Abstracts of Major Papers in This Issue

s of Major Papers in This Issue

English Textual System of Topics and Text Writing, by WANG Jianguo & Wu Biyu, p. 8

This paper, based on the textual system of topics presented by Wu and Wang (2012),argues that English text writing should be devised globally and locally. Firstly, a global topic must be decided. The topic not only sets the textual theme, purpose and function, and also shapes how the topic is continued hierarchically. Secondly, sentential topic chains and super-sentential topic chains introduced by local topics must be linguistically and culturally appropriate.

A Study on Interpersonal Meanings of Deontic Modality in Political Speech: Obama’s Weekly Addresses as Examples, by CAO Xia, SUN Qiyao & XIN Dan, p. 12

Taking Systemic Functional Linguistics and Appraisal Systems as its theoretical framework, this paper explores deontic modality and its interpersonal meanings in political speech from the perspective of van Dijk’s model of ideological analysis. Based on statistics and illustration of 30 Obama’s Weekly Addresses, this study finds that the speaker prefers obligation, high level and subjective deontic modality devices, which have multiple interpersonal meanings, namely, expressing attitudes, satisfying social psychological strategy. And above all, deontic modality in political speech is the token of engagement of interacting stances and voices, uses power, manipulates the public, and spreads the ideology of the speaker and the political party the speaker represents.

A Critical Review of “qi-cheng-zhuan-he” within the Field of Contrastive Rhetoric, by LIU Lixin & YANG Yuchen, p. 18

This paper systematically reviews the studies of “qi-cheng-zhuan-he” within the field of contrastive rhetoric, finding that the insights so far obtained have experienced a spiral progression. The typical Chinese textual pattern was initially rejected by western scholars as being dramatically different from “directness” in English, thus having negatively affected the English writing of Chinese students. However, as more recent research findings indicate, “qi-cheng-zhuan-he” has been found to be similar to the deep structure of problem-solution pattern in English. Finally, it is pointed out that description of the pattern based on self-built corpus and across genres is necessary before systematic contrastive study is conducted.

Pragmatic Analysis of Text Credibility Based on Evidentiality, by CHEN Zheng, p. 23

Evidentiality is the linguistic representation encoding the source of the said proposition and indicating its credibility, and broadly defined, it also embodies the author’s assessment of information sources and involvement in the said proposition. This paper intends to explore how the author constructs text credibility by interpreting author’s pragmatic strategies in using lexical and sentential evidentials in specific texts according to the baseline of information reliability. The finding shows that the subjectivity of the source of information serve the author’s construction of the whole text, and therefore text credibility holds an unstable position in the territory moving according to the game between author’s pragmatic manipulation of text evidentiality and reader’s cognitive interpretation, and the rationality and appropriateness of author’s pragmatic adjustment of evidentials within the range of information reliability is weighted in determining text credibility. As linguistic markers of evidentiality in texts, the frequency of evidentials used in texts changes according to different styles’ need for credibility.

A Study on the Construction of Genre-based Business English Discursive Competence: An Inquiry into the Development of the Specifications for the Business English Undergraduate Program in Heilongjiang University, by YAN Ming, p. 29

With the deepening of reform and opening-up, the demand for more applied foreign language graduates is ever growing. In order to provide for social needs and further deepen the reform of language teaching, the College of Applied Foreign Languages of Heilongjiang University has come up with a newly proposed construct of “A Genre-based System for the Construction of Discursive Competence of Business English” and has developed “The Specifications for the Business English Undergraduate Program” based on the core configuration of “Business English Competence of Discursive Practice.”

Career Development of College English Teachers in the Age of Big Data, by CHEN Jinping, p. 35

With the approaching of the age of big data, education is going through a brandnew reform, and college English teaching will no longer take the traditional onefold and coincident mode. Teaching aims, teaching objects, teaching resources, teaching contents, teaching forms, teaching methods, and teaching assessments embod complicated and pluralistic characteristics. Beginning with the introduction of great impact of big data on college English teaching, this papers analyzes the challenges and puts forward ideas for college English teachers career development in the age of big data. College English teachers are confronted with big challenges in the aspects of integration of big data knowledge, conversion of teacher’s function and role, change of students, teaching planning and evaluation. In order to be adapted to such development of college English teaching and to achieve good career development, college English teachers must be prepared in advance in education philosophy, English practice skill, English education technology, English discipline application. They should enhance the ability to integrate big data to meet the need of individualized teaching, amend classroom teaching modes and methods to improve students’ English application ability, prepare in advance for the transformation of college English course, and get involved in trainings to improve teaching and research capabilities.

The Mediating Role of Self-efficacy in the Relationship between Tolerance of Ambiguity and Foreign Language Learning Anxiety, by HUANG Xueping, p. 39

Based on a survey of 298 junior students from a senior middle school, this study investigates the mediating effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between the tolerance of ambiguity and foreign language learning anxiety. The results show that: (1) tolerance of ambiguity and students’ language learning anxiety are significantly correlated, with the former a strong predictor of the latter; (2) tolerance of ambiguity predicts foreign language learning self-efficacy; (3) target self-efficacy, task-enabling self-efficacy, difficulty-handling self-efficacy play mediating roles between tolerance of ambiguity and foreign language learning anxiety, and thus self-efficacy indirectly influences learning anxiety.

Introducing Critical Discourse Analysis into English Writing Classroom, by HUANG Zhongwei, p. 43

In order to write effectively, students need to establish the central idea in the pre-writing stage, select proper words and structures to express their meaning in writing and evaluate their essay after writing. During this process, various critical skills are required. These critical skills can be acquired and enhanced if students are exposed to Critical Discourse Studies in their classroom. This paper first analyzes the research methodologies of the mainstream approaches to critical discourse analysis to make a comprehensive overview of how critical analysts carry out discourse studies. Then views from Critical Discourse analysis are discussed on account of their value of helping students build positive social values, selecting proper linguistic form and appealing to readers’ cognition in their writing procedure.

On English Translation of Ci Poetry in Light of “Parameter Theory”: A “Beauty in Sense” Interpretation ofJiangchengzi, by YANG Guizhang & ZENG Lisha, p. 48

The parameter can be categorized into “covert parameter” and “overt parameter”. The paper, in light of “parameter theory”, attempts to interpretJiangchenziand its English translation, exploring the evidences of the “beauty in sense” interpretation and construction of Ci poetry and the subjective-objective communication in the contextualized construction of the conceptual meanings of its microcosmic words, in order to explore the interpretative, manipulative, descriptive and provable theory for its interpretation and English translation. Therefore, the translator should pay close attention to the “covert parameters” as well as the “overt parameters” of the microcosmic words in the artistic reproduction of the emotional essence in the Ci poetry.

Discourse-constructing Power of Metaphor and its Translation as Viewed from Frame Perspective: A Study Based on Critical Discourse Analysis of News Report on American Fiscal Cliff, by WEI Zhongsheng, p. 53

The discourse-constructing power of metaphor is acquired through the function of frame. Based on one or multiple frames, readers make use of established background knowledge and conceptual structure to infer and comprehend the meaning of discourse and the intention of speakers. By means of frame, human brains connect the existing knowledge with new information in a specific situation to construct new cognition, and the frame of a concept consequently is shaped through people’s gradual familiarity with it. Certain frames are inherent whereas others are built through later experiencing or training. People’s cognition frame of American fiscal cliff is gradually formed by their continuous deepening understanding of it. Applying news report on American fiscal cliff inUSNewsandWorldReport(2012) as material this paper mainly employs frame theory to analyze the discourse-constructing function of conceptual metaphor through which the establishment of ideology is achieved by presupposition, embedment and political story creation. It further explores the translation technique of metaphor and proposes three approaches to translate metaphor such as the transplanting, transferring and deleting of metaphorical image.

The Second and Third Waves of Tolkien Studies in the UK and the USA, by ZHU Ping, p. 58

Researchers in the second and third waves of Tolkien studies in the UK and the USA in the 1970s throughout 1990s continued to dig as their predecessors did in the areas of the themes, archetypes, allegorical and symbolical meanings, Christian allusions, autobiographical features, political metaphors of Tolkien’s writings. They also explored new areas and achieved significantly on the topics of the languages Tolkien created and Tolkien’s philosophy of Language, the correlation between Tolkien’s religious belief and his writing, the question of time, Tolkien’s “mythology for England”, the cause for the difference between Tolkien and the modernists. By this time, Tolkien studies had gradually acquired an established position as a serious literary research.

The Bioregional Consciousness in Mary Austin’s Representative Literary Non-fiction, by ZHANG Jianguo, p. 63

The first representative of American women nature writers, Mary Austin is honored as “the mother of American environmental movement”. Embodying quite a few concepts in agreement with the basic ideas of bioregionalism, her representative literary non-fictionTheLandofLittleRainandTheLandofJourney’sEndingcan be referred to as typical bioregional literary non-fiction. Austin’s bioregional concepts anticipate contemporary bioregionalism. Being dialectical as well as adaptive to local conditions, her concepts on nature and culture have significant implications to China’s current efforts to promote ecological progress: when examining and handling the relationship between nature and humans, one should be dialectical as well as attentive to individual local conditions.

A Literary Writing in a Cosmopolitan Perspective: OnSiaoYuby Yan Geling, by XU Tingting, p. 68

Cosmopolitanism, as an important philosophical term, has aroused more and more interest from the scholars in the fields of culture and literature. The reflection of cosmopolitanism in literature is world literature. Goethe’s conception of world literature stresses cultural communication among different nations. Emerson’s interpretation focuses on the universal ethics. Based onSiaoYuby Yan Gelin, this paper tries to analyze the author’s understanding of the universal ethics, and her discussion of the mutual communication and fusion of various races and cultures, so as to probe into the impact of cosmopolitanism on literary works.