I agree with the authors who believe that “this volume is a timely addition to the field, given the recent expansion of technology-assisted L2 research and pedagogy, as well as the growing recognition of the importance of pragmatics in intercultural communication” (p. 11). This compilation offers an all-encompassing look at the various technologies recently used for teaching, assessing, and researching pragmatics.

In the introduction, Taguchi and Sykes explain how the two parts of the volume, technology in researching pragmatics and technology in teaching and assessing pragmatics, conceptually intersect. To frame the following chapters, they list numerous book-length works conducted on interlanguage pragmatics as compared to pragmatics and technology. In Chapters 2 and 3, Taguchi and Li, respectively, remind us that speed of performance, rather than only accuracy of performance (which is more oft-studied), should also be investigated, as speed and accuracy are different components of L2 pragmatics with unique developmental trajectories. Using response time measures, Taguchi examines the less-studied topic of comprehension of conversational implicature: Her findings lend support to pragmatic theories that there is a close relationship between the degree of indirectness and the amount of effort required for processing. In the next chapter, Li ventures into a completely new area to investigate the connection between the amount and type of practice and pragmatic development. He finds that more practice is needed to raise performance speed as opposed to accuracy. Sykes shifts the readers’ attention in Chapter 4 to the use of gaming environments for learning pragmatics. She reports on an invaluable work that empirically examines learning gains in the gaming environment Croquelandia; although researchers state that such environments are beneficial, there is a definite lack of empirical studies. Sykes finds few learning gains in the production of apologies, but she suspects that there could have been gains in comprehension; this is a reminder that both production and comprehension need to be considered. Gonzales then reports in Chapter 5 on learning pragmatics in Livemocha, an affinity space where users connect with other learners and native speakers through the common endeavor of language learning. She describes the socialization process into this space of one learner of Spanish. In Chapter 6, Urzua uses corpus techniques, which are rare in pragmatics studies, to analyze pronominal choice in writing, combined with the pragmatic analysis of the functions of subject pronouns. His message is that corpus analyses are one way to examine data longitudinally and thus understand the trajectory of pragmatic development better. In Chapter 7, Holden and Sykes make the much-needed move of drawing readers’ attention to the vitality of feedback in pragmatics, and they show how immediate and meaningful game feedback, environmental feedback, peer feedback, and instructor feedback can be effectively combined in place-based mobile games. Chapter 8 by Takamiya and Ishihara is yet another example of a new line of research examining pragmatic development resulting from telecollaborations via blogging and face-to-face instruction. Learners served as ethnographers, collecting pragmatics-focused data via blogs and eliciting input from native speakers. Only two chapters in the volume address assessment, which indicates that assessing pragmatics is challenging. Roever in Chapter 9 states that, although technology improves the authenticity of pragmatics tests, it still does not help cover the full range of pragmatic knowledge and abilities, and Roever offers solutions for this in future developments. In Chapter 10, Zhao and Kaufer detail how a computer-based tool, DocuScope, can be used for assessing pragmatic competence in written discourse to examine genre effectiveness. Next, Cohen provides a critical commentary on the work reported in the volume, offering suggestions for the future. Finally, in the prologue Sykes and Taguchi detail ideas for an expansion of pragmatic inquiry.

To conclude, the contributors highlight work that ventures into uncharted territories within pragmatics teaching, assessment, and research, and they provide excellent models for continuing with this trend. Moreover, the volume represents a variety of theoretical approaches (e.g., sociocultural theory, skill acquisition theory) and analytical methods and designs (corpus analysis, conversation analysis, microgenetic case studies, and ethnographic and experimental studies). The authors diligently report not only successes but also lessons learned to inform future studies (e.g., Holden and Sykes on the challenges with the design of the Mentira game). Thus, this volume paints a holistic picture of opportunities and challenges in using technology in pragmatics teaching and research.