4. 1 The significance of cultivating pragmatic competence
Pragmatic competence is not generated automatically (Widdowson,1979). Pragmatic competence involves the speaker’s ability in recognizing the specific context. So far, few textbooks can depict the utterance rules systematically, which at large restricts the enhancement of pragmatic competence. Having understood the major causes to pragmatic failure in the interaction, some effective measures should be taken to refrain it.
We may say that the realization of language use involves two kinds of ability. One is the ability to select which form of sentence is appropriate for a particular linguistic context. The other is the ability to recognize which function is fulfilled by a sentence in a particular communicative situation. Both abilities are concerned with the understanding of pragmatic competence derived from Swain’s communicative competence.
The notion of “communicative competence” was first put forward by Hymes (1 972) in contrast to Chomsky’s linguistic competence. In the 1980s, Canale & Swain identified the four dimensions of communicative competence, namely, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence. The first dimension refers to the accurate usage of language; while the last three refer to the appropriate use of language, which can be categorized into the scope of pragmatic competence. To acquire the real communicative competence for language learners, in Hymes’ view, calls for not only the linguistic knowledge but the ability to use the language appropriately. Thus it is the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom. Because “grammatical error may reveal a speaker to be less than proficient language-user, pragmatic failure likewise reflects badly on him/her as a person” (Thomas, 1983: 96,97.) [4]
4. 2 Developing intercultural awareness
The realization of the necessity of the English cultural elements in EFL teaching should be followed by the awareness and the readiness to come up with solutions. It is very important for learners to develop intercultural awareness. Cultural awareness is the term used to describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally induced behavior on language use and communication. And my suggestions to develop intercultural awareness are as follows:
4. 2. 1 Intercultural course
To have a intercultural course is beneficia1. The various methods of teaching and learning can be adopted in the course but English cultural patterns should be introduced by the presentation by teachers or students. Some posters, pictures cuttings from magazines, railway timetables, and restaurant menus are also can be used to create a visual and tangible presence of the target culture. The emphasis on “authentic”, “real-life’’ materials in the environment is considered desirable to give learners and opportunity to develop strategies for understanding language as it is actually used by native speakers. The similarities and differences of the two cultures can be found out and reinforced by discussions in the class.
4. 2. 2 Films
Culture acquisition can’t be achieved merely through classroom teaching. The best way to learn a new language is to become immersed in that language, so it is most helpful to learn another culture by jumping right in This may not always be practical, however, for most students and teachers, radios, English songs, videos and films can be helpful to learn culture. In English films, there are a lot of social, political and popular culture contents, so it's easier for us to pick up idioms, slang, and to get familiar with verbal and non-verbal behavior. Films are most attractive to students and seeing films is the most effective way to observe non-verbal behaviors of the target culture.
4. 2. 3 Other aids
The major causes of the pragmatic failures are undoubtedly inadequate knowledge of, and insufficient exposure to, the target language as well as a lack of comparative studies of the two cultures. There are some other ways available to change the situation and increase intercultural awareness, besides the course teaching and films seeing. For instance, reading literature works is also a beneficial way to gather cultural information for they can provide readers with a view of the social situation of different times and of particular geographical regions of the target culture.
Conclusion
Since English is widely used in the fields of politics, commerce and culture, the fluent and appropriate use of English is highly demanded in addition to the good command of English skills in listening, reading, and writing. In order to avoid learners’ pragmatic failures, I shall propose the following aspects to adhere to in the process of English language teaching and learning.
Firstly, in agreement with Feez (1998), I shall propose the text-based language learning by means of authentic language data corpora (e.g. text data, audio-video materials).Text-based language learning places much emphasis on the context and cultural information. As Nattinger (1992) points out that teaching speaking means teaching conversation rather than teaching isolated pieces of phonics and syntax, and that conversation is discourse that is formed through social interaction. Conversations are joint productions, in which participants constantly take account of one another and adjust their speech to fit the contours of the social situation in which the conversation is taking place.转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
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