Pragmatic Failures By Chinese Non-English Majors In College English Learning

English teaching in China, under the influence of structuralism in the past, paid less attention to pragmatic teaching and attributed pragmatic errors to insufficient knowledge of the English language. As a result, many Chinese learners of English fail to use the English language appropriately or interpret it correctly, which is termed as pragmatic failure. Pragmatic failure is a problematic issue since it tends to cause misunderstanding even hatred between native speakers and Chinese learners. Successful communication is undermined and harmonious interpersonal relationship becomes tense. Therefore, in order to help students communicate successfully in intercultural context, it is significant for us English teachers to identify and minimize the students' pragmatic failure in English teaching.This thesis attempts to investigate how well Chinese students have developed their pragmatic competence reflected in the ability to realize speech acts and what pragmatic failure Chinese students are prone to invite in cross-culture communication. For this purpose, a research investigation in the form of questionnaire was conducted in the non-English majors' classrooms. The results reveal that students' pragmatic competence does...