The Presentation Of Pragmatic Information In The PEP And BNUP Textbooks

Pragmatic competence is an essential part of communicative competence.Thomas(1983)points out that teaching pragmatics not only offers second language learners the opportunity to learn and discover how native speakers of the target language behave and act in different situations,but also enables them to understand other cultures and behaviors and avoid breakdown in cross-cultural communication.English textbooks are considered as a key component in English language teaching programs.Therefore,how to present pragmatic information in English textbooks,and how teachers use textbook resources for pragmatic teaching will directly affect the development and cultivation of students' pragmatic competence.This study examines the presentation of pragmatic information in two sets of English textbooks(published respectively by PEP and BNUP)widely used in Chinese middle schools by focusing on speech acts.The similarities and differences in the presentation of speech acts between the two sets of textbooks are compared.The analysis yields some findings in terms of frequency and distribution of the speech acts.First,more language input is provided in the PEP textbooks than the BNUP textbooks.Second,the presentation of speech acts across the two sets of textbooks do not follow a systematic pattern;nor is the presentation soundly justified,suggesting that the compilation of the textbooks is not conducive to the systematic development of students' pragmatic competence.Third,not all dialogues in the two sets of textbooks reflect the functions mentioned in the text.Fourth,both the two sets of textbooks contain notes to the text which provide some explanations to the pragmatic functions.Yet the notes to the text cannot be of any help unless it can attract the attention of teachers and students.The study also gets some findings in terms of the manner of presenting speech acts.First,the PEP textbooks provide both contextual information and formality,but BNUP only provide contextual information.Second,no cultural information is mentioned in either of the two sets of textbooks.The research findings can provide English teachers with some enlightenment on how to use the foreign language teaching materials to develop students' pragmatic competence and cultivate students' intercultural communicative awareness.