A Study of Strategies for English Pragmatic Teaching in Senior High School under Core Competency

Pragmatic competence is an indispensable element of communicative competence, which is also one goal of core competencies. The introduction of the concept of core competency in General Senior High School English Curriculum Standards puts more emphasis on cultivating students’ pragmatic competence and on teachers’ input of pragmatic knowledge in English teaching. This paper begins with clarifying the theories of pragmatic competence and pragmatic failure by referring to other linguists’ explanations. Then, it briefly discusses the importance of pragmatic teaching in senior high school English classrooms. Finally, this paper proposes some feasible teaching strategies to promote high school students’ pragmatic competence.