This book contributes to the existing literature on second language (L2) pragmatics in several ways. It expands the empirical scope of L2 pragmatics to young foreign language learners, a population that remains underrepresented in a field largely shaped by research on adult learners. Drawing on a two-year longitudinal study of Chinese primary school students learning English, the book offers a developmental account of children’s pragmatic competence over time. It examines both pragmatic production and pragmatic perception, showing how young learners develop the ability to produce contextually appropriate requests and how their understanding of pragmatic meanings across a range of speech acts evolves in instructed foreign language contexts.

This book covers both theoretical foundations and empirical findings, and integrates discussions of ethical and methodological considerations specific to working with children—an area often overlooked in L2 pragmatics research. Teachers and teacher educators will find the findings particularly relevant, as the book offers insights into how pragmatic competence develops in early foreign language learning contexts and what this means for curriculum design and instructional practice. It also serves as a useful resource for researchers and students in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, child language development, and language education, as well as for policymakers concerned with young language learner instruction.

He Yang is a Professor in the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Xiamen University, where she is also a member of the Language, Cognition and Intelligence Lab. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen, UK. Her research focuses on language learning motivation, individual differences and L2 pragmatics.