Abstract: With more frequent communication among people from different countries, the competence of effective communication with people from different cultures is of increasing importance. However, due to the exam-oriented education system, the middle school English teaching in China emphasizes too much on linguistic competence, ignoring the cultivation of pragmatic competence of the English learners in China. In order to solve this problem, this paper explores the major types of pragmatic failure of middle school English learners and puts forward some practical suggestions for improving their cultural awareness and developing their pragmatic competence.

Key words: English Language Teaching (ELT), cultural awareness, pragmatic competence, pragmatic failure

摘要：随着来自不同文化的人之间的交流日渐频繁，有效地进行交流的能力显得越发重要。但是在中国，由于应试教育的影响，中学英语教学过于强调语言能力，忽视培养学生的英语语用能力。为了解决这一问题，本论文探讨了中学阶段学生经常犯的几种语用失误，并提出了培养学生语用能力的一些实用的建议。

关键词：英语教学，文化意识，语用能力，语用失误