Over the last two decades, second-language pragmatics brought to the fore commonalities and conventions shared by speakers and hearers, those which create a common ground for communication, as well as culture varieties in language use, and those which cause communication breakdowns in real-life contexts. But, of course, meaning which is to be understood entirely under the influence of social interaction and cognitive change cannot capture the modalities or channels speakers use to convey a certain content of an utterance. Typically, natural behaviors, in the form of emotive effects, are integrated somehow into the interpretation of utterances in everyday life situations, a point generally missed in the literature on how utterances are understood in a second language. In the light of the above observations, an original feature of this chapter is its discussion of cases where "natural," i.e. affective, and linguistic communication interact in the interpretation of utterances. The task of describing and explaining what is conveyed by nonpropositional types of meaning, those "affective aspects of learning," such as feelings, attitudes, or preferences, falls squarely within the domain of L2 pragmatics, and the central aim of this chapter is to redress the balance.

The notion of common ground entails that prior to a conversation, mutually shared knowledge is available to interlocutors by virtue of the situational context or a shared cultural background. Within linguistic pragmatic theories, recipient design is a determining factor for cooperation in interaction. The socio-cognitive approach to communicative interaction acknowledges the importance of cooperation and common ground but maintains that interlocutors tend to adhere to their individual background knowledge and experience for production and comprehension. The shared knowledge base may therefore not be fully available prior to the exchange but, rather, established dynamically and interactively in the course of the conversation. Discussing internet memes, it will be shown that stable core common ground and dynamic emergent common ground are fundamental assets for the description of contemporary and future phenomena in digital communication. I will argue that internet memes represent a kind of communication where emergent common ground is aspired to rather than resorted to as an emergency solution when core common ground is lacking.

Over the last four decades, research in second language (L2) pragmatics has grown rapidly in its scope, quality, and amount of empirical investigations. This chapter surveys historical developments of L2 pragmatics research from the 1980s up to now. The chapter discusses a range of topics including definitions of pragmatic competence, models of pragmatic competence and development, and theoretical underpinnings of pragmatics learning. Specific topics such as instruction and assessment, longitudinal investigation into pragmatic development, and contexts of pragmatics learning (i.e., study abroad) are also discussed.  Research areas that emerged with the recent surge of globalisation and advancements in technology are presented with a discussion on how these new areas have advanced our investigation of pragmatics learning and development. The chapter concludes with directions for future research.

This chapter provides a critical examination of Arabic study-abroad numbers and outcomes, of recurrent problems, and of research-based interventions. Trentman’s study highlights both qualitative and quantitative assessments of students’ skills before and after the study-abroad experience, especially in oral proficiency. Arabic sociolinguistic variation has long played a destabilizing role in proficiency gain, measurement, and accuracy, and the challenge of developing networks of informal, relaxed relationships with native speakers is raised and addressed. Also addressed are the less-noted ‘ideologies’ of study abroad that focus either on a ‘touristy’ intercultural experience or on an instrumental ‘orientalist perspective’ that discourages student engagement with local communities. Research interventions such as reflective practice and ethnography projects are discussed and evaluated as ways to raise the awareness and progress of study-abroad students.