RECENT MODELS OF PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE (BACHMAN, 1990; BACHMAN AND PALMER, 1996, 2010) HAVE ATTRACTED SLA RESEARCHERS’ ATTENTION TO THE NEGLECTED AREA OF L2 PRAGMATICS, AND THIS HAS IN TURN SPAWNED A BULK OF RESEARCH ON ASSESSING OR TEACHING SECOND LANGUAGE PRAGMATICS. AS TO THE INSTRUCTIONAL PRAGMATICS, THE RELATED RESEARCH HAS ATTEMPTED TO ADOPT THE CURRENTLY-USED INSTRUCTIONAL MODELS, SUCH AS EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION OR TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION, TO TEACHING L2 PRAGMATICS. YET, FURTHER RESEARCH (SUCH AS THIS STUDY) SEEMS NECESSARY TO EXPLORE THE APPLICABILITY OF VYGOTSKY-INSPIRED (ZPD)-BASED MODELS OF INSTRUCTION TO THE TEACHING OF L2 PRAGMATICS IN PROXIMAL CONTEXTS. THIS STUDY FOCUSED ON THE (ZPD)-BASED PROXIMAL CONTEXTS OF EQUAL AND UNEQUAL PEER INTERACTIONS IN COMPARISON TO THE TRADITIONAL MODES OF TEACHING. THE PARTICIPANTS' PERFORMANCE WAS MEASURED BEFORE AND AFTER THE INSTRUCTION USING DISCOURSE COMPLETION TASKS. THE RESULTS REVEALED THAT THE (ZPD)-ACTIVATED CONTEXT FACILITATED AND ACCELERATED THE STUDENT’S INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENT. IT IS WORTH MENTIONING THAT LEARNERS FOUND PRAGMATIC INSTRUCTION IN (ZPD)-ACTIVATED CONTEXT BENEFICIAL AND VALUABLE. ALL IN ALL, THE RESULT INDICATES THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF (ZPD)-ACTIVATED CONTEXT IN STUDENTS’ INTERLANGUAGE PRAGMATIC DEVELOPMENT. ...