Discourse and Pragmatics: Dr Joan Cutting
Monday 12 December 2011
On Wednesday 14 December ELT will host a talk on the topic of Discourse and Pragmatics:
Vague Language, Dr Joan Cutting, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh
From the overview of the recent book, Vague Language Explored (2007, Palgrave) edited by Dr. Cutting:
The ability to use vague language ("bags of time", "doing stuff", "sort of thing", "and all that") is an aspect of communicative competence of considerable social importance. This volume explores the function of vague language in context. It spans genre analysis, critical discourse analysis, psycholinguistics and cross-cultural sociolinguistics, in a variety of world cultures. It suggests applications in TOEFL, asking questions such as "What should learners be taught to understand and use, and why?" and suggesting directions for future research.If you would like to attend, please contact Mike Orr.