Cross-Cultural Pragmatics and EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Competence: A Review of Speech Acts, Politeness Strategies, and Pragmatic Transfer

Abstract

Pragmatic competence is an important aspect of successful communication in English. Successful communication is not only about knowing grammar and vocabulary, but also about being able to use language appropriately in social and cultural contexts. Cross-cultural pragmatics is of particular importance when people of different cultures interact. Different cultures may have different styles of requesting, refusing, apologizing, politeness, and different levels of directness. This paper reviews the literature on the cross-cultural pragmatic differences in English communication, and their implications for English learners as a foreign language. It also reviews a number of previous studies which have dealt with pragmatic competence. The paper deals with the transfer of pragmatic patterns (speech acts and politeness strategies) from the first language, especially in the contexts of requests and refusals. It accounts for the learners’ difficulties arising from the discrepancies between the pragmatic norms of their first language and those of English communication situations. But it does not reduce other societies and cultures to a monolithic cultural pattern, but rather recognizes the diversity in them. In addition, the review points out the need to develop pragmatic competence and awareness of cultural differences in teaching English, advocating for explicit instruction in pragmatics, use of authentic materials and situation-based communicative activities. The article ends with a discussion of research gaps and directions for future research in pragmatics. Cross-cultural dimensions of English learners.