Pragmatics perspective of the Revelation in English Teaching

【Abstract】With the development of the new basic education curriculum reform and globalization， English learning is required to adjust it’s teaching direction. For a long time， foreign language teaching focused more on the learning of language forms， which led to the current high school students bearing too much pressure from various aspects in their scores. In view of this phenomenon， we need to reflect on the mode of English teaching in China， strengthen the practical use of pragmatics theory in English teaching.

【Key words】Pragmatics; English Teaching; Pragmatic Ability

【作者簡介】王静（1994-），女，汉族，四川南充人，青海师范大学外国语学院，硕士研究生，研究方向：学科教学（英语）。

1. Instruction

With the rapid development of the Internet， it is difficult to imagine the speed at which knowledge is updated and increased. As the most widely used language in the world， English also plays a major role in China， which is the second largest economy in the world. It is also a great challenge to the English level and language skills of our citizens. Therefore， Chinese English learners must have the awareness of constantly updating their knowledge reserves and develop students’ knowledge of pragmatic theory， so as to let students know how to practice what they have learned in their daily life and study and let them think from the thinking， habits and behaviors of native speakers. How to make students grasp grammar law as soon as possible， and grasp the ability of using language are the keys of grammar teaching. Therefore， the first thing we should do is to cultivate student’ English pragmatic competence in English teaching.

2. The Concept of Pragmatics

Pragmatics is a relatively new field of linguistics. The term pragmatics was first proposed by philosopher Charles Morris in his symbolic Theory Foundation in 1938. The publication of S.C.L Evinson’s first pragmatics textbook Pragmatics in 1983 and the establishment of the International Pragmatic Society in 1986 marks that pragmatics has become a specialized and mature discipline. Pragmatics focuses on how speakers use the symbolic system of language to achieve communicative purposes， paying attention to the use， the conversational implicature， meaning and function of the discourse， with special emphasis on the speaker’s meaning and so on in order to achieve the effect and purpose of communication.

Grice believes that there is a tacit understanding between the speaker and the listener in all linguistic communication activities in order to achieve a specific goal， called the cooperative principle of conversation. When people strictly abide by the four principles of cooperation， the language communication efficiency is the highest and the most reasonable. But in real life， it is very difficult to find four norms to follow all of the communicative paradigm. In the process of language communication， the speaker will not strictly abide by these criteria， besides， people usually violate the return criterion to express their conversational implicature. Pragmatic analysis always emphasizes the speaker’s intention， identity， cognitive style and so on. Both teachers and students hope to keep the mood smooth and successful in conversation in English teaching.

3. An Analysis of the causes of pragmatic failure

Pragmatics has become one of the most popular linguistic research fields since it was introduced to China for more than 30 years. The term pragmatic failure was used by Jenny Thomas published in the academic paper Cross-cultural Pragmatic Failure in the Applied Linguistics in 1983. Thomas pointed out that pragmatic failure was caused by the misunderstanding of the listener about the intention of the speaker. Pragmatic failure is mainly due to the improper way of speaking， or not in line with the expression habits， or speak out of time and so on.

Firstly， due to obstacles to pragmatic negative transfer， learners often experience pragmatic transfer from their mother tongue. This kind of pragmatic transfer has both positive and negative transfer. Negative transfer， that is， pragmatic failure. In the process of communication， due to the improper way of speaking， the inappropriate discourse， the inconsistency of expression and habit， etc， the communication behavior is interrupted or failed， which leads to the inability of communication to achieve the desired effect. The rule of sociolinguistics is a set of norms and values that determine what the speaker is to say to what kind of person is， and that this rule has a great difference between different cultures.

Secondly， there exist differences between Chinese and western values. Ignoring the potential impact of values in communication will lead to communication obstacles.The core of traditional Chinese culture is group consciousness， which is to deal with the relationship between people and things through the relationship between people. Chinese people pay more attention to the influence of their words and deeds on the relationship， while Westerners， especially Americans， emphasize the importance of individual consciousness and the realization of individual values. In Gua Sha Treatment， when Dennis and Paul clashed， Xu Datong asked his son to apologize to Paul first. After Dennis refused， Mr Xu hit his son in front of his boss.Here is a conversation between Mr Xu and his boss.

John： You shouldn’t have hit Denis. Xu： Why I hit him？ I hit him to show my respect for you， to give you face. John： What kind of twisty Chinese logic exact！

The Chinese advocate harmony and humble self-respect and believe that their children belong to their own private property. Parents have the right to discipline their children by beating and scolding them. In Westerners， children and parents are equal， so parents do not have the right to control their children’s words and deeds. So John， didn’t understand his words. It is precisely because of the different values between China and the West that people’s ways of thinking will inevitably affect the process of cross-cultural communication between China and the West.

4. The Application of Pragmatics in English Teaching

Although the study of pragmatics started a little late in China， pragmatics developed rapidly in Chinese foreign language academia in about 10 years， but most of them are in the theoretical stage and rarely used in practice. In the filed of L2 pragmatics learning and teaching， this challenge has drawn lots of attention in instructional methods of research， and researchers have also investigated L2 pragmatic learning progressions that might inform L2 instruction.5

The main purpose of learning a language is to cultivate learners’ ability to communicate properly， that is to say， to master the pragmatic competence of the language. It is difficult for students to understand abstract pragmatics， but an example of successful communication in real life can convey the meaning of obscure theory. Using the principles of Cooperation and Politeness to improve intercultural communicative competence， learners should not only ensure that their expressions conform to the rules of language， but also ensure the appropriateness of language expression when they use the language they have learned to communicate. In the teaching process or daily life， each participant should observe the principle of cooperation in an effective and rational way of communication to achieve the purpose of communication.

Providing linguistic and Cultural background and cultivating students’ Cultural Literacy， teachers should create a kind of cultural context of the target language group for learners， maximize the expansion of pragmatic knowledge systematically， enable learners to acquire relevant knowledge from experience， and also cultivate the cultural literacy of learners. Because there are huge differences between Chinese and English further complicates this error. The way speech acts are carried out in different cultural contexts is sometimes very different.

5. Conclusion

With the further deepening of the new basic education curriculum reform in China， more and more attention has been paid to the cultivation of students’ English applied competence and communicative competence. We should strive to cultivate students’ creative spirit and practical ability， so that students can learn the basic knowledge of language， learn to use the pragmatic function of language， and learn to improve the communicative competence of language from the cultural context. It provides a more efficient approach to foreign language teaching in China.

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