Researching Chinese EFL Learners' Pragmatic Fossilization

Fossilization, as a universal phenomenon in language development and a huge barrier for successful language learning, has attracted widespread attention among ESL/EFL researchers. However, most researchers in China probe into fossilization at the level of linguistic forms: phonological, semantic or syntactic, while neglecting that non-native speakers may also systematically use certain forms inappropriately at the pragmatic level of communication and incur pragmatic fossilization in their language learning processes.The present researcher attempts to explore pragmatic fossilization for three purposes. The first is to investigate whether pragmatic fossilization exists among Chinese EFL learners. To answer this question five classes were involved in a cross-sectional survey study in the form of a questionnaire followed by an interview. The second purpose is to find out possible causes of pragmatic fossilization so that effective methods of defossilization can be found. Therefore, an interview will be conducted to investigate causal factors for pragmatic fossilization. The third purpose is to prove by means of an experimental study whether explicit metapragmatic instruction can actually help learners overcome pragmatic fossilization. Two groups of freshmen participated in the experiment, one of which received treatment designed to increase their metapragmatic awareness and enhance their pragmatic acquisition. Data were collected and compared with the control group that did not receive the treatment.The major findings of both the survey study and the experimental study are:1. Pragmatic fossilization does exist among Chinese non-English majors.2. The main causal factors for pragmatic fossilization include pragmatic transfer and input factors.3. Explicit metapragmatic instruction is effective in helping non-English majors delay or overcome pragmatic fossilization.4. Instruction brings no substantially effective help to advanced learners in...