This inquiry explored second language (L2) Chinese learners’ developmental patterns of pragmatic competence in two computer-mediated communication (CMC) conditions: (1) CMC with data-driven instruction embedded in the course of CMC and (2) CMC without data-driven instruction. Learners’ pragmatic competence was operationalized as their ability to use a Chinese sentence final particle (SFP) ne during CMC with a native speaker partner. The study investigated: (1) whether learners (as a group) developed their use of ne over time in the two CMC conditions, and (2) how individual learners changed their use of ne (if any) in the two conditions. The quantitative analysis (token and type frequency of ne) revealed that CMC itself did not promote learners’ use of ne. However, it promoted learners’ production of ne when data-driven instruction was incorporated into CMC. Supporting the quantitative findings, the qualitative analysis showed that one learner in the CMC with data-driven instruction outperformed his counterpart in the CMC without data-driven instruction group in the diverse use of ne.