Abstract

Pragmatic failure is a long-standing phenomenon in verbal communication.It usually exists in various forms of communication and communicative activities in different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.Its history，first proposed as a language phenomenon，is short—only twenty-eight years from the time that British scholar Thomas introduced the concept in her master.s dissertation in 1982.Since then，scholars at home and abroad have paid much attention to pragmatic failure.Indeed，Chinese scholars have fallen over themselves in their research of the concept.

Pragmatic failure in verbal communication often causes misunderstanding.Although some incidents of pragmatic failure do not cause serious consequences，others do.Some of these consequences can be quite serious.Hence，scholars are seriously pursuing their studies of this concept.Pragmatic failure in verbal communication remains an important area of research.Such research is rare abroad.Furthermore，as far as we know，till today no scholar at home or abroad has used pragmatic failure as a Ph.D research topic.Thus，pragmatic failure is the subject of this dissertation.

The dissertation attempts to carry out a systematic research approach to provide an empiric study of the theory of pragmatic failure in verbal communication.The framework of the dissertation is made up of seven chapters.

Chapter 1，“Introduction，”explains the subject motivation and reason，the theoretical and practical significance，the research aim，and the scope，objectives，and methods.

Chapter 2，“Language Communication and Verbal Communication，”strongly explains the relation and differences between langue and parole，the debate of the right and wrong between langue and parole，the Saussurean perspective of langue and parole，modern scholars.view of langue and parole，the application of langue and parole in language teaching，and the question of whether the corresponding phrase of“verbal communication”is“语言交际”or“言语交际”in Chinese，etc.Through research we agree with such a view that语言和言语（langue and parole）is not simply different from a converse Chinese character.The relation between langue and parole is just like a tool and the use of a tool，like a society and an individual，like abstractness and concreteness，like a static state and a dynamic one.The world of language is“langue ＋ parole”.Verbal communication being translated into“言语交际”should be more corresponding and reasonable.

Chapter 3，“A Slight Summary of Pragmatics，”provides the important theoretical foundation of the dissertation.The chapter summarizes the development and definition of pragmatics.It then discusses two primary concepts of pragmatics：meaning and context.Lastly，it discusses the two interdisciplinary subjects of cross-cultural pragmatics and inter-pragmatics，which pragmatic failure belongs to.

Chapter 4，“A Comprehensive View of Pragmatic Failure，”contains key research points，presented in six sections：

Section 1 firstly reviews the conceptual emergence of“pragmatic failure”and its two corollaries：“pragmalinguistic failure”and“sociopragmatic failure.”Differing scholarly opinions regarding these terms are discussed.Secondly，this section introduces our research on pragmatic failure from the large-scale academic web sites at home and abroad.Our findings here：Throughout the world，much attention has been paid to the study of pragmatic failure.Although fewer scholars abroad have regarded pragmatic failure as a special study，Chinese scholars have been particularly active in their research.

Section 2，firstly，summarizes seventeen foreign-authored studies of pragmatic failure.Secondly，summarizes the three research stages of pragmatic failure in China and the 11 characteristics concerned pragmatic failure study（or call the success and disadvantages of the study）． Thirdly，discusses Thomas.four achievements and eight disadvantages in the research of pragmatic failure（see 4.2.3 ＆4.2.4）． Even so，we still think her contribution is in a leading position in this field.

Section 3 examines the definitions of pragmatic failure at home and abroad.We think pragmatic failure means committing errors by using grammatically correct sentences but unconsciously using inappropriate verbal or non-verbal act in cross-cultural communication.Such errors are a natural result of social，cognitive，ethnologic，cross-cultural，multi-level，and three-dimensional language phenomena.

Section 4 explores types of pragmatic failure at home and abroad.Targeting limitations in other studies，we propose a new type of“verbal communicative pragmatic failure”and“non-verbal communicative pragmatic failure”（also naming dichotomy）or“linguo-pragmatic failure，socio-pragmatic failure，psycho-pragmatic failure and paralinguo-pragmatic failure”（also naming quadripartition）.

Section 5 explains the similarities and differences among pragmatic failure，misunderstanding，error，misleading，mistake，ambiguity，pragmatic ambivalence，communicative failure and misinterpretation.

Section 6 explains the dialectic relation between pragmatic failure and pragmatic competence.

Chapter 5，“Empirical Research on Chinese EFL Learners.Verbal Communicative Pragmatic Failure，”is also the key research point in the project.Firstly，it introduces the research.s aim，method，scope，hypothesis，subjects，investigating approach，and types of questionnaire.Based on the questionnaire designed by HE Ziran and YAN Zhuang，we have launched a survey of Chinese EFL learners from Grade 1 to Grade 3 junior middle school，to Grade 3 senior middle school，to sophomore，to English Teachers.The statistical results are compared with HE Ziran and YAN Zhuang.s original data.

Next，we have displayed our findings in the statistical data and have tested the findings through the statistic software SPSS12.0.Meanwhile，we have shown our design，experiment and data analysis for the Simply-answered Questionnaire and explained the investigative results from the Simply-answered Questionnaire.

Lastly，we have made an interview for the results of two questionnaires in order to verify the result.s degree of accuracy.The research indicates that“among all levels of Chinese EFL learners，verbal communicative pragmatic failure is a general phenomenon；the rate of pragmatic failure is not low，as the average failure in the lowest group is 36.47％.”This result thoroughly supports our initial hypothesis.Simultaneously，the data test revealed three findings：（1）The rate of pragmatic failure of low-age EFL learners is usually higher than that of high-age learners，which has a statistical significance but not salient differences among them；（2）The rate of linguo-pragmatic failure is usually higher than that of socio-pragmatic failure，and（3）The rate of pragmatic failure with a single choice is much lower than that with a multiple choice.Furthermore，both（2）and（3）have not only a statistical significance but also salient differences.

Chapter 6，“Causes and Countermeasures of Verbal Communicative Pragmatic Failure，”is composed of two parts.We，first，present the eleven causes of pragmatic failure we found，then propose nine countermeasures.

Chapter 7，“The End，”describes the dissertation.s research features；it summarizes the achievements and disadvantages of the research on pragmatic failure at home and abroad.Lastly，it states the project.s limitations and expectations.

Although the dissertation orients the research toward Chinese EFL learners，the results and findings of the project are also helpful and relevant to other cultures and languages.

Key Words ：Chinese EFL learners；verbal communication；pragmatic failure；empirical research；causes and countermeasures.