A contrastive study of attitudinal resources in english and vietnamese news report towards plastic straws

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY TỐNG MỸ LINH A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ATTITUDINAL RESOURCES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NEWS REPORTS ON PLASTIC STRAWS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: Assoc.Prof.Dr NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN TỐNG MỸ LINH SO SÁNH ĐỐI CHIẾU NGHĨA THÁI ĐỘ VỀ ỐNG HÚT NHỰA TRÊN BÁO TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT Chuyên ngành : Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số : 8220201 Người hướng dẫn: PGS TS NGUYỄN THỊ THU HIỀN STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis A Contrastive Study of Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese News Reports on Plastic Straws contains no material extracted or published elsewhere except where reference is made in the study This thesis has not been submitted for any degree and is not currently being submitted for any other degree or award Binh Dinh, 2020 Tong My Linh ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many individuals who have heartened me in various ways to achieve my accomplishment today I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien for giving me the opportunity to research and providing invaluable guidance throughout this thesis Without her timely enlightenment, my M.A journey could have been interrupted Her dynamism, vision, dedication and motivation have deeply inspired me She has taught me the methodology to carry out the research and present the research as clearly as possible It is really a great privilege and honor to work and study under her guidance Additionally, I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to all of my lecturers who play a significant role in nurturing my interest in linguistic research They have provided me with interesting and useful lectures and created favorable conditions for me to enhance my skills and widen my horizon of the knowledge of Linguistics for the past two years Next, my sincere thanks go to all of my classmates, M.A students of English course 21st at Quy Nhon University, who supported me during the time we took the course together Last but absolutely not least, from the bottom of my heart, I owe my debt to my family for their unconditional love and tremendous encouragement Without their supports, I could not have overcome all the challenges and obstacles on my academic pathway ABSTRACT The thesis applied Appraisal Theory in a contrastive analysis of Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese news reports on plastic straws The data is composed of 20 news reports (10 in English and 10 in Vietnamese) collected from reliable online websites The study aims at discovering the similarities and differences between the two languages regarding Attitudinal resources, namely Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation The research outcomes indicated that the deployment of the Attitudinal resources in the English and Vietnamese corpus shared certain similarities such as the occurrence of all types of Attitudinal values and the more common employment of Positive and Explicit resources than Negative and Implicit ones Despite the aforementioned similarities between the two languages, a number of differences were observed in terms of Affect and Judgment The study hopefully provides the language learners useful knowledge of Appraisal and the features of the evaluative language employed by English and Vietnamese writers in their news reports ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ABBREVIATIONS Aff App : Affect Auth Cap : Authorial Comp : Appreciation: Composition EPSNRs : English plastic straws news reports Exp : Explicit Hap : Affect: Un/Happiness Imp : Implicit Inc Judg : Affect: Dis/Inclination Non-Auth Nor : Non-Authorial Prop : Judgment: Propriety Reac : Appreciation: Reaction Sat Sec : Affect: Dis/Satisfaction Ten : Judgment: Tenacity Val : Appreciation: Valuation Ver VPSNRs (-) (+) : Appreciation : Judgment: Capacity : Judgment : Judgment: Normality : Affect: In/Security : Judgment: Veracity : Vietnamese plastic straws news reports : Negative : Positive CONVENTIONS Italics are used for quotes, technical terms, emphasis, and examples Bold is deployed to mark the first use of technical terms In the numbered examples: Bold marks the use of what is being demonstrated TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES Table Explicit and Implicit Appreciation resources in EPSNRs and VPSNRs 54 LIST OF FIGURES belief in straw bans since straw bans alone are not the final solution to reduce waste, and it just helps to control the number of plastic straws hurled into the environment In addition, Composition appears in both EPSNRs and VPSNRs to show the difficulty consumers as well as companies encounter in making efforts to give up using plastic straws [E120] Replacing them was difficult [-App-Comp] from a business standpoint [V224] Ống hút tre nhẹ, gọn, tiện, rẻ khó khăn [-App-Comp] để làm loại vật liệu lấy từ mặt đất, nơi tiềm tàng nhiều mầm bệnh nguy hiểm It is apparent that the adjective difficult in [E120] expresses the hardship some businesses face up to if they want to substitute other straws for plastic ones Even when some alternatives for plastic straws are discovered, some potential risks can be found, which is seen via khó khăn in [V224] It is clear that despite some advantages, bamboo straws bear some downsides, one of which is the cleaning process Valuation considered the most common Appreciation value is used to show characteristics of plastic straws as well as their alternatives In English, there are some cases in which English writers apply adjectives to express properties of both plastic and straw alternatives [E162] Plastic straws are bad [-App-Val] [E202] It's really small [-App-Val] [E116] But straw alternatives are not perfect [-App-Val] The adjectives such as bad in [E162] and small [E202] show the downsides of plastic straws In addition, perfect in [E116] is used in negative to express the disadvantages of alternatives for straws It is clear that Valuation Appreciation is also deployed in Vietnamese data, which can be shown in the following examples [V180] tiếp đó, ống hút nhựa sản phẩm tiện dụng[+App-Val] dùng hàng triệu lần ngày [V205] ống hút nhựa tạo với chi phí siêu thấp [+AppVal] It is apparent that tiện dụng in [V180] and siêu thấp in [V205] are applied to express advantages of plastic straws which help them become more and more popular 4.4.2 Positive and Negative Appreciation resources in EPSNRs and VPSNRs Appreciation can be either positive or negative In other words, the writers in two languages can evaluate objects positively or negatively Figure 4.6 gives the distribution of Positive and Negative Appreciation in EPSNRs and VPSNRs EPSNRs VPSNRs ■ Positive ■ Negative ■ Positive ■ Negative Figure Positive and Negative Appreciation resources in EPSNRs and VPSNRs As presented in Figure 4.6, both Vietnamese and English writers share the same linguistics features They are inclined to apply more Positive Appreciation than Negative one in their reports In detail, the proportion of Positive values in VPSNRs is higher than that in EPSNRs with 57.4% and 54% respectively However, EPSNRs possess a larger number of Negative Appreciation resources with 46% than EPSNRs making up 43% The following examples show the use of Negative and Positive Appreciation in English data [E87] “You know, it's interesting [+App+Reac] about plastic straws: so, you have a little straw, but what about the plates, the wrappers, and everything else that are much bigger and they 're made of the same material? [E120] Replacing them was difficult [-App+Comp] from a business standpoint It is obvious that the adjective interesting in [E87] is applied to show the positive attitude towards plastic straws It is worth the attention that the current president of the United States claims an optimistic viewpoint towards plastic straws In contrast, difficult in [E120] expresses the negative aspect involving some obstacles businesses deal with in the replacing process of plastic straws In Vietnamese data, Negative and Positive Appreciation resources are also deployed, which can be seen in [V153] [V306] and [V307] [V153] Khơng cửa hàng muốn thay đổi nhiều vấn đề mà q trình nói khơng với đồ nhựa dùng lần trở nên khó khăn [-App+Comp] [V306] [V307] Lối sống khơng dùng ống hút nhựa xưa [-App+Val] thật văn minh [+App+Val] It is obvious that khó khăn in [V153] is employed to express the hardship some food stalls face in the process of replacing plastic straws with other products Besides, xưa and văn minh are utilized positively to indicate that the lifestyle, which is seemingly old, but civilized since people refuse to use plastic straws in the daily life for the sake of the environment and their health 4.4.3 Explicit and Implicit Appreciation resources in EPSNRs and VPSNRs Similar to judging people’s behavior, evaluating inanimate things can be explicit or implicit In terms of Appreciation, both Explicit and Implicit values can be found in EPSNRs and VPSNRs The following table shows the distribution of Explicit and Implicit Appreciation in both languages Table Explicit and Implicit Appreciation resources in EPSNRs and VPSNRs EPSNRs VPSNRs Types of Appreciation Instances Percentage Instances Percentage Explicit 120 87.6% 167 91.3% Implicit 17 12.4% 16 8.7% Total 137 100% 183 100% As presented in Table 4.5, both English and Vietnamese writers are prone to apply more Explicit Appreciation than Implicit ones in their reports Particularly, in EPSNRs 120 instances of Explicit resources are found, making up 87.6%, whereas there are only 17 instances of Implicit values with 12.4% Similarly, in VPSNRs, the writers are inclined towards their evaluation explicitly with 167 instances, accounting for 91.3% while only 16 Implicit Appreciation values can be found with 8.7% The following examples of Explicit Appreciation serve to illustrate the findings [E49] At first glance, bans on plastic straws might seem simple [+App-Exp] [V180] Tiếp đó, ống hút nhựa sản phẩm tiện dụng [+App-Exp] dùng hàng triệu lần ngày It is noticeable that both Vietnamese writers and English writers apply Explicit Appreciation to express the issues involved in plastic straws While simple in [E49] shows the complexity of plastic straws bans, tiện dụng in [V180] indicates the advantages of plastic straws explicitly Although Implicit Appreciation instances are inferior to Explicit Appreciation ones in the news reports, they make a significant contribution to provoking readers’ thinking The following examples serve to illustrate Implicit Appreciation more clearly [E242] The humble plastic drinking straw has become the villain [-App-Imp] of the moment for environmental crusaders [V178] Tại nhựa mà rõ ống hút nhựa lại bị đem lên đoạn đầu đài [-App-Imp]? It is worth the attention that villain in [E242] is employed implicitly and impressively to express the downside of plastic straws that are seemingly small but pose serious threats and far-reaching impacts on the nature As a result, people are striving for eliminating such detrimental products in their life, which can be illustrated through đoạn đầu đài in [V178] To summarize, the findings indicate that three types of Appreciation are employed in both EPSNRs and VPSNRs Impressively, Appreciation resources are often mainly realized via adjectives, and most Implicit Appreciation values are indicated through nouns Specifically, Valuation takes a dominant proportion in the two languages, which shows the properties of plastic straws The authors as well as individuals tend to express their opinions on the phenomenon rather than its emotional impacts In terms of Positive and Negative values, both Vietnamese and English writers are inclined to apply more Positive Appreciation than Negative one in their reports to express undeniably certain advantages of plastic straws as well as their alternatives Regarding Explicit and Implicit Appreciation, two groups of writers are prone to apply more Explicit values than Implicit ones; however, English authors are not reluctant to apply more Implicit in their reports than Vietnamese counterparts, which shows their tendency to make phenomena and objects become more animate CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS This final chapter aims at making a synopsis of the research outcomes and recommending implications for English language teaching and learning In addition, the shortcomings of the study and suggestions for further studies are also mentioned 5.1 Conclusions As stated in the previous chapter, the research, A Contrastive Study of Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese News Reports on Plastic Straws, is centered on identifying the Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese news reports towards plastic straws and their rate of occurrence and discussing the similarities and discrepancies regarding the Attitudinal resources in the news reports Attitude is one of the three systems in Appraisal Theory, and is categorized into three sub-types, namely Affect, Judgment, and Appreciation Each sub-system of Attitude is then sub-classified into many interrelated sets of Appraisal values The findings of the study have revealed that all of the resources in the sub-systems of Attitude appear in the corpora, which are composed of news reports on plastic straws written by two groups of English and Vietnamese authors In general, there are more similarities than differences uncovered in the research The dissimilarities still exist, yet they are secondary In terms of Affect, the findings claim the occurrence of four sub-types of Affect in EPSNRs and VPSNRs The Affect resources which are utilized by English and Vietnamese writers follow the same ranking patterns of frequency, from the highest to the lowest, as follows: Dis/Inclination, In/Security, Dis/Satisfaction, Un/Happiness, which shows that not only English writers but also Vietnamese authors intend to show the inclination of themselves as well as the public towards the social issue - plastic straws Moreover, Affect resources are realized mainly via verbs and adjectives in both English and Vietnamese news reports Noticeably, concerning Dis/Inclination Affect, verbs make up the majority Besides, Positive Affect and Non-Authorial Affect are preferred to Negative Affect and Authorial Affect by two groups of authors to convey their own emotions as well as the feelings of governments, businesses, activists and the public towards plastic straws It does not mean that they are in favor of plastic straws; instead, Positive Affect is applied to mainly show optimistic viewpoints of the whole society in the struggle against such products Apart from some certain resemblances, differences still exist in terms of Affect resources Vietnamese writers incline to use more Authorial Affect, which shows first person is remained to retain the sense of objectivity of the reports in which emotions and feelings of the speakers can be expressed directly As regards Judgment, the news reports involved all five sub-types, namely Normality, Capacity, Tenacity, Veracity, and Propriety Judgement resources are mainly realized via adjectives, followed by modal verbs Impressively, most Implicit Judgement values are indicated through nouns It is more noticeable that the proportion of some sub-types in EPSNRs is similar and even identical in VPSNRs Specifically, the two groups of authors prefer the Capacity and Tenacity Judgment to the other kinds of Judgment This result reveals that Vietnamese and English writers incline to give evaluations on capability and determinations of humans in the struggle against plastic straws Additionally, it is apparent that both English and Vietnamese writers tend to employ more Positive Judgement resources than the Negative Positive Judgment is employed to indicate a bright future in which the government, businesses and individuals can take hands to ban such harmful products To reach the goal, the government should make efforts to encourage citizens to change their habit of using plastic straws; businesses should be aware of their own responsibility for the environment and consumers ought to be determined to give up their daily practices for a better prospect Additionally, Vietnamese writers and English authors incline to employ more instances of Explicit Judgement values than Implicit Judgement ones, which may be because the authors have their intention of expressing evaluations on human directly so that they can get their messages across to the readers With respect to Appreciation, three sub-types of Appreciation are employed in both EPSNRs and VPSNRs Specifically, Valuation takes a dominant proportion in the two languages, Reaction ranks second and Composition is the least common Appreciation value It is possible that the authors of English and Vietnamese news reports incline to focus on evaluating the characteristics of plastic straws and their alternatives Additionally, both English writers and Vietnamese authors incline to apply more the Positive Appreciation than the Negative Appreciation in their reports On one hand, the writers take a fancy to give remarks on the undeniably certain advantages of plastic straws as well as their alternatives On the other hand, Negative Appreciation serves to indicate drawbacks plastic straws possess and the threats they pose on the environment Besides, the Explicit Appreciation resources are preferable since the authors are prone to get their messages across to readers in a clear way rather than implicitly However, more Implicit values are applied by English authors than Vietnamese counterparts, which expresses that some English writers are keen on taking advantages of the Implicit to make inanimate objects become more human, catching the interest of the audience 5.2 Implications The study aimed at uncovering sub-types of Attitudinal resources as well as indicating the similarities and differences in the use of these sub-types between EPSNRs and VPSNRs in the light of Appraisal Theory Hopefully the findings of the study can be of help to language learners This study will widen their knowledge of Appraisal and the features of the evaluative language employed by English and Vietnamese writers in their news reports Additionally, the English data utilized in this study were collected from reliable sources by the native writers, so this study can be practical for learners of English in applying the evaluative language in their writing Besides, the learners can also consider the information given by the news reports as useful sources involving advantages and disadvantages of plastic straws and other kinds of straws, thereby applying them in writing and debating Furthermore, learners of Vietnamese can take advantage of this study as a reliable reference in discovering how evaluative language can be used to give assessments in Vietnamese 5.3 Limitations of the study It is irrefutable that the study is subjected to unavoidable limitations First, the Appraisal Theory is composed of three domains, precisely Attitude, Engagement and Graduation; however, this study focuses on the Attitudinal resources only, leaving the others unearthed Second, Appraisal Theory is considered a developing theory and some Appraisal values are interconnected; as a result, confusion emerged when classifying the Appraisal resources into suitable categories Third, the corpus of data is collected within only 20 English and Vietnamese news reports downloaded from some websites on the Internet; therefore, the data may not be comprehensive enough to reflect the reality of how English and Vietnamese writers apply Attitudinal resources in their writing Besides, due to the limit of time, reference materials as well as constraints faced by the researcher, the study may have some shortcomings However, the author has made every attempt in eliminating the downsides to ensure the validity and reliability of the study 5.4 Suggestions for further research As mentioned above, the study has left some dimensions of Appraisal untouched As a result, some recommendations for further research and studies can be shown as follows: - An analysis of Engagement resources in English and Vietnamese News Reports on Plastic Straws - An analysis of Graduation resources in English and Vietnamese News Reports on Plastic Straws - Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese News Reports on other social issues SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH Nguyen Thi Thu Hien & Tong My Linh (2020) Appreciation in English and Vietnamese News Reports towards Plastic Straws QNU Journal of Science REFERENCES [1] Cambridge University (1995) Cambridge advanced learner's dictionary 5th edition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [2] Eggins, S (1994) An Introduction to 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Website Retrieved from http://www.grammatics.com/appraisal/appraisalguide/unframed/stage1attitude-affect.htm ... pathway ABSTRACT The thesis applied Appraisal Theory in a contrastive analysis of Attitudinal resources in English and Vietnamese news reports on plastic straws The data is composed of 20 news reports... ten English news reports and ten Vietnamese news reports on plastic straws from online national and international newspapers and grouping them into categories: English news reports on plastic straws. .. data analysis, the reliability and validity of the research Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion deals with the analysis and the findings of the study The study analyzes and discusses Attitudinal