Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of Chinese English Learners' Public Speaking From The Perspective Of Systemic Functional Linguistics

Most studies on English public speaking are either rhetorical criticism or text-based discourse analysis.Comparatively speaking,there are few studies on dynamic English public speaking discourses,and even scarcer are those multimodal discourse analyses on English public speaking from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics.With the upgrading of multimodal analysis software brought by the advance of technology,the quantitative analysis on the various semiotic resources as a complement for the qualitative analysis has become more accurate and convenient.Therefore,this dissertation intends to construct a multimodal analytical framework applicable to the analysis of English public speaking from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics.The main visual and auditory modes concerned in this study are annotated and analyzed with the help of ELAN and Praat.On the foundation of annotation,the author firstly elaborates on the distribution features of different modes,and then explains how these modal resources function in realizing the three metafunctions.It is through the process of meaning construction that speakers achieve their goals of speech,like attracting the audience's attention,making the speech more persuasive,and shortening the psychological distance between them and the audience.Major findings are as follows:(1)The auditory modes are more favored by speakers during the process of public speaking.Speakers make use of their varied intonations,intended pauses,and specific stresses to attract the audience,hence the realization of compositional metafunction.Based on the annotated data,the falling intonation,the stress,and the statement mood fall within the scope of most commonly exploited modes.Speakers take advantage of those resources to clarify their crucial points with certainty,thereby making themselves more convincing and persuasive.(2)With respect to the visual modality,it is more than a complement to auditory modes.Besides supplementing the auditory and linguistic modality,visual modes such as gestures and facial expressions can also realize the three metafunctions.Among the four gestures(beat,metaphoric gesture,iconic gesture,deictic gesture),beat is mostly occupied as an accompaniment to the rhythm of language.It conveys effectively speakers' attitudes and stance while at the same time enriches the use of modality.(3)Research data reveal that the occurring frequency of gestures increases with the advancing of speech and then decreases as the speech comes to an end.The facial expression(smile)stands out before and after speech.Speakers also smile during the process of speaking as a means to narrow the psychological distance with the audience.It realizes mainly the interpersonal functions.Besides enriching and advancing the development of multimodal discourse analysis theory,this thesis made some innovations in terms of the corpus and research methods.After all,a multimodal discourse analysis on the domestic large-scale English public speaking contest not only benefits English speaking teaching and learning but also is of instructive significance for the cultivation of students' multiliteracies.