In this poster, I will report on an approach developed to raise the pragmatics awareness of lower-level learners’ in an English program at a university in Japan. Pragmatics comprehension is an underdeveloped area of many English programs despite claims in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages that competence in L2 pragmatics is one of the three main components of communicative language competences. Prior to gaining productive competence, students must develop receptive pragmatics ability. I will introduce a methodology that I am currently working on for helping students develop this ability through reading and reflection on the text, arguing that pragmatics ability is intimately tied to the development of close, accurate reading skills. The presentation will explain the process of conducting informed analyses of texts in reading textbooks, and some initial findings from the development and collection of students’ responses to classroom activities designed to build L2 pragmatics ability and sensitivity to intercultural pragmatics. My intention is to elicit feedback from participants about the approach I am taking in order to refine it further and make it more effective in terms of raising awareness of and developing competence in L2 pragmatics.