Theories Of Second Language Pragmatic Development And The Applications In English Teaching

The present study examines nonnative speakers' pragmatic development from interlanguage pragmatics perspective. Interlanguage pragmatics researchers have been studying nonnative speakers' pragmatic competence for nearly two decades. But most of the researches focus mainly nonnative speakers' comprehension and production of target language pragmatic competence as well as their interaction in different settings. Pragmatics of nonnative speakers hasn't predominantly been studied from developmental perspective. Interlanguage pragmatics is the subfield of cross-cultural pragmatics and second language acquisition. Interlanguage pragmatics domains can be mainly classified into two sections. The first section concerns with the study of second language use, which examines how nonnative speakers comprehend and produce communicative actions in a target language. The second section focuses on second language pragmatic learning, which investigates how second language learners develop the ability to understand and perform action in a target language. The study on the development of non-native speakers' pragmatic competence draws many researchers' attention in recent years. Therefore, the thesis will discuss the second language pragmatic development from interlanguage pragmatics perspective.This thesis consists of six parts, including the introduction and the conclusion.In the introduction, we discuss the definition and domains of interlanguage pragmatics. At the same time, we also scrutinize the main methodological approaches for examining how second language pragmatics is acquired. The research methods include theoretical interpretation and contrastive analysis. Various data collection methods will also be discussed in the introduction.Chapter II distinguishes the concepts on communicative competence, pragmatic competence as well as the relationship between pragmatic competence and grammatical competence. Different aspects of pragmatic competence and factors in determining pragmatic competence are also discussed in the chapter. Pragmatic competence and grammatical competence are part of communicative competence. Grammatical competence may be a necessary condition for pragmatic development, but it may not be a sufficient condition for pragmatic development. Pragmatic competence entails various abilities in the use and interpretation of language in communication context. It includes the ability to perform speech acts; the ability to convey and interpret non-literal meaning; the ability to perform politeness functions; the ability to perform discourse functions; and the ability to use cultural knowledge. Apart from the aspects of the pragmatic competence, different factors in determining second language pragmatic competence are also discussed. The factors consist of availability of input, influence of instruction, first language pragmatic transfer, and individual's biological and psychological factors.Chapter III is the body part of the thesis, which discusses several theories that have been and could be fruitfully engaged to account for second language pragmatic development. The theories include intra-psychological orientation (the acculturation model, noticing hypothesis and two dimensional-model) and approaches that conceptualize second language learning as social practice (zone of proximal development and language socialization).The acculturation model emphasizes the environmental and affective factors in the acculturation process. Individual's social and psychological factors play important roles in second language pragmatic development. Low social distance and psychological distance are positive to high acculturation and second language pragmatic development.In cognitive processing, Schmidt's noticing hypothesis and Bialystok's two-dimensional model emphasis the role of metapragmatic awareness in learners' pragmatic development. Noticing is a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition for learners' pragmatic development. Noticing hypothesis and two-dimensional model address different...