Cultivating Pragmatic Competence of EFL Education in China From Sociolinguistic Perspective

Niyan Zhang

【Abstract】This paper focuses on cultivating Pragmatic Competence of EFL education in China. First it discusses the nature of EFL education in China， then defines basic two terms： Pragmatic Competence （PC） and Pragmatic Consciousness-Raising （PCR）. Thirdly proposes a model on teaching pragmatic competence in Chinas EFL context which aims to cultivate EFL learners PC. Lastly it draws a brief conclusion on pedagogical implications in Chinas EFL educational context.

【Key words】Pragmatic Competence （PC）; Pragmatic Consciousness-Raising （PCR）; a Model on teaching PC; Pedagogical Implications

【作者簡介】Niyan Zhang， Department of Foreign Language Teaching， Guilin Tourism University.

1. INTRODUCTION

It is now broadly accepted in most parts of the world that learning a foreign language is not simply mastering an object of academic study but is more appropriately focused on learning a means of communication （Paulston 1975）. Actually， foreign language learning is regarded as a process of pragmatic competence development. The goal of foreign language teaching is more than knowing the appropriate syntax and lexicon， it is also a matter of pragmatic competence.

2. The NATURE OF EFL EDUCATION IN CHINA

EFL education now in China， based on the theories of intercultural communicative competence， focuses not only on the teaching of 4 skills， also on the teaching of English cultures. Acculturation is at the core of foreign language teaching which aims at improving the learners pragmatic competence.

Foreign language education is a process of intercultural communication. If the EFL teachers in China do not pay much attention to the English language cultures and lack of awareness of the learners mother-tongue transfer， but just focus on the pure linguistic structures of English with teaching the learners the 4 skills， usually the language learners will just become “masters of language structure” or grammarians rather than “masters of language use or active language users.

Considering both advantages and disadvantages of EFL education in China， the EFL settings do present certain challenges in cultivating pragmatic competence development. Such challenges require cultivating pragmatic competence in situations where learners have little or no opportunity to interact with native speakers which is perhaps the biggest obstacle in teaching EFL in China.

3. PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE AND PCR

Pragmatic competence： Leech （1983， p 10-11） points out that there are two elements of pragmatic competence： Pragma-linguistics and socio-pragmatics. Pragma-linguistics is related to grammar and is concerned with “the particular resources which a given language provides for conveying particular illocutions.” Socio-pragmatics， on the other hand， is related more to sociology， and is what Leech has called the “sociological interface of pragmatics”.

Pragmatic consciousness-raising （PCR）： proposed by Sharwood-Smith （1981）， it is basically an inductive approach to developing awareness of how language forms are used appropriately in context. The aim is not to teach explicitly the various means of performing a given speech act （eg， request， apology， compliment， etc）， but， to explore learners to the pragmatic aspects of languages and provide them with the analytical tools they need to arrive at their own generalizations concerning contextually appropriate language use.

4. A MODEL ON HOW TO TEACH PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE IN EFL CONTEXT

PCR aiming at developing language learners awareness of pragmatic competence in foreign language use is useful in teaching EFL in China. Then the question comes to how to teach pragmatic competence in EFL classroom？ There is a model proposed by Scarcella （1990） for teaching foreign language learners pragmatic competence. This model is divided into five components： （1） Teacher analysis of speech acts. （2） Cognitive awareness skills. （3） Receptive/integrative skills. （4） Controlled productive skills. （5） Free， integrated practice.

Above， this model used for the teaching of sociolinguistic and pragmatic skills offers practical suggestions on how to cultivate pragmatic competence of EFL education in China.

5. PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE OF EFL EDUCATION IN CHINA

In China， English as a foreign language， teaching pragmatic competence of English should be added into the teaching curriculum and syllabus. Here are some pedagogical suggestions which language teachers can follow by to cultivate their foreign language learners pragmatic competence.

5.1 Verbal Communications

The target of verbal communications is using English appropriately， main issue of pragmatic competence. So， when language teachers give introductions， they should not only introduce the general structures and rules of English sentences， also let learners grasp the sociocultural rules and habits of the English uses to help them interact successfully.

5.2 Grammar Teaching

The goal of teaching grammars is to improve language learners abilities of using English. Take teaching the English tense for example， English tense is a grammar category that doesnt express equally in Chinese. Thus， it is far from enough if language teachers only present the English tenses to their language learners without telling them each tense do have some different illocutions and presuppositions. If language teachers could combine the pragmatic properties into the tense teaching， language learners could probably improve their language proficiency and use it appropriately， achieve the target of grammar teaching efficiently.

5.3 Vocabulary/Lexicon Teaching

Language teachers should pay great attention to the word meanings， collaborations and the structures of combining into whole sentences. Using situational teaching method perhaps can get effective results on learning. Experiences prove that combining teaching vocabulary with pragmatic principles would improve language learners grasp the vocabulary and use it appropriately in various situations.

5.4 Other ways of cultivating Pragmatic Competence of the language learners

Besides classroom formal instructions on introducing and integrating the pragmatic principles to language learners， language teachers can use other approaches to cultivate learners pragmatic competence， such as watching films， videos， reading modern literature works， making full use of native English speakers， etc. Also， language teachers can make some lectures on introducing English cultures and customs and make some relevant contrastive studies between Chinese and English cultures to improve their language learners pragmatic competence in real cross-cultural communications.

6. CONCLUSION

Language teachers need to be experts of cross-cultural communications， and pragmatic consciousness-raising approaches such as the model of teaching pragmatic competence presented previously and language teachers should apply the model into various kinds of teaching classes， including grammar or vocabulary teaching， etc. Giving language learners some pragmatic awareness and knowledge， in spite of the limitations of classroom teaching， we can effectively cultivate and develop the pragmatic competence of EFL contexts in China. Thus， we can conclude that such EFL education is efficient in and out of China.

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