Luận văn thạc sĩ Ngôn ngữ Anh: Representing the Vietnamese’s Government Responses to the 4th Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIESFACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES REPRESENTING THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT?’S RESPONSE TO THE 4TH WAVE OF C

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

REPRESENTING THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT?’S RESPONSE

TO THE 4TH WAVE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ONLINE

NEWSPAPERS

UNG PHO CUA CHÍNH PHU VIỆT NAM TRƯỚC LÀN SÓNG THỨ 4

CUA DAI DỊCH COVID-19 TRONG CAC BÀI BAO ĐIỆN TỬ

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201.01

HANOI- 2023

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYEN THI THUY DUNG

REPRESENTING THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT?’S RESPONSE

TO THE 4TH WAVE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN ONLINE

NEWSPAPERS

CUA DAI DICH COVID-19 TRONG CAC BAI BAO DIEN TU

M.A.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English LinguisticsCode: 8220201.01

Supervisor: Prof Nguyén Hoa

HANOI- 2023

I declare that the thesis under the title “Representing the Vietnamese

Government’s Response to the 4th Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic in OnlineNewspapers” is my original scientific work which has been conducted as a partialfulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art and submitted to theFaculty of Graduate Studies, the University of Languages and International Studies

Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used

without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi — 2023

Nguyễn Thi Thùy Dung

Approved bySUPERVISOR(Signature and full name)

Prof Nguyễn Hoà

Date:

I am deeply grateful to whom for the completion of this Master's thesis, and Iwould like to express my heartfelt appreciation to those who have played pivotalroles in this journey

First and foremost, I want to extend my sincerest thanks to my thesis advisor,Professor Nguyen Hoa Your guidance, wisdom, and unwavering support have been

the guiding light throughout this research endeavor Your mentorship has not onlyenriched my academic growth but also inspired me to strive for excellence

I owe a special debt of gratitude to my family, with a heartfelt emphasis onmy husband Your unwavering belief in me, your patience, and your constantencouragement have been my pillars of strength I am profoundly thankful for yoursacrifices and understanding during the long hours spent on this thesis

I also want to acknowledge the dedicated faculty and staff at University ofLanguages and International Studies Your commitment to academic excellence and

the resources you provided have been instrumental in the successful completion ofthis thesis Your support has created an environment conducive to learning andresearch

To all those who have stood by me throughout this academic journey,whether through guidance, emotional support, or understanding, I extend mydeepest appreciation Your contributions, in various forms, have made thisachievement possible

Thank you for being an essential part of this significant milestone in my lifeand academic career

il

This study employs a combined approach, drawing upon van Leeuwen’s

(2008) social action framework, Halliday’s transitivity system, and

Charteris-Black’s (2004) critical metaphor analysis to examine the representation of theVietnamese Government's response to the 4th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

The study uncovers four significant findings that shed light on the portrayalof the government's actions and its image during this critical period Firstly, the useof instrumentalized and objectivated material actions, along with non-transactivesemiotic actions, reveals a powerful government with autocratic leadership Theselinguistic choices emphasize the government's assertive and dominant role inresponding to the pandemic Secondly, the thesis highlights that the government'sactions take center stage in the discourse and the image constructed of thegovernment portrays it as wise, active, and preventive Lastly, the adoption of warmetaphors plays a role in conveying government policy tendency and constructingthe image of an optimistic and confident government in its battle against theCOVID-19 pandemic

This research provides valuable insights into how the VietnameseGovernment's response to the 4th wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is linguisticallyconstructed and represented in discourse, shedding light on the government'sleadership style, actions, and image during this challenging period

1H

TABLE OF CONTENTSDECLARRA TÍHON 0 G5 GỌI 0090009601000 000960966090 iACKNOWLEDGEMENTS GỌI 00000 80608 iiABSTRACT 102 scsscccccccssssescccsscssccsccsscesscsssssscsssccssccssssscssscesssesesescesscesscsscssscssoeeees iii

LIST OF TABLES co 5G ó5 9 THỌ 0 0400010 04.005009 000 vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTTON - 5= <5 H006 00 1

1.1 Rationale áïiv0 nh 11.2 Scope of the r€S€arCH - - s11 nọ HH it 21.3 Aims and objectivities of the research - - 5s + set 21.4 Research Questions ha 31.5 Significance of the reS€arCH - - 5 5 + kg nh 31.6 Research methodology - 5 5 + 11v ng 31.7 Structure of the thesis s5 1v TH HH Hy 3CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REV LEỀY - o0 TH ng 00000000860 5

2.1 Vietnamese Government Structure 5 + vn nh ng rưn 52.2 Background and context of the 4th Wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam 62.3 The Social Action Framework - - s19 ng ru 7

2.3.1 Semiotic and Material Actions ccccccccssesesseeseeeseesseeseeesecsseeseeeseenseetens 82.3.2 Transitive and NOn-Transitive Á CÍÏOTS che 82.3.3 Interactive and Instrumental ACTIONS ccecceece eset eseete tee tnseeteeeeeneeeeees 92.3.4 Objectivated and Descriptivized ACtiONS ccscccssceessecessetesseesseeesseeenseesaees 92.3.5 Cognitive vs Affective vs Perceptive Ñ€qCfÏOPS «« << << ss+ 102.4 Transitivity Framework ecceccesceeseesccesecesececesseeeaececessceeseeeaecsaeseeeeaeeeaeesees 102.5 Critical Metaphor Analysis Fram€WOTKK - «5 «+ ky 12P0 eo nh ố 132.7 Concluding ái c7 20CHAPTER 3: METHODOLUOOY 55 s00 090856006 21

3.1 Research questions revisited 2G n1 v.v HH ng HH kg gvg 213.2 Research approach and methods 5 + + +2 *£+*E£‡E++kEeseeseesers 21

iv

3.3 Data for analysis 0n ‹433 223.4 Data collection DFOC€SSITE - G1 HH kg ng 233.5 Data analytical Íram€WOTÍKS - - c1 11911 9 ng ve 25

3.5.1 The Transitivity FTQHI€WOFĂ SG key 253.5.2 The Social Action FT@IH€VUOTĂ Sách HH hy 26

3.6 Concluding T€ITiATÍKS - - x13 1 93 911201901 HH HH 27

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION -cĂ Ăn se kse, 28

4.1 The reactions of the Vietnamese Government to the 4th wave of COVID-19 28

4.1.1, COQNItVE TEACTIONS 6n eee 284.2 The actions of the Vietnamese Government to the 4th wave of COVID-19 29

4.2.1 Semiotic vs Material Á CÍÏOIHS SH nghiệt 294.2.2 Non-Transactive vs Transactive Semiotic ACTIONS scccscceseesteeeseeeeees 324.2.3 Non-Transactive vs Transactive Material ACfÏOPS «+ <<<< 5+ 334.2.4 Instrumental vs Interactive Material ÄCÍÍOTIS ~.cĂSS<Sssccsssss 344.3 (00 211 36

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONN 5-5 5< < 5c HC 0005004004080 43

5.1 A summary of key ẨInITỹS c1 1991931 ng kg ng ngư, 435.2 Implications for future research + < 11v ng giết 455.3 Limitation and recommendation for future studies - ‹- -5«+-«+2 46REEFERENCSS 5< <5 Họ cọ HH TH 0100000090 48

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Government’s Organizational Structure (2021) - - +5 «+ c+e+sesereeesresee 6

Table 3.1 Examples of different process types from 20 articÌes - -«++<<+<<++<++ 25

vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the research

Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is assumed to have first appeared in Wuhan,China in late December 2019 and is declared as a severe global threat, a pandemicby The World Health Organization (WHO) on 11th of March 2020 Up until now,

the phase in which the world experienced large numbers of deaths and pressure onhospitals contemporarily passed, which does not mean countries should let downtheir guard but continue to manage COVID-19 as an infectious disease Sharing along land border with China and receiving millions of Chinese visitors to Vietnameach year according to The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture Sport and Tourism,2020 Vietnam has contained the spread of the pandemic at the beginning The firstCOVID-19 case in Vietnam was documented on 23 January 2020, when Ho ChiMinh City officials reported two confirmed cases involving people who hadrecently travelled from Wuhan, China In response to the emergence of COVID-19,the Vietnam Party-State (VPS) directed all levels of government and society torespond to the situation and take immediate measures to prevent and control theepidemic (Viet-Phuong et al., 2020) Vietnam has so far managed to avoid a healthcatastrophe, given its proximity to China The present study is interested on theactions of government in handling the pandemic and how they are textuallyreconstructed by the press

There have been many previous studies focusing on the topic of COVID-19pandemic situation in Vietnam For example, the research articles named PolicyResponses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Vietnam (Nguyen et al., 2021) andSummary of the COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam — Lessons and suggestions byNguyen et al., (2020) described the characteristics of COVID-19 infectious diseasein Vietnam and the main factor contributing to the success of Vietnam was theimmediate Government’s policy interventions Other research like Outbreakinvestigation for COVID-19 in northern Vietnam (Thanh et al., 2020) works on case

reports or Policy Response, Social Media and Science Journalism for theSustainability of the Public Health System Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak: TheVietnam Lessons (La et al., 2020) studies the role of policy responses and mediacommunication during the pandemic However, the present paper attempts to fill thegap of the previous discourse studies which have not looked at how Vietnamesegovernment’s policy of dealing with the pandemic is viewed through the lens of thenews media.

1.2 Scope of the research

This study is focused on analyzing the responses of the Vietnamesegovernment during the fourth wave, Vietnam’s worst outbreak of the Covid-19pandemic, which started from April 21, 2021 This wave from April to October,

2021 was reported to be the most complicated and dangerous with the highestnumber of cases and deaths Vietnam had reported 6,01,349 cases and 15,018

deaths as of September 12, 2021, according to National Institute of Health

The data were collected from five official and powerful online newspapers ofthe government such as Government News, Thanh Nien, VietnamNet,

VNEconomy, The Voice of Vietnam 5 The chosen articles were published fromApril to October, 2021 and focused on reporting COVID-19 policies from

central/national government level (not provincial government level) The mostsignificant reason for choosing these sources is their credibility and popularity,which means they are one of the main sources that Vietnamese citizensdomestically and aboard get official messages from the government

1.3 Aims and objectivities of the research

The study aims to investigate how Vietnamese Government’s responses tothe 4th wave of COVID is informed by Vietnamese national news reportlinguistically and the reasons for the representation of those actions

To achieve this aim, the study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

- to explore strategies that were used to represent social actions;- to analyze the underlying reasons why the actions are reported in such a

way.

1.4 Research questions

In order to address two objectives, the study is intended to answer twocorresponding research questions as follows:

(i) How was the response of Vietnamese Government to the 4th wave of

COVID-19 represented linguistically?(1) Why was it represented in such a way?1.5 Significance of the research

Theoretically, this research attempts to introduce a useful adapted framework

to analyze news’ language used to represent social actions Practically, as one of the

references for critical discourse analysis with online media sources, this couldprovide valuable insights for journalists, linguistics scholars, or students majoring in

linguistics and social media to conduct sociolinguistic studies in the future

1.6 Research methodology

A critical qualitative research design was deployed in this study This studyused a combined approach based on van Leeuwen’s social actor representationframework and Halliday’s transitivity analysis, as a tool to examine how the actionof government handling Covid-19 are constructed in news discourse

1.7 Structure of the thesis

The study consists of five chapters

Chapter One: Introduction

Presents the rationale, scope, aim and objectives, significance, generalmethodology, and design of the study

Chapter Two: Literature Review

This part comprises explanation of principal terminologies that direct thedata collecting process and theoretical framework structure by reviewing relatedresearches to the study

Chapter Three: Methodology

This section builds on qualitative research with Halliday’s transitivity system

and adapted van Leeuwen’s (2008) social actor framework to identify and classify

actions in the texts

Chapter Four: Findings and discussion

This chapter presents the findings of the study concerning the government’s

actions as represented by the online news and a discussion thereof.Chapter Five: Conclusion

The final section recapitulates the key findings of the study It discusses thelimitations as well as suggests some recommendations for future research

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter begins with a presentation of relevant literature pertaining to thestructure of Vietnamese Government and the social context when the fourth wave ofCOVID-19 happened Secondly, the chapter offers a review of emerging literaturesurrounding the analyzing discourses about COVID-19 in other countries whichreveals that the dissemination of pandemic communication was an ideologicallyinformed process and expressed features associated with political communicationliterature Subsequently, the central tenets of representing actions are explored,focusing particularly on process types Finally, this chapter presents the foundation ofa theoretical framework for the research

As the primary objective of this study is not only a textual analysis, but also anexploration of the interactions between language and power, the authors’ backgroundknowledge of social and political contexts plays a crucial role in the interpretation

and explanation stage.2.1 Vietnamese Government Structure

Vietnam, situated in Southeast Asia, has a population of 97 million people.The country has experienced rapid urbanization, industrialization, and significantsocioeconomic advancements It functions as a one-party state, governed by theCommunist Party of Vietnam, with a centralized administration that grants authorityto 58 provinces and five major municipalities The government is headed by aPrime Minister and supported by four Deputy Prime Ministers Additionally, thereare 18 Ministries, each overseen by a Minister Within the government, there aretwo government-affiliated agencies - Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and Voice ofVietnam (VOV) Furthermore, the Vietnamese government has established National

Committees (Uy ban Quéc gia) as necessary, which are not autonomous political

entities or ministries but instead include Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, andDeputy Ministers specialized in relevant fields

As of 2021, PM Pham Minh Chinh serves as the Prime Minister of Vietnam

Vu Duc Dam, in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, assists and supports thePrime Minister in carrying out his responsibilities, being accountable to the PrimeMinister Moreover, Dam leads the Steering Committee for the Prevention and

Control of COVID-19 Nguyen Thanh Long, an expert in infectious diseases, wasappointed as the deputy Minister of Health and later promoted to the position ofMinister of Health He has played a crucial role as one of the primary government

advisors during the pandemic

Table 2.1 Government’s Organizational Structure (2021)

Deputy Prime Minister - Leader of the

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Deputy Prime Minister Steering Committee for the Prevention Deputy Prime Minister

Truong Hoa Binh Pham Binh Minh and Control of COVID-19 Le Minh Khai

Vu Duc Dam

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh

2.2 Background and context of the 4th Wave of COVID-19 in Vietnam

Vietnam identified its first COVID-19 case on January 23, 2020 Thegovernment responded swiftly by introducing rapid testing, contact tracing,quarantine, and social distancing measures, which led to a significantly low number

of cases in 2020 compared to the global average

However, in the middle of 2021, Vietnam encountered a fourth wave ofCOVID-19 infections, with the Delta variant playing a major role, resulting in ahigher rate of infections, deaths, and negative economic impacts The governmenttook comprehensive actions to tackle the situation The fourth wave began on April27, 2021, and by the end of May 2021, it had spread to 30 cities and provinces

Consequently, on May 31, 2021, local authorities implemented a lockdown basedon the guidelines outlined in Prime Minister's Directives 15 Despite the one-monthlockdown, the virus continued to spread, leading to a stricter lockdown withregulations specified in Directive 16, which was enforced on July 9.

In late September, the government acknowledged that the earlier strategy ofcompletely eliminating COVID-19 was no longer feasible Instead, they adopted a"new normal" policy with a focus on containment while promoting economicgrowth To support this approach, the government approved Resolution 128/NQ-CPon October 11th, 2021 The resolution aimed to safeguard lives, reduce fatalities,and establish recovery plans, all while maintaining control of the virus

As of October 10, 2021, the Ministry of Health announced that the wave had largelybeen brought under control across the nation

2.3 The Social Action Framework

The analytical framework for discourse analysis derives, on the one hand,from Michel Foucault’s concept of discourses as “semantic constructions of specific

aspects of reality that serve the interests of particular historical and/or socialcontexts” (cited in van Leeuwen, 2008, p vii), and, on the other hand, from MichaelHalliday’s concept of “register” as “a semantic variety of language, a social dialectwhich is distinct in its semantics rather than in its phonology and lexicogrammar”

(see van Leeuwen, 2008, p vii) The approach behind the framework is Bernstein’s

concept of recontextualization According to Berstein (1990), semantic shifts in

pedagogic discourse take place “according to recontextualizing principles which

selectively appropriate, relocate, refocus and relate to other discourses to constituteits own order and orderings” The recontextualizing concepts broadened by van

Leeuween suggests that “all discourse contextualize social practices” and “are linked to key social elements of social practice”, among which are actions and their

performance styles In van Leeuwen's (2008) perspective, discourses can berealized, not only linguistically, but also by means of other semiotic modes

Van Leeuwen (2008) claimed that social action can be interpreted as material

or semiotic, as “doing” or as “meaning,” in other words, as action which has, at

least potentially, a material purpose or effect or as action which does not

Van Leeuwen (ibid.) also stated that his model of a sociological “grammar”

of the representation of social action is an attempt to identify the ways in whichaction can be represented in English and their import in discourse Analysis ofsocial action representation is answering the question “What are the ways in whichsocial action can be represented in English discourse?”

According to van Leeuwen, the types of social actions that authors use canreveal the peculiarities of their system of thought He argues that the "discursivedistribution of purposefulness" is related to the distribution of power in society, andthat authors use their power to shape their audience's ways of thinking in

accordance with their own worldview

From van Leeuwen’s framework (2008, p 52), the following binaries were

selected as they are relevant to my data analysis

2.3.1 Semiotic and Material Actions

As previously mentioned, material actions pertain to physical deeds, whereassemiotic actions indicate an intention beyond the mere physical act According tovan Leeuwen, semiotic actions are typically ascribed to individuals with moreinfluence, while material actions are more commonly found in the discourse of lessinfluential actors The differentiation between material and semiotic actions can beassociated with specific grammatical expressions (as outlined in Halliday, 1985:Chapter 5) "Verbal processes" occupy an intermediary position between materialand mental processes, lying between actions and reactions On one hand, theyresemble activities (one can respond to the question 'What did she do?’ with 'She isuttering her prayers’) On the other hand, they resemble cognitive mental processesbecause they can have a ‘proposition’ as their object, which is not the case with

material processes2.3.2 Transitive and Non-Transitive Actions

Material actions can be categorized as either transactive or non-transactive

Transactive actions involve two distinct participants: the 'actor, who performs theaction, and the ‘goal,’ which is the recipient or target of the action (Halliday, 1985:

102-5) According to Halliday, the goal must represent a tangible entity,encompassing various facets of our experience, including our internal thoughts andimaginings—these can be individuals, creatures, objects, institutions, or abstract

concepts (1985: 108)

On the other hand, non-transactive actions involve only one participant, the‘actor,’ who, in the context of 'behavioral processes,’ must be a human being Thisdifferentiation is not merely a neutral grammatical one; it also distinguishes actionsthat have an impact on others or the world from actions that lack such an influence.Clearly, the capacity to ‘transact’ necessitates a certain degree of power, with agreater degree of power extending the scope of potential 'goals' that an actor'sactions can affect

2.3.3 Interactive and Instrumental Actions

Halliday's definition of the 'goal in a material process is quitecomprehensive, but it's important to make a critical distinction between transactionsinvolving inanimate objects and those involving people In instances ofinterpersonal interaction, the action is expressed using a verb that exclusivelypertains to actions directed toward humans However, in instrumental transactions,the goal can encompass either humans or inanimate entities Put differently,instrumental transactions depict people as potentially interchangeable with objects,

as exemplified by verbs like 'use,' 'transport,' 'destroy,' 'carry,' and so forth

2.3.4 Objectivated and Descriptivized Actions

Actions that are objectivated are expressed through nominalizations orprocess nouns, which function as either the subject or object of a clause When anaction or reaction is objectivated in this way, it serves to introduce intentions orjustifications into the representation Additionally, actions can be transformed intodescriptions, portraying them as enduring characteristics of social actors, either to agreater or lesser extent

2.3.5 Cognitive vs Affective vs Perceptive Reactions

Government officials are depicted not only through their actions but alsothrough their reactions They "maintain a state of vigilance against Covid-19" and

"prepare for the ongoing management and adaptation to the pandemic," amongother responses Analyzing who is portrayed as reacting in what manner to whom(or what) can provide valuable insights when conducting critical discourse analysis

In contrast to cognitive and perceptive mental processes, affective mentalprocesses can have 'proposals' as their object, meaning they can combine withperfective non-finite clauses using 'to,' infinitive clauses, or imperfective non-finite

clauses with the '-ing' participle (as discussed in Halliday, 1985: 235ff):

'Perceptive' mental processes differ by their ability to take another type ofnon-finite construction called the ‘accusative cum infinitivo,' or its

‘progressive’ form.‘Cognitive’ mental processes, on the other hand, can involve ‘propositions’ astheir object, often in the form of 'that-clauses

Furthermore, certain key perceptive verbs like 'see' and 'perceive,' as well asaffective verbs such as feel' and fear,' can function as cognitive processes, allowingthem to take ‘propositions’ as their object

2.4 Transitivity Framework

Transitivity holds a crucial role in Systemic Functional Grammar, aselucidated by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004), who regard it as a system thatrepresents the world by denoting various actions This system is closely tied to the

concept of agency and the responsibility associated with actions (Machin & Mayr,2012) According to Halliday, transitivity is a powerful tool that can be used toanalyze how language users encode their mental picture of reality and revealinformation about the speaker's or writer's perspective on an event (1994:106)

Halliday (1994) posits that processes can be categorized based on whetherthey denote actions, occurrences, mental conditions, or states of existence Theseprocesses are recognized and grouped into three categories: Material processes,Relational processes, and Mental processes

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Material processes in transitivity refer to actions, typically involving tangibleand physical activities Halliday calls them "action clauses" because they indicatethat something or someone is performing an action or that an entity is activelyengaged in something that may affect another entity To explore material processes,questions like "What did x do?" are useful These processes usually involve two keyparticipants: the Actor, the one carrying out the action, and the Goal, the person or

entity affected by the action

Conversely, mental processes encode reactions of the mind, such asperceptions, thoughts, and emotions They offer insights into an individual'sconsciousness and their understanding of reality To examine mental processes,questions like "What do you think/feel/know about x?" can be asked Mentalprocesses typically involve two participants: the Senser, the conscious beingexperiencing the mental process, and the Phenomenon, which represents what theSenser feels, thinks, or perceives

Relational processes convey relationships of existence or possession betweentwo participants There are two types of relational processes: Identifying Relational,which defines the identity of a Token through its association with a Value, andAttributive Relational, which describes how an entity (realized by Carrier) is amember of a class (realized by Attribute)

In addition to the primary processes, there are three subsidiary process typesthat share characteristics with each of the main processes Between Material andMental processes, Behavioral processes represent the outward expression of internalactivities, including physiological and psychological behaviors like breathing,laughing, or sneezing These processes typically involve one participant, theBehaver Between Mental and Relational processes, Verbal processes involvecommunication and its synonyms These processes typically entail threeparticipants: the Sayer, the one performing the verbal process; the Receiver, theindividual to whom the communication is directed; and the Verbiage, the verbalprocess presented in a nominalized statement Lastly, between Relational and

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Material processes, Existential processes confirm states of existence, being, or

context.

2.5 Critical Metaphor Analysis Framework

In 2004, Charteris-Black methodically introduced Critical MetaphorAnalysis (CMA) as an integrative method for studying metaphors in various types

of discourse CMA originated from prior research that connected language usagewith social theory Charteris-Black aimed to merge cognitive and pragmaticapproaches to metaphor and emphasized the importance of considering practicaland ideological dimensions in the analysis of metaphors

Charteris-Black (2004) outlined three key stages within CMA: conceptualmetaphor identification, interpretation, and explanation

The initial step, metaphor identification, primarily focuses on understandingthe conceptual meaning of metaphorical expressions It involves a thorough

examination of the text to pinpoint potential metaphors

The second phase in CMA, metaphor interpretation, is centered ondetermining the interpersonal meaning inherent in conceptual metaphors Thisentails recognizing the kinds of social relationships constructed through thesemetaphors To accomplish this, one must identify conceptual metaphors and, ifpossible, conceptual keys The goal is to understand the connection between

metaphors and the cognitive and practical factors that influence their usage

The third and final stage of CMA is the explanation This is where CriticalDiscourse Analysis (CDA) plays a crucial role The objective at this stage is to clarifywhy particular conceptual metaphors are chosen in a specific context This requiresidentifying the social agents responsible for creating the metaphors and understanding

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their social roles in persuasion Essentially, it entails recognizing the role of metaphorsin discourse, which contributes to their ideological and rhetorical impact (Charteris-Black, 2004: 39).

2.6 Related studies

The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly spread worldwide, becoming aprominent topic of debate and discussion in the media since early 2020 Informationabout COVID-19 is widely disseminated through various media outlets, with afocus not only on the virus's spread and infection but also on the government'sefforts to combat the pandemic These details are particularly prevalent on officialstate-run news agencies like VNA (Vietnam Plus), the national radio broadcasterVOV, and other government websites

The Vietnamese government's responses to COVID-19 have beenextensively studied from various perspectives, including environmental research,public health, sociology, and media communication However, there is a limited

number of linguistic studies that delve into this important topic

There are a number of significant research investigating metaphors ofCOVID-19 in media representations Among the significant studies is “Theconceptual metaphor of COVID-19 pandemic in English Vietnamese news

discourse” Pham (2022) also investigated how COVID-19 was portrayed inmetaphors in English and Vietnamese internet newspapers The researchers used theConceptual Metaphorical Theory (CMT) to achieve their research goals The datacame from two online English newspapers (The New York Times and TheGuardian) and two Vietnamese newspapers (Dan Tri and VnExpress), eachcontaining 80 articles (20 items) As a result, a manual corpus comprising theCOVID-19 conceptual framework and the WAR Master Metaphor List wereemployed for in-depth analysis The WAR frame was used to conceptualizeCOVID-19 in news discourses through the metaphors: "The pandemic is anenemy", "The body is a battleground", "Infection is an attack by the pandemic","Medicine is a weapon", "Medical procedures are attacks by the patient", "Winning

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the war is being cured of the pandemic", and "Losing the war is dying" Theimplications for the appropriate usage of COVID-19 conceptual metaphors in newsdiscourses for communication purposes were created based on research findings.

A notable study from Elena Semino (2021) shares the same result In thestudy, various metaphors were examined and their significance was discussed Theresearch starts by focusing on war metaphors, which were commonly used andcontroversial during the early stages of the pandemic Next, the study provides anoverview of alternative metaphors sourced from the "ReframeCovid" collection, amultilingual compilation of metaphors for Covid-19 gathered from publiccontributions Finally, by considering both the #ReframeCovid collection and athorough analysis of a large collection of English news articles, the paper suggests

that fire metaphors are particularly suitable and adaptable in communicatingdifferent aspects of the pandemic, such as the spread of the virus and various publichealth measures aimed at its reduction

Another research employed Charteris-Black's (2004) theoretical frameworkof Critical Metaphor Analysis to delve into the metaphorical portrayals of theCOVID-19 pandemic as articulated by Bill Gates during his interview with the TEDorganization about addressing the Coronavirus pandemic Nguyen (2022) revealsthat Bill Gates envisions the COVID-19 pandemic through metaphors such asWAR, GAME, MARKET, BUILDING, CRISIS, ANIMATE BEING, and JIGSAWPICTURE Among these representations, the source domains of WAR, GAME, andMARKET carry the greatest significance (having the highest frequency) in Gates’

conceptualization of the pandemic These prominent metaphorical themes divide theAmerican population involved in the pandemic into opposing factions Moreover,the portrayal of PANDEMIC as ANIMATE BEING and MARKET assigns blame

solely to the virus, overlooking the actual individuals responsible for the dire stateof the pandemic Through unraveling the explanations behind these conceptualmetaphors, Gates' intentions and underlying ideologies are uncovered, revealing ablend of philanthropy and capitalism

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Besides, there are previous research about various aspects of Covid-19pandemic such as the actions carried out by governments all over the world to

control the pandemic with a variety of data sources

Intan Siti Nugraha & Rosaria Mita Amalia (2021) aims to gain insights andunderstanding of how the Indonesian government's COVID-19 prevention effortsduring the early stages of the pandemic are portrayed in the media, particularly inThe Jakarta Post The findings indicate several aspects Firstly, the application ofthe Appraisal System in analyzing the text reveals that the news reports publishedby The Jakarta Post predominantly criticize the government with negativejudgments Secondly, the analysis of the Appraisal System prompts a criticalevaluation of how the news text positions its readers The absence of positive orneutral representations of alternative choices in the text strongly conveys a negativeand dynamic meaning to the target audience

Another research studying the portrayal of Indonesia's handling of 19 in online news articles was carried out by Rahmayeny (2021) The studyinvestigates the sociocultural practices depicted in the selected news texts.Specifically, the analysis focuses on power dynamics, relationships, and identitywithin the context of COVID-19 discussions The research sample consists of fivearticles published within a specific timeframe The findings of this study highlightthe significant role of sociolinguistic elements in shaping the content of thesearticles and influencing the perceptions of readers, particularly among theIndonesian population

COVID-Henry (2022) in a study on COVID-19 information adverts created by theUK government used a multimodal critical discourse analysis The study indicatesthat the effectiveness of public health policies is influenced by the strategiesemployed in fear-inducing visual and verbal campaign messages, as emotiveportrayals of Tisk' tend to be more impactful than non-emotive discussions Initialanalysis of COVID-19 advertisements identified four distinct phases in thegovernment's response to the pandemic: responsibility, management, mitigation,

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and reflection Through an in-depth Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of fourselected advertisements, it was revealed that fear was constructed using lessconventional meaning potentials, relying more on implicit multimodal semioticinteractions By presenting a 'good' pandemic citizen as someone who makes 'moral'and ‘rational’ decisions to comply with COVID-19 policies, existing societalinequalities that may hinder compliance, especially among socioeconomicallydisadvantaged groups, were diminished and recognized as problematic This raisesethical concerns regarding notions of ‘expertise’ and the ‘rationalization’ of‘irrational’ lifestyles He suggested that further research should explore multimodalnudges in public health campaigns to ensure accountability on the part of campaignproducers.

In another study about the U.K government, Alan et al (2023) presents aunique examination of how the government communicated its response to COVID-19 during the first six months of the pandemic The article comes up with two mainarguments Firstly, it highlights the importance of the portrayal of the relationshipbetween the government and the people in shaping and promoting the government'sresponse to the crisis Secondly, despite incorporating elements of populism, the

government consistently positioned itself with the belief that it knows what is best,drawing from the principles of the ‘British Political Tradition’ (BPT) To supportthese arguments, the article makes three contributions: (i) empirical, by conductinga detailed analysis of speeches, statements, and documents from the U.K.government; (1) analytical, by introducing a new categorization of how ‘the public’is envisioned and represented in political discourse; and (iii) theoretical, byconceptualizing the adaptable and flexible nature of the BPT's discourse

Qing Liu (2023) analyzed how China implemented a nationwide campaign inresponse to the COVID-19 threat The campaign focused on ideological work,

which involved explaining policies and persuading the public This study examinesthe legitimization discourse used in the campaign, considering the political

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relationship between the central and local governments, as well as their functioning.The analysis specifically focuses on more than eighty open letters written by local

governments to mobilize residents during the pandemic The study combinescritical discourse analysis, legitimation theory, and campaign-style governance toexplore the ideological discourses constructed in the open letters, the types ofauthority used for legitimation, and the main communication style employed Thestudy also examines patterns among different ranks of local governments Thefindings indicate that moral appeal and political authority are key elements of thelegitimization discourse However, lower-ranking governments tend to de-emphasize ideology Additionally, the open letters of basic-level local governmentsdisplay a combination of impersonal politeness and direct bold commands Thefindings reveal that while the central government holds centralized power, theimplementation of ideological work in a national campaign is influenced by the

divergent and complex realities of local governments

Jordan (2021) used multimodal critical discourse analysis and conductedinterviews to investigate the power dynamics of the Trump Administration inrelation to their management of the COVID-19 pandemic The study focuses on theuse of language and communication practices to understand this dynamic Byapplying concepts such as governmentality, securitization theory, and post-truthpolitics, the study examines the COVID-19 discourse of seven key figures betweenJanuary and May 2020 A comprehensive analytical approach consisting of fourphases is employed, analyzing a total of sixty-one instances This approachintroduces a new theoretical framework called Post-truth governmentality.Additionally, the research includes interviews with five American citizens who have

experienced the pandemic in the United States since its onset The study revealsthree main themes: 1) a noticeable difference in the discourse between medicalexperts and the Trump Administration, 2) Donald Trump, as an individual,significantly differing from other actors, including those within his ownadministration, and 3) a change in securitized rhetoric from January and February to

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March through May 2020 Within the scope of this research, a significant portion ofthe United States' response to COVID-19 exhibited characteristics of Post-truthgovernmentality Four out of the seven actors identified can be classified aspracticing Post-truth governmentality These individuals utilized discourse toregulate citizens' behavior while intentionally or unintentionally disregardingobjective knowledge in order to maintain authority The discourse surroundingCOVID-19 and Post-truth governmentality in the United States has negativelyimpacted the effectiveness of governmental measures to contain the pandemic.Moreover, it has diminished the trust and confidence of the American population.

In the context of Vietnam, Nguyen (2021) investigates the intricacies ofnationalism and how nationalist discourses have changed over time in Vietnam and

the United States, focusing on the case of COVID-19 under new factors such asglobalization, neoliberalism, and populism Through an examination of nationalismin the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Vietnam and the United States, hesuggests that nationalism is a dynamic discourse rather than a political ideology InCOVID-19, solidarity, unity, and multiplicity are emphasized in the nationalistdiscourses in Vietnam

Last but not least, measuring the audience media behavior or reaction toCOVID-19 news is also a significant topic for researchers

Nor et al (2020) used a corpus-based approach to analyze the data ofMalaysian online newspaper reports about COVID-19 from the Star online inMarch, 2020 More than 1000 news reports were examined, and 140 themes wereidentified The AntConc software helped them find that verb and noun collocatesfrequently occurred alongside the word "COVID-19" based on the top 100collocates with a minimum Mutual Information (MI) score of 5 These collocatesgenerally reflect the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty felt by the majority ofMalaysians They also highlight the impact of the virus on Malaysia's economy and

social life However, some collocates suggest that the government is in control ofthe situation, despite the threats to health and the economy in the country For future

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research, they suggested comparing newspaper reports from various Englishnewspapers in Malaysia, analyzing news reports during the extended movementcontrol order (ECMO) in Malaysia, or conducting discourse analysis of crisiscommunication by political leaders in ASEAN.

The study titled “Ideological representation of fear and hope in onlinenewspaper reports on COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia” conducted by Naimah (2021)investigates how fear and hope are portrayed in online newspaper articles aboutCOVID-19 in Saudi Arabia The study examines the structure and production ofnews texts at a detailed level, along with insights from Fairclough's work on theconnection between language and social understanding The data for this studyconsists of samples of online news articles about COVID-19, covering the periodfrom March 4 to August 14, 2020 The findings indicate that the majority of thereports on COVID-19 heavily focus on providing evidence through statistics relatedto new and cumulative infections, recoveries, and deaths The use of evidence oftenoverlaps with a strategy of categorization, breaking down the threat of the virus intodistinct units with their own characteristics and supporting evidence The reportsalso rely on authoritative sources to substantiate the statistics presented Similarly,when conveying hope to the public, the articles frequently employ two strategies:evidentiality and authority Evidentiality is used to dispel doubts by presentingStatistics on increasing recoveries, making comparisons, downplaying infectionrates and deaths, and sometimes using specific verbs to inspire hope in residents

Authority strategy is employed to lend credibility to the ideological stanceexpressed in the report

Antonella (2021) examined the political discourse of Australian SenatorPauline Hanson, who belongs to the right-wing populist movement The focus was

on analyzing a collection of statements and news articles published on her officialwebsite regarding the impact of COVID-19 on Australian society and the economy.The study specifically investigated how actors and facts were portrayed, with aparticular emphasis on exploring how the COVID-19 crisis in 2020 was used to

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promote policies that favored native-born citizens while generating fears andblaming the Other' for the nation's issues The COVID-19 pandemic provided anopportunity for Hanson to target minorities and immigrants Similar to DonaldTrump's xenophobic rhetoric, Hanson exploited the COVID-19 crisis to foster anti-Chinese sentiments in Australia and legitimize her party's stance on immigration Inaddition, Hanson's populist language included criticizing international organizationssuch as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Furthermore, sheexpressed opposition to receiving a coronavirus vaccine and appeared to endorseconspiracy theories and misinformation.

In short, while government responses to COVID-19 have been widelyexplored elsewhere, research specifically examining Vietnam's approach is limited.A lot of research has been done on how Vietnam's government handled COVID-19,but not many studies have looked at how they communicated about it This includesfields like environmental science, public health, social aspects, and how the mediawas used

2.7 Concluding remarks

This chapter indicates systematically important concepts such asgovernment, the fourth wave of COVID-19 as well as research frameworks that arerelevant to the topic of the Vietnamese government’s response to COVID-19 andtheir construction in the collected discourse In addition, the areas in the previousresearch on COVID-19 were also taken into account in order that the gaps in the

existing research would be highlighted and addressed in the next chapter

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

This chapter outlines the approach to selecting data sources and filtering datafor the study and explains the design of the study It also presents the adoptedmethods and data, data analysis as applied in the investigation

3.1 Research questions revisited

Through the background of the study above, this paper is intended to answerthese two following questions:

(i) How was the response of the Vietnamese Government to the 4th wave of

COVID-19 represented linguistically?(ii) Why was it represented in such a way?3.2 Research approach and methods

This study employs CDA approach that focuses on the social practice ofdiscourse (Fairclough, 2009) Fairclough's approach to CDA is particularly well-suited to this study because it allows for the analysis of newspaper articles as socialproducts Newspaper articles are influenced by the social context in which they areproduced, the discursive practices of the journals in which they are published, andthe way they are written Faircloughs model of CDA helps us to understand thecomplex relationships between these three dimensions of discourse As Janks(1997) argues, these three dimensions are interconnected and can provide valuableinsights into the social and political context in which a text is produced and vice

versa.

The conceptual approach of this study deployed van Leeuwen’s (2008) socialaction framework and Halliday’s transitivity system Halliday’ transitivity systemprovided a roadmap to identify the types of processes and the social actor, the

Vietnamese Government Van Leeuwen’s selected strategies were adopted to describe the representation of Vietnamese Government’s actions This is helpful in

addressing the first research question

Additionally, to answer the second research question, Charteris-Black’s

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critical metaphor analysis and Van Leeuwen’s social action frameworks wereadopted A specific attention was paid to how social power is represented andcertain actions or policies are legitimized in the performances (i.e processes)ascribed to the social actors, and in word-meanings.

3.3 Data for analysis

Given that online newspapers such as Government News, Thanh Nien,VietnamNet, VNEconomy, and The Voice of Vietnam 5 functioned as the statenews agency that publishes, broadcasts official information and documents of the

Party and State; provides information in service of the Party’s leadership and the State’s management, consequently, these have been selected for an in-depth

qualitative analysis of Government pandemic discourse Online news was one of themain vehicles during the pandemic for the Vietnamese catch up on all the updatedCOVID-19 news and government’s plans and policies to contain the pandemic And

these news reports share a quite similar format, a summary of government directiveson controlling the pandemic mostly given by the Prime Minister or Head of theNational Steering Committee on COVID-19 prevention and control chairing theconference, followed by a brief report of the negative impact caused by theepidemic Twenty articles in English version published in the 7-month period fromApril to October by the official state news agencies such as Government News, VNEconomy, Thanh Nien, VietnamNet, and The Voice of Vietnam 5 were chosen forthis analysis The research was in English, therefore, the data source in English waspreferable for analysis purpose rather than one in Vietnamese The researchquestion is concerned with central government’s responses and the ways in whichthese actions and reactions are packaged and communicated to audiences It is not

focused on local government’s actions and the pandemic’s influence and therefore

this investigation is not concerned with the epidemic control measures carried outby the localities or the negative impact caused by the epidemic

A purposive sampling technique has been employed to narrow the number oftexts under analysis Critical issues that arose during the pandemic were, the

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