A Systemic Functional Approach To The Interpersonal Meaning Of Job Advertisements On Needs Of Business English Talents

The thesis, based on Halliday’s systemic functional grammar, aims to study theinterpersonal meaning realized by mood and modality systems in job advertisementsrelating to Business English talents needs.49samples of job advertisements onBusiness English talents needs are selected from famous recruiting websites (i.e.www.monster.com and www.hotjob.com) and websites of the World Top500corporations. A combination of qualitative and quantitative method is utilized toanalyze features of job advertisements on Business English talents needs fromlexico-grammatical perspective. The purpose is to find out how does the interpersonalmeaning get realized in mood and modality systems and what lexico-grammaticalstrategies can be used to reflect the companies’ needs of Business English talents.Through the analysis, it is found that in mood system, the most frequently usedmood structure is declarative mood structure functioning as statement, then imperativemood structure functioning as command, which is in coincidence with the functions ofjob advertisements-giving information and demanding actions. The occurrence ofother mood structures also has the function of either giving information or demandingactions. Besides,“if…” structure is used to initiate a dialogue between the companyand potential applicants, and elliptical structure shows the conciseness and is used toimprove recruiting efficiency. In all mood structures, companies’ needs of BusinessEnglish talents are reflected by imperative mood as command, declarative mood ascommand, modulated declarative mood as question and elliptical structures.In modality system, probability of modalization makes the most frequentlyappearance in job advertisements on Business English talents needs. It is to improvethe reliability of companies’ statement, reflecting the politeness strategy utilized inrecruitment. The frequency of obligation of modulation ranks at the second place; it isused to set strong obligations on the potential applicants. The frequency of inclinationof modulation ranks at the third place. Expressions of inclination are used to attractpotential applicants. The least used type of modality is usuality of modalization. Although usuality is uncommonly used in this kind of discourse, the appearance of ithas its own reason.In a word, this study has both practical and theoretical meaning. Practically, itmay provide some insights for the teaching of practical writing. Theoretically, it is auseful supplement to the previous research on advertisements, verifying thatHalliday’s SFG is highly effective in the investigation of interpersonal meaning of thediscourse of job advertisement son Business English talents needs.