摘要：Pragmatics Special Interest Group was founded in 1999 specifically to address issues of pragmatics and cross/intercultural communication in language teaching. Among the JALT members who had attended the 1993 IPRA conference held in Kobe and had since that time become active in pragmatics research in Japan, there was a consensus that JALT needed a SIG that was dedicated to the exchange of ideas on pragmatics, language and human communication. Communication among SIG members is facilitated through our own eGroup <pragmatics@egroups.com> and newsletter (three times a year) that will soon be available on the Internet. The newsletter endeavors to meet the needs of three distinct populations: (a) those who are interested in cross-cultural pragmatics but new to the field, (b) those familiar with basic concepts in pragmatics and want to keep up with current research, and (c) those who are actively engaged in research and the teaching of pragmatics and are looking for a forum or networking opportunity with similar professionals.
