ABSTRACT
This paper first explores the significance of listening in college English listening tests according to the practical situation of college English learning and has a simple analysis about the reason why students have listening failure. It then elaborates some theories of pragmatic inference which are related with college English listening tests: pragmatic presupposition, conversational implicature, indirect speech act theory, relevance theory. After that depending on the actuality of college English listening tests，a study based on the latest 10 years’ questions of CET6 is conducted and discussion is about the relationships between college English listening tests and pragmatic inference. Meanwhile it elaborates the practical use of pragmatic inference in college English listening tests. In the end, some suggestions are provided from the perspective of pragmatic inference.
Keywords：listening；pragmatic inference；college English listening tests
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Listening comprehension 2
2.1 Nature and processes of listening 2
2.2 Causes of the deficiency of listening comprehension 3
3. Literature review of pragmatic inference 5
3.1 Definition of pragmatic inference 5
3.2 Present theories of pragmatic inference 5
4. Underlying theories of pragmatic inference 7
4.1 Pragmatic presupposition 7
4.2 Conversational implicature 7
4.3 Indirect speech act theory 8
4.4 Relevance theory 8
5. Pragmatic inference in college listening tests 10
5.1 Pragmatic presupposition in listening comprehension 10
5.2 Conversational implicatures in listening comprehension 11
5.3 Indirect Speech Acts in listening comprehension 12
5.4 Relevance Theory in listening comprehension 13
6. Conclusion 15
Acknowledgements 16
References 17
