ABSTRACT:This study mainly examined the pragmatic failures committed by 90 freshmen of English major at Honghe University in the six cross-cultural communication situations, that is, addressing, greeting, apology, parting, thanks as well as requests and responses. The instruments adopted in this study include a testing paper and interviews. Results show that the main causes for pragmatic failure are cultural differences, improper input from teachers, mother tongue transfer and lack of English environment. Finally, the article recommends a number of ways to improve English learners’ pragmatic competence, such as raising freshmen’s cultural awareness, the instruction of pragmatic knowledge and creating an interactive learning environment to avoid pragmatic failure in cross-cultural communication. 

Keywords: cross-cultural communication; pragmatic failure; cultural differences; English teaching

TABLE OF CONTENTS

摘要

ABSTRACT

1 INTRODUCTION-1

1.1 Background of the Study-1

1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study-1

2 LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Theoretical Basis-3

2.1.1Pragmatic competence-3

2.1.2 Pragmatic failure-3

2.2 Studies on Pragmatic Failure in China and Abroad-4

2.2.1 Overseas researches-4

2.1.2 Domestic researches-5

3 METHODOLOGIES-8

3.1 Research Method..8

3.2 Sublects..8

3.3 Rsearch instruments-8

3.3.1Testing paper-8

3.3.2 Interview-9

3.4 Data Collection Procedure-10

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS-11

4.1 Results Analysis-11

4.1.1 Pragmatic Failures in Addressing-11

4.1.2 Pragmatic failures in greeting-12

4.1.3 Pragmatic Failures in Making Requests and Responses-14

4.1.4 Pragmatic failures in thanks-16

4.1.5 Pragmatic failures in parting-18

4.1.6 Pragmatic failures in apology-20

4.2 Causes of Pragmatic Failure-22

4.2.1 Cultural differences-22

4.2.2 Improper input from teachers-22

4.2.3 Lack of English environment-23

4.2.4 Mother tongue transfer-23

4.3 Suggestions-23

4.3.1 Raising Chinese learners’ cultural awareness-23

4.3.2 Instruction in pragmatic knowledge-24

4.3.3 Creating an interactive learning environment-24

5 CONCLUSIONS-26

REFERENCES-27

APPENDIX-28

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-31