A Study Of Middle School Students’ Pragmatic Failures In Oral Communication

Oral communication is a very common phenomenon in people’s life. In the present era, international exchange in various fields becomes so frequent that it is quite important to speak competently in oral communication. When people observe or break the cooperative principle, observe the politeness principle and follow indirect speech acts, what goal they want to achieve is to realize the appropriateness in oral communication.In China, most people pay more attention to middle school English teaching because of the importance of this process which means the key to English learning. But how to practice oral English well in the class is also a very important topic for researchers. However, grammar-oriented teaching which means translating the language you are leaning to what you have known in your mother language is the most traditional method which can be seen most popularly in class. Most middle-school English teachers prefer this method when teaching guided reading comprehending or language points. Although some multiple -choice exercises include oral communicative types, students’ communicative competence is often ignored because the Grammar Translation Method is chosen to be the most useful one. As a result, even if many students can have a relatively large vocabulary and strong linguistic abilities to get good grades in most exams, it seems not easy for them to use English appropriately to make successful oral communications in real life. Pragmatic failure occurs frequently in their English classes or even in their daily lives. Combined with years of teaching practice, I find Chinese students’typical pragmatic failure often occurs in addressing, greeting, expressing thanks, parting, invitation, etc. There are many causes that may result in pragmatic failure. And this thesis analyzes the causes in details from different aspects, and gives some implications and suggestions on how to try to avoid pragmatic failures in oral communication. Firstly, teachers should offer real and authentic materials to the students with a combination of study and life. Secondly, teachers can arrange their teaching activities according to different subjects in each unit. In a word, oral English teaching should be integrated with culture. That is because language is the carrier of culture and learning a language is inseparable from learning its culture. In English language teaching, teachers should also pay attention to the introduction of the culture of English-speaking countries and pragmatic principles instead of only teaching language points. Hoping that students can use English appropriately and achieve successful oral communication.