Pragmatics

This chapter indicates some ways in which approaches to pragmatics have developed since the work of Paul Grice (1975, 1989) and presents ideas for classroom work based on activities which I have used in undergraduate programmes, as part of a BA programme in English Language at Middlesex University, with AS and A Level students in residential courses on English Language and Linguistics for the Villiers Park Educational Trust, and in workshops at schools. These activities move beyond the work of Grice to reflect more recent developments in pragmatics. They also focus on pragmatic inferences involved in production (speaking, writing, editing, including group work in producing students’ own texts) as well as in interpretation. They focus attention on students’ own speech and (in particular, here) writing and so demonstrate a broader relevance for work on pragmatics.