A Study On Pragmatic Failures Of Xiangshao Primary English Textbooks

With the development of our country,the communication with other countries is becoming more and more frequent.English,as the main international lingua-language,plays an extremely important role in intercultural communication,so there are countless Chinese learners who use English as a second language.However,in the actual communication,English learners in our country still have obstacles in communicating with native speakers,or communication is not satisfactory,then pragmatic failure inevitably occurs.This is due to people's long-term emphasis on mastering the grammar of English language in English teaching in order to cope with layers of examination and selection,and ignoring training the students' ability of oral expression and language using.On the other hand,because of the gap between students' exposed language materials or language using circumstances and the real English-speaking country communication situation,students can not get real language using environment experience.The primary English texts,as an important medium and carrier of English beginners in our country,whether the language materials have authenticity,and the students can get the real English communicative experience from the textbooks,or it can draw the teachers' attention to the training of students' pragmatic competence.This will have an important influence on the students' English learning and the language comprehensive using ability.The Compulsory Education Curriculum Standard Experimental English Textbook(Used from Grade Three to Grade Six in primary schools,in Hunan,and hereinafter referred to as "Xiangshao Edition")is published by Hunan Children Publishing House.There are all together eight volumes,mainly made up of dialogues.However,there are some pragmatic failures can be found in the dialogues.Based on the pragmatic failure theory of English linguist Jenny Thomas and Professor He Ziran's interpretation of pragmatic failure,this paper makes qualitative analysis of language materials in primary school English textbooks of Xiangshao edition.Firstly,the pragmatic failures in the textbooks have been found out and then divided into three categories:inappropriate,incompatible with English national habits,and lack of authenticity.Through the analysis of pragmatic failures in these textbooks,we found out the causes of pragmatic failure and also summarized the negative effects on the cultivation of students' pragmatic competence and teachers' grasping of the pragmatics from the language materials.Finally,some suggestions have been put forward.It is hoped that the study of pragmatic failure in Xiangshao edition English textbooks can provide some suggestions for textbook writers,and they can introduce the corresponding cultural background into the textbooks,compile authentic language materials from corpus,and also lead in the corresponding cultural contrasts between Chinese and western pragmatic principles,and cultivate the students to use English correctly and appropriately and improve the ability of language application.