70 / 2021-06-24 21:09:33

Investigating Pragmatic Ability Of English Majors --- Based on China's Standard of English Language Ability

CSE, English pragmatic ability, descriptors, interview, Rasch model

This study aims to align the Chinese Year 4 English majors’pragmatic ability with the levels of China’s standards of English language Ability (CSE). The common strengths and weaknesses of students and the reasons behind them are also investigated.

  To serve this research purpose, this study used a quantitative method. It was supplemented by the qualitative approach to delve into the reason behind it and provide more information for the interpretation of the quantitative results. After examining the CSE descriptors of pragmatic ability, 165 descriptors were adopted in the construction of questionnaires for the collection of quantitative data. The equating of these four questionnaires used nine anchor items. Anchored by these nine items, four questionnaires were constructed with 48 items in each questionnaire. Altogether two hundred and thirteen valid data was collected through a questionnaire survey. The quantitative data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using Rasch model software FACETS. The item difficulties of 165 items were obtained after the equating. Moreover, the common strengths and weaknesses of Chinese English major students were also investigated. Eight students were invited to participate in the interview. The interviews of the students helped to explain the results of the quantitative data and clarified the possible ambiguous items.

 The students’ pragmatic ability varies greatly and covers a wide range of CSE levels. The proportion of Year 4 students whose pragmatic ability is at the intermediate stage or above is 84%, and level 6 boasts more people than other levels for Grade 4. However, their pragmatic ability develops unevenly, with most students finding it more challenging to express intentions in speaking and writing than interpret the speaker’s or writer’s intentions.