Pragmatic Development in Study Abroad: Recent Advances and New Directions

Abstract

Studying abroad can positively impact students’ second or additional language (L2) pragmatic development. A growing body of research in this area has documented the development of various pragmatic features and factors that facilitate learning, as well as the role of pragmatics instruction prior to or during study abroad (SA). Recent research has also begun to cast the net wider in terms of the settings, participants, targets, and technologies. This article begins with a discussion of trends in research on language learning in SA and then considers what we know about pragmatic development in target-language-speaking communities. Recent advances and new directions in pragmatic development in SA are then presented.