A Study Of University English Web Introductions In China From The Perspective Of Attitude In Appraisal Theory

With the development of globalization, plenty of foreign scholars and students come to China. Many universities have both Chinese and English web introductions to introduce their universities. English web introductions are windows for our promotional, at the same time can attract scholars and students so as to create many opportunities for international exchanges. As for the studies of university web introductions, many achievements have been made in the area of translation, discourse analysis and communication. However, researches from the perspective of Appraisal Theory have scarcely been made.Appraisal Theory, put forward by Martin and other scholars in1990s, is a complement for interpersonal function in Systemic Functional Linguistics. The theory is applied to analyze how people use linguistic resources to express their attitude and make comments on things. Three subsystems are included in Appraisal Theory: Attitude, engagement and graduation. The present study takes Attitude system as the framework, and analyzes attitudinal resources in university web introductions.Through the analysis, it is found that there are many attitudinal resources in university web introductions. The three subsystems of Attitude can all be found to help writers fulfill the vocative function of university web introductions. However, the frequencies of each system are not equal. Appreciation takes up the largest proportion, Judgement comes second, and Affect is the least. As for Appreciation, Reaction and Composition take up most, and for Judgement, there are more Social esteem resources than Social sanction ones. Affect is concerned with people’s feelings. Therefore, in order to avoid being too subjective, few Affect sources are used. Appreciation contains more objective factors, so writers tend to apply more appreciation resources. Judgement resources are used to introduce the teachers in the university, and Appreciation ones are for the facilities of the university. Through the use of these words, writers give overall information to readers so as to help readers make a better choice.The present study is of both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the present study provides another evidence to prove Appraisal Theory is useful and feasible in analyzing discourses. Practically, it can be helpful for readers to understand other kinds of public materials, and they can apply the tactics in this study to their own writing.