The concept of “pragmatic failure” was first introduced by Dr. Jenny Thomas, a senior linguist of Britain. The nature of pragmatic failures is an area where inappropriateness arises in cross-cultural communication.
In the cross-cultural communication, the appropriateness of a learner seems far more critical than grammatical correctness, that is, if a learner of English as foreign language makes grammatical errors may at most reveal himself to be a less proficient language user and native speakers make allowances for him, but if he makes pragmatic errors, he risks appearing impolite , unfriendly and even aggressive because it reflects on him badly as a person due to his inability to convey what is intended by what is used and what is meant by what is said.

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction 1
Part II Literature review 2
Part III Problems—Chinese students’ pragmatic failures 5
3.1 Pragmatic failure at pragmalinguistic level 5
3.2 Pragmatic failure at socio-pragmatic level 6
3.3 Pragmatic failure at psychological level 7
Part Ⅳ An analysis of pragmatic failures at different level 8
4.1 The reasons for pragmatic failure at pragmalinguistic level 8
4.1.1 The influence by the negative transference of mother tongue 8
4.1.2 Inadequate command of target language 9
4.1.3 Teaching –induced errors .9
4.2 The reasons for pragmatic failure at socio-pragmatic level 10
4.2.1 Lacking awareness of pragmatic knowledge 10
4.2.2 Culture difference 10
4.3 The reasons for pragmatic failure at psychological level 11
4.3.1 The influence by the nervous emotion 11
4.3.2 The influence by the psychological state of “saturate state” 11
4.3.3 The influence by the classroom discoursing patterns 11
Part Ⅴ Solutions for pragmatic failures at different levels 11
5.1 Solutions for pragmatic failure at pragmalinguistic level 11
5.1.1 Promoting more context-teaching 11
5.1.2 Receiving more authentic English 12
5.2 Solutions for pragmatic failure at socio-pragmatic level 12
5.2.1 Cultivating the pragmatic sense 12
5.2.2 Cultivating the sense of culture 13
5.3 Solutions for pragmatic failure at psychological level 13
5.3.1 Remove the emotion of nervousness 13
5.3.2 Keep a right attitude to classroom discoursing patterns 14
Conclusion 14
References 15