Evaluation Theory Perspective Of Sino-us Media Comparative Study Of The 2008 Olympic Games Coverage

As the increasing development of Appraisal Theory, the attitude system has been appliedto the analysis of various discourses. However, there are still few researches concerningattitudinal resources in feature news discourses. Feature news, which is an indispensablecomponent of modern newspaper, is multifunctional. Since it can not only provide newsinformation for readers, but also provide an opportunity for the writer to express his/herpersonal opinion, it usually displays abundant attitudinal resources. And the present thesisattempts to investigate the attitudinal resources of English feature news discourse.The present thesis makes an attempt to conduct a comparative analysis on the attitudinalmeanings of the English feature news concerning the 2008 Olympic Games extracted fromChina Daily, People's Daily, The New York Times, and Time, with the purpose of investigatingwhich attitudinal resource is preferred in feature news as well as examining the attitudes ofChina and America towards the event.Focusing on the attitude resources on feature news discourses, this thesis appliesAppraisal Theory to analyze 10 pieces of English feature news (10374 words) concerning the2008 Olympic Games. The qualitative approach is adopted in the analysis. Throughinvestigation and analysis, this thesis comes to the conclusion that in the attitude system,affect is less favored than judgment and appreciation in feature news, with appreciation as themost frequently occurring one. Besides, through the comparative study, it is found that theattitude of America press is somewhat different from that of China concerning the 2008Olympic Games.This thesis is mainly composed of five chapters. Chapter one introduces somepreliminary issues concerning the present study, including rationale of the study, researchquestions, significances of the study, and the organization of the thesis. Chapter two presents aliterature review of previous studies on Appraisal Theory and news discourse home andaboard. Chapter three introduces the theoretical framework --- Appraisal Theory, with theattitude subsystem highlighted. Chapter four applies attitude system to the analysis of those10 sample news discourses. Chapter five summarizes the findings based on the analysis inchapter four and generalizes the implications and limitations of the study.