An Exploration On Second Language Pragmatic Development In College EFL Teaching

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA) research, the language learners'language (i.e., interlanguage) has been the research object of applied linguistics. The development of language learners'interlanguage is a complex process. The research on interlanguage is relatively new in second language acquisition research.Pragmatic competence refers to the ability to use a target language in a tacit and appropriate way, which is an essential component of communicative competence. Successful cultivation of foreign language learners'communicative competence, therefore, depends on whether it could effectively bring about learners'development of pragmatic competence.As a domain within second language studies, pragmatics is usually referred to as interlanguage pragmatics, by analogy with interlanguage grammar, interlanguage phonology, and the interlanguage lexicon. This thesis is about interlanguage pragmatic competence.Study on pragmatic development constitutes one of the concerns of interlanguage pragmatics (IP), a disciplinary branch across pragmatics and second language acquisition. In addition to pragmatic development, which is dynamic in nature, another objective of the subject is to describe pragmatic characteristics of nonnative speakers'language, which is of static nature. In fact, much research of IP to date belongs to static IP study. Understanding and grasping its theory and characteristics is beneficial to enhance students'ability to understand and use foreign language.Many researchers abroad probe into topics of interlanguage pragmatics, among which is the issue of pragmatic competence and its development. Most of the researches are conducted in ESL setting; there are few researches conducted in EFL setting. Up till now, there is a little achievement in the research into integrating the development of pragmatic competence with EFL classroom instruction.This thesis attempts to investigate the pragmatic competence of Chinese college English learners by conducting a survey. It deals with the investigation at two different levels. Though not a longitudinal study, the results can be interpreted as a proxy for...