Study On Identity Construction Of Chinese Youth In News Discourse: Perspective Of Appraisal Theory

Young people are the important force in national construction and social development.Chinese youth attract the attention of the mainstream external publicity media.Therefore,the study of identity construction of Chinese youth is crucial.Appraisal theory in Systemic Functional Linguistics can reveal the attitude and stance of the speakers or writers.However,the Appraisal theory can not completely reveal the identity construction of Chinese youth from the social and cultural levels.The integration of Appraisal theory and Fairlclough’s three-dimensional model can better reveal the identity construction of Chinese youth.Therefore,this research attempts to reveal the identity construction of Chinese youth by combing the Appraisal theory with the Fairclough’s three-dimensional model.From the perspective of Appraisal theory,this research analyzes 95 news discourse closely related to Chinese youth in Xinhua Net(English version)and Global Times and describes the distributive features of attitudinal resources.Based on the distribution of the attitudinal resources,this research aims to reveal the identity construction of Chinese youth and discuss the social and cultural factors influencing the identity construction of Chinese youth.This research attempts to answer the following questions:(1)What are the distributional features of attitudinal resources in identity construction of Chinese youth?(2)What are the identities of Chinese youth constructed and how do attitudinal resources construct these identities?(3)What are social and cultural reasons of the identity construction of Chinese youth?The research findings are as follows:1.In description dimension,the distributive features of attitudinal resources closely related to Chinese youth are that affect resources are 612,accounting for14.65%;judgement resources are 3233,accounting for 77.42%;appreciation resources are 331,accounting for 7.92%.The distributive features of attitudinal resources present that judgement resources > affect resources > appreciation resources.News media prefer to apply the judgement and affect resources to construct the identities of Chinese youth.And appreciation resources are applied to describe “things” that indirectly represent identities of Chinese youth.In judgement resources,capacity resources take up the highest percentage and tenacious resources take up the second highest percentages.In affect resources,the inclination resources take up the highest percentage and the happiness resources take up the second highest percentage.In appreciation resources,quality resources take up the highest percentage and valuation resources take up the second highest percentage.The distributive features reflect that news media prefer to represent the ability and persistence of Chinese youth and focus on their inclination and preference.And news media describe the quality and valuation of “things” to indirectly represent identity construction of Chinese youth.2.In interpretation dimension,based on the distributive features of attitudinal resources,news media construct four kinds of Chinese youth identities of cultural inheritors,competitors,innovators and dream achievers in terms of the analysis of capacity,tenacious,happiness,inclination,quality and valuation resources.Specifically,the identity of cultural inheritors is constructed in terms of the capacity resources,the tenacious resources,the happiness resources and the valuation and quality resources;identity of competitors is constructed in terms of the capacity resources,the quality resources;identity construction of innovators is constructed in terms of the capacity resources,tenacious resources and the valuation resources;identity construction of dream achievers are constructed in terms of the happiness resources and the inclination resources.3.In the explanation dimension,based on the social and cultural context,this research discusses the social and cultural reasons of the identity construction of Chinese youth,i.e.,social and cultural reasons of identity construction of cultural inheritors,competitors,innovators and dream achievers.Specifically,the identity of cultural inheritors is discussed based on the contemporary value of traditional culture:cultural confidence.Identity of competitors is constructed in the social context of the transition of China’s macro-economy,which makes the opportunity competition to become fiercer.Chinese youth improve competitive abilities,constructing identity of competitors.Identity of innovators is constructed in the social context of new economic model.In new economic model,innovation becomes the crucial element in the social development.Chinese youth actively promote the development of innovative fields,constructing the identity of innovators.Identity construction of dream achievers is explained from the social context of Reform and Opening up and globalization.Chinese youth have grown in the environment of globalization,which promotes them possess a variety of opinions about their dreams achieving.This research explores how news media apply attitudinal resources to construct identities of Chinese youth,which enriches the studies of identity construction of Chinese youth from the perspective of Appraisal theory.At the same time,this research can help the world better understand Chinese youth and Chinese society.