A Critical Comparative Analysis Of Chinese And English Discourses On Higher Education

This thesis makes a comparative analysis of the Chinese and English discourseson higher education from the perspective of the strategy of predication, the strategy ofperspectivization and the strategy of intensification in the Discourse-HistoricalApproach. It aims to reveal their similarities and differences, to explore the causes andanalyze how the authoritative institutions effectively convey the messages to thepublic and influence people’s thoughts with language.The strategy of predication is to use some words with positive or negative traitsas the predicates to label social actors as positive or negative. The strategy ofperspectivization is to use the means of reporting, description or quotation to show theauthor’s view. The strategy of intensification emphasizes the author’s attitude towardsan event by intensifying the illocutionary force of utterances.The thesis chooses the discourses on higher education in the annual Chinesegovernment work report from2007to2011and those issued by the Englishgovernment and the Higher Education Policy Institution. The author chooses twentyparagraphs to make a comparative analysis with the aim of revealing their similaritiesand differences in applying the above-mentioned discursive strategies and exploringthe reasons for that. The study finds out that due to the similar purpose of thegovernments, which is to better deliver their attitude towards higher education and tofurther gain supports from the public, there are some similarities between the Chineseand English discourses; owing to the different institutions, national conditions andcultures, there are some differences between them.Their similarities are as follows. Firstly, they use predicates, attributives orpredicatives with positive meanings to express the governments’ attitudes towardshigher education; secondly, the discourses present the achievements gained in theaspect of higher education by describing the efforts that the government itself hasbeen making.Their differences are as follows: Firstly, in the Chinese government’s discourses,declarative sentences are used to show the government’s determination to develop higher education, while the English discourses use subjunctive mood to show thegovernment’s tentative plans for the development of higher education. Secondly, theChinese government’s discourses use synonyms and parallelism to achieve anintensifying effect, while the English discourses use contrast for emphasis.The present study has certain significance in English teaching. Firstly, teacherscould teach discursive strategies in the Discourse-Historical Approach to learners inorder to cultivate their ability to read critically. Secondly, the study is conducive tocultivating the student’s intercultural communicative competence. Thirdly, it can helplearners have a better understanding of institutional discourses.