The Causes of Pragmatic Failure from the Perspective of Bilingualism and its Implications for Foreign Language Teaching

Shaoxia Liu,강문구 사단법인 미래융합기술연구학회 2021 아시아태평양융합연구교류논문지 Vol.7 No.1

Pragmatics theory began to be studied and developed in China in the 1980s and 1990s. Among the various branches and concepts of pragmatics, pragmatic failure is an important aspect that cannot be ignored. In recent decades, there has been a variety of developments in the field of pragmatics. Many studies use the method of contrastive analysis to summarize the types of failures in communication between English and Chinese users. In addition to linguistic pragmatic failures, there are also social pragmatic failures and even non-verbal pragmatic failures. Most of these types of failures focus on the fact that Chinese students are the initiators of pragmatic failures. However, with the development of internationalization and the emergence of “Chinese fever”, more and more Westerners will also produce pragmatic failures in the process of using Chinese, which will lead to the failure of communication as well. The first part of this paper analyzes the research background by using the method of literature analysis, pointing out the direction of pragmatic research in China, such as various discourse acts, adaptation theory, pragmatic failure in translation aspects. The second part uses the contrastive study method based on the phenomenon to compare the main causes of pragmatic failure. The causes are the differences in culture, thinking pattern and lacking pragmatic knowledge, teachers or other educators should pay attention to the emphasis and input of pragmatic awareness and pragmatic knowledge. In order to avoid pragmatic failure, the third part proves some strategies. The experimental method proves that pragmatic teaching is helpful to the improvement of pragmatic competence. English is a common language in the world, so the importance of English pragmatics has been well known by learners; however, with the increase in non-native learners of Chinese, in the bilingual environment, language learners should also pay more and more attention to the understanding of Chinese culture.

Cognitive Awareness of Pragmatic Failure Based on Modern Family

Hye Jeong Kim,Mi Jin Im 영상영어교육학회 2012 영상영어교육 (STEM journal) Vol.13 No.3

The goal of this study is to help learners to be consciously aware of pragmatic failure in a conversation and to suggest techniques to get over this. In daily life, we may frequently face pragmatic failure due to lack of cultural information, negative transfer from our first language, different beliefs and values, incorrect translation, and different shared knowledge. For language learners, pragmatic failure is very common in every kind of conversation. When we face pragmatic failure in a specific context, we need to recognize it, ask for clarification and ask directly about implied meaning to continue a conversation smoothly without being embarrassed. Studying dialogues in movies or sitcoms is a very effective way to help students learn about pragmatic failure, because they provide authentic contexts with abundant examples of pragmatic failure. This study analyzes some conversations of family members in the sitcom, Modern Family to look at how pragmatic failure occurs in a given context and how it affects a conversation. Beyond cognitive awareness of pragmatic failure, a teacher needs to teach their students some techniques or strategies to consciously overcome it.

Cognitive Awareness of Pragmatic Failure Based on Modern Family

김혜정,임미진 영상영어교육학회 2012 영상영어교육 (STEM journal) Vol.13 No.3

The goal of this study is to help learners to be consciously aware of pragmatic failure in a conversation and to suggest techniques to get over this. In daily life, we may frequently face pragmatic failure due to lack of cultural information, negative transfer from our first language, different beliefs and values, incorrect translation, and different shared knowledge. For language learners, pragmatic failure is very common in every kind of conversation. When we face pragmatic failure in a specific context, we need to recognize it, ask for clarification and ask directly about implied meaning to continue a conversation smoothly without being embarrassed. Studying dialogues in movies or sitcoms is a very effective way to help students learn about pragmatic failure, because they provide authentic contexts with abundant examples of pragmatic failure. This study analyzes some conversations of family members in the sitcom, Modern Family to look at how pragmatic failure occurs in a given context and how it affects a conversation. Beyond cognitive awareness of pragmatic failure, a teacher needs to teach their students some techniques or strategies to consciously overcome it.

비교문화적 관점에서 본 북한이탈주민의 사회화용적 실패 연구

김태연 한국언어문화교육학회 2017 언어와 문화 Vol.13 No.3

This study aims at looking into the aspect of sociopragmatic failure of North Korean defectors occurred from values and linguistic cultural differences seen from a Cross-cultural Pragmatic point of view in relation with communication problems between the two Koreans while the defectives have lived in South Korea. This method is an approach to the culture of South and North Korea from an culture specific point of view, and tries to focus on pragmatic matters shown at doing communication owing to mutually different cultural backgrounds. However, different cultural differences brought about shortage of pragmatic competence by which communication was possible so as to fit to the context and situation, and pragmatic failure occurred accordingly. Pragmatic failure means that the intended speech of North Korean defectors is delivered with other meaning or causes misunderstanding and unfavorable results to the counterpart due to the shortage of pragmatic competence on Korean language and linguistic usage knowledge in communication between the two Koreans. In particular, this research regards the speech-producing part which makes the two Koreans feel absurdness, rudeness, and ambiguity in mutual conversations as occurred part of pragmatic failure. This study intends to focus on the aspect of sociopragmatic failure that occurs from shortage of sociocultural competence on the target language. Therefore, this study reviews the aspect of sociopragmatic failure by objecting North Korean defectors, and mainly tries to consider direct speeches from indirectness among a subcategory of sociopragmatic failure reasons and appropriateness according to contexts.

화용론과 한국어 교육 : 한국어 교육에서의 화용 연구 동향 및 전망

이유미(Yi Yu-mi) 중앙어문학회 2010 語文論集 Vol.43 No.-

The purpose of this study is to generalize about pragmatic research in Korean language Education, and based on this result, we prospect the direction of development of pragmatic research in Korean language Education. The fields which we looked into the trend of study were a rhetoric expression and a communication level. First of all, we researched out proverbs, idiomatic expressions and other metaphors and similes in the 21 thesis fen' the rhetoric field To set up the category and suggest the list of education were the most in need of the subjects in both proverbs and idiomatic expressions. Only 2 theses are related to the education methods of metaphors and similes, so we felt the need to study. Second, when we look at the trend of pragmatic research in communications, the individual speech-act research is the most showed up thesis, Outstanding subjects of researches are apology and thanks, refusal and persuasion and request to demonstrate the suitability of individual speech-act. And, the most studied subject for pragmatic research in communications is an honorific language. This is a special situation in Korean language and become an object in order to he educated factors Apart from those studies, the research of the communication is a study of pragmatic failures. Even if only one thesis of pragmatic failures is identified in actual masters' theses, we find out a discussion of the method used in pragmatic failure and the necessity of pragmatic education through the simple theses. As a result, we learned that the study of pragmatic failure is an essential area in order to emphasize of the necessity of sociocultural education and to remove a disparate concept of cultural pragmatics for the foreign learner of Korean.

화용론적 관점에서 본 의문문 교육 연구 -한국어 교재에 나타난 의문문을 중심으로-

이준호 국제한국어교육학회 2008 한국어 교육 Vol.19 No.2

Pragmatic failure is a term that describes a failure to produce and to understand situationally appropriate language behavior. Pragmalinguistic failure is one of the categories of the pragmatic failure and it represents failures which is concerned with differences in the linguistic encoding of pragmatic meaning or force. Interrogative sentences are commonly used as a syntactic down-grader in oder to reduce such pragmalinguistic failures. This paper aims at analysing Korean language textbooks and suggesting alternative pedagogical approach to educate Korean language learners interrogative sentences as syntactic down-graders so that they can experience less pragmatic failures. The result of the textbook analysis shows that the current Korean language textbooks don’t contain and present much of various usages of interrogative sentences which are used to decrease the degree of enforcement and eventually avoid communicational breakdown. So the Korean language educators need to develop an alternative approach to teach interrogative sentences as syntactic down-graders. One of the approaches that this paper suggests is to apply the heuristic method because students can realize the difference between their utterance and the native Korean’s utterance through the heuristic study and that can help students have more motivation to use syntactic down-graders such as interrogative sentences.

模因论视域下的跨⽂化交际语⽤失误及对策研究

曲鳳榮(Gok Bongyon) 부경대학교 인문사회과학연구소 2021 인문사회과학연구 Vol.22 No.2

문화는 인간에게 매우 중요하다. 생물과 마찬가지로, 문화도 물려받을 수 있고, 퇴보할 수 있다. 밈은 유전자와 유사하게 문화적인 유산의 결합이다. 중국에서는 사회 실용주의 밈학 관련 연구가 처음 발표된 이후 밈학 및 언어학의 관련성에 대한 연구가 20년 가까이 진행돼 밈과 실용주의의 연관성이 주목받고 있다. 그러나, memetics과 교차 문화 실용주의의 관련성에 대한 연구는 더 적다. 사실, 문화간 소통에서는, 문화적 밈을 사용했고, 이것은 의사소통의 실패를 야기한다. 이러한 실패들은 때때로 언어학으로 설명하기가 어렵다. 따라서 본 논문은 밈학을 문화 간 실용주의와 결합하고, 밈의 전망에서 오는 실패에 대해, 한자의 다중 의미, 중국어 표현의 간접성, 정보 전달의 모호성, 문장 패턴의 실용적 기능의 전문성, 문맥의 한계에 주목하고, 다른 국적 내의 문화적 밈의 차이를 인식하며, 교차 문화 커뮤니케이션의 실패를 적절히 확장하기 위한 관용적 전략을 수행하는 것을 포함하는 전략을 제안한다. 밈의 용어와 개념은 1976년 옥스퍼드 동물학자 리처드 도킨스가 그의 저서 이기적인 유전자에서 처음 소개하였다. meme라는 용어의 뿌리는 gene이다. 일부 중국 학자들은 meme를 mimu觅母로 번역했다. 중국 학자 허지란은 이 이론의 기원, 유전자 진화와의 관계, 소리 근접성의 원리를 연구하기 위한 노력으로 밈 이라는 용어를 모이인模因 으로 번역했다. 그는 또한 언어의 원리에 대한 설명에 모이인 을 적용했다. 그 후 학자들은 모인(moyin)에 대해 체계적으로 연구해 왔고, 기억학인 모인(moyin) 이론을 발전시켰다. 중국에서는 기억학과 언어학의 관련성에 대한 연구가 20년 가까이 되었고, 주로 언어 온톨로지 연구와 언어 교육에 있다. 본 논문은 기억학과 문화 간 실용주의를 결합해, 기억학의 전망으로부터 중국-한 커뮤니케이션의 공통 유형과 실용적 실패 이유를 분석하고, 맥락 한계 전략을 제기하며, 중한 실용적 커뮤니케이션 연구에 새로운 전망을 제시하기를 희망하고 있다. Culture is crucially important for human beings. The same as creatures, culture can inherit and evolute as well. Meme, by analog with gene, is a cultural unite of inheritance. In China, since the first research which is regarding social-pragmatic memetics was published, the study on relevance of memetics and linguistics has reached near 20 years and most researchers are applying memetics on the research of language ontology and language teaching. Therefore, the connection between meme and pragmatics has been attracting increasing attention. However, there is less study on relevance of memetics and cross-cultural pragmatics. In fact, in cross-cultural communication, people from cultures with different backgrounds, although the positive thoughts are mutual, will always be affected by their own cultural memes, and this results in creating communicating failures. These failures are sometimes difficulty to explain by language ontology. Therefore, this paper combines memetics with cross-cultural pragmatics, explaining the relationship of language communication and meme transmission, describing characteristics of Chinese-Korean communication failures from the prospect of memetics, analyzing failure cases in terms of multi-meanings of Chinese words, indirectness of Chinese expression, blurriness of information transmission, specialties of pragmatical function of sentence patterns, proposing strategies, which include paying attention to the limitations of context, noticing differences of cultural memes within different nationalities, performing tolerant strategies to a proper extend on the failures of cross-cultural communication, for the purpose of reducing the amount of pragmatical failures.

고부 대화에 나타난 여성결혼이민자의 한국어 화용적 실패 양상 연구

김지현,전은주 한국화법학회 2021 화법연구 Vol.- No.54

The purpose of this study is to examine the aspects of Korean pragmatic failure of female married immigrants in the conversation between mothers-in law and daughters-in law. It also aims to suggest a Korean language education for female married immigrants through a survey of the appropriateness of Korean native speakers. The lack of pragmatic competence of female married immigrants leads to pragmatic failure in conversation between mothers-in law and daughters-in law, which can lead to conflict between them. Therefore, in order to improve the pragmatic competence of female married immigrants, it is necessary to conduct research about the aspects of Korean pragmatic failure of female married immigrants. This study redefined the term ‘pragmatic failure’ which has been discussed in existing Korean language education. It also, examined the aspects of Korean pragmatic failure of female married immigrants in the conversation between mothers-in law and daughters-in law in the televised program <EBS damunhwa gobuyeoljeon>. This study also conducted a survey on the recognition of appropriateness of Korean native speakers. Based on the results of the study, it suggests the direction of Korean language education so that female married immigrants can communicate with their mothers-in-law without being misunderstood.

미국인 한국어 학습자의 비언어 행위의 화용적 실패에 대한 한국인의 반응 연구

조성해 이중언어학회 2020 이중언어학 Vol.80 No.-

The purpose of this study is to investigate Korean native speakers’ acceptability on pragmatic failure of American Korean learners’ non-verbal behaviors. Korean’s pragmatic judgement on unmarked non-verbal behaviors in USA was examined. A survey of a total of 22 Korean native speakers was conducted. Each questionnaire item consisted of a 6-point Likert scale and an open-ended question, and the responses were analysed in SPSS 26.0 and Nvivo 12 Pro. The results indicate that Korean speakers’ pragmatic acceptability was varied in all 6 situations according to the difference of non-verbal behaviors, and also it was statistically significant. Unmarked non-verbal behaviors in USA were considered pragmatic failures by Korean native speakers, and it was more salient in the case of a factor of high social status or the high degree of face-threat in speech acts. As a whole, the pedagogic implication focusing on pragmatic failure-expected items in non-verbal behaviors was suggested, and the necessity of including cultural aspects in language education was discussed.

Pragmatic Failure in the EFL Context

Woo-hyun Jung 팬코리아영어교육학회(구 영남영어교육학회) 2011 영어교육연구 Vol.23 No.2

This study attempted to investigate how Korean EFL university learners employ the pragmatic marker please with special attention to a diverse range of pragmatic failures they commit. In order to attain this purpose, a large quantity of data was collected from 415 students via Discourse Completion Task. The results yielded six different types of pragmatic failures: (a) the use of please is not natural and thus should be relocated; (b) the use of please is not natural and thus should be replaced with another expression; (c) the use of please is not necessary and thus can be dropped; (d) the use of please is not acceptable and thus should be dropped; (e) the naturalness of please is hard to determine since it is conjoined with an inappropriate expression; and (f) the use of please is disharmonious with its adjacent expression. These categories covered diverse phenomena of pragmatic failures such as a word order problem, over-politeness, over-directness, rudeness, a mismatch between a pragmatic form and a pragmatic function, too much repetition, and odd and strange language, among others. These results ultimately demonstrate that the use of please does not always guarantee an appropriate manifestation of politeness. On the basis of these results, pedagogical implications are provided together with helpful suggestions.