Phatic Interpreting And Its Teaching

This thesis follows the view that phatic interpreting process is a cognitive inference process. In the relevance-theoretical analysis, phatic interpretations are derived only if non-phatic interpretations are not consistent with the principle of relevance. Meanwhile, it is found that Chinese EFL students are very clumsy in L2 phatic interpreting. They take phaticness-like language as formulaic speech and practice it by reciting and drilling. This way of teaching and learning L2 phaticness-like language without a natural foreign language environment brings about the result that Chinese EFL students' interpreting process is in a sequence opposite to that of native speakers. This contrastive difference explains why Chinese EFL students are apt to make phatic interpreting mistakes in L2 communication and gives pedagogical implication to teaching L2 phatic interpreting. This thesis ends up with the suggestion of introducing Relevance Theory as a guiding theory in teaching L2 phatic communion.