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1、语用能力与英语教学Pragmatic Competence and English Teaching AbstractMore and more researchers in ESL/EFL acquisition are convinced that successful language acquisition involves not only linguistic accuracy, but also pragmatic fluency. To help second language learners master the pragmatic usages and enable th
2、em to carry on smooth communication with native speakers is gaining its importance. However, despite the abundant researches on grammar and linguistic accuracy, researches on pragmatic competence of Chinese EFL learners and classroom pragmatic teaching strategies have long been ignored in China. Thi
3、s paper aims at providing concrete teaching ideas to those who are unsure of how to incorporate these pragmatic forms into their regular instructional programs. First we dealt with teacher analysis of speech acts, then we come to cognitive awareness skills, next the receptive/integrative skills and
4、controlled productive skills, last, we come to a free, integrated practice.Key words: pragmatic competence; teaching strategies; pragmatic forms 摘 要英语教学学者相信只有将语言准确性与语用能力相结合的教学, 才能全面提升外语学习学生的沟通和交际能力。培养学生语言正确性, 并且使其在跨文化交际和语用能力上也能相对提升，进而具备与英语为母语的人士顺利沟通的能力与技巧，显得越来越重要。尽管国内关于语言准确性和语法教学的研究层出不穷，关于中国学生语用能力培养
5、和课堂语用教学的研究很少。本文旨在提供一种具体的教学思想来帮助那些不确定对如何培养语用能力模式并把其运用到日常具体的教学过程中的人。首先我们探讨的是教师讲解分析言语行为；其次是认知能力训练，再次接受型训练；然后是指导型产出训练；最后是自由、综合训练。关键词：语用能力; 教学策略; 语用模式Contents摘 要.iAbstract.iiI. Introduction1II. Teacher Analysis of the Speech Act.2III. Pragmatic Awareness and Competence Teaching.33.1 Cognitive Awareness S
6、kills.33.1.1 Presentation/Discussion Techniques.33.1.2 Student-Discovery Procedure.33.2 Receptive/Integrative Skills.43.2.1 Teacher-Generated Material43.2.2 Natural Data43.3 Controlled Productive Skills.53.3.1 Cloze-Type Exercise.63.3.2 Situation/Role Play. .63.4 Free, Integrated Practice10IV. Concl
7、usion.12Bibliography.13I. IntroductionIt is considered almost axiomatic that those who are acquiring a second language need to gain mastery over the pragmatic rules of the target language (Paulston, 1975; Canale &Swain, 1980). Linguistic accuracy in a second language is one important feature to be l
8、earned, but a person needs to achieve functional abilities in the second language as well. It is necessary to learn how to understand and create language that is appropriate to the situations in which one is functioning, employing the proper illocutionary patterns in accordance with the social cultu
9、ral parameters of the specific situation, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated in either the written or the oral language or have their message be misunderstood. Worse yet is the possibility of a total communication breakdown and the stereotypical l
10、abeling of the second language users as people who are insensitive, rude or inept (Thomas, 1983, 1984; Bardovi-Harling, Hartford, Mahan-Taylor, 1991). Although much research on pragmatics has appeared in the literature in the past few decades, little of it is addressed to classroom instructors who n
11、eed to devise and implement practical teaching strategies for there classrooms beyond a general caveat to somehow include those information in a teaching curriculum (Scarcella,1990; Bardove-Harling 1991; and Olshain & Cohen,1991). The mastery of correct forms of language does not guarantee appropria
12、te use of the language and the lack of pragmatic competence may result in pragmatic failure.This paper aims at providing a modal for teaching second language learners pragmatic competence, and providing concrete teaching ideas to those who are unsure of how to incorporate these pragmatic forms into
13、their regular instructional programs. This model requires instructors to adapt this framework to the specific conditions (teacher, student, and material) in each classroom. It is divided into five components: (1) teacher analysis of speech acts, (2) cognitive awareness skills, (3) receptive/integrat
14、ive skills, (4) controlled productive skills, and (5) free, integrated practice. II. Teacher Analysis of the Speech ActIn order to teach a speech act, the classroom instructor must first determine exactly what to be taught and under what circumstances. This means that the teacher must first identify
15、 the speech act and its specific manifestations. For example, if the lesson is focus on compliments in English, the instructor must first identify what linguistic forms are used for compliments. This information can be obtained from some scholarly articles or in some published textbooks. Teachers ca
16、n also engage in their own investigations (Bardovi-Harling, 1992).Then the teacher must relate this material to the specific class in which the lesson will be taught. Basic question should be asked;1. In what situations if any, will my students employ or encounter the pattern (at work, at home, at p
17、lay, etc.)?2. With whom will the pattern be used (native or nonnative speakers of English, friends, associates, acquaintances, teachers, bosses. etc.)?3. What is the social status of each speaker (equal, superior, inferior)?4. Are there other factors involved when the speech act will be used (age, g
18、ender, etc.)?5. What topics will be discussed when the speech act is used (clothing, work habits, personal behavior, etc.)?Because speech-act usage varies based on all of factors, teachers need to focus on these specifics to see if the material is accurate and meets the students needs. Without such
19、questioning, what is taught to students may be of dubious value if it does not represent real language use.One additional question is: How does the speech pattern manifest itself in the students native language (in both its linguistic forms and occasions for use)? As has been pointed out (Kasper & B
20、lum-Kulka) pragmatic usage differs across language, and it is important to see if there are differences between the first and second language. In English as a second language (ESL) situation, this may be difficult to accomplish owing to the multiplicity of native language among the students and/or t
21、he teachers unfamiliarity with the students native language. However, in an English as a foreign language (EFL) situation, where classes are more linguistically homogeneous and the teacher may be a native speaker or quite familiar with the students first language, the information may be useful in un
22、derstanding how the speech act may or may not cause difficulties for students. Further, it can help an instructor determine if it is important for students to learn the speech act at all, because they may not only be talking to similar nonnative speakers.III. Pragmatic Awareness and Competence Teach
23、ing3.1 Cognitive Awareness SkillsCognitive awareness activities are designed to make learners consciously aware of difference between the native and target language speech acts. The rationale for this approach is that such differences are often ignored by learners and go unnoticed unless they are di
24、rectly addressed (Schmidt, 1993.) The emphasis is usually placed on both the linguistic manifestations of the speech acts (i.e., the grammar) and the sociolinguistic features (i.e., the situation, the participants, the status of those involved, etc.). Two major techniques are commonly employed: pres
25、entation and discussion of research findings on speech acts, and a student-discovery procedure based on students obtaining information through observations, questionnaires, and interviews. 3.1.1 Presentation/Discussion Techniques Using presentation/discussion techniques, information from research on
26、 speech acts is presented to students so that they can study how speech acts manifest themselves in the second language (Bardovi-Harlig 1991). Generally, the works on speech acts are distilled, and the information is presented to students in manageable, understandable forms. When it is employed by t
27、eachers, teachers should provide detailed information on the participants, their status, the situations, and the speech events that are occurring, because merely presenting linguistic formulas without such background information can lead to overgeneralizations on how speech acts function in real lif
28、e situations. Now that the instructor has defined what needs to be taught, the information should be presented to the class. This stage involves presenting the materials to the students so that they develop an understanding of the pragmatic feature. The teacher should present naturally occurring exa
29、mples of the speech act. These models should be reprehensive of the situational, participant, status, and topic factors discussed earlier. The actual approach can be inductive (from data to rules) or deductive (rules to data); the explanation offered can be in English or in the students native langu
30、age. The important thing is that students to understand the linguistic components of the pattern and how they function in English so that they can use this knowledge in meaningful ways in the activities that follow.3.1.2 Student-Discovery ProcedureOne activity that can be used is to have students ob
31、tain their own data on the speech act. This helps to overcome the lack of published, available research findings in certain areas or the lack of accurate depictions of speech acts in available students texts. It can also provide realistic information on how speech acts function in the particular env
32、ironment where the students find themselves. Students can either be sent out to observe and record naturally occurring speech acts in actual speech situations or they can devise and administer questionnaires or conduct interviews to solicit more focused data. Native speakers can be observed or quest
33、ioned about there speech-act usage, if they are available. Alternatively, and more readily available in EFL situations, natural media (films, videotapes, radio broadcasts, or printed sources) can be presented for examples of the pragmatic feature being taught. The information obtained can be linked
34、to the materials made in the teachers presentation of the speech act.3.2 Receptive/Integrative SkillsThe third stage is to integrate the students cognitive knowledge with actual language use. These pragmatic skill developments are techniques that seek to have students recognize and understand one or
35、 more speech acts. These activities go beyond cognitive awareness techniques to how students formally the functions of speech acts and to provide them practice in understanding these features of language as they naturally occur. Again, two types of materials are common: teacher-generated material an
36、d natural data. 3.2.1 Teacher-Generated MaterialIn this activity, a textbook or the instructor first presents a discourse expert. Then the speech is pointed out to the students or students are asked to identify the speech act that is occurring. Attention is drawn to both the linguistic forms that ar
37、e employed and the sociolinguistic variables of the speech event (i.e. the physical environment; age, gender, and status of the participants; and the level of formality). Once this is done, similar examples of the speech act are presented until students are able to recognize the structural and socio
38、linguistic dimensions of the speech acts being studied. This begins by having the instructor ascertain if students can recognize the speech acts when they are presented within natural discourse, not in isolation. For example, simply to state that one way of apologizing is by saying “Im sorry” or “Ex
39、cuse me” does not capture the intricacy of when to apologize, to whom, to what extent. Learners should be asked both to identify the speech act within the discourse in terms of its linguistic features and to comment on the sociolinguistic environment that causes the speech act to occur. 3.2.2 Natura
40、l DataAlso, a teacher can obtain more natural and reliable data by employing audiocassettes and videocassettes or television (with a satiate hookup in EFL situations), with or without closed captioning. Sections from such media can be recorded and analyzed for their speech-act content (Lovejoy, 1981
41、). In addition, various snippets can be compared to see whether or not certain forms emerge and why the similarities or difference occur. For example, the students may hear the following, as part of studying how to disagree:Professor A: I think we should continue our study to see if additional facto
42、rs can be identified.Professor B: You may be right, but I think wed better recheck the statistics first.Students can be asked to identify who disagrees with whom, what features indicate that there is a disagreement, where the conversation is occurring, and what the participants social relationship i
43、s.Similarly, students can also be exposed to contrasting pieces of discourse and be asked to identify the factors that account for the differences in language behavior. By way of example, students can listen to another conversation and hear the following:Susan: I really think the concert was awesome
44、.Barbara: Well, I dont. I think we got ripped off.Here, students are asked to compare the two pieces of disagreement discourse not only in terms of linguistic differences, but also of the factors that may account for the differences in style directness and other features.These types of exposure are
45、necessary for two reasons. First, students often study speech patterns in isolation, but fail to recognize them when they occur within natural language because they surrounded by other linguistic features. Natural discourse often masks speech features, and second language students are not adept at i
46、dentifying features as they occur naturally. Second, students often believe and this may be partially the fault of teachers and textbooks that there is only one way for a speech act to appear and that this form works in all situations. Multiple exposures to many forms of the speech act are necessary
47、 to disabuse students of this assumption.3.3 Controlled Productive SkillsTo this point, students have been taught to recognize and understand pragmatic features in the language of others. It is now time to activate that knowledge and refine production of the speech acts by those students who will be in situations where active, productive use is necessary. To ensure success, instructors should provide some guided practice to aid students in this task. 3.3.1 Cloze-Type ExerciseOne activity is based on a clo
