外交学院英语语言文学,外国语言学与应用语言学.doc

A Sample Prospectus for MA Thesis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 GenreUsing American Presidents 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 Gregorys 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 Presidents 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 Clintons 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 Clintons 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 Clintons 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 Hasans 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 Hasans model;Step 4: use Martins 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 Martins 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 Presidents 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 Coherence”, 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. 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