Interlanguage Pragmatics, Curricular Innovation, and Digital Technologies

Human interaction is fundamentally about shared understanding, created when interlocutors engage with one another around their own intended meaning and the intended meaning of others. Pragmatics is at the core of this interaction. The fields of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and the teaching and learning of interlanguage pragmatics (ILP) have grown up together. These fields have sometimes been at odds, but, more often than not, they have drawn on synergies from one another to advance. Emerging digital tools have made notable innovations in the field of ILP development possible, and, simultaneously, the needs of ILP researchers and practitioners have led to technological innovation. This article explores these advancements through a synthesis of key research in the field of technology-mediated teaching and learning of ILP in five core areas – curricular materials, classroom interventions, telecollaboration, research methodologies, and expanding pragmatic practices.