A Study Of Pragmatic Failure In The Use Of English By Uygur And Han University Students From The Perspective Of Intercultural Communication

Pragmatic failure may occur during intercultural communication when Uygur and Han university students are learning English.Pragmatic failure is associated with the use of language,which belongs to the study of pragmatics,especially the common phenomenon in intercultural pragmatics.Therefore,how to avoid pragmatic failure and communicate successfully has become an important objective of foreign language teaching.From the perspective of intercultural communication,the thesis studies pragmatic failure made by Uygur(Min Kao Min)and Han English major university students with the theoretical framework of “pragmatic failure'' proposed by Jenny Thomas(1983).The author adopts a combination of quantitative method and qualitative method.The data are collected through questionnaire,and processed by SPSS.And the qualitative analysis is carried out under the theoretical framework of pragmatics and culture.The aim is to know how Uygur and Han university students use their acquired knowledge,and then explore their differences of pragmatic failure in intercultural communication.Through the comparative analysis,the author further digs out the cultural,psychological and cognitive reasons behind the differences in pragmatic failure made by Uygur and Han university students.The research findings show that the pragmatic competence of Uygur and Han university students needs to be improved,and the pragmatic failure ratio of Han university students is significantly higher than that of Uygur university students.The thesis thinks the different pragmatic competence of Uygur and Han university students to some degree is related to cultural awareness,mother tongue transfer and learning cognition.And it has certain implications for foreign language teaching in ethnic areas.Therefore,the thesis advises teaching in Xinjiang should be with a strong target.It is necessary to further improve the cultural teaching and strengthen the pragmatic awareness of teachers and students.In addition,it is suggested thatUygur and Han university students should be encouraged to learn from each other.Teaching should take pragmatic advantage of Uygur university students and focus on improving the pragmatic competence of Han university students in the hope of avoiding pragmatic failure.Ultimately intercultural communication can be carried out successfully.