1.5 Significance of the Study

Either pragmalinguistic failure or sociopragmatic failure can be caused by the low ILP competence. Thomas（1983）held the point that pragmalinguistic failure is resulted from the lack of language knowledge，while sociopragmatic failure is due to hostility and rudeness. In China，vocabulary，grammar and syntax were the focus of the national English examinations in the past（Liu，2007），but in recent years，the Ministry of Education in China has realized the importance of ILP competence of English，which was emphasized in College English Curriculum Requirements （The Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education，2007），and it pointed out that one of the objectives of college English education is to help students conduct cross-cultural communication appropriately and effectively.

However，the studies on ILP competence are still in their initial stage，and China is no exception（Li & Zou，2015）. Up to now，no comprehensive research in this area has been done. Most researchers concentrate on the reliability and validity of different kinds of testing methods with very limited domain in ILP knowledge（Hudson，2001a，2001b；Yamashita，1996a，1996b；Yoshitake，1997；Ahn，2005；Liu，2007；Rover，2010a，Duan，2012）. Thus，it is urgent to design reliable and valid measurements for a wider domain of ILP competence study. The present study aims to make some contribution in this field. It is hoped that both the teachers and learners will be benefited from the study and develop the ILP competence when learning English.

Examining the EFL learners’ ILP competence will be of great help in understanding their levels. The learners could recognize their problems on pragmatics in English，and then pay attention to them in the process of learning and in communication with native speakers. In addition，most English majors in China will go to English-related jobs after graduation（Zhu，2007；Zhang，2012），so realizing their weaknesses and improving their ILP ability will be helpful for their future careers since appropriate use of English is not emphasized in their English learning and most EFL learners and teachers tend to ignore its importance（Liu，2004；Ji & Jiang，2010）.

This study will also presumably bring some pedagogical enlightenment to English teachers and learners. EFL teachers are unwilling to teach pragmatics with a foreign language，and the major reason is that they do not have a valid and reliable ILP competence measurement，thus，they could not understand the EFL learners’ weaknesses in the knowledge of interlanguage pragmatics（Li & Zou，2015）. It is hoped that the results will serve as a guide for English teachers in their teaching. They may emphasize the ILP knowledge and help improve the EFL learners’ ILP competence in their classroom teaching. Furthermore，the present study also investigates the relationship between nationality，gender，and level of language proficiency with the ILP competence，the differences among the groups may help the teachers to emphasize different aspects for each group，and then treat the students distinctively to some extent. As a result，the teaching efficiency in interlanguage pragmatics can be improved.

In addition，the study may be helpful in designing the curriculum and syllabus. The findings of the present research may help the course designers in choosing teaching materials，designing exercises，selecting typical expressions and so on. Therefore，the study of ILP competence and the understanding of EFL learners’ ILP competence level are not only important and meaningful，but also necessary and urgent.