Pragmatic Failure in English-Medium Instruction at Nigerian Universities: A Study of Classroom Miscommunication in Ondo State

This study investigates instances of pragmatic failure in English-medium instruction at universities in Ondo State, South West Nigeria, focusing on miscommunication events arising from divergent pragmatic norms between lecturers and students. English-medium instruction in Nigerian tertiary education presupposes shared pragmatic competence that often does not exist, and the communicative consequences of this gap have not been empirically documented in the South West context. The study employs a qualitative discourse analysis methodology informed by Thomas's model of pragmatic failure and the framework of intercultural pragmatics. Data were collected through systematic classroom observation over an eight-week period across twelve undergraduate lecture and tutorial sessions at two universities in Akure and Ado-Ekiti, supplemented by stimulated recall interviews with six lecturers and twelve students. Observation data were coded for instances of pragmatic failure categorised as pragmalinguistic or sociopragmatic in nature. Findings reveal that sociopragmatic failure accounts for the majority of documented miscommunication events, arising primarily from student misinterpretation of indirect directives, hedged criticism, and ironic commentary deployed by lecturers. Pragmalinguistic failures are less frequent but more consequential, often resulting in task non-completion or grade penalties. The study contributes to the applied linguistics of higher education in Nigeria and recommends explicit pragmatic awareness training for both lecturers and students in university communication programmes. Keywords: pragmatic failure, English-medium instruction, classroom communication, Ondo State, intercultural pragmatics.