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- PaperRELC Journal29 Jun 2026
Emerging pragmatic awareness through engagement with Asian Englishes: A global Englishes-informed classroom study
Claudia Andreani, Mai Oyama, Jim McKinley
A study reanalyzed classroom data from a Global Englishes-oriented module in an Italian secondary school to examine whether engaging with Asian Englishes fosters pragmatic awareness without explicit instruction. Findings indicate that learners developed declarative pragmatic knowledge, such as context-dependent word meanings and sociocultural norms, particularly when interacting with Asian Englishes. The results suggest that Global Englishes pedagogy can support foundational pragmatic awareness in contexts where explicit pragmatics teaching is limited.
Original abstract
Responding to current interest in how pragmatic competence can be taught and assessed in Global English contexts, this study examines whether Global Englishes (GE)-informed classroom pedagogy can support the development of early pragmatic awareness in the absence of explicit pragmatics instruction. The study reports a re-analysis of classroom data from a GE-oriented module implemented in an Italian secondary school, in which learners engaged with Asian Englishes and other English varieties through presentations and reflective journals. Although the original module was designed to raise awareness of linguistic diversity rather than to teach pragmatics, the dataset provides insight into how learners attend to meaning, interaction and sociocultural norms across English-using contexts. The analysis is framed through the Adaptive Control of Thought–Rational (ACT-R) model, focusing on the emergence of declarative pragmatic knowledge as a precursor to later procedural development. Findings indicate that learners developed conceptual awareness of context-dependent lexical meanings, sociocultural expectations shaping interpersonal communication and discourse practices associated with different Englishes. These reflections were particularly pronounced when learners engaged with Asian Englishes, which appeared to prompt noticing of pragmatic variability and reasoning about communicative appropriateness across contexts. While no evidence of procedural pragmatic competence was observed, learners’ reflections align with ACT-R's account of early pragmatic development as the accumulation of declarative knowledge through exposure, noticing and reflection. The study contributes empirical evidence to the underexplored relationship between GE pedagogy and pragmatics by showing how GE-informed classroom activities can foster foundational pragmatic awareness in school contexts where explicit pragmatics instruction is constrained.