Pakistani University Students’ Perception Regarding Pragmatics

Abstract

Pragmatics competence plays a vital role in enhancing communicative competence. The present study is an endeavor to evaluate the current competence, knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and strategies used in the teaching and learning of pragmatics in Pakistan at university level. A questionnaire used by Yuan (2012) was used to collect data from 30 first year university students majoring in English. For the statistical analysis of the data, statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) program (version 20) was used. The participants believed that vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar learning are important for English language learning but it was noted that Pakistani first year university learners have limited pragmatic knowledge. The findings proved that the learners have different opinions about the pragmatic competence and its development in learners at university level. The knowledge about these perceptions can help teachers, administrators, supervisors and language planners in developing syllabus and teaching/learning activities for English language learners at university level in Pakistan.