Speech acts have long played a ubiquitous role second language education, even if not explicitly designated as such. More recently, the theory’s formal inclusion in FL classrooms has taken shape as the explicit instruction of speech acts in the L2 (Pinner, 2008). However, comparatively less research has addressed speech acts as being a resource for stimulating participation in our modern communicative classrooms. In certain instances, an instructor’s use of particular speech acts may serve to remove the L2 from the center of classroom attention, replacing it instead with students’ need to address potential infelicities (Austin, 1960) or to disrupt potential face-threatening acts (Goffmann, 1967), all while using the L2 to do so. This type of pedagogy seems to endorse and also challenge communicative language assumptions, as it places communication at the center of classroom attention while simultaneously treading a fine line with students’ affective filters. This colloquium will explore connections between speech act theory and other branches of sociolinguistic theory as they relate to language teaching, showcasing how they may work together towards a pedagogy of creative challenge for beginning language students.
