76 Luu Quy Khuong, Vo Thi Hoang Ngan, Nguyen Ngoc Nhat Minh

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES USED

IN ECONOMIC NEWS IN ECONOMIST.COM AND TUOITRE.VN
Luu Quy Khuong1, Vo Thi Hoang Ngan2, Nguyen Ngoc Nhat Minh1
1
University of Foreign Language Studies, The University of Danang; lqkhuong@cfl.udn.vn
2
American Academy English Center (AMA); hoangngan.dn@ama.edu.vn

Abstract - Economic news we read everyday is probably our main ideologies and concluded that the representation of news is the
source of economic knowledge.Thus, it has an important role in display of writers’ ideologies in a hidden way through lexical
shaping our public knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Concerned
with significance of critical comprehending of economic news, this
items to manipulate ideas in such a way to make up the
research is conducted to investigate how writers in economist.com readers’ minds. Zhang [5] brought up an exploration of
and tuoitre.vn address economic issues as well as discover linguistic features, news production and social contexts of
similarities and differences of English and Vietnamese economic political news reports based on Fairclough’s three
news. More importantly, the researcher aims at shedding light on
implications of critical discourse analysis (CDA) for understanding
dimensional framework and Halliday’s functional grammar.
and writing economic news. In this study, Van Dijk’s framework [4] is Zhang [5] strengthened the view that language in the news
employed to detect 12 common discursive strategies used by report are never bias-free and branded by social values and
journalists in 200 samples (100 samples in English and 100 samples different ideology, that is, with the same event, different
in Vietnamese) collected from the two newspapers in English and
Vietnamese: economist.com and tuoitre.vn. Findings show that
writers from different points of view which are determined by
discursive strategies are used differently in the two languages to their own values and perspectives make an effort to guide
address economic issues based on different ideologies of the writers. readers’ opinion towards the writer’s interest.
Key words - critical discourse analysis; discursive strategy;
economic news; ideology; journalism.
3. Some theoretical concepts
3.1. Critical discourse analysis
1. Introduction There has been much research on CDA for decades,
Accompanying the rapid advancement of science and however, Van Dijk’s research [18] offered the most unified
technology in the 21st century is the great dependence of and systematic critical analysis of discursive strategies in
positive and negative changes in the society on media. It is news with abundance of illustrative examples. According
because news reports we read every day are probably the main to Van Dijk [4, p353], CDA is “a type of discourse
source of political and social knowledge, belief and attitudes analytical research that primarily studies the way social
to the world. Thus, the media’s central role in moulding public power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted,
knowledge, attitudes, and behavior justifies the increasing reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and
attention of discourse analysis practitioners to it. political context.” CDA differs itself from other disciplines
Very necessary as a critical discourse analysis of news of discourse analysis in the way that it explores the
discourse is, the application of critical discourse analysis in relationship between language and society.
media research is relatively new. According to Van Dijk According to critical discourse analysts, the use of
[3], numerous levels of description, from grammatical language is considered as a form of social practice. All
description to more complex properties such as coherence social practices are inseparable to specific historical
relations between sentences, topics, schematic forms as contexts and situational contexts; all social practices are
well as rhetorical dimensions can be employed to analyze employed to reproduce and enact social relations. That is
news discourse. This can be done by analyzing the use of why discourse is influenced by social structures and
discursive strategies used in English and Vietnamese news reproduced in social interaction. Conforming to these
discourse, which is also the ultimate aim of this research. requirements, the main tenets of CDA are suggested by
This research is hoped to bring about some contributions to Van Dijk [12] as follows:
the readers, EFL students and teachers in comprehending
1. CDA addresses social problems.
and writing economic news in the two newspapers.
2. Power relations are discursive.
2. A brief review of the previous studies related to the 3. Discourse constitutes society and culture.
research
4. Discourse does ideological work.
Van Dijk [3] offered us a systematic analysis of news as
discourse and myriad of examples of structure analysis of 5. Discourse is historical.
international news and domestic news. Fairclough and Wodak 6. The link between text and society is mediated.
[1] proposed a detailed work on basic tenets and 8 basic 7. Discourse analysis is interpretative and explanatory.
principles of CDA. Their framework focuses on three
8. Discourse is a form of social action.
components: textual analysis including Halliday’s systemic
functional linguistics, discourse practices and social 3.2. Ideology
practices. Sana, Hafiz, Maria, Zikra and Huma [2] carried out Ideologies are the fundamental beliefs of a group and its
a research on the choice of lexical items representing different members, that is, it is defined as “a systems of ideas which
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are socio-cognitively defined as shared representations of - Generalization: language users may choose to
social groups and more specifically as the ‘axiomatic’ generalize or make the claims broader and more generally
principles of such representations” [4, p115]. applicable to illustrate their ideology.
3.3. Discursive strategies (DSs) - Implication: News discourse writer will leave much
The word ‘discursive’ means relating to discourse or information implicit, either because it is a common
modes of discourse. The word ‘strategy’ can be understood knowledge known in the readers’ culture or because it is
as conscious and strategic discourse choice adapted to the information inconsistent with their positive self-image
specific situation and individuals. and the writer does not want to present it openly.
According to Van Dijk [18], discursive strategies, in - Lexicalization: a major discursive strategy (DS) of
terms of critical discourse analysis, are linguistic moves ideological analysis. To refer to the same person, same
language users use to influence or control readers’ minds. group or social issues and event, language users can have a
Discursive strategies are represented in news in the way that variety of word choices, depending on discourse genre,
different, possibly opposed opinions, beliefs, interests of personal context (opinions, standpoint, perspective,…) and
different ideologically conflicted groups are hidden beneath social context (in-group membership, out-group
ideological representations of social events. Such membership, dominance relation) and socio-cultural
representations are often spelled along “Us” versus “Them” context (norms, values).
dimension, in which speaker of one group has a tendency to - Norm expressions: The writer may want to use norm-
illustrate them and their group in positive terms and other statements about what ‘we’ and ‘they’ should or should not do.
groups in negative terms. Given these content of ideology, - Number game: Numbers and statistics are the major
Van Dijk [4] tried to incorporate such underlying ideologies means to emphasize objectivity which represents the factual
to expressions in discourse, to be specific, to DSs in his information against subjective opinion and comment. So one
‘ideological square’ theory. The ‘ideological square’ theory of the best move to objectivity is to use numbers and
covers a very general strategy of most ideological discourse: statistics to make them credible for the argument.
- Say positive things about “Us” - Presupposition: most of the meaning of the text is
- Say negative things about “Them” presupposed to be known by the readers. Presupposition
Because of the scope limit, the researcher only may represent the truth values which are taken for granted
examines 12 discursive strategies among 40 discursive or unchallenged.
strategies in Van Dijk’s framework [18]. After conducting 3.4. News
a research on frequency of 40 strategies mentioned in 100 News is information about events or happenings which is
economic news (50 Vietnamese economic news and 50 reported by newspapers, radio, or television. News’ purpose
English economic news), the researcher chooses twelve is to inform readers of what is happening in the world around
mostly used strategies [18] for investigation. them. Common topics for news include war, politics and
- Authority: language users can employ a discursive business, athletic contests, quirky or unusual events, etc.
move of authority in which they mention or quote News must be factual, which means that news must be
authorities to support their argument. Authorities here may based on actual occurrences, situations, thoughts and ideas.
include organizations or people who are generally News must be accurate, balanced, concise and clear.
recognized as experts, leaders, the government, scholars,
The samples are collected in two reputable and reliable
the media, the church or the court, etc.
newspapers: economist.com and tuoitre.vn. economist.com is a
- Categorization: groups tend to be distinguished and reputable English weekly newspaper owned by the Economist
categorized so that the writer can attribute positive or Group and edited in offices in London. tuoitre.vn is one of the
negative characteristics to them and distance in-group and most read online newspaper of Vietnam. It is the official organ
out-group members. of Vietnam’s Youth Community. Because of their equivalent
- Contrast: this is a prevalent strategy which popularity and credibility in the two countries, economist.com
emphasizes Our good things and Their bad things in which and tuoite.vn are opted for investigation in the research.
ideologies are represented in polarized terms in order to
differentiate in-group and out-group membership. 4. Research Procedure
- Empathy: the use of empathy can have an important In order to conduct the research, the following steps are
role in managing positive impression of the readers towards taken. Firstly, to determine the length of the samples, 500
the writer, which contributes to the credit that the writer news in English and Vietnamese are investigated in terms
has,and to the reliability of the argument of the writers. of number of words. As a result, samples which have 900
to 1000 words are chosen for investigation because of their
- Explanation: the negative actions of in-group
popularity in the total news investigated.After the average
members tend to be explained away, whereas negative
length of news is set, news about specific economic events
actions of out-group members tend to be explained as an
or happenings reported in the two online newspapers are
inherent property of the whole group.
collected and two economic news about the same event in
- Fallacy: fallacy is identified when in an argument, the English and Vietnamese are paired to be compared. After
relations between premises and a conclusion may be faulty collecting the data, 100 news in English and 100 articles in
or conjectural without solid evidence. Vietnamese are put into investigation. The researcher
78 Luu Quy Khuong, Vo Thi Hoang Ngan, Nguyen Ngoc Nhat Minh
detects, describes and analyzes discursive strategies used distance Vietnamese exporters and Vietnam’s catfish from
and the way journalists represent different ideologies by American farmers and America’s catfish. In specific, the
using discursive strategies. Finally, the research results are phrase “các nhà nuôi cá Mỹ” is adopted to address
compared and contrasted to point out the similarities and American farmers and American authorities, while an
differences between the two languages. The researcher also inclusive noun “Việt Nam” is used, on one hand, to include
thus suggests some implications for news readers and the whole Vietnamese people and authorities to the writer’s
teaching and learning English as a foreign language. side, on the other hand, to assert that “tra” and “basa” fish
are the specials of Vietnam and Vietnam produces the
5. Analysis of DSs in English Economic News (EENs) incomparable catfish in terms of quality.
and Vietnamese Economic News (VENs)
5.3. DS of contrast
5.1. DS of authority
The contrast between “Us” and “Them” can also be
The strategy of authority is a common move used. subtly expressed by description of an event or a process.
However, in ENs, this strategy is used in a canny way. For example, in the following example, the writer describes
(1) The most influential, by Peter Petri, Michael the process to launch a product in China and a Western
Plummer and Fan Zhai, for the ENst-West Centre, a software firm.
research institute, forecasts that the deal would raise the GDP (5) Whereas a Western software firm typically releases
of the 12 signatories by $285 billion, or 0.9%, by 2025 [7]. an early “beta” version of a product only to a select group
In example (1), the strategic use of authority brings out of guinea-pigs, Chinese firms are more likely to launch
the credibility of the opinions stated in the news by citing theirs straight into the market [8].
opinions of a person whose job is closely related to the The software firm in the West conforms to standard
field, in particular, a banker, who does calculate and predict process of launching a product, while Chinese firms are
the rise and fallacy of the economy and who is under the depicted as conversing the process for sake of profits.
direct influence of bobbing of figures and quotes.
(6) Phố Main là tên phố thông thường ở các thị trấn
The strategy of authority can also work toward overall trung lưu tại Mỹ, đối ngược với Phố Wall giàu có [13].
negative characterization of Others.
Here, the contrast between Main Street and Wall Street
(2) “Nếu người ta thật sự tin rằng cá nuôi cần phải được is drawn to assert the polarization between middle class
kiểm tra nhiều hơn thì tại sao không phải tất cả các loại cá and bankers and businessmen representing Wall Street.
nuôi?” - ông Matt Fass, chủ tịch Công ty Các sản phẩm
5.4. DS of empathy
biển quốc tế, một nhà phân phối ở Virginia, nói với
AP.Lý do thật sự, theoông Fass, là tiền bạc” [11]. In discourse about economics, strategy of empathy may
be largely strategic and is intended to manage the writer’s
There is a conflict of interest between the Vietnamese writer
impression with the readers. However, there is no DS of
and the American writer on this matter so in order to convince
empathy used in EENs. Let us explore an example of
readers that the Vietnamese writer’s argument is authentic and
empathy used in VENs.
logical, he/she quotes supportive statements from the director of
a big American company related to the field concerned – a (7) “Thần mưa không nghe lời cầu khẩn của chúng tôi
marine product company. This strategy kills two birds with one và ông Thủ tướng Modi cũng giả điếc trước lời cầu xin giúp
stone. Taking an opinion from an authoritative figure in đỡ của chúng tôi. Tôi đang nợ nần ngập đầu” - ông
America to support Vietnam is a judicious move, on one hand, Tarachand Mathur nói trong nước mắt, tay chỉ ra cánh đồng
to prove that Vietnam’s actions are of no illegality, even from trồng lúa mì thất bát của mình [14].
the perspective of an authority in America, on the other hand, Here, the writer uses a tragic story of a farmer in India
to demonstrate the internal division in America, to show that not to evoke pity in the readers, which helps to prove his/her
all citizens or authorities in America agree with the decision to argument that Indian government should not deprive
impose dumping suit on Vietnam. farmers of their lands.
5.2. DS of categorization 5.5. DS of explanation
The DS of categorization is exercised in the news to The strategy of explanation is exploited in a way that
distance “Us” and “Them”. negative acts of out-group members are explained in detail
(3) Some Asians are blaming the West [9]. or positive act of in-group members are ignored or
explained away, as shown in the examples below:
The DS of categorization “Asians” and “the West” is
used to pronounce the disparity of Asian countries and (8)Instead, most economists use what is known as
Western countries, further accentuates the wrongdoing that computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis...
Asians blame on Westerns. Researchers line things up so that the model yields the same
output as a real benchmark year. Once that is achieved, they
(4) AP cho biết các nhà nuôi cá Mỹ đang ráo riết vận
“shock” the model, adjusting trade barriers to see how
động hành lang để lại có một đạo luật mới: họ muốn những
outcomes shift, both immediately and over time. [7]
con cá nhập khẩu từ VN lại được gọi là… cá da trơn, và do
đó sẽ bị đặt dưới một chế độ kiểm tra mới mà họ đã thúc Specifically, in example (8), the assets of CGE, a method
đẩy thông qua Quốc hội Mỹ năm 2008 [11]. which the writer advocates are deciphered meticulously.
Meanwhile, in example (9) below, the deficiency of the
The DS of categorization is exercised in the news to
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view: bailing out working class Americans or bailing out no (14) This orthodoxy rests on three propositions: that
one can help American economy is pointed out. CEO pay just keeps on going up; that it is not tied to
(9) Nhưng thời thế đã thay đổi. Nhiều người trẻ ở Mỹ performance; and that boards are not doing their job of
than thở nền kinh tế ì ạch đang giết chết “giấc mơ Mỹ”, ... holding fat cats’ paws to the fire [10].
Họ than phiền dù học hành và làm việc chăm chỉ đến mấy Interesting to the analysis, the job of holding fat cats’
cũng không tiết kiệm đủ tiền để mua nhà, học đại học, paws to the fire is considered a very intrigue and dangerous
hưởng các dịch vụ y tế... Điều đó hoàn toàn trái ngược với one, which leads to the interpretation of the sentence as
những gì chúng tôi được dạy từ nhỏ: “Là một người Mỹ có follows: the pay of CEO always increases, although their
nghĩa là có quyền tiếp cận với sự thịnh vượng” [13]. performance is not boosting nor they are doing anything
With a detailed explanation of how hard it is for threatening or complicated.
American people to realize their American dream in the (15) Cuộc gặp đó cho thấy các nước BRICS vẫn chưa
present, the writer expresses his/her underlying ideology: chung một bầu trời với nhau cho lắm, mỗi nước đều giữ
there is a big gap between notion of American dream and những góc trời riêng [16].
a harsh reality of economic downturn. Here, the strategy of implication is observed in the
5.6. DS of fallacy phrase “chung một bầu trời” and “giữ những góc trời riêng”
Fallacy is one of the very effective DS used in expressing which can be understood that members of BRICs do not
ideologically different opinions and in the articles, it is put their alliance ahead of their own benefits: they do not
employed cleverly. Have a look at these examples: see eye to eye in many issues and are not willing to
compromise for the best of their alliance.
(10) Many will not have jobs to go back to [9].
5.9. DS of lexicalization
Without any solid scientific evidence, the writers
represents his/her own formulation, prediction based on As regards the analysis of lexicalization of the news, the
his/her knowledge and asserts it as it is true to make the choice of words can be effective in representing ideologically
readers believe in what he/she stated. controlled opinions of the writers. For example,
(11) Nếu điều đó xảy ra, họ sẽ đánh mất “định mức tín (16) This week, however, as they feasted to the
nhiệm” cả đời và sẽ rất khó có thể vay tiền mua nhà ở Mỹ [13]. deafening rattle of the firecrackers lit to greet the Year of
the Ox, their celebrations had an anxious tinge. [9]
Here, the writer states his/her argument and prediction
about difficulties that American people have to face to buy The opinion represented is very explicit through the means
a house for themselves and made the readers believe in of lexicalization, as is most obvious in the choice of “feasted”
what he/she believes. instead of “celebrate”, “tinge” instead of “feeling”, along
with the lexical choice of “rattle”, “firecrackers” and
5.7. DS of generalization
“greet”, all of which create sound effect of festival. So the
The strategy of generalization is intended to manage writer’s opinion that Chinese celebrates a well-off festival is
opinions and impression of the scale and popularity of the made clear through a clever use of lexicalization.
subject. This strategy can be exploited to give the impression
(17) “Cơn điên ngày thứ sáu đen tối” [15]
about large scale of the subject as in the example:
The opinion represented is very explicit through the
(12) China's breakneck growth has stalled. The rest of
means of lexicalization, as is most obvious in the choice of
East Asia, too,... has found itself hit as hard as anywhere
“đen tối” instead of “đen” in the translation of “Black
in the world and in some cases harder [8].
Friday” into Vietnamese “Thứ sáu đen tối”. While “black”
The lexical choice “anywhere” is used to make readers in “Black Friday” originally indicates benefits, and “Black
believe that the whole globe, not China only has to suffer Friday” means moving from the red (indicating losses) to the
from a halt in economic upheaval. This type of strategy is black (indicating profits), the phrase can be translated as
meant to include all other countries in the world in economic “Thứ sáu đen”, the writer intentionally mistranslate “black”
subsidence, to shift the attention of the readers away from into “đen tối”, an explicit forms of derogation term.
China’s failure and diminish that failure off China.
5.10. DS of norm expressions
(13) Cuộc gặp đó cho thấy các nước BRICS vẫn chưa
Economic news relates much of advice or comment on
chung một bầu trời với nhau cho lắm, mỗi nước đều giữ
what is best for one economy or the whole world economy.
những góc trời riêng [16].
As a result, strategy of norm expressions is one of the most
In example (13), a concrete event or action is important strategies to suggest measures and solutions to
generalized, which makes the claim broader and applicable economic problems. In the following examples, the writers
to every one or almost everyone at least. This happens with used norm expressions to recommend to save Asia’s countries
the quantifier for noun “đều” to include all countries to the from smash by developing internal economic strength and
actions concerned. detaching themselves from dependence of export in the first
5.8. DS of implication example, and in the second example the writer gave advice on
The strategy of implication is proved effective in hinting authorities to boost development of agriculture.
the bad sides of “Them” or good sides of “Us” which can be (18) To get onto a sustainable long-term growth path -
interpreted in one or many ways, depending the context. and to help pull the rest of the world out of recession -
Asia's economies need to become less dependent on
80 Luu Quy Khuong, Vo Thi Hoang Ngan, Nguyen Ngoc Nhat Minh
exports in other ways [9]. DSs in VENs Occurrence %
(19) Tiếp theo đó, các đảng phái này phải phối hợp nhau Number game 850 23.3
để cải thiện cuộc sống của người dân nông thôn [14]. Lexicalization 709 19.4
5.11. DS of number game Authority 578 15.8
Number game is a powerful tool in ideological Implication 129 3.5
management. It is even more powerful in economic news Presupposition 126 3.5
where statistics is the most influential way to conceive and Generalization 34 0.9
analyze economic development or evaluate an economic Explanation 32 0.9
event or phenomenon. This strategy is used many times in
Empathy 17 0.5
the news to articulate the quantity, comparison, contrast as
shown respectively in the examples below. Norm expressions 14 0.4
Categorization 13 0.4
(20) China’s lunar new year sees the world's largest
migration, as tens of millions of workers flock home.[9] Fallacy 8 0.2
Contrast 4 0.1
(21) Thực tế, khoảng 1/2 người Mỹ ở nhà thuê phải chi
hơn 30% tổng thu nhập cho việc thuê nhà, tăng kỷ lục 12 Total 2514 68.9
điểm % cơ bản so với cách đây 10 năm.[13]
6. Findings
5.12. DS of presupposition
To put statistics for DSs used in economist.com and
The use of presupposition can be most effectively tuoitre.vn in comparison and contrast, the researcher draws
exploited when it is used in line with characterization of Us out some following similarities and differences between
and Them regarding good points and bad points English and Vietnamese.
respectively. The writer’s ideological stand is represented
by the use of the word “even” as follows: 6.1. Similarities
(22) Even in China, exports are spluttering, down by The first similarity is that the strategies of number game,
2.8% in December compared with the previous year [9]. authority, lexicalization, implication, presupposition are
considered most effective and important in economic news
Here, the lexical item “even” bears a presupposition that in both languages, as evident in its popularity among the DSs
China’s export was strong and is supposed to remain strong concerned. The reason is understandable:
during the economic slump. However, the economic downturn
is so devastating that it can make China’s export fall. Firstly, economics is a field which is based on statistics
and figures to generalize the situations and make
Another lexical item which can bear a presupposition predictions, that is why the strategy of number game
is “tiếp tục”. dominates economic news.
(23) Báo cáo tháng 6 năm nay của Goldman Sachs ghi nhận: Secondly, different from other field, in economics,
“Những năm gần đây, các nước BRICS đã tiếp tục vươn lên there are a variety of ideas and predictions regarding
mạnh mẽ trên bảng xếp hạng quy mô các nền kinh tế [16]. economic issues, that is, each person can interpret
The use of “tiếp tục” suggests that members of BRICs economic statistics in a different way, whether positive or
did climb to a higher position in economic ladder once and negative. As a result, it is not as persuasive for journalists
then they were making a consistent effort to gain economic to make their own arguments as to quote specialists’,
achievement in recent years. authorities’, government’s and experts’ opinions. That is
Statistics in the tables below summarize the occurrence why DS of authority is favored in economic news.
and percentage of twelve DSs examined in EENs and VENs. Thirdly, much as dry and rigid economic news may
Table 1. A Summary of DSs Used in EENs have been, DSs of lexicalization, implication,
DSs in EENs Occurrence % presupposition add flavor to economic news, making the
Lexicalization 1842 50.49 news more interesting and impressive.
Number game 703 19.27 6.2. Differences
Implication 342 9.38 In general, that English writers employ more DSs than
Presupposition 284 7.79 Vietnamese ones is proved by the fact that occurrence of all DSs
Authority 252 6.91 in economist.com is 1.5 times higher than that in tuoitre.vn.
Categorization 148 4.06 Moreover, occurrence of each DS varies when
Explanation 76 2.08 comparing between English and Vietnamese.
Fallacy 57 1.56 In particular, albeit DS of authority occupies a large
Generalization 134 3.67 proportion in both English and Vietnamese economic news,
Norm expressions 32 0.88 its occurrence in Vietnamese economic news is twofold that
Contrast 29 0.79 in English economic news. It can be said that the role of
government, authorities or experts is more emphasized in
Empathy 0 0.00
Vietnamese economic news than in English ones. This reflects
Total 3648 100.00
the respect for authority of Vietnamese people, in specific, the
Table 2. A Summary of DSs Used in VENs
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Vietnamese are supposed to take a very limited role in employed more by English journalists. The distinction can
experiencing, assessing or taking initiatives in dealing with be seen in the more use of empathy by Vietnamese
economic issues, hence, opinions, guidelines and predictions journalists, which can bring out their neutral tone.
about economic issues are mostly led by the government or One noteworthy discrepancy is that in VENs, strategy
experts. In contrast, in English economic news, the of empathy appears 14 times in the corpus of the research,
government or experts play a less prominent role in guiding however, there is no strategy of empathy used in EENs.
the public’s opinions and actions and the writer or readers are This can be interpreted by the fact that English journalists
supposed to be more engaged, more critical and initiative in in economist.com try to be objective in their account and
understanding and dealing with economic issues. analysis of economic events, that is, not to take sides or
Secondly, high in occurrence in both languages as give any empathetic comment on the events. However,
implication and presupposition are, the two DSs in English Vietnamese are collectivists who have tendency to show
economic news are used much more times than in Vietnamese sympathetic expressions towards others’ mishap.
economic news. This difference can be explained in terms of Last but not least, fallacy and norm expressions are
ideological positioning. To make it clear, the disparity between other domains in which ideological stances may be
English and Vietnamese economic news in the use of expressed. It is proved that more powerful arguers may
implication and presupposition represents the link between manage the opinion of the readers by making self-serving
comprehensibility of economic news and education or social arguments more prominent and affirmative. Because of
position of speakers that the newspapers target. The economic and military strength of America, its media’s
economist.com is the newspaper which offers authoritative voice is more influential than that of Vietnam, thus
insight and penetrating opinion on economic news, meanwhile, American journalists are more vigorous arguers. That fact
tuoitre.vn normally provides readers with informative account can shed light on how English journalists employ more of
or description of economic events and issues in the world. In fallacy and norm expressions than Vietnamese ones.
line with that function, economist.com caters a version of news
with much of implication and presupposition, whereas writers 7. Conclusion
in tuoitre.vn may be consciously aiming to make their report The data analysis reveals that language and ideology is
simplified, thus making their news palatable to common mutually determined. In detail, the language used by
readers, not just the elite. journalists in specific and the language in news discourse
Thirdly, the DS of explanation also accounts for a higher in general is biased and the journalists report an economic
proportion in English economic news than in Vietnamese events or issues in accordance with their own interest and
ones. With focus on analyzing and giving insightful opinions ideologies. Therefore, they use DSs to represent their own
on an issue, writers in economist.com have a tendency to ideologies and opinions. Moreover, the use of DSs in
give many detailed explanations of the news. English and Vietnamese bears some similarities as well as
Fourthly, the DS of generalization ranks 6th among all differences. The research brings about practical
DSs used in Vietnamese economic news, while it takes the implications for readers, students as well as teachers.
9th position in English economic news, which can be Firstly, the research helps to raise readers’ critical
concluded that Vietnamese writers tend to use more of awareness of news discourse as well as achieve a better
generalization strategy than English writers. The difference understanding of what they read in economic news.
can be explained that Vietnamese are collectivists, who Secondly, it helps learners to be aware of biased nature of
usually have a tendency to assign individual attributes to news discourse to conduct a selective acquisition of foreign
the whole group. thoughts, beliefs and ideologies. Therefore, learners can
decide which set of thoughts, beliefs and ideologies is
Another difference worth mentioning is that the
worth adopting and transmitting and which one is not
occurrence of use of categorization in English news is nearly
suitable to their own culture, thus resisting the imposition
11 times as many as that in Vietnamese news, namely 148
of foreign ideologies on them. Last but not least, teachers
times and 13 times respectively. It may be that the journalists
can introduce DSs or other parts of this framework to
in English economic news show no fear of conflict, as would
students so that students can learn how to analyze a
be expected in an English news source. English journalists
discourse critically. Furthermore, the findings of the study
are considered as more openly critical in their outlook and
can be beneficial to teachers in a way that they can be more
analysis of an economic event, so they incline to categorize
aware of the discourse they use as a material in class to
themselves and other countries that do no good for their
avoid using negative embedded-ideology materials.
country more often than Vietnamese journalists. In
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(The Board of Editors received the paper on 05/11/2015, its review was completed on 06/03/2016)