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Volume 1 Number 1, Spring 2004, Pages 1-403   


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Methodology and the Pragmatics of English as an International Language

    Peter Grundy


This paper considers the nature of a maximally intelligible pragmatics for intercultural communication through the medium of a lingua franca and explores the pedagogic implications for teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Whereas foreign language teaching, and EFL pedagogic materials in particular, tends to privilege formulaic utterance-type meanings (Levinson, 1995, 2000), on the principle that the learner conveys a lot of (presumptive) context for relatively little linguistic effort, this paper argues that because intercultural communication takes place in a relatively context-free cultural setting, learners need to become more adept at producing and comprehending utterance-token meaning, on the principle that less context implies more language.