作者：唐琪
　　【Abstract】This essay studies the promotion of high school students’ pragmatic competence by watching English films in class. The purpose of the study is to find out the advantages of English film-teaching in cultivating students’ pragmatic competence. Questionnaire was used in 150 freshmen of Haikou High School. The result indicates that watching English films has a good effect on students’ pragmatic competence promotion.
　　【Key words】Pragmatic competence； English film； teaching
　　【作者簡介】唐琪，三亚理工职业学院。
　　1. Introduction
　　Pragmatic competence is becoming one of the most essential abilities in English learning. According to Chomsky，， pragmatic competence is a kind of ability to put language in the institutional setting of its use， connecting intentions and purposes with the linguistic meanings. However， in China， most English teaching practices pay lots of attention to linguistic competence and neglect the cultivation of pragmatic competence. Therefore， a great number of pragmatic failures have been made by English learners， especially high school students.
　　Film is a representative art which reflects the real situation of society and life in a specific culture （Hu Zhen， 2011， p.140）. Using English films as an important method of English teaching， teachers can create a semi-real English cultural atmosphere. Within it， students can pick up English pragmatic usages easily （Dong Songtao， 2007， p.181）. In other words， by watching English films， students are put in the relevant context and cultural background. It’s helpful for students to learn both linguistic forms and pragmatic usages. What’s more， watching English films can also arouse students’ interests in English learning. For those reasons， English film teaching is an effective way to promote English learners’ pragmatic competence.
　　2. Literature Review
　　2.1 Pragmatic Competence
　　Grammar is important for learners to make grammatically correct sentences， but the production and interpretation of sentences mostly depend on pragmatic competence. He Ziran （1997） gives us a definition of pragmatic competence from the perspective of communication process. He says that pragmatic competence is the ability to use language appropriately in practical communication， which focuses on two aspects： the ability to produce appropriate language and at the same time to interpret correctly what the speaker says according to the speech context.
　　2.2 Competence Failure