Contextualization In Cultivating Pragmatic Competence

People talk with the intention to communicate something to somebody. What participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, cooperative way is speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly and provide sufficient information. For this purpose they should acquire not only knowledge of abstract linguistic rules but also the ability to use this knowledge for effective communication. It is now generally agreed that the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching and learning is the learner's acquisition of communicative competence (including grammatical competence and pragmatic competence). As Chinese learners of English usually lack a considerate part of the target socio-cultural background knowledge that is needed for the correct interpretation of pragmatically loaded formulaic expressions, their attempt at real communication with various native and non-native speakers often result in pragmatic failure. On the basis of related studies, the author holds that in order to improve students' pragmatic competence, they need practice in contextualizing.Context is not just a natural given, but also a social construct, the product of linguistic choices made by two or more individuals interacting through language (Kramsch 1999). The interaction of linguistic forms and social meanings is dependent on the context and the way this context is perceived by the participants. Contextualizing includes the proper context and the persons fitting into that context. It extends the range of communication situations in which the learner can perform with focus on meaning, without being hindered by the attention he must pay to linguistic form (Littlewood 2000). In classroom settings, contextualizing can be achieved through culture teaching and interactive activities with the use of authentic materials.In this thesis the author conducted an experiment to explore effective pedagogical measures in contextualizing that aid the cultivation of Chinese English learners' pragmatic competence. Thirty-eight participants took part in a pre-test and a post-test of pragmatic competence by role-playing assigned characters. The five-week-long pedagogical activities mainly adopted explicit instruction with the use of authentic materials like movie clips and educational scenarios. Tasks concerningthe interpretation and performance of various speech acts were designed. The instructional measures were not found explicitly effective in developing the students' pragmatic competence, however, the results still indicated to a certain degree the students' improved pragmatic awareness.