An Adaptation Approach To Pragmatic Failure Of Second Language Learners

Pragmatic failure is a hot issue in both pragmatics and cross-cultural study. The term pragmatic failure was first proposed by Jenny Thomas to refer to the inability to understand what is meant by what is said. Pragmatic failure may lead to misunderstandings or communication breakdown, thus it is worthwhile to study pragmatic failure.So far, many scholars, both in China and abroad, have conducted studies and researches in this field. Their findings have laid foundation for further researches. In spite of the achievements, most of them have devoted themselves to finding the cause of pragmatic failure from a cross-cultural perspective and most researches are conducted from the perspective of the speaker. And this thesis attempts to analyze the causes of pragmatic failure of second language learners from the Adaptation perspective. The Adaptation Theory is not only applicable to the pragmatic failure both in inter-lingual and intra-lingual communication, but also refers to both the speaker and the hearer. When making a linguistic choice, people have to take all the ingredients of communicative context into account ------ the mental world, social world, physical world and linguistic reality of the language users, otherwise pragmatic failure may arise. The author has carried out a questionnaire test with college students to get an idea of their pragmatic competence, and the result shows that it is far from satisfactory. Pragmatic failure occurs when language users unconsciously fail to make adaptation to communicative context and language reality. Thus, adaptation to the mental world, social world, physical world and linguistic reality of the language users is an effective way to avoid pragmatic failure in communication. Finally, suggestions and measures to reduce and avoid pragmatic failure are proposed towards second language learners and foreign language teachers accordingly.