Critical Discourse Analysis Of Western Political News Discourses

Language emerges and develops with human society and is closely related to individual and social needs. So language is social and not a transparent medium for communication about an objective world. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a branch of linguistics, also called critical linguistics and critical linguistic study, originated from Frankfurt school's critical theory before WW â…¡. It is based mainly on Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics. With the assistance of linguistics, sociology, psychology and communication theories, it aims to expose the influence of ideology upon discourses, the retroaction of discourses upon ideology, and how ideology and discourses originate from social structure and power relationship and how they serve different power groups. The main purpose is to enhance people's language awareness and their capability in appreciating and criticizing various discourses so that they can better handle the increasingly wide intervention of language in social life.In modern times, news is playing an increasingly important role. The duty of news is double: on the one hand, it facilitates exchanging and sharing of information, on the other hand, it defines the horizon of the public in general, thus playing a crucial role of "agenda setting" in social life. Political News is often official discourse and is influenced by domain ideologies, so it can affect and control people's cognition directly or indirectly and remains a significant factor in the formation of people's ideologies and attitudes.This thesis first introduces the developmental situation of CDA from home and abroad, then makes an elaboration of the analytic tool from the perspectives of definition, principles, framework and contents, then conducts specific analysis of several original political news discourses taken from well-known Western (mainly British and American) newspapers so as to assist learners of English as second language to get familiar with the practice of this analytic tool. The article concludes with a discussion of the significance of introducing critical discourse analysis to our readers in their real life.The practical significance of this study lies in enhancing China's English learners' awareness against the infiltration of Western ideologies while they are improving their English and obtaining information.