METHODOLOGY OF USING BLOOM’S TAXONOMY IN DEVELOPING PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE

Abstract

This article explores how Bloom’s taxonomy can be used as a pedagogical framework to develop pragmatic competence in language instruction. Pragmatic competence entails an individual’s ability to interpret and produce language in context, ensuring utterances are appropriately tuned to social norms, intentions, and interlocutor roles. While many language curricula emphasize grammatical and lexical proficiency, systematic attention to pragmatic skills remains comparatively underrepresented. Bloom’s taxonomy, which classifies cognitive processes from remembering to creating, can serve as a useful scaffold to structure increasingly sophisticated pragmatic tasks. By mapping pragmatic targets onto the six levels of Bloom’s revised taxonomy—remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, and create—teachers can foster deeper thinking about contextualized language use. This article examines the theoretical foundations of Bloom’s taxonomy, explains how each level can correspond to specific pragmatic objectives, and demonstrates how instructors might design lesson sequences that progress from simple identification of speech acts to creative, context-rich communication. A table is included to illustrate possible pragmatic tasks at each cognitive level, with suggestions for classroom application. The article concludes that a thoughtful integration of Bloom’s taxonomy and pragmatic skill-building not only enriches communicative competence but also sharpens learners’ critical thinking about how language operates across diverse social and cultural situations.