A critical discourse analysis of michelle obama’s speech on international women’ s day 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -  - NGUYỄN THANH NGA A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF MICHELLE OBAMA’S SPEECH ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2016 (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán diễn văn Michelle Obama vào ngày Quốc tế Phụ nữ năm 2016) M.A THESIS PROGRAMME I Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 Hanoi - 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -  - NGUYỄN THANH NGA A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF MICHELLE OBAMA’S SPEECH ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2016 (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán diễn văn Michelle Obama vào ngày Quốc tế Phụ nữ năm 2016) M.A THESIS PROGRAMME I Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 Supervisor : Prof NGUYỄN HÒA Hanoi - 2019 DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A critical discourse analysis of Michelle Obama’s speech on International Women’ s Day 2016”submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Ha Noi, 2019 Nguyễn Thanh Nga i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the fulfillment of this study, first and foremost, I would like to express my high appreciation to my supervisor, Prof Nguyễn Hòa, the lecturer at Faculty of Post- Graduate, ULIS, VNU for his valuable instructions, comments as well as his advice I also would like to send my thankfulness to all the lecturers of Faculty of Post- Graduate, ULIS, VNU for their training and assistance that help me to accomplish this M.A thesis Last but not least, my deep gratitude is towards to my family and my friends for their valuable support and encouragement ii ABSTRACT This study aims at investigating and figuring out the ideologies embedded in the speech delivered by First Lady of the 44 th U.S president, Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017 on International Women’s Day 2016 in Washington D.C.’s Union Market in front of dozens of adolescent girls in the Let Girls Learn from Critical Discourse Analysis (for short CDA) perspective In this study, the main dialectical – relational framework provided by Norman Fairclough is used to achieve its objective According to Fairclough’s CDA framework, the study conducts three major steps The analysis interprets data in three different levels: text analysis (description), processing analysis (interpretation) and social analysis (explanation) Each above phase can be sub- divided into three categories (experiential, relational, expressive) The conclusion supports her ideology that it is necessary that there be an equality for women in education across the globe, and she therefore calls for the approval and support from all corners of the world It also confirms the relationship between language and ideology in CDA and suggests some implications in language research and pedagogy iii CDA: SFG: MR: iv TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv TABLE OF CONTENT v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Scope of the study Aims of the study and research questions Methodology of the study Design of the thesis CHAPTER 2THEORETICAL BACKGROUND& LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of CDA 2.2 Principles of CDA 2.3 Some key concepts in CDA 2.4 Approaches to CDA .8 2.5 Review of previous studies 16 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 19 3.1 Reasons to choose the speech 19 3.2 Context of the speech 20 3.3 Data analysis procedure 21 3.4 Fairclough ’s CDA framework 21 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 v 4.1 Textual description and Analysis 26 4.1.1 Appreciating women’s achievements 26 4.1.2 Sympathizing with women’s inequality 28 4.1.3 Supporting with women’s equality in education 32 4.2 Interpretation of the relationship between the productive and interpretative processes 41 4.2.1 Interpretation of situational context 41 4.2.2 Intertextual context and presupposition 43 4.3 Explanation of the relationship between discourse processes and social processes 43 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 47 Recapitulation .47 Conclusion .48 Implications 49 Limitations 51 Recommendations 52 REFERENCES 53 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I APPENDIX X APPENDIX XXX APPENDIX XXXVIII APPENDIX XL vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 2.1 Discourse as text, interaction and context (Fairclough, 2001, p.21) 10 Table 2.1 Overview of process types (adapted from Halliday, 1994) .13 Table 2.2 Basic speech role (Thompson, 1996, p 40) 14 Table 2.3 Components of a multiple theme (adapted from Halliday, 1994, p.54) 15 Figure 3.1 Interpretation (Fairclough, 2001, p 119) 23 Figure 3.2 Explanation (Fairclough, 2001, p 36) 25 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This part includes rationale, scope, aims, methodology and design of the thesis Rationale It is clear that language is the most important characteristic of human society, and it plays an important role in demonstrating human social relationship Therefore, researching the relationship between language and human society has attracted many researchers’ attention, especially linguists’ Those who take interest in this relationship apply the knowledge in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA for short) to describe, interpret and explain these relationships According to Fairclough and Wodak (1997), that CDA addresses social issues is one of foundational principles of this critical approach Not only does it describe language but it also provides critical linguistic resources to linguists who want to discover social relations underlying in a wide number types of discourse in terms of both their linguistic factors and contexts This can help to uncover the relationship between language and human beings’ issues such as right, ideology or power Similarly, with the hope of conducting the study, I want to analyze Michelle Obama’s speech on International Women’s Day 2016 from CDA perspective This address is considered as a doctrine presented by Michelle Obama as First Lady of the US on behalf of all women around the world Through her speech, Michelle Obama hopes to emphasize the reasons why fighting for women’s rights and finding out the equality for all women, especially in education in the modern societyare absolutely indispensable More importantly, the study’s underlying aims is to illustrate CDA concepts and discover how language is encoded in the speech delivered by Michelle Obama on International Women’s Day 2016 in D.C The speech provokes a 46 I’m thankful 47 I’ve never faced anyth endure, like most wom 48 I know how it feels to someone only half lis 49 I’ve seen how these is on a national level in 51 in my lifetime -– and 70 I’ve seen it time and t 74 then here I show up w microphones in their 83 I’m passionate about 84 I truly see myself in th 85 I know 89 I have met countless m the world 104 I could go on and on 105 I’ve got my bracelets 132 I dream of being the Physics 175, I know 177, 180 179 I see it in your eyes 188 I want to close by tha have done in this y together 189 I look forward to continuing our work together in the months and years to come 190 And I cannot wait to see all the doors we will open, all the fortunes we transform for girls across the globe XXXII Instances of the use of “WE” in the text Clause Th We’ve got a lot to Day we mark the first ann today, we want to c progress we’ve mad seeing around girls’ e before we get started 21 We are lucky to hav administration 33 each of us here tod shared about how we - the moment our hea flare of outrage 34 we realized 35 62 million girls world smart and hard-work the opportunities that 55 today, it is so easy progress we’ve made 58 we let our guard dow 60 These freedoms that guaranteed in stone 93 we have been overwh XXXIII received 115 we’ll be launching media campaign next 116 we haven’t just insp States 120 today, just 12 months Learn, we’re seeing t around the world 121 We see it in the story Ethiopia 126 We see the impact of woman named Nourh 133 we’re seeing the impa girls worldwide, but o home 142 We’re in this together 143 Together we [can] ma 146 We’re in this together 151 in the coming months our call to action to s 152 We are going to be en 167 in the end, that’s ho problem XXXIV 171 we can this 172 we can make this kind 173 we keep putting in thi these girls deserve 174 we can get this done 176 we are all up to the ta 178 we are 190 I cannot wait to see a the fortunes we – and across the globe 192 XXXV we can get this done Sentence Thank Hey It is a 25 But m leader 26 Some Girls 27 some 28 and so issue 30 you a 45 And li 48 I know have s them assum taunts 50 You se 79 You se 86 many 152 We ar dads, many 153 XXXVI Becau real d 154 You ca action 155 You ca educa 156 After 157 you c educa 158 Or if y you to 159 you ca 162 you ca 164 And y out ho 166 as you 167 becau –- one you -181 you fe 187 and th 188 So I everyt contin XXXVII 191 You th 193 Thank Line 45-47 For me, Yousafza simple tr 47-49 More th dormitor getting a 50-52 Little gir forced to teenager 66-68 I know h have som 74-75 In my li fundame 76-78 In my lif between it is 81-82 so many risk of be 83 These iss 83-84 These fre stone 85-86 these rig women a XXXVIII 122-123 we have been overwhelmed by the response we’ve received 168-169 Fiker had learned about the dangers of early marriage from a USAID program she was involved in 172-173 We see the impact of our work in the story of a young woman named Nourhan in Egypt XXXIX APPENDIX Thematic analysis Sentence 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 XL 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 XLI More 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 XLII 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 XLIII 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 XLIV 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 XLV ... Obama? ?s speech on International Women? ?s Day 2016 are presented Chapter 4: Findings and discussion This chapter explores critical discourse analysis of Michelle Obama? ?s speech on International Women? ?s. .. CDA 2.1 Definitions of CDA Critical discourse analysis, abbreviated CDA, is a fairly new branch of linguistics CDA is ? ?a type of discourse analysis research that primarily studies the way social... proposes a definition of CDA, accepted and commonly used among CDA practitioners He defines CDA as discourse analysis that aims to systematically explore causal relationships and fuzzy decisions