1.4 Research Objectives and Research Questions

The main purpose of the present study is to investigate the EFL learners’ ILP competence in Guizhou Province，China. In detail，the research objectives of the present research are as follows.

（1）To investigate the English majors’ ILP competence levels in the aspects of conducting speech acts，understanding implicature and performing routines.

（2）To investigate whether the English majors’ ILP competences vary significantly according to nationality.

（3）To investigate whether the English majors’ ILP competences vary significantly according to gender.

（4）To investigate whether the English majors’ ILP competences vary significantly according to level of language proficiency.

Based on the research objectives，the following research questions are formulated.

（1）What are the ILP competence levels of English majors in the aspects of conducting speech acts，understanding implicature and performing routines？

（2）Do the English majors’ ILP competence levels vary significantly according to nationality？If they do，what are the patterns of variation？

（3）Do the English majors’ ILP competence levels vary significantly according to gender？If they do，what are the patterns of variation？

（4）Do the English majors’ ILP competence levels vary significantly according to level of language proficiency？If they do，what are the patterns of variation？