| Reading news is a vital way for people to obtain information.News has the characteristics of objectivity,authority and real timing,and it reflects the ideology in current society.English education is always a hot topic in China.In 2013,relevant government authority proposed the reduction of English score in National College Entrance Examination,which results in heated discussion on the value of English learning again.Therefore,the study of English learning news is significant.Being a new branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics,Appraisal Theory focuses on the interpersonal meaning of the language,and it is also an effective method to reveal the attitude hiding in language.Much research has been carried into different types of news discourse through diverse linguistic methods.However,the study of English learning news from the perspective of Appraisal Theory is rare.This thesis aims to analyze 50 pieces of news selected from China Daily and Xinhua News through Appraisal Theory.The study aims to answer two research questions:(1)How are the appraisal resources distributed in the English learning news?(2)What ideology does the distribution of the appraisal resources in English learning news demonstrate?The study is completed through quantitative and qualitative research.The research is conducted through two procedures.Firstly,an explicit study is conducted to analyze the frequency of appraisal resources in the selected 50 pieces of news.Secondly,an implicit study is conducted in 5 pieces of selected news in detail.It is found out in the explicit study that a large number of appraisal resources are distributed in these 50 pieces of news,being 1460 in total.Attitude resources appear370 times,taking up 25.34%.Engagement resources appear 806 times,taking up55.21%.Graduation resources appear 284 times,taking up 19.45%.It can be seenthat appreciative resources take up the most positive resources,which indicates a high acceptance of English learning.Dialogic Expansion resources are used to keep the article objective.Force resources are used by numbers and modal verbs to enhance authority of the news.The implicit study demonstrates the common problems an utilitarian motivation in English learning.This research shows the rationality of applying Appraisal Theory to analyze the news discourse.This research helps people to hold an objective attitude towards English learning. |
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