| When China speeds up its steps of reform and opening to the outside world, itseems that English learners in China have not prepared themselves for more and moreopportunities of direct communication with foreigners in this foreign language. Theywork hard but often fail in using English aPpropriately They feel puzzled, embarrassed,uneasy, and even shamed. Can we, English teachers, do something to help them?This thesis, based on schemata and cognitive theories, tries to demonstfate thatmultimedia computer can help English learners in China With improving pragmaticcompetence by simulating a real English com-municative environment. It consists ofeleven chaPters.ChaPter One is a brief introduction to pragmatics, and its interdisciplinary feature.Besides, pragmatic falure, as one of importam phenomenon in this field, is discussed inorder to find ollt its causes, along with the special causes fOr Chinese studenis.ChaPter TWo places emphasis on the relationship between pragmatic competenceand other competences, trying to clarify the concept of 'pragmatic competence'.Through comparative figures, the emphasis and make-uP of this competence is shown tobe someWhat different from the emphasis and make-uP of linguistic comPetence, ofcommunicative competence, or of intercultural communicative competence.Based on the thIee elemefits of pragmatic comPetence mefitioned in the previouschaPteT, ChaPter Tliree is to explore the factors that may influence pragmaticcomPetence. To find out the factors may help completely settle the Chinese Englishleamers' problem of unbalanced development of pragmatic competence and linguisticcomPetence. By analyzing each of the three elemellts, a conclusion is drawn that cultureseems to be the most impoYtant factor.Analyzing the pragmatic comPetence theoretica1ly alone is not enough to prove thatthe compaxatively low pragmatic competence on the pan of the English 1earners inChina results from their lack of cultural lmowledge. So, ChaPter fOur concentrates flrston the reality of English learning in China, including the social requirement, theleamers' motivation, and some teaching problems, and then discusses the currentsituation concerning the leamers' pragmatic competence in China.Now that culture is the fatally weak point in the leamers in China, how to teachcuIture as a fOreign language teacher becomes the main topic of ChaPter Five. Nomatter What methods or models we may come up with, we can be positive thatcombining language, culture and pragmatic competence is a good Way to achieve whativ we expect. Actually, what Byram and other language teachers have implemented in their teaching proves that it does work.Among the many methods in improving the learners' pragmatic competence, the method - 'direct experience' - distinguishes itself for naturally integrating culture, language and pragmatic competence together. Then, the model of simulating the real communicative environment is put forward in Chapter Six, advantage and theoretical basis of direct experience are illustrated. By showing many advantages of multimedia computers, the author claims that computer assisted language learning (CALL) is the best way to realize such a model.Then, Chapter Seven traces back the history of CALL and analyzes advantages, and further analyzes its advantages. By introducing the schemata theory and constructivism as theoretical basis, the feasibilities of CALL is fully justified.But the realization of this model depends on a co-action of software and hardware. In Chapter Eight, the two main areas are elaborated and the assessment of software is mentioned as well.Furthermore, in Chapter Nine, one important theory of designing CALL that learners should be taken into account is emphasized. Tools and methods for CALL designing are also studied.With step-by-step analysis, the problem of improving pragmatic competence by multimedia computer simulation proves feasible to be implemented. Thus, Chapter Ten starts wi... |
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