A Study Of The Pragmatic Competence Of Chinese EFL Learners In Relation To Pragmatic Transfer From The Dual Language Theoretic Approach

Despite the extensive research on pragmatic competence and pragmatic transfer in the field of pragmatics and applied linguistics,the question about the relationship between them is frequently raised.As the literature shows,how EFL learners' pragmatic competence is related to pragmatic transfer has been understudied.Therefore,this study,based on Dual Language Theory and drawing on corpus-based data,aims to investigate the pragmatic competence of Chinese EFL learners in relation to pragmatic transfer,thereby providing pedagogical implications for developing the EFL learners' pragmatic competence.To achieve the objective,the study is designed to address the following questions:(1)What type(s)of pragmatic transfer occur(s)in the oral production of Chinese EFL learners,in particular,involving semantic formula and discourse content?(2)What type(s)of pragmatic transfer occur(s)in the written production of Chinese EFL learners,particularly at the lexical,syntactic and discoursal level?(3)How is Chinese EFL learners' pragmatic competence related to pragmatic transfer,and how can this kind of relationship be explained? Based on Dual Language Theory,the study reconstructs the analytic framework for analyzing pragmatic competence of Chinese EFL learners in relation to pragmatic transfer.It presents a detailed description of the collected data,including the frequency of pragmatic transfer in terms of semantic formula and discourse content in the oral production and the frequency of pragmatic transfer at the lexical,syntactic and discoursal level in the written production respectively by English native speakers,Chinese EFL learners and Chinese native speakers.It also describes the degrees of difference respectively between Chinese native speakers and English native speakers,between Chinese EFL learners with different levels of pragmatic competence and Chinese native speakers,and between Chinese EFL learners with different levels of pragmatic competence and English native speakers in the oral and written productions.Following the data description,it analyzes different types of pragmatic transfer and its characteristics in both oral and written productions by Chinese EFL learners with different levels of pragmatic competence,and then focuses on the relationships between Chinese EFL learners' oral pragmatic competence and pragmatic transfer as well as between Chinese EFL learners' written pragmatic competence and pragmatic transfer.Finally,the study further discusses issues concerning how common pragmatic knowledge,synergic pragmatic knowledge,and specific pragmatic knowledge are related to pragmatic transfer respectively,and the development of Chinese EFL learners' pragmatic competence in relation to pragmatic performance at each level.The findings of this study are as follows:First,four types of pragmatic transfer are found in the oral production of Chinese EFL learners with different levels of oral English pragmatic competence,namely apparent pragmatic transfer,unapparent pragmatic transfer,pragmatic over-transfer and pragmatic under-transfer.Specifically,as for semantic formula,unapparent pragmatic transfer occurs most frequently,while pragmatic over-transfer occurs least frequently.As for discourse content,three types of pragmatic transfer are found except for pragmatic over-transfer in their oral production with unapparent pragmatic transfer being the most frequently occurring one.Moreover,pragmatic transfer is more likely to occur when other's invitations and suggestions are refused,and is less likely to occur when other's requests and offers are refused.On the whole,unapparent pragmatic transfer is the most frequently occurring type of pragmatic transfer in the oral production,which indicates that although there are differences between Chinese EFL learners and English native speakers in their productions,the extent to which pragmatic transfer occurs across the produced texts is not evident and that the type and the extensive occurrences of pragmatic transfer differ according to different levels of oral English pragmatic competence among the Chinese EFL learners.Second,apparent pragmatic transfer,unapparent pragmatic transfer,pragmatic over-transfer and pragmatic under-transfer are also found in the written production of Chinese EFL learners with different levels of written English pragmatic competence.Specifically,apparent pragmatic transfer,unapparent pragmatic transfer,and pragmatic over-transfer occur at the lexical and syntactic level,and all the four types of pragmatic transfer are found at the discoursal level.At the lexical level,unapparent pragmatic transfer is what most frequently occurs,and next to it is apparent pragmatic transfer.At the syntactic level,pragmatic under-transfer is what most frequently occurs,and next to it is apparent pragmatic transfer.At the discoursal level,pragmatic over-transfer is what most frequently occurs,and next to it is unapparent transfer,while apparent transfer is what least frequently occurs.Different from the performance in the oral production,a large amount of pragmatic over-transfer appears in the written production of Chinese EFL learners even at the advanced level.It indicates that the native language cultural and social values have great influence on EFL learners' performance in using the target language and this effect remains hard to change.Third,data analyses indicate that a generally inverted U-shaped relation exists between pragmatic competence and pragmatic transfer in both oral and written English.As the English pragmatic competence of the Chinese EFL learners changes from the low to intermediate level,the degree of pragmatic transfer increases.In contrast,as the English pragmatic competence of the Chinese EFL learners changes from the intermediate to advanced level,the degree of pragmatic transfer decreases.The dynamic relationship between them is the result of the unique pragmatic knowledge structure rooted in the mind of Chinese EFL learners.Based on the above findings,the present study concludes that pragmatic transfer is a common phenomenon existing in both oral and written productions by the Chinese EFL learners.The reasons for the occurring of pragmatic transfer are mainly attributed to the differences in linguistic systems and cultural backgrounds between the native language and the target language.The types of pragmatic transfer differ from each other according to different levels of pragmatic competence,which reflects the dynamic process of pragmatic development.This provides implications for English language instruction.Firstly,language awareness needs to be cultivated and reinforced in the instruction and practice of the target language use at the early stage of pragmatic development.Secondly,pragmalinguistic skills need to be introduced with the practice of how to use language in an appropriate way at the intermediate stage.Finally,EFL learners need to develop their sociopragmatic skills which enable them to know the cultural differences.In general,pragmatic awareness needs to be enhanced in EFL instruction in order to avoid pragmatic failure caused by negative pragmatic transfer and develop pragmatic competence among the Chinese EFL learners.In conclusion,this study contributes to exploring how pragmatic competence is related to pragmatic transfer both in theory and methodology.It provides a better understanding of pragmatic competence at different levels of learning in relation to types of pragmatic transfer occurring among the Chinese EFL learners from the perspective of EFL learners' pragmatic knowledge structure.Meanwhile,it should be pointed out that there are still some limitations in this study which need to improve in the future.