A contrastive study of some common textual patterns of disease outbreak online news in english and vietnamese

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES  VŨ THỊ MAI ANH A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF SOME COMMON T

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES 

NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU MỘT SỐ MẪU THỨC VĂN BẢN PHỔ BIẾN TRONG

CÁC PHẦN TIN ĐIỆN TỬ NÓI VỀ CÁC ĐỢT BÙNG PHÁT DỊCH BỆNH

BẰNG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

MA MINOR THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code : 60220201

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES 

VŨ THỊ MAI ANH

A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF SOME COMMON TEXTUAL PATTERNS OF DISEASE OUTBREAK ONLINE NEWS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

NGHIÊN CỨU ĐỐI CHIẾU MỘT SỐ MẪU THỨC VĂN BẢN PHỔ BIẾN TRONG

CÁC PHẦN TIN ĐIỆN TỬ NÓI VỀ CÁC ĐỢT BÙNG PHÁT DỊCH BỆNH

BẰNG TIẾNG ANH VÀ TIẾNG VIỆT

MA MINOR THESIS

Major: English Linguistics Code : 60220201

Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HÀ NỘI – 2016

DECLARATION

I, Vu Thi Mai Anh, certify that this work is my own study The data, results and finding in this thesis are true The thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution

Signature:

Vu Thi Mai Anh

Email: maianhvu203@gmail.comMobile phone: 01684381468

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn, for setting me on an interesting path and for continuous support of my thesis, for his patience, his motivation and immense knowledge Without his invaluable advice and instruction, the study could not have come to fruition

Besides, I am also very grateful to my teacher Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn for his value lectures about Information Structure that inspires me to conduct the study on textual pattern

My sincere thanks also goes to the Department of Graduate Studies for their kindness and support

Lastly, I wish to thank my parents, my husband, my son and my friends, who always encourage, sympathize and be aside me Without their previous support, it would be impossible for me to conduct this research

ABSTRACT

The study is conducted to investigate the common textual patterns and their signaling devices and to find out the similarities and differences of these issues in English and Vietnamese diseases outbreak online news Correspondingly, three research questions are raised, which are (1) What kinds of textual pattern are commonly used in disease outbreak online news in English and Vietnamese? (2) What are the signaling devices that help to identify textual patterns in disease outbreak online news in English and Vietnamese? (3) What are the similarities and differences between textual patterns and signaling devices of disease outbreak online news in English and Vietnamese? In order to answer the research questions, the researcher combines different methods of data analysis (quantitative, qualitative, descriptive and contrastive) The research is conducted on 100 news on diseases outbreak, half of which are in English and the other half are in Vietnamese The result reveals that the most common textual pattern in both English and Vietnamese is Problem – Solution General – Particular pattern ranks the second with a much smaller percentage Question - Answer is only found in Vietnamese news The other patterns do not exist

in the surveyed news Regarding signaling devices, there are two kinds: lexical signals (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) and structural signals (changes in verb form)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations, diagrams vi

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Significance of the study 2

5 Research question and research methods 3

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND & LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 The concept of discourse and text 5

1.1.1 Discourse 5

1.1.2 Text 5

1.2 Discourse analysis and Text analysis 5

1.3 Textual patterns and signaling devices 6

1.3.1 Definition of textual patterns 6

1.3.2 Signaling devices of textual patterns 6

1.4 Kinds of textual pattern 6

1.4.1 Problem – Solution pattern 6

1.4.2 General – Particular pattern 7

1.4.3 Question – Answer pattern 8

1.4.4 Goal - Achievement pattern 9

1.4.5 Hypothetical – Real pattern 9

1.5 Disease Outbreak Online News 10

1.5.1 The notion of news 10

1.5.2 Features of online news 10

1.5.3 Disease Outbreak Online News (DONs) 11

1.5.3.1 Previous studies on news 11

1.5.3.2 Notions of Diseases outbreak online news (DONs) 12

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 13

2.1 Subject of the study 13

2.2 Research methods 13

2.3 Data collection method and data analysis procedure 14

2.4 Analytical framework 15

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 16

3.1 TEXTUAL PATTERNS AND THEIR SIGNALING DEVICES IN DISEASES OUTBREAK ONLINE NEWS IN ENGLISH 16

3.1.1.Problem – Solution pattern 19

3.1.1.1.Lexical Signals of Problem 19

3.1.1.2.Signals of Response 25

3.1.1.3.Signals of Evaluation 28

3.1.2.General –Particular pattern 29

3.1.2.1.Cardinal numbers as signals of enumerables/general 30

3.1.2.2.Ordinal numbers as signals of matching relation/matched particular 31

3.2.TEXTUAL PATTERNS AND SIGNALS OF PATTERNS IN DISEASES OUTBREAK ONLINE NEWS IN VIETNAMESE IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN ENGLISH 32

3.2.1.Problem – Solution pattern 36

3.2.1.1.Lexical signals of Problem 36

3.2.1.2.Signals of Response 40

3.2.1.3.Signals of Evaluation 43

3.2.2.General – Particular pattern 44

3.2.2.1.Cardinal numbers as signals of enumerables/general 44

3.2.2.2.Ordinal numbers as signals of matching relation/matched particular 45

3.2.3.Question – Answer pattern 45

3.2.3.1.Interrogative structures 46

3.2.3.2.Repetition between question and answer 47

3.3 SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TEXTUAL PATTERN AND SIGNALING DEVICES USED IN DONs IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 48

3.3.1.Similarities 48

3.3.2.Differences 48

PART C: CONCLUSION 50

1 Summary of the study 50

2 Summary of the main findings 51

3 Implications 52

4 Limitations of the study 52

5 Suggestions for further research 52

REFERENCES……….53

APPENDIXES ………55

APPENDIX 1………55

APPENDIX 2………61

APPENDIX 3………61

APPENDIX 4………67

APPENDIX 5………68

LIST OF ABBREVIATION DONs: Disease outbreak news

LIST OF DIAGRAMS

Page

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: Part of speech as lexical signals of Problem in DONs in English 17

Table 4: Parts of speech as lexical signals of Problem of DONs in

Vietnamese

31

Table 5: Problem – Solution pattern in DONs in English and Vietnamese 48

LIST OF FIGURES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Textual pattern is an interesting field which provides insights into the structure

of discourse It is regarded as an important tool for readers and learners to process a text because it functions as navigation for readers (Coulthard, 2000) It is to be noted that textual pattern, although a challenge to researchers and learners, has attracted much of their attention The works by famous linguists such as Winter (1977); Hoey (2001, 1994) and McCarthy (1994) have opened ways for further comprehensive analysis into the application of textual patterns in language teaching and learning The researcher is also inspired to carry out the analysis on textual patterns in the two languages of English and Vietnamese and the chosen topic is diseases outbreak online news

The reason for choosing this topic is that news is a kind of discourse which has been studied in terms of its linguistic features and discourse structure However, none

of the researchers has taken into consideration of online news regarding its textual patterns Moreover, online news is an invaluable source providing updated information and knowledge in the most rapid way Understanding the patterns of news and its signaling devices would be beneficial for users to access information On the other side, the researcher has worked in the field relating to health care and know that news reports on outbreak of diseases are very essential, in which the latest incidents and events surrounding the sudden occurrence of diseases are updated The information provided can help readers to protect themselves and to spread to the community so that everyone is cautioned about the outbreak

The question that how to help popular readers to get in the content effectively

encourages the researcher to perform “A Contrastive Study of Some Common Textual Patterns of Disease Outbreak Online News in English and Vietnamese” Besides, the

study is expected to be a good reference for popular readers to access information in the most effective way and for language learners in improving reading and writing skills

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to:

- Investigate some common textual patterns and their signaling devices in Disease outbreak online news (DONs) in English and Vietnamese

- Find out the similarities and differences between the textual patterns and signaling devices in DONs in English and Vietnamese

3 Scope of the study

There are nine textual patterns suggested by Hoey (1994, 2001), McCarthy and Carter (1994) including Problem –Solution, Hypothetical - Real, General – Particular, Question – Answer, Goal – Achievement, Narrative, Opportunity taking, Design arousal – fulfillment, Gap in knowledge filling However, due to the limited time, the study will deal with only five kinds of textual patterns based on Hoey‟ concept: Problem – Solution, General – Particular, Question –Answer, Hypothetical - Real, and Goal –Achievement The data will be collected through news on some websites of World Health Organization (WHO), BBC, CNN, Ministry of Health in Vietnam (MOH), dantri, Vnexpress, thanhnien, nhandan and so on The topic is the outbreak of infectious diseases such as Ebola, Hand – foot – mouth disease, Measles from 2013 to August 2016

4 Significance of the study

The study is expected to bring about some benefits in terms of theory and practice

Theoretically, it helps to give an overview of English textual patterns, discourse, text, discourse analysis and text analysis Then some concepts of online

news discourse and their features will be reviewed

Practically, it provides an effective way of the processing of online news discourse, which particularly helps readers to comprehend and exploit the information successfully Moreover, the finding of lexical signals in the study can be applied in language teaching and learning, especially in reading and writing skill Learners can predict the flow of one text in reading passages and use the knowledge in textual

patterns and their signaling devices to produce successful pieces of writing

5 Research questions and research methods

5.2 Research methods

An integration of qualitative, quantitative, descriptive and contrastive method is employed to conduct the study The quantitative method is employed to count the percentage of each textual pattern or how frequently each textual pattern is used in English and Vietnamese online news The qualitative method is used to build the researcher‟s own framework based on Hoey‟s theoretical framework The two later methods are employed to give deep description into the structure of text and to find out the similarities and differences between the two languages in terms of textual patterns

6 Design of the study

The study is organized in three main parts

Part A: Introduction

This part consists of rationale, aims, scope, significance, research methodology and

design of the study

Part B: Development

This part includes four chapters

- Chapter 1 deals with theoretical background and literature review It presents the issues related to discourse and text, discourse analysis and text analysis, textual patterns, news, features of news discourse, online news discourse

- Chapter 2 presents the research methodology in which the subject of the study, research approach, research methods, data collection and data analysis procedure are clarified

- Chapter 3 is the data analysis and discussion in which common textual patterns and signaling devices used in DONs in English and Vietnamese is fully analyzed, their similarities and differences are also pointed out

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND & LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 The concept of discourse and text

1.1.1 Discourse

The term “discourse” is conceptualized in a number of different ways by different writers According to Crystal (1992), discourse is a continuous stretch of language rather than a sentence which often constitutes a coherent unit such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative In his theory, the term is used especially in spoken language rather than written language Cook (1989) also considers discourse as

“stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified, and purposive” He makes

no distinction between spoken and written language in the definition

Nunan (1993) gives a clear definition of discourse which is the interpretation of the communicative event in context From his point of view, discourse is perceived in spoken language, which shares the same opinion as Crystal

1.1.2 Text

Like the term “discourse”, text also attracts lots of attention from scholars and researchers Cook (1989) defines text as a stretch of language interpreted formally, without context In a more detailed way, Crystal (1992) makes it clearer by the assumption that text is “a piece of naturally occurring spoken, written, or signed discourse identified for purposes of analysis It is often a language unit with a definable communicative function, such as a conversation, a poster” However, while Brown and Yule (1983) assume that text refers to the verbal record of a communicative act, Nunan (1993) uses the term “text” to refer to “any written record

of a communicative event” Clearly, these definitions are different in one or more aspects They all share the same idea of a communicative event, but the term is considered whether in a written record or a verbal one

1.2 Discourse analysis and Text analysis

The distinction between discourse and text leads to the distinction between discourse analysis (DA) and text analysis (TA) DA examines how stretches of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become

study or analysis of language in use within context whereas TA is concerned with an analysis of the structural properties of language divorced from their communicative

functions

1.3 Textual patterns and signaling devices

1.3.1 Definition of textual patterns

According to McCarthy (1991), when functional textual segments combine, they form the logical structure of the whole text called textual patterns In other words, textual pattern is the pattern of text organization There are 9 patterns mentioned in Winter (1977, 1978), Hoey (1983, 2001), McCarthy (1991), and McCarthy & Carter (1994): Problem-Solution, Hypothetical-Real, General-Particular, Question-Answer, Goal-Achievement, Narrative, Opportunity-taking, Desire arousal-fulfillment, Gap in knowledge filling Due to the limited time and scope, the study will deal with only five

of the patterns including Problem-Solution, General-Particular, Question-Answer, Goal –Achievement, Hypothetical-Real to investigate how outbreak news discourse operates

1.3.2 Signaling devices of textual patterns

Signaling devices are signals that help to identify a pattern, which composes of lexical signal and structural signal Hoey (2001) states that lexical signals are a direct linguistic reflection of the pattern, so identifying the signals is important in any analysis However, the frequency of signals found will be vary somewhat according to genre in which signals in popular science report is more than in academic scientific writing (Hoey, 2001) Hoey (1994) also states that structural change is predicted by a change in verb form This is mostly found in Problem –Solution where Response is often triggered by verbs

1.4 Kinds of textual pattern

1.4.1 Problem – Solution pattern

1.4.1.1 The concept of Problem-Solution pattern

The Problem – Solution pattern is the most common pattern of all as stated by Hoey (2001) The expanded version of this pattern might include the following elements: Situation (What was the situation?) – Problem (What problem arose?) - Responses (What did you do about it?) - Evaluation of responses (positive or

negative) Notably, McCarthy and Carter (1994: 55) claimed that in this pattern, the key element is a „positive evaluation of at least one of the possible solutions offered ‟

„A text which ends with no positive solution offered leaves the reader with a feeling of unease‟ Coulthard (1994) pointed out that the pattern can be complicated in several ways, e.g when the evaluation of the solution is negative, which is itself a problem, there is an alternative suggested solution followed by evaluation

1.4.1.2 Signals of Problem-Solution pattern

According to Hoey (2001), the Problem – Solution is “characteristically lexically signaled” It can be identified either by means of inscribed signals or by means of evoking signals Inscribed signals or inscribed evaluation are those which are encoded explicitly such as “unfortunately”, “solution”, “too noisy” Evoked signals refer to lexical choices that raise in readers‟ mind an evaluation For example,

“Illiteracy” is a factual description, however, it evokes a negative evaluation which refers to a problem Non-evaluative signals which are regarded as “problematic” such

as “disease”, “poverty”, “burglary” are called evoked signals Besides, he also adds the phrase “do something about x” which he emphasizes as one of the most “fundamental and common signals” of the pattern

McCarthy (1991: 58) lists the following terms as lexical signal of Problem - Solution pattern: “problem”, “drawback”, “approach”, “response”, “result”,

“outcome”, “solution”, “answer”

1.4.2 General – Particular pattern

1.4.2.1 The concept of General-Particular pattern

The basic structure of this pattern is that text includes “an initial general statement, followed by a series of (progressively) more specific statements, culminating in a further generalization” (Holland and Johnson 2000: 21) In a typical case, a passage including a general statement is followed by another passage, which expands the generalization, such as exemplifying, explaining, and/or justifying

Hoey (1983) pointed out that definition is one of the most typical examples of the detail in the preview-detail relation There can be at least three types of detail: composition, structure, and function

1.4.2.2 Signals of General – Particular pattern

There are two major signals of General – Particular pattern that is enumerables and matching relation (McCoulthard) According to Tadros (1985), enumerable comprises undefined sub-technical nouns which typically predict a subsequent particularization (eg: “advantages”, “functions”, “aspects”) and discourse self-reference nouns such as “definitions”, “examples”, “illustrations” Winter (1977) and Hoey (1983) state that matching relation can be identified as the signal of the realization of hyponyms in text, that is “ the partial repetition of a piece of text where a combination of repeated constant and new variable forces the reader to see items not otherwise overtly linked as comparable” In other words, this relation is composed of the element of repetition and differences which emphasize the significance of being different

1.4.3 Question – Answer pattern

1.4.3.1 The concept of Question – Answer pattern

This pattern is similar to the Problem-Solution pattern The difference is that there is an explicitly posed question followed by a satisfactory answer The main elements are question, answer and positive/negative evaluation The evaluation is obligatory when the answer is ascribed to someone rather than the author When the answer is made by the author, the evaluation can be optional Question-Answer differs from the other patterns in that there is no intermediate stage between question and answer and there is no logical sequence relationship between question and answer (Hoey, 2001) It is noted that while other patterns are found in both long and short texts, this pattern rarely occurs in short texts because making a question explicit would

be “heavy – handed” if the question‟s currency did not extend over a considerable part

of the text

1.4.3.2 Signals of Question – Answer pattern

This pattern can be easily identified by signals including interrogative structures, question marks and repetition between question and answer A number of cohesive links between question and answer can be found through the use of repetition

or restatement of the question For example:

Q: What, then, is the advantage which we may hope to derive from a study of the political writers of the past?

A: If this is what political theory is there is no difficulty in determining what advantage may be expected from the study of great political works

1.4.4 Goal - Achievement pattern

1.4.4.1 The concept of Goal-Achievement pattern

According to Hoey (2001), the component parts of Goal- Achievement pattern are Situation, Goal, Method of achievement and Evaluation and/or result As may happen in other patterns, we can see another pattern, e.g Problem - Solution embedded in this pattern The major difference between this and the Problem - Solution pattern is that Goal is defined as “an intended change in situation” (Hoey,

2001:146) The following questions can represent this kind of pattern: What was the situation? What goal did x want to achieve? What method did x or y use to achieve it? How successful was this in the opinion of x, y or z?/ What was the result for x?

Here x, y, z may be the same person(s) and one or more may be the writer

1.4.4.2 Signals of Goal – Achievement

Hoey (2003) lists some of the lexical signals that trigger the script such as “How to”, “method”, “want to”, “would like to”, “aim”, “objective”, “means”, “way”,

“strategy”, “by V-ing” and so on In general, such kinds of signals indicate desire, wishes and hope and the method carried out to reach the goal

1.4.5 Hypothetical – Real pattern

1.4.5.1 The concept of Hypothetical – Real pattern

This pattern consists of two elements: the hypothetical, which reports what has been said or written, and the real, which states the writer‟s affirmation or denial of the hypothetical The hypothetical reports somebody else‟s statement, the truth-value of which is unknown or controversial The real states whether the hypothetical is true or not true Winter (1977) commented that unlike the Problem-Solution pattern in which the problem can be implicit, in the hypothetical-real pattern, the hypothesis must be explicitly signaled as hypothetical

Hoey (2001) uses another term for this pattern, that is the Claim – Respond pattern He also states that a claim may be affirmed or denied and then corrected with

or without reasons being given for the claim, the denial or the correction

1.4.5.2 Signals of Hypothetical – Real pattern

This pattern is signaled by means of lexical items that frequently occur in argumentative discourse Winter (1977) claims that the writer has to “signal explicitly” that the situation is hypothetical He also points out some of the signals that indicate the pattern: “assumption”, “claim”, “hypothesis”, “hypothesize” which is for hypothetical element; “demonstrate”, “prove”, “contradict”, “confirm”, “evidence” are

to indicate the Real element

1.5 Disease Outbreak Online News

1.5.1 The notion of news

According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary, news is defined as new

information about something that has happened recently In his book “The Language

of Newspapers”, Danuta (2002:4) sees news as a late Middle English word that means

“tidings, new information of recent events” and “information about recent events that are of interest to a sufficiently large group, or that may affect the lives of a sufficiently large group” From this notion, news is perceived to be important because of its

affection on a large group of people

In his book “News as Discourse”, Van Dijk (1988) gives the notion of media

news in everyday usage which consists of the following concepts: New information is about events, things or persons; A (TV or radio) program type in which news items are presented; A news item or news report, i.e., a text or discourse on radio, on TV or in the newspaper, in which new information is given about recent events It can be seen that Van Dijk‟s definition of news covers all aspects relating to news, which can give a full understanding of the news concept

1.5.2 Features of online news

Internet is an invaluable source for information and knowledge Online news is one of the most common types among various kinds of news, which derived from the internet There are three main features of news, that is, multimedia, interactivity and hypertext

1.5.2.1 Multimedia

It is possible to combine different modalities in online news rather than in traditional media Beside text and images, online news also includes sound, slideshows, links, graphics and video, which facilitate the process of information Sunder and Limperos (2010) states that this presence of multiple modalities may have

a positive impact on perceptions They also play an important role in attracting readers because of their liveliness and colorful images

1.5.2.2 Interactivity

Sunder (2008) argues that this feature of online news transforms from a passive

to an active behavior in which media users can engage with content in personal way Specifically, readers can give comments, feedbacks and reply to the articles right at the end of the page Besides, it is possible for users to rate and review items or stories in news media This information is very important for other users as they would know what are advantages and disadvantages of the thing they are interested in

1.5.2.3 Hypertext

Nelson (1999) shows that hypertext is “a delivery system for separate closed unit – a system which allows only embedded links pointing outward” Through hyperlink, users can be provided with background information and related information that make the process of information easy and convenient

1.5.3 Disease Outbreak Online News (DONs)

1.5.3.1 Previous studies on news

A number of researches on news relating to advertisement, information technology, headlines, and discourse structure have been carried out so far For instance, in his PhD dissertation (1998), N.Hoa focuses on discourse analysis of news which is on political, economic and social issues, then followed by some other MA thesis such as T.H.Nam (2008) “A comparative study of discourse structures and some major linguistic features in information communication technology news in English and Vietnamese” T.N.H.Trang (2012) “A discourse analysis of stock market news in English and Vietnamese” Such studies focus on discourse structures and linguistic features of news of different field Nevertheless, no study on the textual patterns of disease outbreak news has been performed

1.5.3.2 Notions of Diseases outbreak online news (DONs)

According to WHO‟s definition, a disease outbreak is “the occurrence of cases

of disease in excess of what would normally be expected in a defined community, geographical area or season” An outbreak, which may last for a few days or weeks or for several years, may occur in a restricted geographical area, or may extend over several countries

The above definition helps us to visualize what disease outbreak is As a result, the news on DONs can be understood as the information relating to the occurrence of disease that exceeds the expected number of cases WHO also lists some common infectious diseases such as Ebola, Measles, Hand-foot-mouth disease, Dengue fever, Zika virus and so on as examples of DONs The outbreak is reported every hour so that readers worldwide can assess the information in the quickest way

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Subject of the study

The subject of the study is textual patterns used in DONs in English and Vietnamese To be more specific, among the five textual patterns of Problem-Solution, General-Particular, Question-Answer, Goal –Achievement, Hypothetical - Real, the study will find out the most common used in DONs in English and Vietnamese In addition, lexical devices that trigger the patterns are also the subject of the study The news is selected from daily news on different websites on the internet, mostly achieved from WHO website (www.who.int) and Ministry of Health (moh.gov.vn) and some other popular webs like BBC, CNN, Vnexpress, Dantri, cdc.com and so on

As a matter of fact that online news are blooming with thousands of press everyday Therefore, this research is only expected to select a limited random of news pieces from 2013 to August 2016 During this period, there are some outstanding outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola, influenza, Hand - foot - mouth disease, Measles, Mers-CoV, Zika virus

2.2 Research methods

An integration of different research methods is used to carry out the study

- Quantitative: This method is used to find out the percentage of each textual pattern and signaling devices in English and Vietnamese DONs

- Qualitative: Basing on the framework of Hoey, the researcher finds her own framework of analyzing textual patterns of DONs There are two criteria that help to identify the textual pattern of a piece of news:

 The components of a pattern (eg: Situation, Problem, Response, Evaluation in Problem-Solution pattern)

 Signaling devices of a pattern including lexical signals and structural signals

More details of the analysis are illustrated in chapter 3

- Descriptive: this method is employed to give in-depth description and analysis

of the structure of text to find the most common textual patterns and signaling devices in DONs in English and Vietnamese

- Contrastive: this study is conducted to find out the similarities and differences between the textual patterns and signaling devices in DONs in English and Vietnamese

2.3 Data collection method and data analysis procedure

The data is collected on the internet Firstly, English news is collected on the official website of WHO and some other famous like CNN, BBC, CDC The most convenient way is to google the phrases of words “WHO Disease Outbreak News” Then the sector of disease outbreak news will be immediately displayed on the website The news is presented in chorological order with the latest news coming first Secondly, Vietnamese news is selected with the same method in the websites of MOH, dantri, Vnexpress, Vietnamnet, thanhnien, nguoilaodong, “Tin phòng chống dịch bệnh” is a separate section of the official website of MOH (moh.gov.vn) for example The researcher goes into the sector, and a list of disease outbreak news is presented with the most current ones coming first

In this thesis, a random collection of 100 news pieces on the internet, half of which are from English news, the other half are from Vietnamese news, will be chosen

as the representatives of the whole population

As the news on the internet is continuously blooming with an unlimited number

of press every day, only data released from 2014 to August 2016 are chosen as the suitable sample of the study The data is analyzed in three steps:

- Step 1: analyzing textual patterns and their signaling devices in DONs in English

- Step 2: analyzing textual patterns and their signaling devices in DONs in Vietnamese in comparison with that in English

- Step 3: generalizing and concluding

Problem

Solution

General Particular

Question Answer

Goal – Achiev-ement ment

Hypothe-tical Real

Lexical signals

Structural signals

…

General statement

Question Answer Evaluation

Situation Goal Method of achievement Evaluation/

Result

Hypothetic-al Real

Noun Verb Adjective Adverb Cardinal number Ordinal number

A change in verb form -past simple

to present perfect -past simple

to present continuous

Lexical signals

Structural signals

CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 TEXTUAL PATTERNS AND THEIR SIGNALING DEVICES IN DISEASE OUTBREAK ONLINE NEWS IN ENGLISH

The survey of 50 DONs in English reveals that the most common textual pattern is Problem – Solution pattern which accounts for 78% General – Particular pattern accounts for a percentage of 22% Of course, they function as major structure

of texts in which there comes minor structure embedded in the stream of words For instance, the investigation shows that one - third of 39 texts organized in Problem – Solution pattern having General - Particular pattern embedded in the overall major structure Correspondingly, 11 texts are identified to have the major structure of General – Particular while the Problem – Solution is embedded as minor structure Unsurprisingly, there comes no text belonging to the other kinds of pattern The data are expressed in the following table

Problem – Solution General – Particular

Table 1: Common textual patterns of DONs in English

This unsurprising result can be explained due to the fact that DONs is a kind of typical news that reports daily and current events relating to disasters in medicine in which infected patients are fighting to gain lives, so it would be not suitable to write a news under the pattern of Goal – achievement or Opportunity taking Meanwhile, the Problem – Solution and General –Particular are the most effective way to convey the information as they help to present the current situation of the outbreak and possible solution to the problem as well as generalize and summarize the up-to-date cases Therefore, the readers will get the clear picture of what is occurring around the world

Following parts are examples and analysis of pieces of news

Examples of the Problem-Solution pattern

News 1: Thailand confirms MERS CoV in traveler, WHO cautions against continued risk of importation

New Delhi, 24 January 2016: (1) (a) Thailand today confirmed Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus

(MERS CoV) disease in a traveler, the second such case in the country in the last seven months, (b) as WHO

cautioned other member states in its South-East Asia Region against the continuing risks and the need to remain vigilant

(2)“The new case of MERS CoV is a reminder of the continued risk of importation of the disease from countries where it still persists All countries need to further enhance surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections, focus on early diagnosis, and step up infection prevention and control procedures in health-care facilities to rapidly detect any case of importation and effectively prevent its spread,” Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region, said

(3) (a) A 71-year -old national from Oman, who arrived in Bangkok, Thailand for treatment on 22 January, (b) and was admitted to a private hospital, tested positive for MERS CoV (4) He has since been transferred to the

Bamrasnaradura Infectious Disease Institute (5) Measures are being taken to trace all those who could have

been in his contact during his journey to Thailand, and within Bangkok

(6) This is the second MERS CoV case in Thailand and in the WHO South-East Asia Region (7) Earlier, on 18 June 2015 another Omani national who arrived in Bangkok for treatment, was tested positive for MERS CoV

(8) In the recent past, countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region have been reviewing and strengthening

preparedness to respond to MERS CoV

(9) WHO has been strongly advocating for strengthening health systems and ensuring strict infection control

measures are in place in countries to respond to infectious diseases such as MERS CoV

(10) In the Region, WHO is supporting Ministries of Health to build capacities and strengthen preparedness as required under the International Health Regulations (2005) to effectively detect and respond to outbreaks and

other hazards

(11) MERS CoV is caused by a virus (12) Typical symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath (13) Pneumonia is common, but not always present (14) Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea, have also been reported

Situation (sentence 1a, 3a)

A 71-year-old traveler from Oman

18

Example of General-Particular pattern

News 21: Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update

9 January 2014 – (1) The National Health and Family Planning Commission of China has notified WHO of

seven additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus

(2) On 4 January 2014, WHO was notified of an 86-year-old man from Shanghai City became ill on 26 December and was admitted to hospital on 30 December (3) He is currently in critical condition (4) He has a history of exposure to live poultry

(5) On 5 January 2014, WHO was notified of 34 year old woman from Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province became ill on 29 December and was admitted to hospital on 2 January (6) She is currently in critical condition

(7) On 6 January 2014, WHO was notified of two additional cases:

 (7a) A 47 year old man from Foshan City in Guangdong Province became ill on 25 December and was admitted to hospital on 3 January He is currently in critical condition He has a history of exposure to

a live poultry market

 (7b) A 71 year old farmer from Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province became ill on 1 January and was admitted to hospital on 4 January He is currently in critical condition

(8)On 8 January 2014, WHO was notified of three additional cases:

 (8a) A 54 year-old woman from Nanjing City in Jiangsu Province who became ill on 20 December and was admitted to hospital on 27 December She is currently in critical condition She has a history of exposure to live poultry

 (8b) A 31 year-old man from Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province who became ill on 30 December and was admitted to hospital on 3 January He is currently in stable condition

 (8c) A 51 year-old woman from Foshan City in Guangdong Province who became ill on 31 December and was admitted to hospital on 3 January She is currently in critical condition She has a history of exposure to live poultry

(9) The source of infection is still under investigation So far, there is no evidence of sustained human transmission

34 year old woman from Shaoxing City

Specific statement (7a)

A 47 year old man from Foshan City in Guangdong

Specific statement (7b)

71 year old farmer from Yangjiang City

Specific statement (8a)

A 54 year-old woman from Nanjing City

More examples can be found in appendix 1 In the following parts, the researcher will look into Problem-Solution and General-Particular in DONs in English

3.1.1 Problem – Solution pattern

Out of the four components of the pattern including Situation, Problem,

Response and Evaluation, the researcher finds that the clearest signals that trigger the pattern lie in the Problem and Response Evaluation part is sometimes signaled but not

as much in compared with Problem and Response Especially, there appear few signals

of Situation in the surveyed text Therefore, in the following section, signals of Problem, Response and Evaluation will be discussed

3.1.1.1 Lexical Signals of Problem

According to Hoey (1994), Problem is Aspect of Situation Requiring a Response, which helps to distinguish the Problem – Solution pattern from other types

of pattern In other words, problem is an essential part of this pattern He also describes two kinds of signal that serves as a trigger for the pattern, that is, inscribed signals and evoking signals The investigation of 50 news shows that most of the

lexical signals belong to evoking signals

The survey reveals that the lexical signals compose of parts of speech named Noun, Verb and adjective in which the nouns outnumber the two other kinds in terms

laboratory-Become infected, expose

Positive, critical

Table 2: Parts of speech as lexical signals of Problem in DONs in English

3.1.1.1.1 Nouns

The Problem stated in the surveyed news is triggered by nouns which are illustrated in the following diagram:

Diagram 2: Nouns as signals of Problem in DONs in English

- Nouns as medical terminology

According to NPS Medicinewise, medical condition is a general term that refers

to any form of “illness or abnormality in the body that interferes with a person‟s usual activities or feeling of wellbeing” In other words, if a person has a medical condition,

he is having problem with health Therefore, it is convincing to report a problem of health by using words denoting medical condition Especially in the news reporting diseases outbreak, it is reasonable for writers to use such words to precisely describe the problem The most frequent nouns of medical condition that are used in the 50 news are illustrated in the appendix 4

These kinds of terms refer to the abnormal manifestations of a body when acquiring some kinds of diseases The terms also show the common symptoms of infection diseases which are mainly reported in the outbreak news, so they are repetitively used in the texts For example, the noun “fever” appears in 15 texts while the symptoms of “breathing difficulty” can be found in 11 texts Readers may find it easy to understand the problem embedded in the news while catching those medical terms Considering the following examples:

The cases were reported from Shanghai (2 cases) and Anhui province (1 case) All three cases presented with respiratory tract infection with progression to severe pneumonia and breathing difficulties Disease onset was between 19

Nouns as signals of Problem

Nouns as medical terminology

For example: fever, jaundice

Noun phrases describing the level of condition

For example: critical condition

February and 15 March 2013 Two of the cases died The third case is currently

in critical condition (news 11)

The index case was a 39-year-old man who presented with fever and jaundice and haemorrhagic signs in January 2013

(News 9– 31/5/2013)

- Noun phrases describing the level of condition

Besides medical terminology, the reporters also make use of noun phrases to describe problem The study on English outbreak online news shows that noun phrases make up 28% among nouns denoting problem

As for noun phrases, Quirk (1973) distinguishes two components including the head and modification The modification can precede or follow the head, named pre-modification and post-modification The survey reveals that there is no noun phrases indicating problem having post-modification Thus, the main structure of noun phrases in the finding is:

Pre-modification + Head noun

becoming infected (1) (2)

(News 4 – 27/3/2015)) China notified WHO of two new laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection

(1) (2)

(News 19 -6/1/2014)

The phrases “critical condition” and “laboratory – confirmed case” are used many times in the news, which can be considered as the most obvious signals of

Problem A case is determined as acquiring a kind of disease when it is proved by tests

at laboratory, so confirmation by laboratory test is always precise That is the reason why the term is repeated in different texts as an effective lexical signal of current Problem

3.1.1.1.2 Verbs

Hoey (1983) states that lexical items that evoke negative evaluations are classified as signals of Problem The survey of 50 English news shows that not only nouns can function as signals of problem but verbs also have an important role in giving indications for readers to understand the problem

Quirk (1973) classifies verbs into intensive verbs and extensive verbs according

to complementation Accordingly, the verbs used as signals of problem in the surveyed texts include intensive verbs and extensive verbs The verbs are illustrated in appendix

1

Diagram 3: Verbs as signal of Problem in DONs in English

- Intensive verbs

The verbs “become” is the most common intensive verb that appears frequently

in the news It indicates a worsened situation of a patient when acquiring diseases,

so a problem is raised naturally For instance:

The most recent cases were a woman who had exposure to the virus in Guinea and travelled to Monrovia in Liberia, and her two children who subsequently became infected

(News 2 - 9/6/2016) The case is a 48 year old man who became ill on 31 December

(News 23 – 27/1/2014)

Verbs as signals of Problem

- Extensive verbs

More extensive verbs are used in the news than intensive verbs These kinds of verbs function as stating the condition and development of diseases from the beginning stage to the ending stage such as “caution”, “expose”,

“infect”, “confirm”, “spread”, “develop”, “die”

WHO cautioned other member states in its South-East Asia Region against the continuing risks and the need to remain vigilant

(News 1-24/1/2016) The case was confirmed as A (H5N6) by laboratory testing, supplemented with clinical manifestation and epidemiology findings on 28 May

(News 8/6/2016)

3-She was exposed to live poultry

(News 6-17/12/2013)

Interestingly, the verb “develop” is often used in combination with a noun denoting medical condition: “develop symptom”, “develop cough”,

“develop a fever” Considering the following examples:

A 50-year-old female from Afif city developed symptoms on 30 October

(News 48-4/12/2015) They developed paralysis between 15-24 August 2013

(News 8-1/10/2013)

3.1.1.1.3 Adjectives

The use of adjectives in the surveyed news is a little bit higher than that of verbs although both verbs and adjectives functioning as devices of signaling problem appear repetitive among the news The most frequent and obvious adjective is

“positive” which is not used to indicate something good as usual In medicine, the laboratory test is necessary in diagnosis and treatment A positive result is an evidence that the patient has acquired a kind of suspected disease; therefore, “positive” evokes negative evaluation

Respiratory specimens were collected and sent to the central laboratory in Riyadh and

confirmed positive for MERS-CoV on 28 January (News 24-4/2/2014)

On Monday, January 14, the laboratory reported that the blood specimen was positive for measles-specific immunoglobulin M and all nasopharyngeal and urine specimens were positive for measles virus RNA by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

(News 47-12/9-2014)

Like the adjective “positive”, “laboratory-confirmed” is also an evaluative which is used frequently to show the problem in the surveyed news It appears in 17 news as an effective signal of problem For instance:

Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of

44 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 22 deaths

17-23/5/2013) Besides, the researcher also finds out a number of adjectives describing the level of condition of diseases Based on Hoey (1983)‟s conception, such kinds of adjectives are called inscribed signals which are explicitly encoded evaluation Those terms include: “severe”, “acute”, “serious”, “critical”, “underlying”,

“limited”, “worsened” Take the following extracted lines as examples:

The patient had underlying health conditions

(News 27/1/2014)

23-While there, his condition worsened and on 16 January he was placed

on mechanical ventilation.

(News

April 2013 from a 32-month-old girl, who became ill due to acute flaccid paralysis on

18 April 2013, and from specimens collected from 3 of her close contacts

(News 10-11/5/2013)

The list of adjectives used to trigger Problem is presented in appendix 1

3.1.1.2 Signals of Response

Response can be triggered by a change in verb form and lexical signals as

illustrated in the following diagram:

Diagram 4: Signals of Response in DONs in English

3.1.1.2.1 Changes of verb form

Hoey (1994) states that “a change of verb form is frequently a signal of a structural change” In other words, it indicates the beginning of a new functional unit The investigation shows that the change of verb form occurs in 62% of all texts, mostly from simple past to present perfect or from simple past tense to present continuous tense This is the most obvious signals of Response which gives indication that the problems are being or have been solved

- Verb form changes from simple past to present perfect

The present perfect which having the form of have-ed is used to describe

happenings that “either began or took place wholly in the past but that continue or have consequences of interest in the present” (Hoey, 1994) Hence, it is a natural tense

to describe Responses as responses normally occur at a definable time in the past and have consequences for the present The researcher finds out 16 over 50 surveyed news having verb form changes from simple past to present perfect Considering the following example:

Signals of Response

A change in verb form Lexical signals

Verb form change from

simple past to present

perfect

Verb form change from simple past to present continuous

On 26 August 2014, the Ministry of Health, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Equateur Province

The index case was a pregnant woman from Ikanamongo Village who butchered a bush animal that had been killed and given to her by her husband She became ill with symptoms of EVD and reported to a private clinic in Isaka Village On 11 August

2014, she died of a then-unidentified haemorrhagic fever Local customs and rituals associated with death meant that several health-care workers were exposed and presented with similar symptoms in the following week

…

The Ministry of Health of DRC has dispatched field teams to the area to monitor and evaluate the situation Contact tracing has begun and 80 individuals are currently being followed-up Treatment of patients is ongoing and infection prevention and control measures are in place and are being supported by WHO with the delivery of personal protective equipment to the area

(News 38 -13/3/2015)

There is a change in verb form from simple past tense to present perfect Looking at the tenses given, readers can understand that a case of Ebola occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ministry of Health is trying to control the situation by dispatching field teams and following up 80 individuals who have contacts with the patient

- Verb form changes from simple past to present continuous

Similarly, present continuous is also used much in Response, which indicates a transition from problem to solution The survey shows that 19 out of 50 texts have changes to present continuous For instance:

Two of the patients are from North Bahr El Gazal state (close to the border with Sudan), and one is from Eastern Equatoria state (close to the border with Kenya and Uganda) They developed paralysis between 15-24 August 2013 Genetic sequencing is ongoing to provide final confirmation of the laboratory results to determine the origin

of the isolated viruses

…

Contingency plans for an emergency outbreak response are currently being finalized, including an immediate supplementary immunization activity (SIA) in and around the infected areas

An international team of experts is being deployed to South Sudan, to assist the local authorities in further case investigations, planning for appropriate outbreak response, and further intensifying active searches for additional potential cases

Immunization rates in neighbouring Sudan and Uganda are also being assessed to determine overall population immunity levels As needed, additional SIAs will be conducted to help fill any identified immunity gaps Uganda conducted SNIDs in July

2013 and September 2013, with further SNIDs planned for October 2013 and NIDs in December 2013 Sudan plans to conduct NIDs in November 2013 and December 2013 Outbreak response in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia is continuing

(News 8-1/10/2013)

3.1.1.2.2 Lexical signals of Response

In addition to applying the change in verb form, reporters also make use of a number of lexical verbs that indicate actions to be done to solve the stated Problem The most frequent verbs can be found are: “support”, “monitor”, “deploy”,

“strengthen”, “reinforce”, “conduct”, “respond to” More verbs are listed in the appendix Take the following sentences in text 1 as visible examples:

In the recent past, countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region have been reviewing and strengthening preparedness to respond to MERS CoV

(9) WHO has been strongly advocating for strengthening health systems and ensuring strict infection control measures are in place in countries to respond to infectious diseases such as MERS CoV

(10) In the Region, WHO is supporting Ministries of Health to build capacities and strengthen preparedness as required under the International Health Regulations

(2005) to effectively detect and respond to outbreaks and other hazards

(News 1-24/1/2016)

3.1.1.1.3 Signals of Evaluation

Although Evaluation following Response is an important part of the pattern, the signals used to trigger the Evaluation are not very clear In the studied texts, lexical signals of Evaluation are mainly adjectives and adverbials

Diagram 5: Signals of Evaluation

- Adjectives denoting positive evaluation

The survey finds that there are some texts that express writer‟s evaluation News 4 can be taken as an obvious illustration of how signals work

However, progress is now being made on an unprecedented scale (4)Trials, which would normally take years and decades, are being fast-tracked on a timescale of weeks and months

… Three potential immunisations are frontrunners, having been rushed from promising animal studies into human trials

(News 4-27/3/2015)

The underlined adjectives are used as pre-modification of head nouns, expressing the author‟s positive view over the race of finding drugs and vaccines against Ebola Readers are encouraged to find out more about how the race is going on when they see these kinds of words because those signals bring the bright side to the fighting in which people are trying their best to save lives

- Adverbs expressing evaluation

In the survey, the adverbs are placed before the main verbs to positively evaluate Response For example, “strongly” , “effectively” and “actively” express writer‟s evaluation of the given solutions as in the following sentences:

Signals of Evaluation

Adjectives Eg: potential, promising

Adverbs Eg: actively, effectively

WHO has been strongly advocating for strengthening health systems and ensuring strict infection control measures are in place in countries to respond to infectious diseases such as MERS CoV

In the Region, WHO is supporting Ministries of Health to build capacities and

strengthen preparedness as required under the International Health Regulations

(2005) to effectively detect and respond to outbreaks and other hazards

(News 24/1/2016)

1-The World Health Organization is actively assisting the Ministry of Health in their investigations

(News 12-1/2/2013)

So far the pattern of Problem – Solution has been discussed and analyzed through the system of signals There are four main elements in the pattern; however, Problem and Response are triggered in the most obvious way with clear lexical and structural signals, Evaluation signals are less obvious with some adverbs and adjectives, no signal of Situation can be found in the survey This finding is understandable because Situation is optional and Problem and Solution are the most important part

3.1.2 General –Particular pattern

The General – Particular is also a popular pattern used in the texts in English Among 50 news, there appears 11 news organized with General –Particular as major structure of the texts, which accounts for 22% There exists Problem – Solution embedded in the major structure as Hoey states that there may be more one pattern used in one text

As discussed earlier, the General – Particular pattern can be triggered by two major signals, that is enumerables (Tadros, 1985) and matching relations (Hoey, 1983; Winter, 1986) The study deals with finding out the signals of enumerables and matching relation to prove the pattern

Diagram 6: Signals of General – Particular pattern in DONs in English

3.1.2.1 Cardinal numbers as signals of enumerables/general

The result shows that all enumerables are expressed by cardinal numbers such

as “one”, “two”, “three” and so on The authors use such numbers because using numbers is the most effective way to convey the information in diseases outbreak news when readers get the total picture of the quantity of acquired cases in the outbreak News 4 can be illustrated the point:

Three potential immunisations are frontrunners, having been rushed from promising animal studies into human trials

(News 4 -27/3/2015)

On 20 December 2013, WHO has been informed of four additional confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia

3.1.2.2 Ordinal numbers as signals of matching relation/matched particular

The function of matched particular is to give clarification of the stated enumberables It can be expressed either by cardinal numbers or ordinal numbers but the latter seems to be used more than the former For example:

General statement (enumberables):Three potential immunisations are frontrunners, having been rushed from promising animal studies into human trials

Specific statement (matched particular): One is produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the National Institutes of Health in the US, another is being developed by the

Public Health Agency of Canada in collaboration with Merck

Specific statement (matched particular): And the third to enter human testing is made

by Johnson and Johnson together with the company Bavarian Nordic

(News 4 -27/3/2015) General statement (enumberables): On 20 December 2013, WHO has been informed of four additional laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia

Specific statement (matched particular): Two cases are female health workers from

Riyadh who have not reported any symptoms

Specific statement (matched particular): The third case is a 53 year-old male from

Ryadh with underlying chronic diseases

Specific statement (matched particular): The fourth case is a 73 year-old male from

Riyadh … (News 5-27/12/2015)

Due to the using of these signals, the General – Particular can be easily recognized, and conveyed information is transferred to reader in the most precise and effective way

So far the textual pattern in DONs in English has been carefully analyzed The finding shows that there are two kinds of pattern, that is, Problem –Solution and General-Particular They are signaled by two devices: lexical and structural signal Parts of speech such as noun, verb, adjectives and adverbs are made use of to trigger Problem, Response and Evaluation in the former pattern The latter one is signaled by

cardinal and ordinal number The lists of lexical signals can be found in the appendix

1

3.2 TEXTUAL PATTERNS AND SIGNALS OF PATTERNS IN DISEASES OUTBREAK ONLINE NEWS IN VIETNAMESE IN COMPARISON WITH THAT IN ENGLISH

The investigation on 50 DONs in Vietnamese shows a slight difference from that in English in terms of the textual pattern used There appear three common kinds

of pattern in Vietnamese news; that is, Problem – Solution, General –Particular and Question – Answer Looking at the following table:

Textual patterns

Subjects

Problem – Solution

General – Particular

Question – Answer

Table 3: Common textual patterns in DONs in Vietnamese

Like the news in English, the most frequent pattern in Vietnamese news is Problem – Solution which accounts for 90% General – Particular makes up only 4% and 6% is found in Question – Answer pattern As mentioned in the above session, Problem – Solution is the most effective pattern to report diseases outbreak news and the same result is found in Vietnamese news More texts of General – Particular in Vietnamese than in English indicate that this pattern is more preferred in English In contrast, the third kind of Question – Answer in Vietnamese texts is used more than in English This is an obvious and easy way to state an outbreak by giving explicit questions of what, when, how the situation is and followed by reasonable answers

Following parts are examples and analysis of three patterns: Problem-Solution, General-Particular and Question-Answer in DONs in Vietnamese