MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUY NHON UNIVERSITY NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY A STUDY ON LINGUISTIC FEATURES IN TED TALKS ON EDUCATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR Field: English Linguistics Code: 8 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền e BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY ĐẶC ĐIỂM NGÔN NGỮ TRONG CÁC BÀI TED TALKS VỀ GIÁO DỤC THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CỦA NGỮ PHÁP CHỨC NĂNG Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh Mã số: 8 22 02 01 Người hướng dẫn: PGS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền e I STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that this thesis with the title “A Study on Linguistic Features in TED Talks on Education from the Perspective of Functional Grammar” is entirely my own original work. In addition, I emphasize that this thesis has not been submitted for any purposes in any materials.
Any works of other authors consulted in this thesis are listed in the reference. Quy Nhon, 2019 NGUYỄN THỊ HOÀNG MY e II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This master thesis would not have been accomplished in time without the huge assistance of all individuals around me. First and foremost, I own thanks to my wonderful supervisor, Assoc. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, who has devoted her time and effort to guiding and giving invaluable counsel for me in spite of her huge workload.
Without her enthusiasm, encouragement and horizons, I cannot take shape my master thesis. Secondly, I am deeply grateful to all lecturers not only from Quy Nhon University (QNU) but also from other universities for their whole-hearted contribution to sharpening my academic knowledge during the previous semesters. Thirdly, I would like to sincerely thank for the cooperation and support of the Department of Postgraduate Training and the Department of Foreign Languages of QNU. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my mom who has never ceased to support, motivate and assist me with tons of work at home so that I can wholeheartedly concentrate on my thesis.
My honest thanks will be sent to my friends who are willing to stand by me when I need their assistance during the period of carrying out this thesis. Quy Nhon, 2019 e III ABSTRACT In recent decades, functional grammar has never ceased to draw linguists’ attention. With the same concern, this study is carried out with an aim to find out the linguistic features of TED Talks on education (TToE) in the light of Systemic Functional Grammar. In particular, the study deals with realizing the three metafunctions including experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning.
To conduct this study, the combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is employed to serve the process of finding the best results. In addition, twenty TED Talks on education, each of which lasts less than 15 minutes, are carefully chosen from the TED website to form the data set. The study denotes amazing results concerning the three meanings found in TED Talks. In details, as for experiential meaning, the tendency in the use of relational process and material process is more favored than other processes by presenters in TToE.
In terms of the interpersonal meaning, declarative clauses presenting Mood and modal verbs as a type of Modality are utilized with the higher rate than the others. Regarding textual meaning, unmarked topical themes become the dominant theme type among the others. Indeed, these results are expected to significantly contribute to addressing the gap in previous studies related to functional grammar and becoming a helpful material for teachers and learners of English who are interested in studying with TED platform. e IV TABLE OF CONTENT STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP.
III TABLE OF CONTENT. IV LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. VI LIST OF TABLES. VII LIST OF FIGURES .VIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Aim and Objectives. Aim of the Study. Objectives of the Study. Scope of the Study.
Significance of the Study. Design of the Study. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Discourse and Discourse Analysis.
Systemic Functional Grammar. Data Collection and Description. Reliability and Validity of the Study. 24 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.
Experiential meaning in TED talks on education. Interpersonal meaning in TED talks on education. Mood system in TED talks on education. Modality system in TED talks on education.
Textual meaning in TED talks on education. 54 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS. Limitations and suggestions for further researches. DATA: LIST OF 20 TED TALKS.
iv e VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFG Systemic Functional Grammar TToE TED Talks on Education e VII LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page number number 2.1 Types of circumstances 13 2.2 Primary speech functions 14 2.3 System of types of modality 15 4.1 Occurrence of modal verbs in TToE 50 4.2 Occurrence of modal adjuncts in TToE 52 4.3 Occurrence of Theme types in TToE 55 e VIII LIST OF FIGURES Figure Title Page number number 2.1 The relation of modality to polarity and mood 15 4.1 The frequency of process types in TToE 27 4.2 Occurrence of Circumstances in TToE 39 4.3 Mood types in TToE 45 4.4 The frequency of modality in TToE 49 e 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Language is always a topic of discussion all the time since it plays a role as a magical tool that connects people together. Of all the trends that study the nature of language, Systemic Functional Grammar, developed by renowned linguists such as Halliday (1994), Bloor and Bloor (1995), Morley (2000), etc., is considered as one of the most important fields. Functional grammar is “the study of linguistic forms in relation to the meanings that they express.” compared to semantics which just studies the meaning (Thompson, 1996, p.
In addition, functional grammar is likely to deal with both spoken and written language and concentrates on the functions of language, which is quite different from traditional grammar that just investigates the rules of correct usage. There have been numerous studies about discourse analysis from the perspective of functional grammar conducted by Montes, Barboza, and Olascoaga (2014), Rong (2017), etc., but most of the data are collected in written versions, making the oral forms of this aspect rarely investigated. As Coulthard (1985) states, the serious study of spoken discourse is not only currently undertaken by linguists but it is also carried out by sociologists, anthropologists and philosophers. That means spoken discourse is an interesting aspect concerned by many researchers.
TED talks, delivered by amazingly talented speakers and enthusiastically favoured by millions of viewers in the world, are one kind of spoken discourse. Due to the great contribution of TED in human’s knowledge and its great impacts, countless papers are written about TED. Some tend to focus on the benefits or applications of TED in teaching and learning English such as Rubenstein (2012) and Wingrove (2017). Other articles or papers are about the linguistic e 2 features of TED talks.
Carlo (2014), for instance, investigates on the proximity in online popularization in the case of TED talks. Lopes, Trancoso, and Abad (2011) do a research on the nativeness classifier for English with the similar sources. Among diverse researches on linguistics features tested with TED talks, there seems to be very few materials employing systemic functional grammar to analyze the linguistic features in TED talks. Being aware of the current issue, I am so motivated to conduct the thesis: “A Study on Linguistic Features in TED Talks on Education from the Perspective of Functional Grammar.
Aim and Objectives 1. Aim of the Study The main aim of the thesis is to investigate linguistic Experiential, Interpersonal, and Textual features of educational TED talks from the perspective of SFG. Findings of the thesis serve to capture an overall picture of the ways presenters employed linguistic features in their persuasive talks. In addition, the findings also assist learners of English and those who are keen on TED talks to have an extra reference for enhancing their English skills by applying the linguistic features that renowned speakers have used.
Objectives of the Study To identify and analyze the experiential features utilized in TToE from the perspective of SFG. To identify and analyze the interpersonal features employed in TToE from the perspective of SFG. To identify and analyze the textual features used in TToE from the perspective of SFG. Research Questions These three questions will be resolved when the thesis is accomplished: 1.
How are experiential meanings realized in TToE? 2. How are interpersonal meanings realized in TToE? 3. How are textual meanings realized in TToE? 1. Scope of the Study Although I am aware of the different approaches in identifying the linguistic features of discourse, I limited my study in the perspective of three metafunctions.
Furthermore, only 20 educational TED talks are selected for the investigation since the thesis cannot be carried out in a large-scale investigation of all TED talks. Significance of the Study Accomplishing this thesis offers significant benefits not only in theory but also in practice. Theoretically, it may be a foundation for further researches related to three metafunctions in the light of SFG. Practically, it becomes a useful reference for those who have an interest in TED talks and for learners of English who desire to sharpen their English skills via TED talks.
Design of the Study The study is structured as follows: Chapter 1, Introduction, introduces the rationale, aims, research questions, scope, methods and design of the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides the related theory about the presentation skills in teaching and learning activities. Chapter 3, Methodology, focuses on the research methods, the procedures of the study, the research design, data collection and data analysis. e 4 Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, devotes to unveiling the results from data analysis and discussing the results.
Chapter 5, Conclusion and Implications, embodies the summary of the content of the investigation and gives the answer for the questions which are put forward. Also, pedagogical recommendations for learners as well as suggestions for further research are concretely displayed. e 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter serves to present the theoretical background on which the study is based. It is designed to give a comprehensive overview of concepts related to discourse, discourse analysis and systemic functional grammar.
In addition, a presentation on the theory of the three metafunctions including experiential meaning, interpersonal meaning and textual meaning is provided as the foundation for the thesis. Also in this chapter, some terms linking with TED talks, which serve to be the data set for the study, will be discussed. Discourse and Discourse Analysis 2. Discourse Despite being one of the main concepts in language discussion in general and in the language functions in particular, the term ‘discourse’ does not share the same ideas among linguists.
There have been a variety of definitions of Discourse. Discourse is actually a broad term which not only appears in linguistics but also in sociology, philosophy and other fields and it is the study of the ways in which language is utilized among people both in written and spoken texts. Brown and Yule (1983) consider discourse as “language in use” and Cook (1989) defines discourse as a stretch of “language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive”. In the same trend, another definition of discourse is perceived as “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative.
Among the variety of concepts of discourse, it is not straightforward to tell accurately what discourse truly is. In this study, discourse refers to a unit e 6 that is higher than sentence level, which encompasses the context, cohesion, coherence and even rhetorical structure. In addition, it is expressed in the spoken form. Discourse Analysis Discourse analysis is related to the study of the relationship between language and the context in which it is used.