A Study on Chinese College Students' English Pragmatic Competence

With the development of science and technology, cross-cultural communication becomes more and more important. Effect and efficiency of communications are dependent not only on linguistic competence, but also on pragmatic competence, namely, the non-native speaker's ability to use the language appropriately in different situations. However, under the great influence of traditional English teaching model and examination-oriented education, English pragmatic competence has been almost neglected in Chinese college English class. Therefore, Chinese college students' English pragmatic competence is to be explored. This research has been accomplished at one university in Xi'an. 100 college students were chosen as subjects of the research. Quantitative and qualitative research methods were applied to analyze Chinese students' English pragmatic competence. On the basis of the research results of the English pragmatic competence test and the questionnaires, some approaches are proposed to develop Chinese college students' English pragmatic competence.