A study on the use of framing devices in some vietnamese and american front pages

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN LINH CHI A STUDY ON THE USE OF FRAMING DEVICES IN SOME VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN FRONT PAGES (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC YẾU TỐ TẠO BỐ CỤC TRÊN MỘT SỐ MẶT BÁO VIỆT – MỸ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 HANOI, 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN LINH CHI A STUDY ON THE USE OF FRAMING DEVICES IN SOME VIETNAMESE AND AMERICAN FRONT PAGES (NGHIÊN CỨU CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC YẾU TỐ TẠO BỐ CỤC TRÊN MỘT SỐ MẶT BÁO VIỆT – MỸ) M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hoà, PhD HANOI, 2018 DECLARATION I, Nguyen Linh Chi, hereby certify that all material in my thesis, which is not, my own work has been identified and acknowledge The result of my research is the fulfillment of the requirement for Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies – University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi I commit that this M.A thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree Nguyen Linh Chi i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Nguyen Hoa, for his invaluable assistance, guidance and encouragement during the time I have tried to complete this thesis He consistently allowed this study to be my own work, but steered me in the right direction whenever he thought I needed it I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all lecturers of Department of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi Without their passionate and helpful lectures, my study could not have been successfully conducted I am in debt of many authors‟ works that help me to improve the quality of my research Last but not least, I must express my profound appreciation to my family for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement ii ABSTRACT This Master‟s Thesis is based on the combination of Fairclough‟s concept of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Kress and van Leeuwen‟s Social Semiotic Analysis (SSA) CDA has become a separate field within applied linguistics and is continuously modified to new phenomena, one of which is multimodal text The main purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of framing devices, integrating the CDA framework by Fairclough (1989) as well as to prove that multimodal analysis is now taking a prominent place in news media analysis This thesis aims to work out the definition and framework of framing, apply the framework for the analysis of some Vietnamese and American newspaper front pages and to analyze the journalists‟ choices in the use of verbal and visual devices on the discourse level The methodology used in this research includes critical review of the existing literature on CDA and SSA, introduction of framing devices, and application of the theoretical guidelines to study a collection of data The data consists of some Vietnamese and American newspaper front pages The findings obtained in this thesis confirm the position of multidimensional analysis in news discourse analysis, and sketch out the composition of power and ideological relations on the discourse level iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CDA Critical Discourse Analysis SSA Social Semiotic Analysis SFL Systemic Functional Linguistics iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Tables Table 35 Table 57 Figures Figure Figure 13 Figure 24 Figure 26 Figure 48 Figure 49 Figure 51 Figure 54 Figure 56 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of abbreviations iv List of tables and figures v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale Aims of the study 3 Scope of the study Research questions Methodology Structure of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 1.1.1 The notion of CDA 1.1.2 Fairclough‟s framework of CDA 1.2 Overview of Social Semiotic Analysis (SSA) 11 1.3 Framing 15 1.3.1 The notion of framing 15 1.3.2 Framing devices 19 1.3.2.1 Linguistic devices 20 1.3.2.2 Technical devices 21 1.3.3 Signifying the framework in layout 1.3.3.1 Information value 22 22 1.3.3.2 Salience 27 1.3.3.3 Technical framing devices 28 1.4 Newspaper front pages 29 1.4.1 The importance of front pages 29 1.4.2 Organizational influence on media content 30 1.5 Summary of the chapter 31 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 32 2.1 Critical Discourse Analysis framework 32 2.2 A qualitative content analysis 33 2.3 Data collection 34 2.4 Analytical framework 34 2.5 Summary of the chapter 36 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37 3.1 Analysis in terms of linguistic devices 37 3.1.1 Structural properties of headlines 38 3.1.1.1 Types of sentences 38 3.1.1.2 Verb tense and voice 40 3.1.1.3 The use of nominalizations 41 3.1.1.4 The omission of grammatical words 41 3.1.1.5 The use of stylistic means 42 3.1.2 Discourse and lexical properties of headlines 43 3.1.2.1 The events and participants of the events 43 3.1.2.2 The use of precise data 44 3.1.2.3 Quotations 44 3.1.2.4 The use of rhetorical questions 45 3.1.2.5 The use of metaphor-based word plays 46 3.2 Analysis in terms of technical devices 47 3.2.1 Front pages of The New York Times 47 3.2.2 Front pages of Tuyen Quang 52 3.3 Summary of the chapter 57 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation of the study 58 The Findings 58 Limitations and implications for further studies 62 REFERENCES 63 APPENDIX I APPENDIX VI Times belongs to a media company, Tuyen Quang is authorized by Tuyen Quang Provincial Party Committee so their purposes are dissimilar The Times mixes public and private events in a much higher level in comparison with Tuyen Quang The preponderance of the technical devices indicates that both newspaper intend to force the reader, who hope to immediately get his or her understanding, or who not have much time to read every detail of the page, to concentrate on the most significant issue Taking as a point of departure that the vividly salient elements will grab the reader‟s attention in the first place, it is reasonable to believe that the reader would enter the page by selecting one of the items in the center, probably the most highlighted headline at the upper part of the page or one goes with the biggest photo The analysis has captured the two dimensions of the communicative tools in some Vietnamese and American front pages, which are verbal and visual framing devices It assures that the informative and summarizing capacities are the most significant in this context, and that stylistic diversification can give way to playfulness and attractiveness Despite the fact that this study is far from thorough, it proposes that the combination of sign built on Fairclough‟s approach and the approach introduced by Kress and van Leeuwen could make the news media analysis more complete It is indeed useful as text or verbal analysis alone cannot discover the authority of the analysis that attempts to influence the audience for their own purposes The analysis of verbal and visual modes enables us to reveal the components within discourse, something which linguistic analysis cannot disclose Discourse can be considered a means of establishing, conceptualizing and representing the world Since journalists are regarded as „sense makers‟, it is crucial to recognize that they are capable of constructing the news in a way that it twists as much as it makes effort to “make sense of our world” (Reese 2001: 10) In conclusion, the idea of framing has become increasingly well known in media analysis After studying the different concepts and theories proposed by different analysts and a collection of newspaper front pages, I would affirm that framing is 61 the fundamental organizing idea for making sense of the events It helps journalists to deal with a huge amount of information and present the information in an efficient way to their readers A reality is packaged into an event, and then an event is packaged into a news story News frame is the means to help to locate, identify, label and understand that story News frame arranges everyday occurrence and news frame is an essential part of everyday occurrence, for the public quality of news is a crucial feature of news Limitations and implications for further studies Obviously, this research has severe limitations due to my lack of knowledge, a limited number of newspapers collected and the dissimilarities between the two papers that can result in the erroneous conclusion My attempt has not been to create generalizable conclusions, but to examine theoretical challenges in multimodality and visual social semiotics – a relatively new aspect of CDA in general and news study in particular, thus to help the journalists create more efficient products For the reader, being aware of how the news stories are constructed helps them understand the issues more accurately and completely Since there is only one reality but there are many different versions of truth presented by different newspaper, it is necessary to perceive one issue from different perspectives Again, I want to emphasize that the study of the interactions of the reader and newspapers should integrate theoretical knowledge of both CDA and visual social semiotics With the few instances I have not given an exhaustive study I hope that my work is able to give some points and ideas for further researches of this field, and some findings to support the declaration that framing devices plays an important role in the critical study of newspaper language The novelty of multimodal discourse arouses the research for cultural differences that rule the construction of multimodal discourse and for studying and teaching multimodal communicative competence 62 REFERENCES Bell, A (1991) Language of News Media Oxford: Blackwell Boeriis, M., & Nørgaard, N (2013) “Architectural Discourse: The material realization of framing and discourse in a university building”, RASK 38, 71-100 Entman, R M (1993) Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm Journal of communication, 43(4), 51-58 Entman, R M (2007) Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power Journal of communication, 57(1), 163-173 Fairclough, N (1989) Language and Power London: Longman Fairclough, N (1992) Discourse and Social Change Cambridge: Polity Press Fairclough, N (1995a) Media Discourse London: Arnold Fairclough, N (1995b) Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language London: Longman Fairclough, N (2003) Analyzing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research London: Routledge Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R (1995) Critical discourse analysis Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R (1997) Critical Discourse Analysis In P Simpson & A Mayr (Eds.), Language and Power London: Routledge Fowler, R (1985) Power In Van Dijk, T A (Ed) Handbook of Discourse Analysis, 4, 61–83 London: Academic Press Gamson, W.A., & Lasch, K.E (1983) “The political culture of social welfare policy”, in: Spiro, S.E., & Yutchtman-Yaar, E (Eds.) Evaluating the welfare state: Social and Political perspectives San Diego, CA: Academic Press Gamson, W.A., & Modigliani A (1987) “The changing culture of affirmative action”, in: Braungart, R.G., & Braungart, M.M (eds) Research in political sociology San Diego, CA: Academic Press Gamson, W.A., & Modigliani A (1989) Media Discourse and Public Opinion on Nuclear Power: A constructionist Approach The American Journal of Sociology 95, 1-37 63 Goffman, E (1974) Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience Cambridge: Harvard University Press Halliday, M (1994) An introduction to functional grammar (2ndedn.) London: Edward Arnold Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R (1976) Cohesion in English New York: Longman Keeble, R (1994) The Newspapers Handbook, London: Routledge Kelle, U., & Bird, K (Eds.) (1995) Computer-aided qualitative data analysis: Theory, methods and practice Sage Kress, G (1990) Linguistic processes in sociocultural practice Oxford University Press Kress, G (2003) Literacy in the new media age Routledge Kress, G (2010) Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication London: Routlege Kress, G and van Leeuwen, T (1998) “The (Critical) Analysis of Newspaper Layout” in A Bell and P Garret (eds.), Approaches to Media Discourse, 186-219 Oxford: Blackwell Kress, G R., & van Leeuwen, T (1996) Reading images: The grammar of visual design Psychology Press Kress, G., & Hodge, R (1979/1988) Language as ideology London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T (1996) “Front Pages: The critical analysis of newspaper layout”, in Approaches to Media Discourse, (Ed.) Bell, A & Garrett, P Chapter Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T (2006) Reading Images The Grammar of Visual Design (2ndedn.) London: Routledge Lennon, P (2004) Allusions in the Press: an Applied Linguistic Study Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9783110197334 Lester, P.M (2000) Visual Communication – Images with Messages Belmont: Wadswoth 64 McQuail, D (1994) Mass communication: An introduction (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Nørgaard, Nina (2016) “Framing.” In Key Terms in Multimodality: Definitions, Issues, Discussions, edited by Nina Nørgaard Reah, D., (1998) The Language of Newspapers Routledge Reese, S.D (2007) The Framing Project: A Bridging Model for Media Research Revisited Journal of Communication 57, 148-154 Reese, S.D., Gandy, O H., & Grant, A E (Eds.) (2003) Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Tuchman, G (1978) Making news A study in the construction of reality New York: Free Press Van Dijk, T A (ed.) (1995) Discourse as structure and process London: Sage Van Gorp, B (2005) Where is the Frame? Victims and Intruders in the Belgian Press Coverage of the Asylum Issue European Journal of Communication, 20, 484507 Van Gorp, B (2007) The constructionist approach to framing: Bringing culture back in Journal of Communication, 57(1) Van Leeuwen, T (2005) Introducing Social Semiotics London/New York: Routledge Wimmer R.D., & Dominick J.R (2006) Mass Media Research An Introduction (8th ed.) Canada: Thomson Wadsworth 65 APPENDIX 1: Samples of Tuyen Quang newspaper front pages Sample I Sample II Sample III Sample IV Sample V APPENDIX 2: Samples of the New York Times newspaper front pages Sample VI Sample VII Sample VIII Sample IX Sample X ... framing devices, and application of the theoretical guidelines to study a collection of data The data consists of some Vietnamese and American newspaper front pages The findings obtained in this thesis... This thesis aims to work out the definition and framework of framing, apply the framework for the analysis of some Vietnamese and American newspaper front pages and to analyze the journalists‟... the use of framing devices in some Vietnamese and American newspaper front pages The theories of the study is based on the analytic paradigm of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) proposed by Fairclough