Introduction to Pragmatics

COURSE GUIDE

I. Introduction

Hello, dear students! Congratulations for enrolling in Introduction to

Pragmatics class. Before anything else, please read this course guide carefully
and completely. I have tried to provide as much detailed information as possible,
in order to facilitate your understanding of the general and specific guidelines on
how to deal with this course.

II. Course Description

This course provides an introduction to pragmatics, an important sub-field

of linguistics devoted to understanding the way that language is used in context,
and aspects of meaning that extend beyond the truth-conditional component.
Here, we examine the relationship between the meaning of an utterance and the
context in which the utterance is produced. In this course, we will explore a wide
range of topics in the discipline, such as presupposition, implicature, speech acts,
deixis and reference. Students will read original and recent work in these areas,
and engage themselves in analyzing different types of utterances and their
meanings as they are shaped by different pragmatic factors.

III. Learning Outcomes

At the end of course, students should be able to:

a) demonstrate knowledge about the basic concepts in the study of pragmatics;

b) determine the extent to which the interaction between semantics and pragmatics are
regular and well-defined;

c) analyze spoken and written utterances from different perspectives;

d) learn about different strategies for identifying patterns and labelling of pragmatic
phenomena;
e) write descriptive accounts of their analyses of utterances (texts/dialogues); and
f) learn more about psycholinguistic and developmental experimentation in this area:
how experiments arise from theoretical claims and hypotheses, what methodologies
are used, and how experimental results inform linguistic (pragmatic and semantic)
theory.
IV. Course Requirements

The course has the following major requirements. Instructions on how to

accomplish these requirements are found below.

1. Participation in online and offline discussion forum 20%

2. Quizzes 20%

3. Midterm and Final Learning Assessment 40%

4. Short Response Papers 20%
--------
100%

COURSE OUTLINE AND CALENDAR

UNIT/ MODULE LEARNING
SCHEDULE REFERENCE
AND SECTION TASK/ ACTIVITY
Lesson 1: Definitions and Backgrounds
Topic 1 What is
See module
Pragmatics?
Topic 2: Syntax, Read the material. Week 1
(Uploaded in Course Site/
Semantics and Group Page)
Pragmatics
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Discussion Forum 1 Sept. 10, 2021
Group Page
Topics 1 and 2
Assessment: Essay Quiz 1 Sept. 10, 2021 Course Site or Schoology
Lesson 2: Deixis and Distance
Topic 1: What is Deixis
See module
Topic 2: What are Week 2
Deictic Expressions? Read the material
(Uploaded in Course Site/
Topic 3: Deictic Group Page)
Categories
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Discussion Forum 2 Sept. 17, 2021
Group Page
Topic 1 and 2
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 2 Sept. 20, 2021 Course Site or Schoology
Lesson 3: Reference and Inference
Topic 1: What is Read the material Week 3 See module
Reference?
Topic 2: What are
Referring Expressions?
Topic 3: What is
Inference? (Uploaded in Course Site/
Topic 4: Referential and Group Page)
Attributive Uses
Topic 5: The Role of Co-
Text
Participate in September 27, Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum 3
Discussion Forum 2021 Group Page
September 29, Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 3
2021 Schoology
Lesson 4: Presupposition and Entailment
Topic 1: What is
Presupposition?
Topic 2: Features of
Presupposition
Topic 3: Difference of
See module
Presupposition and
Entailment Read the material Week 5
(Uploaded in Course Site/
Topic 4: Constancy
Group Page)
Under Negation
Topic 5: Presupposition
Tests
Topic 6: Presupposition
Tests
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Discussion Forum 4 October 11, 2021
Group Page
Topic 1, 2 and 3
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 4 October 13, 2021
Schoology
Lesson 5: Cooperation and Implicature
Topic 1: The cooperative
principle
Topic 2: Hedges
Topic 3: Conversational See module
implicatures
Read the material Week 7
Topic 4: Properties of (Uploaded in Course Site/
conversational Group Page)
implicatures
Topic 5: Conventional
implicatures
Participate in Discussion Forum 4 October 25, 2021 Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum Group Page
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 5 October 27, 2021
Schoology
Midterm Examination
Take the timed
Midterm Examinations exams via CSU Lens
(CAS)
To be posted in the
course
Instructions site/schoology

Lesson 6: Speech Acts and Events

Topic 1: Speech Acts
Topic 2: Performative
vs Constatives
Topic 3: Locutionary,
illocutionary and
perlocutionary See module
Topic 4: Types of Read the material Week 9
(Uploaded in Course Site/
speech acts
Group Page)
Topic 5: Felicity
Conditions
Topic 6: Direct and
Indirect Speech Acts
Topic 7: Speech Events
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum Discussion Forum 5 Nov. 8, 2021
Group Page
Topic 1, 2, 3 and 4
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum Discussion Forum 6 Nov. 10, 2021
Group Page
Topic 5, 6 and 7
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 6 Nov. 12, 2021
Schoology
Lesson 7: Politeness and Interaction
Topic 1: Politeness
Topic 2: Face and Face See module
Wants Read the material
Topic 3: Positive and and/or watch video (Uploaded in Course Site/
Negative Face lecture Week 11 Group Page) See
Topic 4: How to uploaded video lecture
Perform an FTA
Participate in Discussion Forum 7 Nov. 22, 2021 Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Group Page
Topic 1-4
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Schoology
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 7 Nov. 26, 2021

Lesson 8: Conversation and Preference Structure

Topic 1: Conversation
Analysis
Topic 2: Pauses,
Overlaps and See module
Backchannels
Topic 3: Conversation Read the material. (Uploaded in Course Site/
Styles Dec. 1-3, 2020 Group Page) See
Topic 4: Adjacency uploaded video lecture
Pairs
Topic 5: Preference
Structure
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Discussion Forum 8 Dec. 6, 2021
Group Page
Topic 1,2 and 3
Participate in
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Discussion Forum 9 Dec. 8, 2021
Group Page
Topic 4 and 5
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 8 Dec. 10, 2021
Schoology
Lesson 9: Discourse and Culture
Topic 1: Discourse
Analysis
Topic 2: Coherence See module
Topic 3: Background Read the material
Knowledge and/or watch video Dec. 13, 2021 (Uploaded in Course Site/
Topic 4: Cultural lecture Group Page) See
Schema uploaded video lecture
Topic 5: Cross-Cultural
Pragmatics
Participate in
Discussion Forum Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Discussion Forum - Dec. 15, 2021
10 Group Page
Topic 1-45
Course Site (CSU Lens) or
Assessment Quiz: Quiz 8 Dec. 17, 2021
Schoology
Final Examinations
Semestral Project Submit the project Dec. 20, 2021
and share what you
learned from the
 process (DF)
Submission of
Personal Journal Dec. 20, 2021
Submit the PJ and
and Reflection
Reflection Paper

Course Requirements Guide Below are the different course requirements with their
descriptions and corresponding grading percentage, as well as the rubrics for the Final
exams.

Schedule
Participation in online and offline discussion – Within the semester – check
Recitation course calendar
20%
Learning Tasks (Quizzes) 30% As scheduled
Semestral Project 20% End of the Semester
Major Exam (Midterm and Finals) 30% As scheduled
Personal Journal and Reflection End of the semester
100%
Total
 Course Requirements Description

Activity Description
Your participation in the online/offline discussion forum will serve as
Participation in your recitation. Each topic in the module requires learning activities
online and offline to be accomplished. This is in a form of narrative/essay or sometimes
discussion a creative output depending on the topic. Each student is required to
(Recitation) post at least 1 answer with a maximum of 300-1000 words. He/she is
also required to post at least 2 replies on other classmates’ posts.
These tasks include self-assessment, reporting, short quiz, reaction
Learning Tasks paper, practical quiz, and related works. Summing up all the points
(Quizzes) incurred in these tasks will constitute the grade under the category of
QUIZZES.
This is an authentic assessment that will test the knowledge and
Semestral Project skills gained by a student from the course. There is only one project
to be required and is integrated to other minor or major subjects.
The Reflection Paper is a 2-3 page narrative that should contain your
relevant learnings from the course and your experience as an online
learner. The Personal journal should contain your assessment about
Reflection Paper and
the learning delivery using online and offline mode. This requirement
Personal Journal
has zero percent in the grading system. However, when a student
fails to submit this requirement, he/she shall not get a numerical
grade.
The final examinations will be a combination of objective-type exam,
Midterm Assessment
and practical assessment. This is done in CSU LENS or SCHOOLOGY
(Exams)
with a specified time.
Final Assessment
The final examinations will be a combination of objective-type exam,
(Final Exam)
and practical assessment. This is done in CSU LENS OR SCHOOLOGY
with a specified time.

Course Policies

Rules and Guidelines for Digital Publishing Online/Offline Class (Adopted from UPOU)

1. Consultations/Clarifications about the lessons will be online and mobile phone call.
There will be a Discussion Forum for this purpose.
2. Strictly observe netiquette. Please don’t make the online class as your personal FB
page. Watch your language (treat one another with respect -- you are all budding
communication professionals). Do not create spam. Do not post unnecessary things
on the online class.
3. Always uphold academic integrity. University policy on academic honesty will be
strictly observed. Any form of academic dishonesty such as online cheating, copy-
 pasting, plagiarism, etc., will be sanctioned based on the university rules governing
this which can range from automatic failure of the course or dismissal from the
university. Check your paper submission through open access plagiarism check to
avoid common academic dishonesty in online and offline learning. (e.g.
https://www.grammarly.com/plagiarism-checker).
4. No other member of the class is authorized to open a new or separate thread unless
being advised by the Teacher. You can always formulate whatever concern you have
to be relevant to the on-going discussion. Consequently, all other threads that might
be opened shall be immediately deleted. This step is taken to ensure that all shall
find time to interact with one another through the discussion board.
5. You’re all encouraged to upload your posts as early as the topic/class assignment is
uploaded. Those who can submit on time will be given merit. In view of our learning
philosophy of openness and flexibility during this pandemic time, those who cannot
submit on time are given extra one-week to submit the requirements provided that
the student shall make a sincere request to the Teacher.
6. I shall read all entries uploaded to the online class thread even if I won’t be able to
respond individually to all posts. Any response I make on any post is always
directed to all members of the class, not only to the one who uploaded the post I
shall happen to be commenting.
7. When you upload your posts to the discussion board, ALWAYS check your grammar,
sentence constructions, and netiquette. This course may not be an English course,
but it still is a communication course using English as medium of instruction.
Review your posts before uploading them.
8. I shall allow a maximum of 300 words per post. You can post once only in every
thread or posed question. Your answer must contain the following: (a) ANSWER:
your original contribution in response to the questions raised by the teacher in
relation to the Topic’s learning objectives; (b) RESPONSE TO A CLASSMATE (Tell the
Name): your response to or comments on the posts of your classmates, and (c) OWN
SYNTHESIS: your own synthesis of the posts of your classmates or your synthesis of
the additional readings, etc.
9. You must realize that your posts should reflect your ability to write concisely,
briefly, and to the point. Your arguments must be supported by your readings. In
other words, your comments must not only be personal comments but must carry
supporting arguments from your readings. Don’t make sweeping generalizations
without supportive evidence. Identify your sources. Don’t just cut-and-paste,
because that’s plagiarism, which is a very serious academic offense.
10. Requirements for submission MUST be in pdf format. Keep a copy of whatever you
submit.

Reference:

Librero, F., PhD. (2020). Comm320: Course Guide. University of the Philippines-Open
University