A Study Of Chinese College Students' Pragmatic Development In English Requests And Apologies

Pragmatic cultivation is one of the most important aspects in second language learning, but it has been neglected in traditional foreign language teaching. Most of the previous studies in interlanguage pragmatics have focused on the second language"use"rather than the"acquisition"or"development"of pragmatic competence. Therefore, it is necessary to make an investigation on college students'acquisitional features and developmental patterns of interlanguage pragmatic competence.Following a cross-sectional method, the present study is designed to analyze the performance of Chinese college students in two English speech acts---"request"and"apology". It aims to investigate the pragmatic development of Chinese college students from the perspective of pragmatic acquisition. The study is guided by the following research questions:(1) Compared to English native speakers, what are the features on pragmatic competence of Chinese college students in their performance of English request and apology?(2) Is there any effect of English proficiency level on Chinese college students'pragmatic development in English request and apology?(3) Is there any effect of L2 context on Chinese college students'pragmatic development in English request and apology? An open questionnaire of Discourse Complete Test was selected as the instrument of the study. The subjects included three learner groups of Chinese college students and one group of American college students as the native speaker group.The major findings are as follows:(1) The overall performance shows that the development of pragmatic competence by L2 learners at college level bears distinct features: the pragmatic competence is in the progress of pragmatic expansion stage.(2) The difference in English proficiency levels makes little influence on the development of pragmatic competence.(3) The short-term study in L2 context makes little influence on the development of pragmatic competence.Based on the above findings, the author makes further analysis on the factors influencing interlanguage pragmatic acquisition. The enhancement of L2 pragmatic input and explicit instruction play an important role in pragmatic development, which provides implications for college English curricula, teaching, and helps students'English learning.