Study on Developing Chinese College EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Competence in Relation to Language Proficiency and Overseas Experience

Abstract

Pragmatic competence refers to both knowledge of the linguistic forms which realize particular illocution, and knowledge of the appropriate use of the linguistic forms in certain social contexts. It is an important part of the language proficiency construct. However, studies in China show that College English students' pragmatic competence is poor. Unlike second language learners, students learning English as a foreign language in China do not have many opportunities to be exposed to authentic language use. If they are not provided with sufficient pragmatic knowledge, they will have more difficulty in understanding and producing appropriate use in the target language. This paper focuses on the development of pragmatic competence and awareness on the part of college English learners in China. Overseas experience and language proficiency are treated as two main variables which may influence students' PC development. With some data collection from students in Shanghai Second Polytechnic University, findings shows that there are significant differences in the acquisition of pragmatic competence between students with overseas experience and students without overseas experience, yet no significant differences in the acquisition of pragmatic competence between students with high and low language proficiency.