience pragmatic transfer from their first language.

A central aim of the seminar is to connect theory with classroom practice. Students will learn how to identify pragmatically relevant features in teaching materials, how to critically assess textbook representations and how to design classroom activities that foster pragmatic awareness.

By the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
-reflect on the role of pragmatic competence in communicative language teaching
-explain key concepts in pragmatics and speech act theory
- analyze and compare speech act realizations across languages
- identify potential areas of cross-linguistic pragmatic transfer
- develop pedagogical tasks to teach speech acts explicitly and implicitly

Students will be expected to engage in empirical research, i.e. to collect and analyse data in groups. This empirical work will form the basis of the module assessment (cf. below)

The course is conducted through the medium of English.

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/evaluation/course-evaluation.html