An Analysis Of Pragmatic Failures In The Use Of English Address Forms By EFL Chinese Learners

Addressing is an integral part of human communication. As for the address form, it is not a new topic in the academic field. Scholars have made researches from various perspectives. Despite of these fruitful studies, the use of address form still deserves attention and further investigation, because serving as a salient indicator of interpersonal relationship between interlocutors, the address form is crucial for any successful interaction.As we all know, every language has its own specific address system. Address forms in English and Chinese are different from each other. Just owing to the disparities, pragmatic failures are likely to occur in intercultural communication between native English speakers and EFL Chinese learners. In terms of pragmatic failure, Jenny Thomas (1983: 97) claims that while grammatical errors may reveal a speaker to be a less proficient language user, pragmatic failure reflects badly on him or her as a person. In other words, if we make mistakes in grammar when we speak, we are said to speak badly only; however, if we cannot speak tactfully or appropriately, we are said to behave badly. So the misuse of address forms will often be regarded as inappropriate or even impolite and rude. Until now, many scholars have already investigated the phenomenon of pragmatic failure. However, few works are about the pragmatic failures of address forms. This thesis combines these two fields together. The pragmatic failures produced by EFL Chinese learners in their use of English address forms are presented and analyzed.In this study, forty subjects (twenty first year English majors and twenty fourth year English majors) were selected from Foreign Languages School of Northeast Normal University, and a questionnaire which includes twenty five multiple-choice questions and four Chinese-English translations was designed and utilized. Subjects were required to choose the most appropriate address forms in accordance with the specific contexts described in each item. The pragmatic failures produced were picked out for data collection.Based on the statistical analyses, the relationship between linguistic competence and pragmatic competence is discussed at first. It is revealed that the students with higher language proficiency do not necessarily produce fewer pragmatic failures. That is to say, the development of linguistic competence does not mean the advancement of pragmatic competence. Besides, the deep-rooted reason for pragmatic failures -- negative transfer, is explored. Negative transfer is directly caused by the cultural differences. So this thesis continues to probe into the dissimilarities between English address forms and Chinese address forms. Without stopping at the superficial comparison about address form systems, the different underlying ideologies of the two languages are also carefully lucubrated. It is hoped that the comparison may benefit intercultural communication and facilitate English learning and teaching. In order to help students reduce pragmatic failures, some constructive suggestions are provided. In the process of English teaching, instructors should direct students to pay attention to the improvement of pragmatic competence and try to cultivate students'cultural awareness, which are of great significance for foreign language education.