Rationale
Nowadays, the widespread use of the Internet has made it possible for people to update news anywhere and anytime through online newspapers Apparently, online newspaper is a crucial part of our life as it keeps us well-informed about what is happening around us within one click An enormous amount of news on daily newspapers provides us with the latest national and international events on a wide range of topics such as: business, sports, education, society, politics, culture, etc News not only helps to increase our knowledge but also serves as a source of entertainment With this in mind, the author has made an attempt to do research concerning with news, staying focus on online news due to the ubiquitous of the Internet
Additionally, as an English teacher at Vietnam University of Commerce, the author has many chances to approach business English and takes interest in teaching business English to students in general and English majors in particular In an effort to improve business English to students, the author has adopted authentic materials including business online news which proves to be very effective and convenient in class Besides, students are also encouraged to spend time reading business online news at home as it is very beneficial to them in many ways The most recognizable benefits involve the increased knowledge and extended vocabulary in business
However, there is a strong likelihood that students often encounter a lot of troubles in comprehending the news due to the complicated semantic relation between the lexical items in the text or numerous new words in the news Thus, understanding cohesive devices within a text gives students more insight into how writers organize what they want to say since lexical cohesion deals with meaning in text Halliday and Hasan (1976) claimed that “cohesive effect is achieved by the selection of vocabulary” To some extend, an acquisition of lexical cohesive devices will facilitate understanding of business news among students
Furthermore, the writer has the ambition to make a distinction of the lexical cohesive devices used in business news between English and Vietnamese online newspapers with the aim to figure out the similarities and differences of business news in both languages Thus, the study entitled “A contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers” was conducted to achieve this aim The findings of the study will hopefully lay a solid foundation to both teachers and learners in the mastery of business English news; more importantly, create background for translation between the two languages and consequently, enhance the teaching and learning of business English.
Aims of the study
- To figure out the types of lexical cohesive devices in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers
- To identify the frequency and roles of lexical cohesive devices that attribute to the success of business news in Vietnamese and English online newspaper
- To pinpoint the similarities and differences between lexical cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese online business news
3 The research questions of the study
In order to achieve the aforementioned aims, the study is intended to find out the answer to three following research questions:
1 What are the types of lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers?
2 How frequent are lexical cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese online business news and their corresponding roles?
3 What are the similarities and differences in the use of lexical cohesive devices between English and Vietnamese online business news?
Currently, online newspapers offer a large number of issues namely: Sport, Entertainment, Political, Technology, Health, Business, etc However, within the framework of this minor thesis, the author only has intention to focus on the use of lexical cohesive devices in online Business news
It is noted that the ubiquitous Internet has made it easier for readers to access to a wide range of online newspapers than ever before Multitude of newspapers in English consist of BBC, CNN, AP, AFP, CNBC, ABCNEWS, REUTERS, BLOOMBERGE, etc Likewise, newspapers in Vietnamese comprise a number of sites like VNEXPRESS, VNECONOMY, CAFEF, DANTRI, VIETNAMNET, THANHNIEN, TUOITRE, LAODONG, and the list goes on Due to countless sites with numerous articles released and updated every minute daily, the author merely desire to select business news from two prestigious agencies in English including BBC (www.bbc.com) and CNN (www.edition.cnn.com) and two business oriented websites in Vietnamese namely, VNECONOMY (www.vneconmy.vn) and CAFEF (www.cafef.vn)
As clearly stated above, the focus of the study work towards the similarities and differences of lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers
In the completion of the study, a variety of methods has been adopted, among which the main methods are qualitative and quantitative The data is taken from 30 business articles on both English and Vietnamese online newspapers (15 articles on English online newspapers and 15 articles on Vietnamese ones) to distinguish the similarities and differences This method involves three steps: first, identify common types of cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese online business news, then figure out the frequency of occurrence of such lexical cohesive devices and finally, compare and contrast to pinpoint how the two languages resemble and differ from each other Invariably, other techniques such as reference to materials, consultation with the supervisor, and personal observations also count
The study is composed of three main parts organized as follows:
Part 1 – INTRODUCTION specifies the background of the study which covers a wide range of information such as rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods, and design of the study
Part 2 – DEVELOPMENT is broken into three chapters
Chapter 1 provides an overview of literature on cohesion, lexical cohesion, online newspapers, news in general and business news in particular
Chapter 2 discusses the research method of the study
Chapter 3 deals with the findings and discussion of the study
Part 3 – CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues of the study, accompanied by limitations and suggestions for further study Additionally, some possible implications for language teaching, learning and translations when using business news as materials in classroom are presented
PART B - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Cohesion
Cohesion is involved with lexical, grammatical, and other relations which connect different parts of a text Halliday and Hasan (1976) hold the view that the primary factor of whether a set of sentences do or do not constitute a text depends on cohesive relationships within and between the sentences, which create texture
Halliday and Hasan (1976) stated that:
Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into the text (Halliday and Hassan 1976:4)
The concept of cohesion is thus a semantic one, and like all the components of semantic system cohesion is realized through grammar and vocabulary Cohesion can therefore be broken into grammatical and lexical cohesion Grammatical cohesion includes devices such as reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction, whereas lexical cohesion is divided into reiteration (repetition, synonymy, near synonym, and superordinate) and collocation (co-occurrence of lexical items) (Halliday and Hasan 1976)
In a word, cohesion refers to the linguistic constituents that make a discourse semantically coherent; or according to Hoa (2000: 23) “cohesion refers to the formal relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together”
It is common knowledge that the terms cohesion and coherence are frequently used in discourse analysis and text linguistics to describe the properties of written texts However, there is a clear distinction between these two terms as they differ from each other Cohesion can be lexical and grammatical links that connect one part of a discourse to another This involves the use of repetition, synonym, superordinate grammatical reference, collocation, etc For example, “first of all”, “then” and “finally” are used to create the sequence of a discourse
“However”, “moreover”, or “in addition” link ideas and arguments in a discourse
On the other hand, coherence refers to the unity created between the ideas, sentences, paragraphs and sections of a piece of writing It also gives the reader a sense of what to expect and, therefore, makes the reading easier to follow as the ideas appear to be presented in a natural way
In other words, cohesion is considered as glue that sticks together from sentence and sentence, and from paragraph and paragraph Meanwhile, coherence is concerned with sequences of ideas which relate to each other and it places much emphasis on meaning
As mentioned above, cohesion is divided into two types, namely grammatical cohesion (reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction), and lexical cohesion which include “reiteration” or “collocation” Reiteration is not only the repetition of the same lexical item but also the occurrence of a related item which may be a synonym, a near synonym or a superordinate (Halliday & Hasan, 1976:279), and collocation is achieved through the association of lexical items that regularly co-occur (Halliday & Hasan 1976:284)
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), cohesion is classified according to linguistic form Types of cohesion depends either on semantic relation in the linguistic system or on lexico-grammatical relations In other words, the cohesive relation can be interpreted as being either lexicogrammatical in nature or semantic
It can be illustrated clearly in the following description:
Nature of cohesive relation Types of cohesion Relatedness of form Substitution and ellipsis; lexical collocation Relatedness of reference Reference; lexical reiteration
Reference, substitution and ellipsis and conjunctions are four types of grammatical cohesion while lexical cohesion encompasses reiteration and collocation We can refer to grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion as follows:
(Halliday and Hasan, 1976; Benson et al, 1986)
Table 1.2: Grammatical and Lexical Cohesion 1.1.4 Lexical cohesion
Lexical cohesion refers to close relationships in meaning between lexical items in a text and, more precisely, content words and the relationship between them Apparently, cohesion occurs when the interpretation of some components in the discourse is dependent on that of another There are two main kinds of lexical cohesion which are reiteration (including repetition, synonym, near-synonym, superordinate) and collocation
Scope of the study
Currently, online newspapers offer a large number of issues namely: Sport, Entertainment, Political, Technology, Health, Business, etc However, within the framework of this minor thesis, the author only has intention to focus on the use of lexical cohesive devices in online Business news
It is noted that the ubiquitous Internet has made it easier for readers to access to a wide range of online newspapers than ever before Multitude of newspapers in English consist of BBC, CNN, AP, AFP, CNBC, ABCNEWS, REUTERS, BLOOMBERGE, etc Likewise, newspapers in Vietnamese comprise a number of sites like VNEXPRESS, VNECONOMY, CAFEF, DANTRI, VIETNAMNET, THANHNIEN, TUOITRE, LAODONG, and the list goes on Due to countless sites with numerous articles released and updated every minute daily, the author merely desire to select business news from two prestigious agencies in English including BBC (www.bbc.com) and CNN (www.edition.cnn.com) and two business oriented websites in Vietnamese namely, VNECONOMY (www.vneconmy.vn) and CAFEF (www.cafef.vn)
As clearly stated above, the focus of the study work towards the similarities and differences of lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers.
Methods of the study
In the completion of the study, a variety of methods has been adopted, among which the main methods are qualitative and quantitative The data is taken from 30 business articles on both English and Vietnamese online newspapers (15 articles on English online newspapers and 15 articles on Vietnamese ones) to distinguish the similarities and differences This method involves three steps: first, identify common types of cohesive devices used in English and Vietnamese online business news, then figure out the frequency of occurrence of such lexical cohesive devices and finally, compare and contrast to pinpoint how the two languages resemble and differ from each other Invariably, other techniques such as reference to materials, consultation with the supervisor, and personal observations also count.
Design of the study
The study is composed of three main parts organized as follows:
Part 1 – INTRODUCTION specifies the background of the study which covers a wide range of information such as rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods, and design of the study
Part 2 – DEVELOPMENT is broken into three chapters
Chapter 1 provides an overview of literature on cohesion, lexical cohesion, online newspapers, news in general and business news in particular
Chapter 2 discusses the research method of the study
Chapter 3 deals with the findings and discussion of the study
Part 3 – CONCLUSION summarizes the main issues of the study, accompanied by limitations and suggestions for further study Additionally, some possible implications for language teaching, learning and translations when using business news as materials in classroom are presented.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Cohesion
Cohesion is involved with lexical, grammatical, and other relations which connect different parts of a text Halliday and Hasan (1976) hold the view that the primary factor of whether a set of sentences do or do not constitute a text depends on cohesive relationships within and between the sentences, which create texture
Halliday and Hasan (1976) stated that:
Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into the text (Halliday and Hassan 1976:4)
The concept of cohesion is thus a semantic one, and like all the components of semantic system cohesion is realized through grammar and vocabulary Cohesion can therefore be broken into grammatical and lexical cohesion Grammatical cohesion includes devices such as reference, substitution, ellipsis and conjunction, whereas lexical cohesion is divided into reiteration (repetition, synonymy, near synonym, and superordinate) and collocation (co-occurrence of lexical items) (Halliday and Hasan 1976)
In a word, cohesion refers to the linguistic constituents that make a discourse semantically coherent; or according to Hoa (2000: 23) “cohesion refers to the formal relationship that causes texts to cohere or stick together”
It is common knowledge that the terms cohesion and coherence are frequently used in discourse analysis and text linguistics to describe the properties of written texts However, there is a clear distinction between these two terms as they differ from each other Cohesion can be lexical and grammatical links that connect one part of a discourse to another This involves the use of repetition, synonym, superordinate grammatical reference, collocation, etc For example, “first of all”, “then” and “finally” are used to create the sequence of a discourse
“However”, “moreover”, or “in addition” link ideas and arguments in a discourse
On the other hand, coherence refers to the unity created between the ideas, sentences, paragraphs and sections of a piece of writing It also gives the reader a sense of what to expect and, therefore, makes the reading easier to follow as the ideas appear to be presented in a natural way
In other words, cohesion is considered as glue that sticks together from sentence and sentence, and from paragraph and paragraph Meanwhile, coherence is concerned with sequences of ideas which relate to each other and it places much emphasis on meaning
As mentioned above, cohesion is divided into two types, namely grammatical cohesion (reference, substitution, ellipsis, and conjunction), and lexical cohesion which include “reiteration” or “collocation” Reiteration is not only the repetition of the same lexical item but also the occurrence of a related item which may be a synonym, a near synonym or a superordinate (Halliday & Hasan, 1976:279), and collocation is achieved through the association of lexical items that regularly co-occur (Halliday & Hasan 1976:284)
According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), cohesion is classified according to linguistic form Types of cohesion depends either on semantic relation in the linguistic system or on lexico-grammatical relations In other words, the cohesive relation can be interpreted as being either lexicogrammatical in nature or semantic
It can be illustrated clearly in the following description:
Nature of cohesive relation Types of cohesion Relatedness of form Substitution and ellipsis; lexical collocation Relatedness of reference Reference; lexical reiteration
Reference, substitution and ellipsis and conjunctions are four types of grammatical cohesion while lexical cohesion encompasses reiteration and collocation We can refer to grammatical cohesion and lexical cohesion as follows:
(Halliday and Hasan, 1976; Benson et al, 1986)
Table 1.2: Grammatical and Lexical Cohesion 1.1.4 Lexical cohesion
Lexical cohesion refers to close relationships in meaning between lexical items in a text and, more precisely, content words and the relationship between them Apparently, cohesion occurs when the interpretation of some components in the discourse is dependent on that of another There are two main kinds of lexical cohesion which are reiteration (including repetition, synonym, near-synonym, superordinate) and collocation
Reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which comprises the repetition of a lexical item, or the use of words which have similar meaning, so-called synonym or near-synonym, or the use of words which have specific – general relation as in superordinate
Repetition is concerned with words that are repeated in a text This involves words which are inflected for tense or number and words which are derived from particular items such as Stu and Stuart
In the following example, mushroom is repeated twice to ensure the cohesion of the text:
There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as herself; and when she had looked under it, it occurred to her that she might as well look and see what was on the top of it
She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and peeped over the edge of the mushroom,…
Needless to say, this is the most occurring form of lexical cohesion since it is merely identical to the preceding lexical items
Synonym refers to words which are similar in meaning such as ascent and climb in the below illustration:
“Accordingly … I took leave, and turned to the ascent of the peak The climb is perfectly easy …” (Halliday and Hassan 1976:278)
Climb refers back to ascent in a way that both terms have the same level of generality and are therefore synonym in a narrower sense
Near synonyms are words that have the same meaning but differ in lexical nuances Hassan and Halliday (1976) exemplified this issue with the following extract:
Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran,
And leaping down the ridges lightly, plung’d
Among the bulrush beds, and clutch’d the sword
And lightly wheel’d and threw it The great brand
Made light’nings in the spendour of the moon…
In this example, brand refers back to sword, of which it is a near synonym
One more method of linking words in a text and creating coherence is to refer back to a word by using what is called a superordinate Here is an example:
“Henry’s bought himself a new Jaguar He practically lives in the car” (Halliday and Hassan 1976:278)
In this case, car refers back to Jaguar; and car is a superordinate of Jaguar – that is, a name for a more general class Likewise, vehicle is a superordinate of car; spoon is superordinate of teaspoon, flower of rose, and so on
Collocation refers to the natural combination of words, the way in which English words are closely associated with each other
Benson, Benson and Ilson (1986a-b) defined collocation as follows:
Online newspapers
An online newspaper is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand- alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical Online newspapers stand many good chances of competing with broadcast journalism (such as radio and television) in updating breaking news in a more timely manner Actually, online newspapers share some common features with printed newspapers, such as having legal boundaries regarding libel, pricacy and copyright
Nowadays, there is an increasing number of online newspapers offering news about all aspects of life ranging from education to business Most visited newpapers in English include: BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, etc The logos of some best-known sites in English are presented below
Figure 1.1: Logos of some prestigious English online newspapers
Regarding online newspapers in Vietnam, on November 19 th 1997, our country officially joined global information network as a direct consequence of radical growth in online newspapers worldwide In February 1998, the online version of “Que huong” became the first electronic Vietnamese newspapers on the Internet Up to the present days, Vietnam has witnessed a boom in the development of hundreds of online newspapers The following logos represent prestigious sites of Vietnamese online newspapers:
Figure 1.2: Logos of some famous Vietnamese online newspapers 1.2.2 Features of online newspapers
Online newspapers have the following noticeable features:
Online newspaper can be published in real time, updating breaking news and events every minute
Online newspaper can comprise multimedia elements such as: text and graphics (newspapers and books), sound, music, motion video, and animation (broadcast radio, TV, film), 3D, etc
There is a high interactivity on online newspapers Precisely, hyperlinks help to link various elements of a lengthy and complex work, introduce numerous points of view, and add depth and detail Sometimes online newspapers comprise of hyperlinked set of web pages which can themselves include hyperlinks to other websites
Readers can respond instantly to articles presented by the online journalists; this response can take several forms Email to the reporter or editor resembles the traditional letter to editor of print publications, but email letters can be published much sooner online than in print
Online newspapers can also take advantage of threaded discussions that let readers respond immediately to an article, and to the comments of other readers, in a bulletin board-style discussion that can be accessed at any time.
News
According to Richard Campbell (2013), news was defined as follows:
“News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.”
Oxford Advanced Learners’ dictionary explains that news is “reports of recent events that appear in newspapers or on television or radio”
Another noteworthy definition specifies that news is all of the following:
- information, especially information you haven’t heard before,
- something interesting or important to you,
- something that has or will have an impact on you and others,
Putting it all together, we say news is information we haven’t had before that is delivered through a mass medium and has some impact on our lives
People, events and information that are newsworthy share common identifiable characteristics Not all characteristics are present in every news story, but every item that is newsworthy will have one or more of these characteristics: timeliness, prominence, proximity, conflict, impact and human interest
Timeliness: an event is reported as soon as it happens An accident, a fire, the signing of a peace treaty or the result of an election is news when it happens
Proninence: is about someone whose name or job (such as the president of the United States) is well known and easily recognized by the public
Proximity: refers to a news story that happens close to home
Conflict: involes two sides engaged in a “battle” from which one will emerge the winner, such as a story about war, an athletic competition or an election
Impact: is based on the effect or cosequence the story will have on the audience
Human interest: refers to story that satisfies your curiosity about other people and what happens to them
It is without a doubt that business news involves news about business and investment The Telegraph online specifies that business news involves “what is happening in the economy, companies, share and money markets and how you can make the most of your personal finances.”
With regards to business news on English online newspaper, there is a wide range of topics such as Markets, Economy, Investing, Small business, Entrepreneurship, Companies, Stock markets Likewise, business news on
Vietnamese online newspapers is commonly categorized into various groups like:
Stock Market, Entrepreneur, Real Estate, Market, Tech, Companies, Finance and Banking, Macro-economics
Obviously, all the articles on both English and Vietnamese online newspapers share the same visible features For instance, both present financial facts and figures, analyze and evaluate current situations and give prediction to the future.
Related studies
Cohesion in general and lexical cohesive devices in particular has long been of great interest to many researchers For instance, in her graduation paper, Bui Thi Nhung
(2007) has made an attempt to analyse lexical cohesive devices used in English letters of enquiry The paper draws some conclusions about the frequently used devices including reiteration and collocation in letters of enquiry in English and makes some suggestions for further studies Likewise, Tran Thi Thanh Hai (2001) has conducted a study entitled: “A Contrastive Analysis of English and Vietnamese Sales Letters” to identify the similarities and differences between the use of lexical cohesive devices, namely reiteration (including repetition, synonyms, near- synonyms, superordinate) and collocation (comprising Noun-collocations and others) in English and Vietnamese sales letters It is also worth mentioning a another research by Pham Phuong Lan (2012) which analyses lexical cohesive devices from some reading texts of the course book "English for Business Study"
Pham points out some common lexical devices used in several selected texts in Business English course book based on the taxonomy of cohesion by Halliday and Hasan The result of study shows that of all the devices, repetition occurs most frequently in creating the cohesion of the texts
Apparently, among previous studies, none has been talked about the use of lexical cohesive devices in business news, to be more specific, in business online news in English and Vietnamese newspapers This encourages the author to do research on this issues with the hope to bring to light the similarities and differences in the use of lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese business online news.
RESEARCH METHOD
Methodology
To attain the contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers, the thesis adopts the following steps and corresponding methods:
Step 1 - Qualitative method: description and interpretation of some notions based on the works of gurus and outstanding authors related to cohesion, lexical cohesion, online newspapers and news are revealed Alongside, the author’s observation through a number of articles on online newspapers also helps to envision the overall features of online news in genreral and the use of lexical cohesive devices in both English and Vietnamese news in particular
Step 2 - Quantitative method: Each type of cohesive devices in both English and Vietnamese news are discovered, then counted separately, and finally calculated into the form of percentage for comparison
Step 3 - A combination of Qualitative and Quantitative methods: the percentage of each type of cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese news are categorized in groups for comparing and contrasting It is through this process that the significant level of each lexical cohesive devices used in business news is explored thoroughly.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Frequency of using lexical cohesive devices in English and Vietnamese
The following tables will demonstrate clearly the frequent use of repetition, synonym, near-synonym and superordinate of business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers The figures are then calculated in the form of percentage for further comparing and contrasting between English and Vietnamese news
BNE Repetition Synonym Near synonym Superordinate
Table 3.1: The frequency of reiteration in business news on Vietnamese online newspapers
BNVN Repetition Synonym Near synonym Superordinate
Table 3.2: The frequency of reiteration in business news on English online newspapers
Table 3.3: The frequency of reiteration in business news on English and
As shown from tables above, repetition constitutes the largest portion of all, which respectively accounts for 79.1% and 80% in English and Vietnamese news
Accordingly, synonym, near-synonym, and superordinate merely make up a small percentage It is noticeable that English news employs twice as many synonyms as Vietnamese one; the former occupies 7.3% and the later only make up a modest percentage of 3.6% Additionally, there is a slight difference in the use of near- synonym in English and Vietnamese news: 5.2% in English as compared to 6% in Vietnamese Lastly, the percentage shows that superordinate ranks second after repetition in terms of frequency of occurrence Business Vietnamese news has the tendency to use more superordinate rather than English one Precisely, about 8.4% of superordinate is adopted in creating the cohesion of the text in English whereas, a higher percentage of 10.4% is utilized in Vietnamese news
In general, the above figures unfold the fact that repetition is by far the most frequently used in business news in both English and Vietnamese Needless to say, it proves to be the most effective tool to maintain the cohesion in any text
Furthermore, other lexical cohesive devices like synonym, near-synonym and superordinate also play vital roles in the creation of united meaning for the whole text
The tables below will elaborate the frequency of occurrence of collocation in English and Vietnamese news Six components of collocation namely Verb+Noun, Adj+Noun, Noun+Verb, Noun1+Noun2, Adverb+Adjective and Verb+Adverb are counted and expressed as a percentage Obviously, the figures will serve as a source to identify which subtype is mostly used in English and Vietnamese news and then the contrast between the two will be analyzed
Table 3.4: The frequency of collocation in business news on English online newspapers
Table 3.5: The frequency of collocation in business news on English online newspapers
Table 3.6: The frequency of collocation in business news on English and
The table 2.8 reveals that in English news, Adjective+Noun is the most frequently used among all subtypes of collocation with the percentage of 28.9% On the contrary, a very low portion, approximately 5.3% of Adjective+Noun is used in Vietnamese news Another aspect concerning Noun+Noun collocation shows that Vietnamese news has the highest usage of this type which represents 43.9%; whereas only 26.7% is practised in English news As far as Verb+Noun collocation is concerned, there is a considerable rate of Verb+Noun collocation in English and
Vietnamese with 25.6% and 29.6% respectively Although Noun+Verb collocation appears to take a small percentage of 12.2% in English and 10.6% in Vietnamese, the proportion of Adverb+Adj is even lower than Noun+Verb which makes up 4.4% in English and 1.5% in Vietnamese It is noteworthy that Verb+Adverb collocation merely constitutes 2.2% in English news; however in Vietnamese news the percentage is nearly five times as much as English one
It can be concluded that in English business news, Adjective+Noun is likely preferable than any other types of collocation Meanwhile in Vietnamese business news, Noun+Noun collocation is deemed the most effective tool to maintain the cohesion of the text.
Similarities and differences in the use of lexical cohesive devices in
The first noticeable similarity is that the mostly used cohesive device in both languages is the repetition of the content words or sometimes key words throughout the articles In English news, the frequently occurred words are listed as follows:
Profit, earning, quarter, share, revenue, firm, sales, jobs, business, employee, company, economy, etc
Meanwhile, Vietnamese news inclines to use the following words at high frequency: doanh nghiệp, doanh thu, khách hàng, thị trường, lãi suất, ngân hàng, lợi nhuận, thuế, dự án, đầu tư, etc
Actually, such words in both languages occurred so frequently due to the fact that they are associated with key issues in business such as profit, revenue, company, etc These common terms are always of great concern for readers as well as firms or those who take interest in economy
The second common thing in lexical cohesive devices between English and Vietnamese news is the repetition of proper nouns including proper names, company names, countries, cities, etc For instance, the following words are mentioned repeatedly in some English and Vietnamese news items:
CEO Howard Schultz, Boeing, Microsoft, UK, US, HP, Sony, Russia, , Hud1, Bánh kẹo Hải Hà, VietJet, Nga, Gazprom Neft, VST, Hà nội
The third prominent similarity is easily recognizable through the use of superordinate Truly, superordinate in both English and Vietnamese rank second after repetition in forming the unity of the whole text Superordinate is commonly known as a word that includes the meaning of more specific words
The following cases are good examples of superordinate found in some English and Vietnamese news items: o Car makers: General motor, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen
(BNE03) o Income: pay, bonus, salary, wage (BNE06) o Fruit: oranges, apples, peaches, lemons (BNE07) o Currency: yen, US dollar (BNE08) o City: Moscow, St Petersburg (BNE09) o Country: Russia, Ukraine, US, China (BNE09) o Quốc gia: Việt Nam, Dubai, Philippines, Ai Cập, Quartar, Indonesia, Nga, Trung Quốc (BNVN01) o Ngân hàng: HD bank, Ocean bank, AB bank, Ngân hàng Nhà nước (BNVN02) o Luật: Luật nhà ở, luật kinh doanh bất động sản (BNVN04) o Giá: giá lương thực thực phẩm, giá hàng hóa cơ bản (BNVN05) o Vay: vay nội tệ, vay ngoại tệ (BNVN05) o Thành phố: London, New York, Hồ Chí Minh, Bangkok (BNVN07)
Finally, in terms of collocation, English and Vietnamese share one thing in common which is clearly seen from the figures above Both languages make use of a small percentage of Noun+Verb pattern, and both even use smaller portion of Adverb+Adjective collocation Undoubtedly, not much attention is given to these two types in the process of unifying the whole text in both English and Vietnamese news
Some examples of N+V in English news are:
Revenue rises Revenue decline Earnings fall Sales jump
Shares rise Shares fall Employment increases
Examples of Adv+Adj in English business news include: o Slightly different o Highly-anticipated o Firmly established
The following examples illustrate the occurrence of N+V in Vietnamese news: o Giá điện tăng o Vốn đầu tư o Bất động sản phá giá o Bất động sản tồn đọng o Lãi suất giảm o Thất nghiệp tăng o Lợi nhuận tăng
Very rare cases of Adv+Adj combinations in Vietnamese news are found: o Kém hiệu quả o Khá thấp
The first recognizable difference involves the dissimilar use of synonym in English and Vietnamese news There is a strong likelihood that English news employs a large number of synonyms rather than Vietnamese news To be more precise, synonyms used in English news are twice as many as Vietnamese ones
This is partly interpretable by the fact that English is a language known for its enormous vocabulary; hence, English is very rich in synonyms Infact, a large number of synonyms come from borrowed words, for example: to ask (native) - to question (Latin) – to interrogate (Latin)
Some typical examples of synonyms found in English business news are listed as follows: o A = per o Increase = rise o Aircraft = aeroplane = plane o Axe = cut (job) o Car manufacturer = car maker o Drop = fall
Regarding Vietnamese news, synonym usage seems to be given little consideration by most of the reporters Apparently, a small number of synonyms are used in Vietnamese news in comparison with English ones The following illustrations are discovered in some Vietnamese news: o Mất việc làm = thất nghiệp (BNVN06) o Người tiêu dùng = khách hàng (BNVN07) o Cố gắng = nỗ lực (BNVN07) o Trong nước = nội địa (BNVN11) o Nước ngoài = quốc tế (BNVN11)
Secondly, the huge gap between the use of Adjective+Noun pattern in English and Vietnamese reveals a big difference to this end English news items use nearly six times as many Adj+Noun as Vietnamese one and this pattern also has the highest ranking of all subtypes of collocation in English news The underlying reason for this incident may lie in the fact that English has the tendency to use a lot of nouns in the written text rather than any other part of speech Some samples of terms are: o Strong sales (BNE03) o Increasing demand (BNE03) o Rapid growth (BNE05) o Financial year (BNE05) o Booming economy (BNE06) o Economic recovery (BNE06)
Meanwhile, some instances of terms in Vietnamese news are: o Bất ổn chính trị (BNVN11) o Ngắn hạn (BNVN13) o Dài hạn (BNVN13)
The third noticeable difference is concerned with Noun+Noun combination which ranks the highest among all kinds of collocation in Vietnamese news This pattern in Vietnamese news is twice as much as English ones The low frequency of N+N pattern in English is understandable because in English adjectives modify noun As such, Adj+Noun is preferable and more widely used than N+N collocation
Some examples of N+N pattern in English are: o Tax settlement o Cash flow o Car sales o Sales figures o Revenue growth o Consultancy firm o Growth forecast o Labor market o Market leader o Life insurance o Tax bill o Insurance company
Examples related to N+N in Vietnamese news are listed below: o Mặt bằng lãi suất o Tỷ suất lợi nhuận o Tín dụng thương mại o Thị trường bất động sản o Tình hình kinh tế o Lãi suất tiền gửi o Chi phí vốn o Giá thành sản phẩm o Hương vị cà phê o Chuỗi cửa hiệu o Báo cáo tài chính o Báo cáo kiểm toán
Recapitulation
As the study draws to a close, emphasis should be placed on the contrastive analysis of lexical cohesive devices in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers
It is without a doubt that lexical cohesive devices comprise two basic categories, that is to say, Reiteration and Collocation Reiteration is broken into four subtypes namely repetition, synonym, near-synonym and superordinate Meanwhile, collocation is involved with six patterns including: V+N, Adj+N, N+V, N+N, Adv+Adj, V+Adv
In this thesis, the data derived from 30 pieces of business news on renowned English and Vietnamese online newspapers has significantly laid a good foundation for comparing and contrasting the two languages The findings unveil some similarities and differences between English news and Vietnamese counterpart
It is revealed that there are some common things which are shared between English and Vietnamese news in the use of lexical cohesive devices The first predominant similarity is concerned with the highest frequency of repetition in two languages This is to say repetition in a text is a powerful technique for achieving and maintaining cohesion Obviously, the repeated words or phrases aim at emphasizing connections between related ideas which create the unity for the whole text
Another apparent similarity is that both English and Vietnamese business news uses superordinate as the second most effective tool to achieve cohesion It is common knowledge that a superordinate term acts as an “umbrella” that includes within it the meaning of other words Thus, superordinate plays a vital role in promoting cohesion of the text by helping readers envision the items that belong to superordinate terms throughout the text
The last similarity is connected with the low frequency in the use of N+V and Adv+Adj patterns These two combinations are not preferred in the creation of the cohesion of the text in both English and Vietnamese news
Apart from aforementioned similarities, the use of lexical cohesive devices in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers also differs in many aspects The very first difference is easily recognizable through the use of synonym when English news employs twice as many synonyms as Vietnamese one It is associated with the fact that English has a countless synonyms in comparison with Vietnamese As such, that English synonyms are utilized at a high percentage is interpretable
The second difference is concerned with the most frequent occurrence of collocation type in English and Vietnamese news While English news has the tendency to use the highest proportion of Adj+N pattern, Vietnames one is in favour of N+N combination The most satisfactory explanation for this incident is that much attention has been paid to the use of noun in English; therefore, Adj+N seem to occur regularly in the text
The last dissimilarity deals with the use of V+Adv combination between the two languages In fact, greater number of V+Adv is used in Vietnamese news rather in English counterpart It is explicable that this pattern tends to change into Adj+N collocation in English news
In a nutshell, lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers resemble and differ from each other in many aspects Both share some common traits such as predominant use of repetition and superordinate in creating the cohesion of the text Additionally, the differences are found mostly in the area of collocation, which the use of Adj+Noun combination in English news dominates the remaining patterns; whereas, in Vietnamese news, Noun+Noun collocation are prevalent among all patternings.
Implications
It is no doubt that adequate understanding about lexical cohesive devices will pave the way to the comprehension of news in general and business news in particular The reality proves that one of the best methods to ensure success in studying business English for English majors at Vietnam University of Commerce is through reading business news Surely, business news not only helps them to constantly update current issues relating to economy which, in turn, will reinforce their knowledge but also assist them in enriching their vocabulary and expressions about business Accordingly, special attention should be paid to the teaching and learning of lexical cohesive devices for a surefire success in learning business English The following points will clarify the implications for EFL teaching and learning:
In the first place, it is the teacher’s role to highlight the importance of lexical cohesive devices in the process of learning English in general and understanding business news in particular Thus, the basic knowledge about these devices should be thoroughly interpreted right at the beginning of any business English courses at university By this way, students will benefit enormously from keeping the right track on learning business English at the onset
Secondly, it is advisable for both teachers and students majored in business English to fully exploit the rich sources of business news on the Internet for teaching and learning English On the one hand, teachers should select typical news on prestigious online sites like BBC or CNN, Bloomberg, The Financial Times, and Forbes, etc to apply in teaching English, especially in writing and translating skill
These news items should have an appropriate length and a relevant level with students so that they will take interest in exploring the news In addition, students should be encouraged to stay updated with daily news by accessing to the Internet and regularly visiting the above mentioned websites By doing so, students will gradually gain broad knowledge about business and simultaneously accumulate a wide vocabulary of their own
Thirdly, as far as writing skill is concerned, Adj+Noun collocation is commonly used in English rather than in Vietnamese; thus, students should pay ample attention to the use of this combination to achieve an English-like writing style In the long term, they can produce cohesive essay and will attain the mastery of advanced writing
Finally, it is worth mentioning that when translation is taken into account, special emphasis should be given to the use of collocation in English due to the fact that it plays a crucial role in producing accurate translation Some typical examples include: if the business is gaining profit, the corresponding collocation when translating in English is profitable business; or a lot of verb can collocate with the noun company as we want to express the founding of a new company: set up, found, establish, start up, and form Apparently, having mastered the use of these collocations will ensure students to translate business documents in effective and accurate way.
Limitations of the study
The framework of a minor thesis has restrained the author from digging deeper into another area of cohesive devices which is grammatical cohesive devices The time constraints and the scope of the thesis only make it possible for the researcher to explore lexical cohesion It will be ideal if an attempt is made to cover both aspects of cohesion including lexical and grammatical so that the readers will have a thorough look in to the matter
The second limitation of the study is concerned with the number of business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers Due to the shortage of time, the data is only taken from a small number of news items Absolutely, more pieces of news involved in the study will surely provide a more solid ground for analysis and findings
Lastly, due to the limited knowledge and first-hand experience in conducting this research topic, shortcomings and mistakes are unavoidable Therefore, the author hopefully receives constructive remarks, contribution and suggestion from readers to improve the paper
Throughout the paper, much has been talked about lexical cohesive devices used in business news on English and Vietnamese newspaper However, if time and scope are allocated for further studies, the author hopes this thesis will pave the way for other issues such as:
- Studying on the awareness of students in the use of lexical cohesive device in writing skill
- Conducting a research in the use of lexical cohesive device in Vietnamese students’ writing and translation
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1 Bùi Thị Nhung (2007) “An Analysis of Lexical Cohesive Devices in English Letters of Enquiry” M.A Thesis University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi National University
2 Diệp Quang Ban (1998), Văn Bản và Liên Kết trong Tiếng Việt Nhà xuất bản Giáo dục, Hà Nội
3 Nguyen Hoa (2000), An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Hanoi: Vietnam National University Publishing House
4 Phạm Phương Lan (2012) A study on lexical cohesive devices from some reading texts of the course book "English for Business Study" and pedagogical implications for teaching English for third year students at Trade Union University M.A Thesis University of Languages and International Studies,
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1 http://www.slideshare.net/edtechph88/grammatical-collocation-12806325
2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/
3 http://doan.edu.vn/do-an/difference-between-english-and-vietnamese-synonyms- 3589/
4 http://www.collinsdictionary.com/english-thesaurus?showCookiePolicy=true
APPENDIX I Frequency of reiteration in business news on English online newspapers
BNE01: Boeing raised 2014 profit forecast
BNE02: Microsoft set to axe 18,000 jobs
BNE03: Car makers report strong sales figures for May
Synonym 12 Car manufacturer = car maker
Superodinate 16 Car makers: General motor, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen
BNE04: Hewlett Packard to cut up to 16,000 more jobs
“customer and partner centric company”
Superordinate 19 Computer: monitors, notebook, PC
BNE05: UK CEOs make 131 times more than workers
Repetition Words Times of occurrence
BNE06: Wages are falling in this booming economy
Near synonym 9 Pay – wage – salary
Superodinate 11 Income: pay, bonus, salary, wage
BNE07: Another fruit company wants to merge with Chiquita
Superodinate 12 Fruit: oranges, 1 apples, peaches, lemons
BNE08: Sony reports first annual profit in five years
Near synonym 16 Lift – increase – gain
Superodinate 18 Currency: yen, US dollar
BNE09: Russian import ban fuels food price rises
BNE10: Billionaire buys $201 million life insurance policy
Words Times of occurrence subtotal
BNE11: UK bank hit with $300 million New York fine
BNE12: Mc Donald’s coffee coming to supermarket
11 Coffee flavor: premium roast, French vanilla, hazelnut
BNE013: Google revenue helped by ads as business boss leaves
Synonym 7 Rise = to be up 1
BNE14: Eurozone inflation falls to 0.5% in March
BNE15: French business output grew in March, PMI survey says
APPENDIX II Frequency of reiteration in business news on Vietnamese online newspapers
BNVN01: Quý I, chứng khoán Việt Nam tăng mạnh thứ 2 thế giới
Near synonym 12 Diễn biến tốt, tăng điểm 1
Superodinate 13 Quốc gia: Việt Nam, Dubai,
Philippines, Ai Cập, Quartar, Indonesia, Nga, Trung Quốc
BNVN02: Ồ ạt dòng vốn rẻ từ các ngân hàng
Synonym 12 Ngân hàng – nhà băng 1
Near synonym 13 Lãi – Lãi suất
Superodinate 15 Lãi suất: Lãi suất đầu vào, lãi suất cho vay
16 Ngân hàng: HD bank, Ocean bank, AB bank, Ngân hàng Nhà nước
BNVN03: EVN lãi vượt kế hoạch nhờ tăng giá điện
Near synonym 15 Thuận lợi – (thời tiết) ủng hộ
Superodinate 16 Vốn: vốn chủ sở hữu, vốn đầu tư
17 Tín dụng: tín dụng thương mại, tín dụng ưu đãi trong nước
18 Tỷ suất lợi nhuận: tỷ suất lợi nhuận trên vốn chủ sở hữu, tỷ suất lợi nhuận trên tổng tài sản
BNVN04: Vì sao thị trường bất động sản không sụp đổ
Near synonym 16 Tích cực, (thị trường) ấm lên
Superodinate 18 Luật: Luật nhà ở, luật kinh doanh bất động sản
BNVN05: Lãi suất có điều kiện để tiếp tục giảm
Superodinate 12 Giá: giá lương thực thực phẩm, giá hàng hóa cơ bản
13 Vay: vay nội tệ, vay ngoại tệ
BNVN06: Tăng lương quá nhanh thất nghiệp sẽ tăng
Synonym 15 Mất việc làm = thất nghiệp
Near synonym 16 Lo lắng – băn khoăn
Superodinate 18 Chi phí sinh hoạt: gạo, thực phẩm, nhà ở, học phí
BNVN07: Doanh thu của Starbucks ở Việt Nam vượt kỳ vọng
Synonym 17 Người tiêu dùng = khách hàng
Near synonym 20 Quán – cửa hiệu
22 Xâm nhập - tấn công – tiến vào
23 (thị trường) không dễ chinh phục – (thị trường) khó nhằn
Superodinate 24 Thị trường: thị trường
Mỹ, thị trường Châu Âu, thị trường Việt Nam, thị trường Châu Á
25 Thành phố: London, New York, Hồ Chí Minh, Bangkok
Mỹ, Việt Nam, Nhật bản, Thái Lan
BNVN08: Gói 30 tỷ: Lãi suất vẫn cao, hạn vay lại ngắn
Near synonym 18 Xem xét – thẩm định
Superodinate 20 Bộ: Bộ Xây dựng, Bộ
Tài chính, bộ Tài nguyên môi trường
21 Nhà ở: nhà ở xã hội, nhà ở thương mại
22 Thành phố: Hà nội, Hồ Chí Minh
23 Ngân hàng: ngân hàng nhà nước, ngân hàng thương mại
BNVN09: Hud1 lợi nhuận tăng sau kiểm toán
Superodinate 15 Chi phí: chi phí tài chính, chi phí quản lý, chi phí lãi vay, chi phí dở dang
16 Báo cáo: báo cáo kiểm toán, báo cáo hợp nhất, báo cáo trước kiểm toán
BNVN10: Bánh kẹo hải hà: Điều chỉnh tăng lợi nhuận sau thuế năm 2013 thêm 1,4 tỷ
Repetition Words Times of occurrence
9 Doanh thu hoạt động tài chính
Superodinate 10 Lợi nhuận: lợi nhuận sau thuế, lợi nhuận trước thuế
BNVN11: 7 tháng: VietJet đạt doanh thu hơn 3.800 tỷ đồng, nộp ngân sách gần 350 tỷ
Synonym 13 Trong nước = nội địa
Superodinate 15 Quốc gia: Trung Quốc,
Braxin, Ấn độ, Phillipines, Việt Nam, Thái Lan
16 Đường bay: đường bay trong nước, đường bay nước ngoài
BNVN12: Nga muốn rót 3 tỷ USD vào lọc dầu Dung Quất
Superodinate 15 Nợ: nợ vay ngắn hạn, nợ vay dài hạn
BNVN13: VST: chưa hạch toán 51 tỷ đồng chi phí lãi vay, 6 tháng vẫn lỗ ròng 63,6 tỷ đồng
Words Times of occurrence subtotal
BNVN14: Khung giá đất có thể tăng gấp đôi
Synonym 16 Thấp nhất – tối thiểu
Superodinate 18 Thành phố: Hà nội, TP
19 Phố: hàng Ngang, hàng Đào
20 Đường : Nguyễn Huệ, Đồng Khởi, Lê Lợi
BNVN15: Giá xăng trong nước giảm 600đ/lít
APPENDIX III Frequency of reiteration expressed in percentage in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers
1 REIRERATION 1.1 Frequency of reiteration expressed in percentage in business news on English online newspapers
BNE Repetition Synonym Near synonym Superordinate
1.2 Frequency of reiteration expressed in percentage in business news on Vietnamese online newspapers
BNVN Repetition Synonym Near synonym Superordinate
APPENDIX IV The frequency of collocation combinations in business news on
English and Vietnamese online newspapers
1 The frequency of collocation combinations in business news on English online newspapers
1 The frequency of collocation combinations in business news on Vietnamese online newspapers
Tăng mạnh mẽ √ Ảnh hưởng lớn √
Tăng trưởng đều √ Ưu đãi lớn √ Điều hành lãi suất √
Lợi nhuận hợp nhất sau thuế √
Vốn tín dụng thương mại √
Tín dụng ưu đãi trong nước √
BNVN04 Định chế tài chính √
Bất động sản phá giá √
Bất động sản tồn đọng √
Phát hành trái phiếu √ Phát hành cổ phiếu √
Thị trường bất động sản √ Điều kiện vay vốn √
BNVN05 Tình hình kinh tế √
Biến động giá √ Điều hành giá √
Giá thành sản phẩm √ Điều chỉnh tiền lương √ Kiểm soát lạm phát √
BNVN07 Vượt kỳ vọng √ Đối mặt thách thức √
Chuỗi cửa hiệu √ Đáp ứng nhu cầu √
BNVN08 Tháo gỡ khó khăn √
BNVN09 Doanh thu tài chính √
BNVN10 Hoạt động tài chính √
BNVN11 Kết quả hoạt động √
Vận chuyển hành khách √ Vận chuyển hàng hóa √
Hệ số sử dụng ghế √
BNVN14 Kinh tế khó khăn √
The frequency of collocation combinations expressed in percentage in business news on English and Vietnamese online newspapers
