Taboo language is the type of expression which is generally considered "socially unacceptable" (at least in more formal situations) and which most people use only as expletives when under stress - a use Steven Pinker in…

The first part of this article on teaching polite requests will look at why students often have difficulty with the area and the elements we need to be focusing on. In the second part, we'll look at a sample lesson plan for t…

Brown and Yule (1983) suggest that language has two main functions : interactional and transactional. The interactional function is concerned with the maintenance of social relationships -  for example, if two people pass in the …

This article looks at the way teaching functions and pragmatic competence in general are treated in contemporary coursebooks and classrooms. Whereas these areas were the main focus of any course in the late 70s and early 80s, lo…