A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN TED TALKS ON EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN TED TALKS ON EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Field: English Linguistics Code: 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGÔN NGỮ TRONG CÁC BÀI TED TALKS VỀ GIÁO DỤC THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS.TS Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền I STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis with the title “A Study on Linguistic Features in TED Talks on Education from the Perspective of Functional Grammar” is entirely my own original work In addition, I emphasize that this thesis has not been submitted for any purposes in any materials Any works of other authors consulted in this thesis are listed in the reference Quy Nhon, 2019 NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This master thesis would not have been accomplished in time without the huge assistance of all individuals around me First and foremost, I own thanks to my wonderful supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, who has devoted her time and effort to guiding and giving invaluable counsel for me in spite of her huge workload Without her enthusiasm, encouragement and horizons, I cannot take shape my master thesis Secondly, I am deeply grateful to all lecturers not only from Quy Nhon University (QNU) but also from other universities for their whole-hearted contribution to sharpening my academic knowledge during the previous semesters Thirdly, I would like to sincerely thank for the cooperation and support of the Department of Postgraduate Training and the Department of Foreign Languages of QNU Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my mom who has never ceased to support, motivate and assist me with tons of work at home so that I can wholeheartedly concentrate on my thesis My honest thanks will be sent to my friends who are willing to stand by me when I need their assistance during the period of carrying out this thesis Quy Nhon, 2019 III ABSTRACT In recent decades, functional grammar has never ceased to draw linguists’ attention With the same concern, this study is carried out with an aim to find out the linguistic features of TED Talks on education (TToE) in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar In particular, the study deals with realizing the three metafunctions including experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning To conduct this study, the combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is employed to serve the process of finding the best results In addition, twenty TED Talks on education, each of which lasts less than 15 minutes, are carefully chosen from the TED website to form the data set The study denotes amazing results concerning the three meanings found in TED Talks In details, as for experiential meaning, the tendency in the use of relational process and material process is more favored than other processes by presenters in TToE In terms of the interpersonal meaning, declarative clauses presenting Mood and modal verbs as a type of Modality are utilized with the higher rate than the others Regarding textual meaning, unmarked topical themes become the dominant theme type among the others Indeed, these results are expected to significantly contribute to addressing the gap in previous studies related to functional grammar and becoming a helpful material for teachers and learners of English who are interested in studying with TED platform IV TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS II ABSTRACT III TABLE OF CONTENT IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI LIST OF TABLES VII LIST OF FIGURES VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aim and Objectives 1.2.1 Aim of the Study 1.2.2 Objectives of the Study 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Scope of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 Design of the Study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Discourse and Discourse Analysis 2.1.1 Discourse 2.1.2 Discourse Analysis 2.2 Systemic Functional Grammar 2.2.1 Experiential Meaning 2.2.2 Interpersonal Meaning 13 2.2.3 Textual Meaning 16 2.3 Previous Studies 17 V CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 22 3.1 Research Methods 22 3.2 Data Collection and Description 22 3.3 Data Analysis 23 3.4 Research Procedures 24 3.5 Reliability and Validity of the Study 24 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 4.1 Experiential meaning in TED talks on education 26 4.1.1 Process types 28 4.1.2 Circumstances 39 4.2 Interpersonal meaning in TED talks on education 44 4.2.1 Mood system in TED talks on education 44 4.2.2 Modality system in TED talks on education 49 4.3 Textual meaning in TED talks on education 54 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 61 5.1 Conclusions 61 5.2 Implications 62 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further researches 63 REFERENCES 64 APPENDICES i APPENDIX A DATA: LIST OF 20 TED TALKS i APPENDIX B SAMPLE ANALYSIS iv VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFG Systemic Functional Grammar TToE TED Talks on Education VII LIST OF TABLES Table Title number Page number 2.1 Types of circumstances 13 2.2 Primary speech functions 14 2.3 System of types of modality 15 4.1 Occurrence of modal verbs in TToE 50 4.2 Occurrence of modal adjuncts in TToE 52 4.3 Occurrence of Theme types in TToE 55 VIII LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title number Page number 2.1 The relation of modality to polarity and mood 15 4.1 The frequency of process types in TToE 27 4.2 Occurrence of Circumstances in TToE 39 4.3 Mood types in TToE 45 4.4 The frequency of modality in TToE 49 61 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS This chapter is responsible for summarizing the typical outcomes of the study and then coming to the conclusions After that, recommendations for further researches as well as some limitations of the thesis are also revealed 5.1 Conclusions This thesis “A study on linguistic features in TED Talks on education from the perspective of functional grammar” is conducted with an attempt to find out the three metafunctions including experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning in TToE in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar which was evolved by Halliday (1994) The three metafunctions are mainly analyzed with the foundation of Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) By using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the writer comes to the final conclusions: Regarding Experiential meaning, relational process is the typical process used most in TToE, which aims to offer truth, concepts of related issues in each topic and describe the happening events Although material processes are employed less popularly than Relational processes, activities and events taking place in outer world and the doers who carry them out are exposed vividly in the talks A variety of Circumstances occur in TToE but Circumstances of Location (time and place) are the most favorable ones that speakers employ In terms of Interpersonal meaning, from the analysis of Mood in chapter 4, it can be confirmed that declarative mood is used most in TToE, followed by interrogative mood and then imperative mood type This indicates that providing information is the main aim of speakers In addition, using a variety of modal verbs and mood adjuncts serves to make the talks become more 62 lively and interesting Besides Mood, Interpersonal Meaning is also expressed through Modality In TToE, two elements helping to identify Modality are modal verbs and Mood Adjuncts They serve to express speakers’ attitudes, emotions and viewpoints when he or she talks about an issue in each talk The dominant group of Modal verbs is low value group with can, could, may, might and the most mood adjunct subtype employed in TToE is probability, which shows the uncertainty in speech about discussed matters or the guess of presenters about things that is happening Sometimes, it also expresses the ways that each presenter performs in his or her speech The last meaning discussed in this study is Textual meaning The use of major unmarked Topical Theme and other theme types like Interpersonal Themes and Textual Theme shows that most educational talks under investigation ensure the coherence and cohesiveness of their talks Indeed, the common use of Topical Theme rank first in the list of themes under investigation In Topical Themes, Unmarked Topical Themes take up to a high proportion while Marked Themes only account for a humble number of occurrence in 20 surveyed educational TED Talks Although Interpersonal Themes are less popular in TToE, they still contribute partly in ensuring the connection, coherence and cohesion of the talks 5.2 Implications When doing this study, the author hopefully gives many interesting, useful, valuable and meaningful to the research world in general as well as to the learners of English in particular From the detailed analysis of each meaning under the light of functional grammar, this study is expected to help researchers, learners of English and those who concern have more information about the linguistic features of language employed in TED talks 63 on education For researchers, they can have one more material serving their further research related to this field For students learning English, especially in linguistics, this study would hopefully be a useful tool for them to enhance speaking skills by noticing the characteristics that renowned speakers use in their talks 5.3 Limitations and suggestions for further researches As functional grammar is a broad field, the author just focuses on three metafunctions in English TED talks This may not help so much for learners who want to know about linguistic characteristics in Vietnamese and they not have a comparison between English and Vietnamese talks In addition, the sample collection is just 20 talks, which cannot generalize all TToE For further researches, researchers can make a comparison in terms of three metafunctions between English and Vietnamese in educational TED Talks, which supports translating In addition, researchers may carry out the data covering other topics like economy, environment, technology, etc or make a random choice of TED Talks to create the variety in study 64 REFERENCES ENGLISH Bloor, T., & Bloor, M (1995) The Functional Analysis of English: A Hallidayan Approach London: Arnold Brown, G., & Yule, G (1983) Discourse analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Butt, D., Fahey, R., Feez, S., Spinks, S., & Yallop, C (2000) Using Functional Grammar: An Explorer's Guide Sydney: National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research Carlo, G S (2014) The role of proximity in online popularizations: The case of TED talks Discourse Studies, 16(5), 591 –606 Chang, Y J., & Huang, H T (2015) Exploring TED Talks as a Pedagogical Resource for Oral Presentations: A Corpus-Based Move Analysis English Teaching and Learning, 29-62 Cook, G (1989) Discourse Oxford: Oxford University Press Coulthard, M (1985) An introduction to discourse analysis England: Pearson Education Limited Drasovean, A., & Tagg, C (2015) Evaluative Language and Its SolidarityBuilding Role on TED.com: An Appraisal and Corpus Analysis 1-15 Drid, T (2010) Discourse analysis: Key concepts and perspectives 20-25 Fearn, L., & Farnan, N (2007) When Is a Verb? Using Functional Grammar to Teach Writing Journal of Basic Writing, 26(1), 63-87 Feng, Z (2013) Functional Grammar and Its Implications for English Teaching and Learning English Language Teaching, 6(10), 86-94 Fincham, J C (2001) Using system functional grammar in the media classroom: increasing studnents' ability to produce and analyse media texts A journal for language learning, 17(2), 23-36 Halliday, M A K (1994) An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd ed.) London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Limited Halliday, M A K., & Matthiessen, C (2004) An Introduction to Functional Grammar (3th ed.) London: Hodder Arnold Lopes, J., Trancoso, I., & Abad, A (2011) A Nativeness Classifier for TED Talks 5672-5675 Martin, J R., Matthiessen, C M I M., & Painter, C (1997) Working with Functional Grammar London: Arnold Montes, P A G., Barboza, A M S., & Olascoaga, A I L (2014) Systemic Functional Linguistics and Discourse Analysis as Alternatives When Dealing With Texts PROFILE, 16(2), 101-116 65 Morley, G D (2000) Syntax in Functional Grammar: An Introduction to Lexicogrammar in systemic linguistics London: Continuum Nunan, D (1993) Introducing discourse analysis London: Penguin Ratanakul, S (2017) A Study of Problem-Solution Discourse: Examining TED Talks through the Lens of Move Analysis Rong, R (2017) The Application of Discourse Analysis in Reading Comprehension International Journal of Liberal Arts and Social Science, 5(5), 56-60 Rubenstein, L D (2012) Using TED Talks to Inspire Thoughtful Practice The Teacher Educator, 47, 261–267 Schiffrin, D (1994) Approaches to discourse Oxford: Blackwell Schleppegrell, M J (2004) The language of schooling: A Functional Linguistics Perspective New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Symons, C (2015) Investigating Functional Grammar Analysis as an Instructional Tool for Meaning-Making with Fourth-Grade English Learners University of Michigan Thompson, G (1996) Introducing Functional Grammar (3th ed.) Oxon: Routledge To, V T (2015) Linguistic Complexity in English Textbooks: A Functional Grammar Perspective University of Tasmania Ton, N M N (2005) A discourse analysis of travel advertisement in English and Vietnamese (Unpublished Ph.D Thesis), Vietnam National University, Ha Noi Uicheng, K., & Crabtree, M (2018) Macro Discourse Markers in TED Talks: How Ideas are Signaled to Listeners PASAA, 55, 1-31 Wingrove, P (2017) How suitable are TED talks for academic listening? Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 30, 79-95 Xu, T., & Zhang, B (2015) Functional Grammar and Teaching of Reading A Pedagogy Based on Graded Teaching of College English in China English Language Teaching, 8(7), 200-205 VIETNAMESE Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền (2016) Cấu trúc Đề - Thuyết phân tích diễn ngơn, Hà Nội: Nxb Lao động – Xã hội i APPENDICES APPENDIX A DATA: LIST OF 20 TED TALKS Talk Title Speaker reasons to John learn a new McWhorter language ways to kill your dreams Bel Pesce 6.11 Teach statistics before calculus Arthur Benjamin 2.58 What we don’t teach kids about sex Sue Jaye Johnson 7.19 Life Gever Tulley lessons through tinkering What Claudia would Aguirre happen if you didn’t sleep? How peer Thea educators Holcomb can transform sex education High Malcolm school London training Length 10.01 4.05 4.19 4.23 3.00 Event TED2016 Source https://www.ted.co m/talks/john_mcwh orter_4_reasons_to _learn_a_new_lang uage TEDGlobal https://www.ted.co 2017 m/talks/bel_pesce_ 5_ways_to_kill_yo ur_dreams TED 2009 https://www.ted.co m/talks/arthur_benj amin_s_formula_fo r_changing_math_e ducation TED https://www.ted.co Recidency m/talks/sue_jaye_j 2017 ohnson_what_we_ don_t_teach_kids_ about_sex TED 2009 https://www.ted.co m/talks/gever_tulle y_s_tinkering_scho ol_in_action TED-Ed https://www.ted.co 2015 m/talks/claudia_ag uirre_what_would_ happen_if_you_did n_t_sleep TEDxSaltLa https://www.ted.co keCity 2015 m/talks/thea_holco mb_how_peer_edu cators_can_transfor m_sex_education TED Talks Education 2013 https://www.ted.co m/talks/malcolm_l ondon_high_school ii 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ground The genius of Marie Curie Shohini Ghose 4.43 TED-Ed Hands-on science with squishy circuits A 12-yearold app developer AnnMarie Thomas 4.08 TED2011 Thomas Suarez 4.40 Easy DIY projects for kid engineers How playing an instrument benefits your brain Does grammar matter? Fawn Qiu 7.03 Anita Collins 4.29 Andreea Calude 4.23 Looking for a job? Highlight your ability, not your experience The boost students need to overcome obstacles tips to improve Jason Shen 6.30 Anindya Kundu 7.05 Samantha Agoos 4.15 _training_ground https://www.ted.co m/talks/shohini_gh ose_the_genius_of _marie_curie https://www.ted.co m/talks/annmarie_t homas_squishy_cir cuits TEDxManha https://www.ted.co ttanBeach m/talks/thomas_sua rez_a_12_year_old _app_developer TEDReciden https://www.ted.co cy 2016 m/talks/fawn_qiu_e asy_diy_projects_f or_kid_engineers TED-Ed https://www.ted.co 2014 m/talks/anita_collin s_how_playing_an _instrument_benefi ts_your_brain TED-Ed https://www.ted.co 2016 m/talks/andreea_s_ calude_does_gram mar_matter TED https://www.ted.co Residency m/talks/jason_shen 2017 _looking_for_a_job _highlight_your_ab ility_not_your_exp erience TED Residency 2017 TED-Ed 2016 https://www.ted.co m/talks/anindya_ku ndu_the_boost_stu dents_need_to_ove rcome_obstacles https://www.ted.co m/talks/samantha_a iii 18 19 20 your critical thinking Making sound visible through cymatics What soccer can teach us about freedom How we’ll find life on other planets Evan Grant 4.39 TEDGlobal 2009 Marc Bamuthi Joseph 5.41 TEDGlobal 2017 Aomawa Shields 5.25 TED2015 goos_5_tips_to_im prove_your_critical _thinking https://www.ted.co m/talks/evan_grant _cymatics https://www.ted.co m/talks/marc_bamu thi_joseph_what_s occer_can_teach_u s_about_freedom https://www.ted.co m/talks/aomawa_sh ields_how_we_ll_fi nd_life_on_other_p lanets iv APPENDIX B SAMPLE ANALYSIS Clause division in Talk 14 DOES GRAMMAR MATTER? (TALK 14) [1] You're telling a friend an amazing story, [2] and you just get to the best part [3] when suddenly he interrupts, "The alien and I," not "Me and the alien." [4] Most of us would probably be annoyed, [5] but aside from the rude interruption, does your friend have a point? [6] Was your sentence actually grammatically incorrect? [7] And if he still understood it, [8] why does it even matter? [9] From the point of view of linguistics, grammar is a set of patterns [10] for how words are put together to form phrases or clauses, [11] whether spoken or in writing [12] Different languages have different patterns [13] In English, the subject normally comes first, followed by the verb, and then the object, [14] while in Japanese and many other languages, the order is subject, object, verb [15] Some scholars have tried to identify patterns common to all languages, [16] but apart from some basic features, like having nouns or verbs, few of these so-called linguistic universals have been found [17] And while any language needs consistent patterns to function, [18] the study of these patterns opens up an ongoing debate between two positions known as prescriptivism and descriptivism [19] Grossly simplified, prescriptivists think [20] a given language should follow consistent rules, [21] while descriptivists see variation and adaptation as a natural and necessary part of language [22] For much of history, the vast majority of language was spoken [23] But as people became more interconnected [24] and writing gained importance, [25] written language was standardized to allow broader communication [26] and ensure that [27] people in different parts of a realm could understand each other [28] In many languages, this standard form came to be considered the only proper one, despite being derived from just one of many spoken varieties, usually that of the people in power [29] Language purists worked to establish and propagate v this standard by detailing a set of rules that reflected the established grammar of their times [30] And rules for written grammar were applied to spoken language, as well [31] Speech patterns that deviated from the written rules were considered corruptions, or signs of low social status, [32] and many people who had grown up speaking in these ways were forced to adopt the standardized form [33] More recently, however, linguists have understood that [34] speech is a separate phenomenon from writing with its own regularities and patterns [35] Most of us learn to speak at such an early age that [36] we don't even remember it [37] We form our spoken repertoire through unconscious habits, not memorized rules [38] And because speech also uses mood and intonation for meaning, [39] its structure is often more flexible, adapting to the needs of speakers and listeners [40] This could mean avoiding complex clauses that are hard to parse in real time, making changes to avoid awkward pronunciation, or removing sounds to make speech faster [41] The linguistic approach that tries to understand and map such differences without dictating correct ones is known as descriptivism [42] Rather than deciding [43] how language should be used, [44] it describes [45] how people actually use it, [46] and tracks the innovations they come up with in the process [47] But while the debate between prescriptivism and descriptivism continues, [48] the two are not mutually exclusive [49] At its best, prescriptivism is useful for informing people about the most common established patterns at a given point in time [50] This is important, not only for formal contexts, [51] but it also makes communication easier between nonnative speakers from different backgrounds [52] Descriptivism, on the other hand, gives us insight into [53] how our minds work and the instinctive ways in which we structure our view of the world [54] Ultimately, grammar is best thought of as a set of linguistic habits that are constantly being negotiated and reinvented by the entire group of language users [55] Like language itself, it's a wonderful and complex fabric woven through the contributions of speakers and vi listeners, writers and readers, prescriptivists and descriptivists, from both near and far Frequency of Occurrence of processes Clause 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Process Verbal Material Material Relational Relational Relational Mental Relational Relational Material Relational Relational Relational Relational Relational Material Relational Material Mental Material Mental Verbal Relational Material Material Mental Mental Relational Material Material Relational Material Mental Relational Embedded clause Circumstance Angle (viewpoint) + Manner (comparison) + Contingency (concession) Contingency (concession) + Cause (purpose) + + Accompaniment vii 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Material Mental Material Material Relational Relational Mental Material Material Material Material Material Relational Relational Relational Relational Material Material Material Relational Relational Location (time) Cause (purpose) + + + Cause (purpose) + + Manner (comparison) Manner (comparison) Frequency of Occurrence of Mood and Modality Clause 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Mood choice Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Interrogative Declarative Interrogative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Modal verbs Modal Adjunct (Mood adjunct) MV (median) M.A (probability/median) viii 17 18 19 20 21 22 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 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative Declarative MV (high) MV (median) MV (low) M.A (usuality/median) M.A (usuality/median) MV (low) MV (median) ix Frequency of Occurrence of Themes Clause Textual T.E T.E U.M T.E INTER T.E INTER M.A T.E T.E 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 U.M M.A T.E U.M T.E T.E U.M M.A U.M T.E M.A 23 24 25 T.E T.E 26 27 T.E U.M U.M 28 M.A 29 30 U.M T.E 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 Unmarked Topical U.M 10 11 THEME Interpersonal Marked Topical U.M M.A M.A U.M U.M U.M U.M x 38 T.E 39 U.M U.M U.M 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 M.A T.E U.M T.E T.E T.E U.M 49 M.A 50 U.M 51 52 T.E 53 54 T.E 55 U.M M.A M.A ... 1.2.1 Aim of the Study The main aim of the thesis is to investigate linguistic Experiential, Interpersonal, and Textual features of educational TED talks from the perspective of SFG Findings of the. .. talks Being aware of the current issue, I am so motivated to conduct the thesis: ? ?A Study on Linguistic Features in TED Talks on Education from the Perspective of Functional Grammar. ” 1.2 Aim and... important concepts of functional grammar, the divergence between traditional grammar and functional grammar Additionally, the author also gives some implications for English teaching and learning