语用失误及其对大学英语课堂教学的启示

冯改

摘 要：本文從交际过程中常见的语用失误入手。首先分析语用失误的定义以及其产生的原因，然后总结出语用失误对大学英语课程教学的启示， 希望对提高英语学习者的语用能力有所帮助。

关键词：语用失误;跨文化交际;英语教学

The pragmatic failure and its implications for college English classroom teaching

Abstract： The paper first looks into the pragmatic failure and its causes in communication. Then it presents three implications to which teachers should pay attention in their teaching so as to improve the language learners pragmatic competence.

Key words： pragmatic failure; intercultural communication; English teaching

一、Introduction of the study

Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation， grammars， words， and idioms. The most important function of language is communication. But most often than not， students feel puzzled in talking with foreigners or trapped in some embarrassing circumstances. This kind of phenomenon is called “pragmatic failure”.

二、Pragmatic failure

The term “pragmatic failure” was first employed by the British linguist Jenny Thomas in 1983.

1.The definition of pragmatic failure

According to Thomas， interference in communication is generally referred to as pragmatic failure. She （1983） defined it as the inability to understand what is meant by what is said.

2.Classification of intercultural pragmatic failure

Based on the nature of pragmatic failure， Thomas （1983） classified pragmatic failure into two types： pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure. Most linguists （He Ziran， 1986; Hong Gang， 1991; Li Yuee， 2002; etc） tend to adopt Jenny Thomas viewpoint.

三、Causes of pragmatic failure

1. Cultural differences

Cultures vary from country to country， and also differ among various groups within a country. Cultural differences do influence a lot in the English language learners in intercultural communication.

2. Lack of English environment

English is a foreign language in China. As foreign language learners， we do not have many chances to communicate with the native speakers.

3. Inappropriate way of providing language input

A large portion of language input is from the textbooks or teaching materials and other reading materials. Li Li and Chen Zhian （1997） say that there are many inappropriate sentence patterns in our textbooks， which students are required to recite and use as much as possible.

四、Implications for college English classroom teaching in China

Language learners must not only acquire the correct forms and sounds of the target language， but also the knowledge of how language is pragmatically used in the target language （Lee， 1957）.

Firstly， in order to raise the cultural awareness of the learners， English teachers should change their ways of teaching in the classroom， that is， they should teach culture in the classroom. It is practical for teachers to make good use of the textbooks together with authentic materials such as film scripts， plays， newspapers articles and internet to provide relevant cultural information so as to broaden the students cultural knowledge. Thus they can achieve the ultimate goal of language and culture learning， which is expressed by Professor Gao Yihong （2001） as “1+1>2” model.

Secondly， teachers should create an interactive learning environment for the students. Just as Jung （2005） notes that： Learners acquire the knowledge of how to get meaning across as they become socialized through experiencing a variety of roles in interactions in the classroom under the teachers guidance. Activities such as role-play， simulation and drama can engage students to participate in different social rules and speech events （Kasper， 1997）. Thus， it can provide opportunities to practice the wide range of pragmatic and sociolinguistic abilities （Olshtain & Cohen， 1991） to avoid， if possible or at least to minimize the pragmatic failure.

Thirdly， as mentioned in the causes of pragmatic failure， most of the teaching materials and textbooks exist some problems in the pragmatic sense. In the college English classroom， it is impossible for teachers and students to cast away the existing textbooks. But it is practical for college English teachers and learners to try to make full use of the textbooks by adding proper amount of authentic materials to develop students pragmatic competence.

五、Summary

In this paper， the pragmatic failure and its implications for college English classroom teaching in China are introduced. It is hoped that this paper will offer some new insights for the study of Chinese English learners pragmatic failure and the English classroom teaching.

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