The Dynamics Of Context And Its Relevance To The Development Of Pragmatic Competence

This dissertation aims at studying the dynamics of context and its relevance to the development of pragmatic competence. Context is the most important notion in pragmatic study. It contributes a lot to the interpretation and production of meaning. The traditional study of context was static and could not explain the dynamic process of communication. Therefore, in this dissertation, I expound a dynamic approach to the study of context, which regards context as the product of a generation process and treats language users as actors who can actively manipulate and choose aspects of context for interpretation and production on the basis of mutual manifestness.Chapter One is an introduction to the aim, the significance, the method and the theoretical base, the extent and the plan of my research, and the deficiencies of the traditional research into context. Chapter Two is the review of literature. In it, I introduce Theory of Adaptation and Relevance Theory by summarizing the main principles and notions of them. These are the two theories which are applied to my research into the dynamics of context. Chapter Three is the analysis of the necessity of dynamic study of context. First, by surveying the traditional researchon context, I summarize the deficiencies of static concept of context------treating context as simply 'out there,' 'shared knowledge', and 'given in advance of the comprehension process'. Then, I analyze the advantages of dynamic study of context with some examples. From the analysis I conclude that dynamic study of context is necessary because it emphasizes language users, especially their cognitive ability and their active manipulation of context. Thus, this method can effectively explain the dynamic process of communication.Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the most important chapters in this dissertation. In Chapter Four, I thoroughly explore the dynamics of context. To begin with, I analyze the ingredients of dynamic context completely, especially the mental world. Then, on the basis of this, I analyze the dynamic properties of context in communication. First, I introduce the four methods used by the utterers to manipulate context with some examples. The examples clearly illustrate that language users can consciously manipulate context by talking or acting in theright way to produce a favourable context in order to attain their communicative goals. Second, with the help of an example, I analyze the interpreter's choosing of context, which shows that only when language users realize the dynamic properties of context can they effectively interpret meaning. Using the conclusion drawn in Chapter Four, in Chapter Five, I discuss how to foster the students' pragmatic competence from the aspects of production and interpretation. According to the notion of dynamic context, to be pragmatically competent, language users should be capable of actively manipulating aspects of context and producing a favourable context to attain their communicative goals, and of choosing an appropriate context to effectively interpret meaning.The originality of this dissertation lies in the combination of Theory of Adaptation with Relevance Theory. Thus, the dynamics of context can be thoroughly studied. The theoretical significance of the dissertation exists in its complete description of the notion of context by studying it from a dynamic point of view. The realization of the dynamics of context enables us to take a new look at the notion of pragmatic competence. The practical significance of this dissertation is just found in this. Since the present trend of globalization urgently demand for students to communicate in English appropriately, it is important that their pragmatic competence be developed.To conclude, the significance of this dissertation consists in its application of linguistic theory to the practice of English Language teaching. I suggest that the knowledge of dynamic context be taught to foster the students' pragmatic competence. Therefore, the innovation in college English teaching can...