Rakai Nafissa2026-01-182026-01-182014Baghzou Sabrinahttp://dspace.univ-khenchela.dz:4000/handle/123456789/9961ABSTRACT EFL learners face difficulties in understanding language in its context. This study attempts to investigate the reasons behind the poor pragmatic competence of first year master students and thus the poor communicative competence. We hypothesize that if pragmatics is given enough time to be taught and accompany theory with practice, learners will develop full pragmatic competence that will allow them to avoid blocks in communication. The subjects of our study are first year Master students as well as the teacher in charge of teaching the module of pragmatics in the department of English at Khenchela University. In this study, we opt for the descriptive method because of the time constraint. Data are collected by the means of a questionnaire and an interview. Data analysis permitted us to come out with the result that the insufficient time given to teaching pragmatics and the lack of practice inside and outside the classroom causes the poor pragmatic competence of the learners; in other words, not having full and complete knowledge of pragmatic aspects (implicative, speech acts, situational routines and cooperative principles) hinders learners from carrying successful interactions.enThesis