Boom or Bust: Unveiling the Media Portrayal of Confucius Institutes in America and Britain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53469/jssh.2024.6(10).09Keywords:
Confucius Institute, Critical discourse analysis, Systemic functional grammar, Image construction, News discourseAbstract
Intercultural communication institutes, such as the Goethe Institut and Confucius Institute, were established to globally promote language and culture. However, the status of Confucius Institutes (CIs), particularly those in the UK and US, has shifted. In light of these evolving perspectives, this research employed Fairclough’s three-dimensional model and Halliday’s systemic functional grammar as theoretical frameworks in examining the diachronic transformations in the portrayal of CIs in American and British media discourse spanning the last decade. By analyzing intertextuality and linguistic elements, such as lexical choices and the usage of modal verbs, this study discerns different images of CI constructed by the media. Before 2020, the media highlighted the cultural elements of CI.
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