Chinese EFL Learners' Pragmatic Failure

Recently, second language acquisition researchers have called for more integrative research on interlanguage pragmatics (see Kasper 1992 for a review). Speech acts have been claimed to vary in conceptualization and verbalization across cultures and languages. However, descriptions of contextual knowledge involved in the production of speech act utterances are still largely lacking. This paper reports on a qualitative study describing ways in which Chinese EFL learners assess, plan, and execute speech act behaviors. The subjects, 10 university English majors, were given 10 speech act situations (5 requests and 5 apologies). Think-aloud protocols and interviews were analyzed with regard to strategy processing in speech act formulation.The study found that similarities and differences existed in the strategies produced by the subjects and the native speakers. The subjects who demonstrated good grammatical knowledge did not necessarily show concomitant pragmatic competence. Their inappropriate or ineffective use of certain strategies indicated faulty contextual knowledge. Non-target-like productions might stem from the subjects' lack of contextual knowledge in the target language. The requisite L2 forms were not properly linked to the activated contextual knowledge in response to the current speaking context, thus being unable to be retrieved. Conversely, the unidiomatic L2 forms, which were linked to the activated contextual knowledge matching the current speaking context, were put into use. It was also possible that some of the non-target-like productions came about as a result of other factors. For example, the unauthentic communication context (e.g. practicing English between two Chinese-speaking learners of English in China) is more likely to elicit learners' L1 contextual knowledge.The present study offers some insights into the L2 learning process and implications for L2 instruction. It suggests that L2 should be learned in a supportive context from the very start, and pragmatic competence can be improved with the help of both input and negotiated output in authentic L2 contexts and in different learning situations.