An Analysis of “Appreciation” Used in Shangri-la Dialogue in the Appraisal Perspectives

An Analysis of “Appreciation” Used in Shangri-la Dialogue in the Appraisal Perspectives

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

• 1. RATIONALE

In this age of globalization, it is undoubted that language study introduces us to new realms of ideas, customs, habits, and value. Moreover, in this day, knowing another language enriches our both professional and personal lives, helps us meet the demands on people’ global knowledge.

And it is indisputable that English is currently the global language. English is used in global commerce, science, education, travel, diplomacy and so on. English will still maintain and grow its dominance. The study of English helps us become effective communicators, grounded visionaries, hopeful speakers, or faithful communicators. English study brings us a lot of benefits; however, to understand English is not at ease for Vietnamese students because of the differences in language systems.

People use language principally to perform a lot of ordinary verbal actions of everyday life such as requesting a favor, making a promise, giving directions, seeking information, etc. And when people communicate, they can use the verbal actions to express their feelings, their attitude.

Dialogue is a mean of exchange views or to negotiate at both international and national levels. The IISS Asia Security Summit or The Shangri-La Dialogue as an example of an inter-governmental security forum that held annually where all participants have their rights to show their views, their attitude about concerned problems. One of the popular ways of making negotiation in a dialogue among nations is the using of appreciation, a speech function that help the interlocutor express his/ her dialogistic positioning.

For example:

• I think, for many of the people of Japan, we have a strong awareness of that.
• If you remember the London bomb blasts, we sent representatives – Ministry of Home Affairs sent representatives – to learn because they manage their media very well, not only on just, not just binary ‘yes or no’ but giving the information to the media beforehand, giving precise information.
• Because there is a sense that we can continue to pretend it is 2002 and everything and the American dominance is fine, China gets on with economic development and we are all okay, and yet the world has changed dramatically.

Appreciation is the way to express the attitude and it is concerned with composition, structure or form, with the question of how well the parts of the entity under evaluation fit together.

When and why these appreciations appear and how they are used effectively are not simple issues for many Vietnamese learners of English. So, it is hoped that the findings of the study entitled An Analysis of “Appreciation” Used in Shangri-la Dialogue in the Appraisal Perspectives would reveal some useful information as well as providing Vietnamese learners of English with pragmatic knowledge to comprehend and use appreciation effectively.

• 1. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
     1. Aims

The aim of this thesis is to examine the appreciation in Shangri-la Dialogue in the syntactic and semantic features. The findings of the study, is expected to increase knowledge and effective use of the appreciation to Vietnamese learners of English.

• • 1. Objectives

With the purposes mentioned above, this research is intended to:

To achieve the objectives in the thesis, this research is planned to:

1. Identify the syntactic and semantic features of appreciation in Shangri-la Dialogue in view of Appraisal theory, Functional grammar and speech act theory.
2. Suggest some implications the teaching and learning of English concerning the Appreciation with reference to resource of Shangri-la Dialogue.
   1. . RESEARCH QUESTIONS

To fulfill the objectives mentioned above, the research questions below will be addressed:

1. What are types of appreciation used in Shangri-la Dialogue in terms of Appraisal theory?
2. What are the syntactic and semantic features of the appreciation in Shangri-la Dialogue in view of Functional grammar?
3. What are the pragmatic features of the appreciation in Shangri-la Dialogue in view of speech act theory?
   1. . SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research was carried out on appreciation in terms of systax and semantics, conventions of language use and the goals of the speaker / writer.

In this research, phonetic features of speech acts like stress and intonation were put beyond the scope of this study.

• 1. . SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is hope to provide Vietnamese learners of English with insights about how and when appreciation can be used correctly to enhance the effectiveness of teaching English and to facilitate students’ learning of the language.

• 1. . ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This study covered the following 5 chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction

Chapter 2, Literature Review and Theoretical background

Chapter 3, Research Design and Methodology

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussions

Chapter 5, Conclusions and Implications

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.2.1. Definition of terms

2.2.2. Functional Grammar in Halliday’s Perspective

According to Halliday (1985), language is a system of meanings; it means that when people use language, their language acts are the expressions of meanings and grammar becomes a study of how meanings are built through the use of words and other linguistic forms. Halliday’s grammar is concerned with meanings and how the language is used; therefore, it is semantic and functional. It can be said that it is a grammar which respects human because language has evolved to be satisfied with these needs. And grammar is the main means by which people can be creative, systematic and powerful in their communication.

1. Clause as Message

In the 1960s, Halliday developed a systematic and comprehensive theory of language, called “Systemic-Functional Grammar”, and published his book  An introduction to Functional Grammar in 1985 and 1994; then, this book is revised in 2004.  Halliday (2004), language has three main purposes. Firstly, it is to talk about what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen. Secondly, it is to interact or express a point of view. Thirdly, it is to turn the output of the previous two functions into a coherent whole. Three main purposes deal with three meanings and these three meanings are ralted to the three different and very basic functions of language, in which he calls three broad functions: the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunction.

The significance of these three functional concepts is that each one corresponds to a different mode of meaning in the clause. Clause as message, clause of exchange, and clause of representative refer to the three main kinds of meaning that are embodied in the structure of a clause. Each of these kinds of meaning is expressed by means of certain configuration of functions.

1. Nominal Group

Halliday (2004) states that in terms of the modal structure of the clause, nominal groups serve as Subject or Complement, verbal groups as Finite + Predicator, and adverbial groups as Adjunct; and in terms of the experiential structure, nominal groups serve in participant roles, verbal groups as Process, and adverbial groups in circumstance roles.

1. Abverbial Group

Halliday (1994) recognizes a separate category of adverbial group, with an adverb as head, which may or may not be accompanied by modifying elements. Adverbial groups serving as circumsatantial Adjunct have an adverb denoting a circumstance as Head or of quality. Adverbial group serving as modal Adjunct have an adverb denoting as assessment as Head, an assessment if time or of intensity.

2.2.3. Appreciation and Related Concepts

Appraisal framework is an approach to exploring, describing and explaining the way language is used to evaluate, to adopt stances, to construct textual personas and to manage interpersonal positionings and relationships. Three main resources of the Appraisal framework are Engagement, Attitude, Graduation.

Hommerberg’s study [8] takes as point of departure the original Attitude system of Appreciation, which includes the subcategories of Reaction, Composition and Valuation.

Attitude is “concerned with our feelings, including emotional reactions, judgements of behaviour and evaluation of things” [11, p. 35]. It consists of three resources: Affect, Judgement, and Appreciation.

Rothery and Stenglin (in press) propose three subcategories under which appreciations may be grouped: reaction, composition and valuation. According to Rothery & Stenglin, reaction is `interpersonally tuned. It describes the emotional impact of the work on the reader/listener/viewer.’ Thus, under reaction, the product/process is evaluated in terms of the impact it makes or its quality. For example:

• reaction:impact:positive –arresting, stunning, dramatic,
• reaction:impact:negative –dull, uninviting, monotonous,
• reaction:quality:positive –lovely, splendid, attractive,
• reaction:quality:negative –ugly, plain.

Under composition, the product or process is evaluated according to its makeup, according to whether it conforms to various conventions of formal organisation. As Rothery and Stenglin state, `Composition is textually tuned. It describes the texture of a work in terms of its complexity or detail.’ For example:

• composition:balance:positive –unified, symmetrical, harmonious,
• composition:balance:negative –unbalanced, incomplete, discordant,
• composition:complexity:positive –simple, intricate, precise,
• composition:complexity:negative– convoluted, simplistic.

2.2.4. Speech Acts

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