Language instruction at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC), as it does at colleges and universities, focuses on developing linguistic competence. There is no textbook or teaching materials that explicitly and systematically teach students the pragmatic knowledge of the target language. Such knowledge is either introduced by teachers sporadically or learned by students themselves. The current study reports the reality of the Chinese students' interlanguage pragmatic competence by administering a survey questionnaire with 50 situational scenarios that measure interlanguage pragmatic competence (ILP) on Requests, Apologies, Refusals, Compliments, Thanksgivings, Conversational Implicatures, and Formulaic Routines. The survey results demonstrate the students' current level of the pragmatic competence in Chinese language and culture and provide formation for future curriculum revision and material development. The study also explores possible and effective approaches to teaching culture and pragmatics in classrooms at the DLIFLC.