外交学院英语语言文学外国语言学与应用语言学

外交学院英语语言文学、外国语言学与应用语言学

硕士学位论文开题报告

Prospectus

论文题目：English和中文

Probing into the Defining Element of A Genre

──Using American President’s Radio Addresses to the Nation as the Corpus of Data

中文题目缺

研究生：

So and So

导师：

Professor So and So

选题缘由：

1.I acquired a strong interest in genre theory during the course of English Stylistics lectured by Prof. Yang Xueyan.

2.I have been a big fan of former US President Bill Clinton for his eloquent speeches.

研究现状：

A number of functional linguists have explored this domain and made discourse analysis of a variety of genres. However, there still exists no universally accepted theory on the defining element of a genre. For example, based on her study on service encounter, Ruqaiya Hasan concludes that the three values in the contextual configuration of the “context of situation”, i.e. “field”, “tenor” and “mode”, especially the value of “field”, as the decisive element in defining a ‘genre’. Drawing on Michael Gregory’s further classification of the concept of “tenor” into “personal tenor” and “functional tenor”, James R. Martin advocates that “functional tenor” underlies “field”, “personal tenor”and “mode”and is realized through them. Thus “functional tenor”is considered as a defining variable that constrains “field”, “personal tenor” and “mode” and is renamed “genre”.

选题意义：

1.Genre theory is becoming a prevailing approach in Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) studies. This thesis aims to make some contribution to the development and application of genre theory.

2.Radio address constitutes a unique genre among the sub-varieties of public speeches due to its special features like channel and medium of communication.

3.American President’s radio addresses to the nation are ideal objects for SFL studies for its salient social functions as a powerful means of mass communication between the US administration and the general public. They also provide important data for the study of US domestic and foreign policies. However, few people have touched upon this sub-variety in previous studies.

研究基础：

With the guidance of Prof. Yang Xueyan during the course of English Stylistics, I studied the two prevailing genre models proposed by James Martin and Ruqaiya Hasan, upon which I have constructed the theoretical framework of my M.A. thesis. In order to get a better understanding of the genre theories of the two functional linguists, I have also read relevant works by the two scholars and personally attended a lecture on genre theory given by Prof. James Martin during the 6th Systemics Week at Beijing Normal University, during which I managed to keep track of the development of his genre theory and improve the theoretical basis of my thesis.

Along my undergraduate study as an English major, I always regarded Bill Clinton’s speeches as a valuable databank of eloquent speeches and a powerful means of communication. During my study of the course of English Stylistics, I came to realize the linguistic value of Clinton’s speeches, particularly the radio addresses he delivered to the nation as US President, and selected a number of his speeches as the corpus of data for my genre research. In order to gather more linguistic material and have a thorough understanding of this genre, I have also constantly visited the website of Clinton Foundation for more texts of Clinton’s speeches and subscribed to the email service provided by the White House so that I can keep track of the weekly radio addresses delivered by the incumbent US President George W. Bush and compare them with those delivered by Bill Clinton.

研究方法：

In order to fulfill my research objective, i.e. to probe into the defining element of a genre, the author designs the analytical procedures as follows:

Step 1: analyze the textual structure of every radio address in the corpus of data;

Step 2: use Hasan’s model to analyze the specific values of “field”, “tenor” and “mode,” especially the “field”of every radio address;

Step 3: analyze the relationship between the textual structure of every radio address and its Contextual Configuration to verify Hasan’s model;

Step 4: use Martin’s model to analyze the “functional tenor” of every radio address in the corpus of data;

Step 5: analyze the relationship between the textual structure of every radio address and its “functional tenor”to verify Martin’s model;

Step 6: compare the findings of the genre models proposed by Hasan and Martin to find out which element determines the genre of radio addresses.

论文要点：

My M.A. thesis aims to find out the most prominent element in defining a genre by comparing the validity and applicability of the genre models proposed by Ruqaiya Hasan and James Martin, two of the most prominent functional linguists, in analyzing the generic structure of an existing genre--American President’s radio addresses to the nation. After that, this thesis goes on to explore how the genre models of Ruqaiya Hasan and James Martin could be applied in different ways to genre study.

论文框架：

My M.A. thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 is the introductory part. A literature review of the current genre theories, particularly the genre models proposed by Hasan and Martin, are introduced in Chapter 2 to lay a theoretical foundation and provide analytical models for my genre research. In Chapter 3, the research methodology, or analytical procedures to be more specific, is described in a step-by-step manner. First, the textual structure of every radio addresses in the corpus of data is analyzed. Then the genre models of Hasan and Martin are applied respectively to analyzing the relationship between the textual structures of the radio addresses and their “contextual configurations” or “functional tenors”. On the basis of the findings of the genre models of Hasan and Martin, the thesis goes on to compare the theoretical structures of the two models and finds out which element determines the radio addresses’ generic structure and defines its genre. Finally, the paper compares the validity and applicability of the two models in Chapter 4 and provides a summary and conclusion of the research in Chapter 5.

参考书目：

Brown, Gillian and George Yule. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. 2000. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. 2001. Language as Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Meaning.

Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. and Ruqaiya Hasan. 1985. Language, Context and Text: Aspects of Language in a Socio-Semiotic Perspective. Victoria: Deakin University Press.

Halliday, M.A.K. and Ruqaiya Hasan. 2001. Cohesion in English. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Hu, Zhuanglin. 1997. “Reflections on A Multi-Level Model of Textual Cohesion and C oherence”, in Hu Zhuanglin and Fang Yan (eds.) 1997: 61-88.

Martin, J.R. 1985. “Process and Text: Two Aspects of Human Semiosis”, in Benson and Greaves (eds.) 1985: 248-274.

Martin, J.R. and David Rose. 2003. Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.

Swales, Johan M. 2001. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

方琰，1997，Hasan的语类结构潜势理论在英语应用文写作教学中的应用，《功能语言学在中国的进展》：324-325。

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罗雅琴，2003，一种新的语类结构模式初探, https://www.360docs.net/doc/6e8636217.html,。

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秦秀白，2000b，体裁分析与体裁教学法，《外语界》第1期：11-18。

徐有志，2005，《英语文体学教程》。北京：高等教育出版社。

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写作时间安排：

Due to the limited time I have for writing my M.A. thesis while participating in an exchange program abroad, I would make my best efforts to accelerate my pace of research doing and thesis composition and try to submit the first draft of my M.A. thesis to my supervisor, Prof. Yang Xueyan, before I leave for the US for my exchange program on August 7, 2006 and make due improvements in the following drafts after I head back to Beijing

towards the end of 2006.

开题报告提交时间：

July 6, 2006

导师意见：

Okay

上报研究生论文协调老师及上报时间：

June 1, 2006

开题报告审批委员会意见：

Approved….

研究生班级姓名：

So and So of 2005

研究生联系方式：***

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