A Comparative CDA Perspective On The Discourse Strategy Of Institutional Identity Of Chinese And American Universities ——A Case Study Of Principals’ Commencement Addresses

As a branch of critical social analysis,Critical Discourse Analysis（CDA）has been attracted wide notice at home and abroad and shows a dynamic development.CDA was proposed by Roger Fowler in 1979.CDA not only focuses on discourse level,but also pays more attention to the social level of discourse construction,so as to reveal the ideology underlying discourse and interpret the relationship across language,power and ideology.The texts selected in this paper are the commencement addresses delivered by the university presidents at the graduation ceremony.Since the discourse of the university presidents is not closely related to political discourse,the power relationship will not be overstated here.Based on Fairclough’s three-dimensional model,this paper selects 20 commencement addresses at 20 universities in China and the United States（10 for China and 10 for the United States）and all universities are chosen from the QS World University Rankings to analyze how Chinese and American universities adopt discourse strategies to achieve different institutional identity constructions from text analysis,processing analysis and social analysis,namely,description,interpretation and explanation.At the description level,the modal verbs and generic structure potential are selected for investigating types of discourse strategies that university presidents choose to express their attitudes and views.At the interpretation level,modes of speech are adopted to examine how speakers affect listeners and spread their ideology.At the explanation level,motivations for the similarities and differences in the construction of university institutional identity are discovered from the historical and cultural contexts.Three questions are raised in this paper: What are the similarities and differences in discourse strategies of principals’ commencement addresses between Chinese and American universities? What ideologies and institutional identities are embedded in the discourse strategies? And what are the motivations for the similarities and differences in identity construction between Chinese and American universities?At the description level,Chinese principals are inclined to apply median value modal verbs which can make communication go on fluently,while American principals prefer to employ low value modal verbs to inspire listeners to think independently.At the interpretation level,the direct speech is frequently applied to Chinese principals’ commencement addresses,which accurately retains the original expression style,narrows the gap in language comprehension triggered by quotation,and makes the speech more expressive and attractive.Nevertheless,for the sake of decreasing the subjective emotion of the speaker and improving the objectivity and accuracy of the speech,indirect speech is widely applied in American principals’ commencement addresses.At the explanation level,historical and cultural factors account for the differences in the identity construction of Chinese and American universities.Cultural factors such as collectivism,individualism,patriotism and family values are the main motivations for the differences.In conclusion,Chinese universities have built a warm,kind,rigorous and pragmatic identity for the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.American universities have constructed identity of pursuing independence and freedom,attaching great importance to the development of individual ability,and possessing an international perspective.Under the guidance of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model,this paper tries to broaden the scope of identity discourse research,add more methods of discourse research,and make contributions for Chinese universities in the process of constructing the discourse system of higher education that is synchronized with the discourse system of “world-class universities”.