A Comparative Study Of Elite English Speech Discourses Between Chinese And American Universities From The Perspective Of Positive Discourse Analysis

Speech discourses have always been a crucial point of Discourse Analysis.However, speech discourses for fixed audiences are likely to be neglected. Foruniversity students, the lecturers tend to express themselves from different angles.This study is set to analyze the discourse construction of speech discourses foruniversity students from the perspective of Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA).The data involved in this study are collected from speech collection,autobiography, online speech library.30speeches given by21elites from Chinese andAmerican universities are chosen to be served as the research target. The researchmethods include quantitative and qualitative analyses. By adopting Appraisal theoryas the theoretical framework and UAM as the analytical tool, the distribution ofvarious types of Appraisal resources are explored, and the differences and similaritiesof speech discourses between Chinese and American universities are comparedcomprehensively, from the perspective of PDA with the aim to present the lecturers‘ideas and means of spreading positive energy.In response to the three research questions in this study, the major researchfindings can be generalized as follow: i) The Appraisal resources employed in SAU(Elite English speeches of American Universities) and SCU (Elite English speeches ofChinese Universities) are very abundant. And for the frequency of resources: Attitudeis higher than Engagement, and Engagement is higher than Graduation; ii) Nearly allthe Appraisal resources employed are positive. Affect and Appreciation take up themajority of the total Attitude resources. Heterogloss of Engagement, Force-raise andFocus-sharpen of Graduation are also preferred in elite lecturers‘speeches. There aresome differences of resources distribution in each subsystem between the two corporaand the proportion of positive resources in SCU is higher than SAU; iii) All theseresources are employed by the elite lecturers to build positive self-images, expressconstructive thoughts, establish healthy relationships, and spread positive energy. Thevariety of the Appraisal resources available at lecturers‘speeches are to serve theirgoal of promoting mutual relationships, accelerating culture exchanges andstrengthening economic cooperation, as well as their purposes of protecting the interests of their institutions and countries.Through the analyses of the discursive modes and strategies of the lecturers‘topresent positive energy in the speech discourses, this study might shed lights on thestudies of the PDA theories and speech discourses, and offer practical implications toEFL teaching and learning.