Pragmatic competence is a major component of communicative competence,which is the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching and learning. To be able to communicate effectively and appropriately, users of the language need not only to acquire the grammar of that language but also to be aware of its pragmatic aspects, for one language form can be used to express a variety of language functions and one function can be expressed by means of different forms. It is the context that determines the linguistic choices to make so as to express a given function.This course provides an introduction to pragmatics as a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of language in context. It also explores teaching the pragmatics of a foreign language and ways of developing learners' pragmatic competence. it is intented for third year students of English who are expected, by the end of the course, to

  - be aware of the linguistic and socio-cultural dimensions of pragmatic knowledge that differ from        one language to another

  - appropriately interpret  a message within its context

  - effectively and appropriately produce a message given the context of use