Based on Chen Xiren’s (2009) framework of pragmatic competence, this study compares natural conversational data between Chinese EFL learners and American native speakers to investigate the relationship between pragmatic disfluency and L2 pragmatic competence. The findings reveal that learners tend to rely more on non-lexical fillers, while native speakers employ a wider range of pragmatic markers with richer functions. A nonlinear relationship exists between pragmatic disfluency and pragmatic competence: overuse may reflect cognitive load in retrieving pragmatic knowledge, whereas strategic use demonstrates emerging interactional management skills. While learners’ performance in interpersonal interaction approaches that of native speakers, their ability in information regulation and adaptation to complex contexts remains underdeveloped. Pedagogy should combine formulaic training with authentic interactive tasks to facilitate a transition from form-focused to context-adaptive competence.