Discussing the Enlightenment of Pragmatic Mistakes on Middle School English Teaching

Language is the carrier of culture and the main expression of culture. In cross-cultural communication, it is not uncommon to misunderstand information and even harm the other party due to cultural barriers. Therefore, studying cultural differences and correct cross-cultural communication behaviors has become an important part of English teaching. The "Curriculum Standards" propose: In teaching, efforts should be made to enable students to understand foreign cultures, especially the cultures of English-speaking countries, in the process of learning English; to help them improve their ability to understand and appropriately use English, continuously expand their cultural horizons, and deepen their understanding of their own national culture. understanding and develop the awareness and ability of cross-cultural communication.

However, for a long time, the relationship between language and culture has not received enough attention in middle school English teaching. Students spend most of their time memorizing words and doing exercises, and rarely use their spare time to read books on British and American cultural background knowledge. It seems that as long as they practice listening, speaking, reading and writing, they can understand English and communicate in English. . In fact, due to lack of understanding of the cultural background knowledge of language and the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, students often misunderstand and misuse semantics in English learning and communication in English. Therefore, from the perspective of pragmatics, this article analyzes in detail the reasons why students make pragmatic errors in cross-cultural communication, and further explores specific measures to cultivate students' pragmatic abilities in English teaching.

1. Pragmatic Failure Theory

The concept of "pragmatic failure" was proposed by the British linguist Thomas in the early 1980s. In the process, the expected communication purpose cannot be achieved due to various problems such as wrong expressions, wrong ways of thinking, different values, not looking at the time and place when speaking, wrong social relevance of terms, etc.

In verbal communication, the speakers’ pronunciation, word usage, and structural errors are all superficial errors, and at most they are considered as “speaking badly”. But if the utterance is not processed according to the principles of English pragmatics, he is considered to be "behaving badly". Thomas believes that pragmatic failure is an important root cause of cross-cultural communication barriers, and divides pragmatic failures in cross-cultural communication into pragmallinguistic failure and sociopramatic failure.

1． Pragmatic errors caused by language

Pragmatic errors mean that what people say does not conform to the habits of their own people, they misuse structures or other expressions that are different from their native language, or they do not understand the correct expressions in English. method, and applying it to English according to the language habits of the mother tongue, mainly manifested in three aspects:

I. Misuse of English expressions. For example:

A: Thanks a lot. That’s a great help. B: Never mind. In fact, never mind is often used in situations where one party expresses an apology but the other party does not mind. It is a cliché. What B wanted to express was "it's okay", but "you're welcome" but he misused "never mind", resulting in a language pragmatic error.

II. Directly apply Chinese semantics or structures to English because they do not understand English expressions. For example: A: How did your father spend his birthday? B: He was a busybody, and he kept working. Here B obviously does not know the meaning of busybody, and interprets busybody (nosy person) as its literal meaning of "busy person", resulting in a pragmatic error.

Ⅲ. The listener misunderstood the "implication" that the speaker wanted to express or the "implication" in the speaker's words was not expressed clearly.

For example: A. How do you find it here? B. I came here by plane, of course. A wants to know what B thinks of this place, but B misunderstands how to get here.

2． Errors in social pragmatics

Errors in social pragmatics mainly refer to the differences in social norms between the two parties due to different cultural backgrounds, resulting in phrasing errors. It is related to factors such as the identity of both parties, the context of the conversation, and the familiarity of the topic. Usually divided into the following categories:

I. Social pragmatic errors caused by differences in greetings and titles: Chinese people generally use the other person’s situation or movements as the starting point for thinking when greeting. For example: "Where are you going?" "Are you going shopping?" Westerners often think that these are purely personal matters and cannot be asked casually.

Chinese students greet their teachers Hello, Teacher Wang. or Hello, Teacher John. The English and Chinese address systems are different. In English, you can only call the other person by name or use Sir/Madam or use Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms plus the last name. way of calling. Calling the teacher Teacher Wang is not consistent with English custom.

II. Differences in manners lead to errors in social pragmatics: People with different cultural backgrounds behave differently. In cross-cultural communication, it may lead to social pragmatic errors. For example, Professor Smith just gave a lecture, and Chinese students praised him: Dr. Smith, you've made a wonderful lecture! In the eyes of Westerners, academic reports must be realistic and will not be used to exaggerate with strong words such as wonderful. . Doing so will make the listener feel embarrassed and mistakenly think that the speaker is being sarcastic or sarcastic. The correct statement should be: I really appreciate your lecture, Dr. Smith.

Ⅲ. Differences in values ??lead to social pragmatic errors: Values ??are the core of culture and are members of a cultural group*** A system of values ??and norms to be followed. People with different cultural backgrounds may have conflicts of values ??during communication. For example: A. Your handwriting is very good, I really like it. B. No, not at all. My handwriting is poor. Obviously, B is trying to follow the principle of politeness or modesty here, but it makes A embarrassed. Chinese people often use self-deprecation to achieve the purpose of modesty, while English speakers express their politeness through praise.

The distinction between linguistic pragmatic errors and social pragmatic errors is not absolute. Due to different contexts, different intentions of communication between the two parties, etc., the pragmatic errors of the same sentence may be viewed from different angles. It is a linguistic pragmatic error, but from another perspective, it may also be a social pragmatic error. Therefore, you should be flexible when distinguishing between the two types of errors.

2. Reasons for students’ pragmatic errors

1. Mother tongue interference: Mother tongue has great interference on foreign language learning, and Chinese has especially great interference on English learners. It is not difficult to see that English learners can easily bring their mother tongue habits into the target language. This is often called the phenomenon of negative language transfer, that is, foreign language learners apply the language forms of their mother tongue when using the target language. In communication, students are accustomed to using their native language to explain the other party's words, resulting in pragmatic errors. For example, a student wiped the blackboard before class and the teacher said, “It’s very kind of you.” The student responded “It’s my duty to do so”. Students use Chinese speaking methods to answer, causing pragmatic errors. It feels like "you have to do it", and the correct answer should be: "My pleasure" or "You are welcome".

2. Poverty of cultural background knowledge: There are many idioms, allusions and myths in English, which contain rich cultural background knowledge. Some students lack understanding of this knowledge, and often misunderstandings occur during communication, resulting in pragmatic errors. Please look at the following conversation:

A: How do you know the information?

B: A little bird told me.

A: Do you have a parrot?

The "a little bird told me" here is a sentence in the Bible, a metaphor: Someone told me privately, and the news spread like wildfire. The student didn't know the metaphorical meaning of this famous sentence, so he asked the teacher if he had a parrot.

3. Lack of context awareness: The same language has different connotations in different contexts, but our English learners often ignore the context when speaking and judge based on literal meaning alone. Therefore, Pragmatic errors often occur. In English, the same words exist more or less in different languages. However, what we need to pay attention to is the different cultural backgrounds, of course is a typical example. In many cases, it means "of course" and is equivalent to Yes, indeed. or Certainly. However, it does not mean the same thing in every case. For example A: Could you tell me the way to the library? B: Of course. After hearing this, A will feel that the question he asked seems stupid. BThe correct answer should be With Pleasure. etc.

3. The implications of pragmatic errors in cross-cultural communication for English teaching

The purpose of foreign language teaching is to cultivate learners’ communicative abilities so that they can communicate with target pragmatic speakers. . If learners do not abide by the language habits and pragmatic principles of the target language and do not understand the cultural background of the language, pragmatic errors will occur in cross-cultural communication, leading to misunderstandings and failing to achieve the purpose of real communication. Therefore, language teaching and cultural background knowledge teaching should be closely integrated.

First of all, integrate cultural differences into the teaching of language knowledge to make students aware of these cultural differences as a whole. Through the comparison of mother tongue and target language, students can better acquire intercultural communication skills. There are significant differences between Chinese and Western cultures. Only through constant comparison of cultural differences can students' cross-cultural communication abilities be improved. Special reminders are given for situations that are easily misused, and correct forms are taught. Common pragmatic errors include: Drink plenty of water when seeing a patient (compare: I hope you get better soon), Go slowly when seeing off guests (compare: See you later), etc. Only through repeated comparisons can students' cultural sensitivity be enhanced and the purpose of accurate use of language be achieved.

Secondly, improve the teaching content and focus on cultivating students' stylistic awareness. In real communication, the choice of language form is governed by the situation and occasion in which the language is used. Therefore, in teaching, we should focus on cultivating students' stylistic awareness and introduce to students the different requirements for stylistic forms in different situations. In vocabulary teaching, we should pay attention to reminding students of the cultural connotations of vocabulary. For example, in Chinese, to describe a person who has a "stubborn temper and refuses to change his mind easily," he is said to be "as stubborn as a cow." However, in English, "mule" is used as a metaphor, which is as stubborn as a mule. For example, the word "dog" has the same meaning in Chinese and English. However, Chinese people often use derogatory idioms such as "a dog relies on human power" and "a dog's eyes look at people". In English, the word "a lucky dog" means "lucky dog". However, idioms such as "love me, love my dog." (love house and bird) indicate the value of "dog" in English-speaking countries.

Finally, we need to create a language environment and create a student-centered classroom communication scene.

The scope of social pragmatics includes the principles and rules of language use in various specific contexts. Different contexts have different language forms. Only when certain words are used in certain social situations can they be appropriate. Teachers should make use of all available conditions to make the classroom a place for students to practice language, so that the development of language ability and pragmatic ability can be closely integrated. For example, student-led exercises can be added to the classroom, such as debate, role play, etc. This kind of scene teaching enables students to encounter similar contexts in life and be able to deal with them calmly.

(Author’s unit: Zhanggang Middle School, Runan County, Zhumadian City, Henan Province)