California Teacher of English Learners (CTEL) › Pragmatics
Which of the following statements about pragmatic competence is NOT true?
Pragmatic competence refers only to a learner's' output skills, their speech and writing, not their receptive skills (reading and listening)
Pragmatic competence is generally acquired late in a second language learners development
Pragmatic competence can often be identified, or tested, in a learner's ability to "hedge" in communication
All of these statements about pragmatic competence are accurate.
Pragmatic competence refers to a learner's ability to communicate effectively in all realms of communication (receptive AND output skills). One key to pragmatic competence is that the learner is able to communicate and understand the nuances of intended meaning in real-time situations. This involves and understanding of "hedging" ("my foot kind of hurts" vs "my foot hurts").