This article explores a number of points at which Relevance Theory makes a useful contribution to second language theoretical models, specifically those of Bialystok and Schmidt and their respective notions of ‘analysis’, ‘control’ and ‘noticing’.It is suggested that the inferential mechanisms of Relevance Theory can account for the contingencies of communicative interaction without which pragmatic negotiations do not make sense, and thus can complement such information-processing accounts through the notions of ‘manifestness’ and the balance between ‘effort’ and ‘effect’.Further research is called for into the integration of information-processing concepts and Relevance Theoretical insights as part of a complex theoretical architecture capable of capturing the rich diversity of pragmatic development in second language acquisition.

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