Research into second language (L2) pragmatics has addressed a number of learner variables likely to implicate in speech act knowledge. Subscribing to the same line of research, the present study addressed the development and validation of a pragmatic learning strategy inventory (PRALSI), and the relationship between English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' pragmatic learning strategy (PLS) use and their speech act knowledge. A total of 245 Iranian English-major undergraduates, ranging in age from 19 to 31, participated in PRALSI's validation study. Of these, 117 further participated in the second phase of the study to unearth the relationship between PLS use and speech act knowledge, measured through a 24-item written discourse completion test (WDCT). Principal component analysis confirmed the 3-factor structure of PRALSI, comprising implicit, inductive explicit, and deductive explicit strategies. The inventory contains 41 strategies for the learning of three main aspects of pragmatic competence: speech acts, implicature, and conversational routines. Two one-way ANOVAs also showed strategy use, particularly the use of explicit strategies, to be positively correlated with speech act knowledge. The findings reveal the implications of the implicit/explicit learning dichotomy for pragmatic development and strategy use, and the potentially greater advantage explicit strategies offer for pragmatic knowledge.