Abstract: With the rapid development of our country’s contact with outside world, the chances of cross-cultural communication are increasing by leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, the current coral proficiency of our students is not satisfying, which is the result of our country’s teaching system that teachers always focus on conveying pronunciation and vocabulary and grammar instead of paying close attention to the practical use of language. Therefore, this paper is intended for discussing the necessity of students’ pragmatic competence and exploring some practicable ways of students’ exerting English effectively.

Key words: pragmatic competence, pragmatic failures, English teaching

Content

摘要：

Abstract:

Introduction1

Chapter One: Basic theories of pragmatics1

1.1 Definition and main contents of pragmatics.1

1.2 Austin’s speech act theory.1

1.3 Searle’s indirect speech act theory2

1.4 Grice’s cooperative principle of conversation2

Chapter Two: Basic theories of pragmatic competence3

2.1 Chomsky’s theories of pragmatic competence3

2.1.1 Chomsky’s concept of competence and performance, and distinctions  between them.3

2.1.2 Chomsky’s concept of pragmatic competence and grammatical   competence, and distinctions between them3

2.2 Dell Hymes’s concept of pragmatic competence in On Communicative Competence.3

2.3 Leech’s distinctions of pramalinguistic competence and sociopragmatic competence.3

2.4 Bachman’s concept of pragmatic competence4

Chapter Three: Some obvious pragmatic failures in current English teaching in primary school and middle schools4

3.1 The role of teacher4

3.2 The pragmatic failures in primary school English teaching.4

3.2.1 The pragmatic failure in intonation.5

3.2.2 The pragmatic failure in vocabulary.5

3.2.3 The pragmatic failure in mood.6

3.2.4 The pragmatic failure in context6

 3.2.5 The urge to attach great importance to the pragmatic failures in primary school English teaching.6

3.3 The pragmatic failures in middle school English teaching .7

Chapter Four: Specific methods of cultivating students’ pragmatic competence 9

  4.1 Both teachers and students play a vital role in improving students’ pragmatic Competence 9

  4.2 Teacher’s guidance on cultivating students’ pragmatic competence .10

  4.2.1 Teachers’ guidance .10

  4.2.2 Teachers’ efforts on improving their own pragmatic competence .11

  4.3 Students’ own solutions on cultivating their own pragmatic competence 13

 4.3.1 Primary school students’ solutions toward cultivating pragmatic Competence .14

 4.3.2 Middle school students’ solutions on cultivation of their pragmatic 

Competence 15 Conclusion 16

Bibliography 17

Acknowledgements 18