文献综述范例(语言)2011.10.docVIP

The Literature Review of A Brief Analysis of Chinese Disaster Reporting in New York Times from the Perspective of Systematic-Functional Grammar The 21st century has witnessed the fast development of mass media, from the prevailing newspaper to the booming Internet. Along with the rapid development of information network and communication technology, mass media is playing an increasingly important role in people’s lives in modern society. As an important means of communication and a particular type of media discourse, news report serves as the source of information, entertainment and enrichment of the cultural lives of people, and subtly influences and changes people’s cognition, behavior and values. Almost everyday, more or less, people are exposed to news media, influenced by news media, even rely on news media. As van Dijk points out that media discourse is the main source of people’s knowledge, attitudes and ideologies, both of elites as well as of ordinary citizens (Van Dijk, 1998a, p. 51). What the author wants to uncover in this thesis is the underlying ideology hidden in disaster news discourse through a case study of disaster news reports from NYT with Halliday’s Systematic-Functional Grammar as its framework. There are four main reasons for being interested in studying media discourse: Firstly, media is a rich source of readily accessible data for research and teaching. Secondly, media usage influences and represents people’s use of and attitudes towards language in a speech community. Thirdly (and related), media use can tell us a great deal about social meanings and stereotypes projected through language and communication. Fourthly (and again related), media reflects and influences the formation and expression of culture, politics and social life (Bell Garrett, 1998, p.3-18, 24). What all these shows that media functions not only as providers of information, but also a shaper of perception. 1. Overview of News Discourse Study Abroad The early studies o