Appraisal Workshop: Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran, January 2016
(Professor Alirez Jalilifar, Drs Peter White and Alexanne Don, Maryam Alavi-Niya)
Strand 1: Introductory – worksheet 1
Text analysis exercises
Activity 1 (China visit commentary extract)
The following extract is taken from a commentary article which appeared in the Birmingham
Post in 1999. It was prompted by events surrounding the visit to Britian by the then Chinese
head of state, Jiang Zemin, most specifically police actions to control anti-Chinese protests
by pro-Tibetan human rights campaigners. The Chinese President Jian Zemin was due to be
driven in a public parade through central London, accompanied by the Queen of England.
Police and authorities were criticized for stopping the the protestors from displaying
“Liberate Tibet” posters along the route of the parade and for forcibly moving them away
from the parade route.
Identify all instances of words or phrases which are directly and explicitly “attitudinal” – i.e.
wordings which here convey a positive or negative assessment of some person, entity,
happening, action or situation and which would convey a similar positive or negative
meanings when used in different contexts and texts. (instances of “inscribed” Attitude).
Text 1
The behaviour of the Government and the police during the visit of Chinese
President Jiang Zemin was nothing short of disgraceful.
To see police brutally manhandling1 demonstrators was not only shocking but
representative of more repressive regimes, such as China.
As for Labour's "ethical foreign policy", the visit exposed that as a sham2. The
message from Labour is clear: ethics, morals and ideals are not a consideration in
foreign policy when exports have to be contemplated.
Also, it may be that there was no deliberate collusion between the Government and
the police to shield Mr Zemin from the peaceful protesters but it is difficult not to
believe that there was at least an understanding.
Having behaved so dishonourably, one would have thought the Government would
decide to keep its head down, if not to avoid the flak3 then at least in shame.
1 “manhandling” = to be overly rough or violent in handling someone
2 “shame” = something which deceives, something which claims to be true but it false, a hoax
3. “flak”= hostile criticism
Activity 2 (China visit news reports - 1)
Below you will find the headline and the first few sentences of two news reports which
appeared in other newspapers on the same day as the commentary piece which was
considered in Activity 1.
1. Can you identify any words or phrases in the following extracts which are directly or
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
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explicitly attitudinal – i.e. wordings which would have a stable positive or negative meaning
across different texts and by which the author here overtly indicates that he/she has a positive
or negative attitude towards people, things, actions, happenings or situations.
2. Does one of the extracts seem more “evaluative” or more “subjective” than the other to
you? If so, which one? What words or phrases are significant here – i.e. in influencing you to
see one text as more “subjective” or “attitudinal”.
extract 1.
(from The Sun)
RIFLES RAISED BY GUARDSMEN TO STOP RIOT OVER HATED
PRESIDENT
Queen's China crisis as coach is charged
Bayonet fixed and rifle raised, a solider comes to the rescue of his Queen yesterday.
The trooper went into action when human rights protesters charged at her carriage as
she travelled towards Buckingham Palace with the Chinese president
extract 2.
(from The Daily Telegraph)
Anti-China protests brushed aside
The first Chinese state visit in British history began yesterday with a lone,
Tiananmen Square-style1 attempt to disrupt the royal procession in the Mall and
muted protests elsewhere.
As the Queen and President Jiang Zemin travelled to Buckingham Palace, a 34 yearold-man jumped over the barriers and attempted to unfurl the Tibetan flag in front of
their coach
1. “Tiananmen Square-style attempt” - refers to the pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 in China (staged in
Tiananmen Square). After going on for several weeks, the protests were eventually brutally suppressed by the
Chinese authorities, who sent soldiers and tanks to remove the protestors from the Square. Many protestors were
killed and imprisoned.
Image: a “lone protestor” confronts army tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Activity 3 (China visit news reports - 2)
Continuing with Chinese visit news report extracts…
1. Underline the words or phrases in the following extract which are instances of “inscribed
Attitude” (i.e. wordings which stable positive/negative meanings) and then sub-classify them
as instances of Judgement, Appreciation or Affect.
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Affect (emotion): wordings which reference positive or negative emotional responses or
states
Judgement (ethics +): wordings which convey positive/negative assessment of human
behaviour or character by reference to social norms (ethics/morality, psychological
disposition, capacity, normality etc)
Appreciation (aesthetics +) : wordings which convey positive/negative assessments of
entities, artefacts, situations, processes and happenings by reference to aesthetics or social
value (i.e. excludes assessments of human behaviour or character).
extract 1.
(from The Sun)
RIFLES RAISED BY GUARDSMEN TO STOP RIOT OVER HATED
PRESIDENT
Queen's China crisis as coach is charged
Bayonet fixed and rifle raised, a solider comes to the rescue of his Queen yesterday.
The trooper went into action when human rights protesters charged at her carriage as
she travelled towards Buckingham Palace with the Chinese president
2. Now do the same (i.e. identify and sub-classify) with the following extract
extract 2.
(from The Daily Telegraph)
Anti-China protests brushed aside
The first Chinese state visit in British history began yesterday with a lone,
Tiananmen Square-style1 attempt to disrupt the royal procession in the Mall and
muted protests elsewhere.
As the Queen and President Jiang Zemin travelled to Buckingham Palace, a 34 yearold-man jumped over the barriers and attempted to unfurl the Tibetan flag in front of
their coach
3. Identify any instances of “invoked Attitude” in the two extracts. (By “invoked” Attitude
we mean wordings which only indirectly activate a positive or negative assessment – i.e.
which rely on the addressee interpreting some described behaviour, happening, situation,
property or quality as being good/bad, right/wrong, acceptable/unacceptable,
desirable/undesirable, attractive/unattractive, etc - as laudable or derogatable).
Activity 4 (Guantanamo Bay)
Read the following extract and then consider the questions set out below.
Text: Guantanamo news report
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
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The families of British detainees at Guantanamo Bay are to take their fight for the
men's release to the US with the help of the foremost American civil liberties group,
they announced yesterday.
Politicians, campaigners and lawyers joined relatives of the prisoners to launch the
Guantanamo Human Rights Commission at the House of Commons.
Nine Britons and three British residents are among the 660 men who have been held
at the American naval base in Cuba for more than two years without charge or
access to lawyers. Another 11 Europeans, several from France, Sweden and
Germany, are also detained at Camp Delta.
"We have to speak not only to the courts of law but to the court of public opinion,"
Nadine Strossen, the president of the ACLU, said. She said there was growing
concern over the Bush administration's actions in the "war on terror". <…>
"It is plain and clear that the treatment of these 660 being held without charge,
without access to a lawyer, without access to a court, violates the most fundamental
of human rights," said Philippe Sands QC, professor of law at University College,
London.
1. Confining yourself to the writer’s own words (excluding those attributed to an external
source), underline any instances of explicit (inscribed) Affect, Judgement or Appreciation.
2. Underline any invocations of Judgement in the writer’s own words (i.e. where there is a
described behaviour, action, situation or property which you believe a reader may interpret
in positive or negative terms, depending on their own knowledge, beliefs, values and
expectations).
3. Invocations often involve intensification (i.e. language which heightens the force of an
proposition), or counter-expectation (i.e. an indication by the author that they consider
some happening to be unexpected or unusual in some way). Do any of the attitudinal
invocations you underlined involve intensification or counter-expectation.
4. Identify any inscribed (explicit) attitudinal meanings (inscribed Affect, Judgement,
Appreciation) in the material attributed to external sources (i.e. material contained in
direct or indirect quotation).
Activity 5 (student fight texts)
The following two stories were written by 10-year-old boys in an Australian primary school.
They had been asked to produce a story about a situation when they had felt threatened or in
danger.
1. Read through the texts and decide which, in your view, is better in terms of being a “good
story” or being “well told”. Discuss with your group the reasons for your assessment.
Fight Story (1)
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
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One day I was walking through the school and a kid came up to me and he said, “Do
you want a fight?” and I said “Yes”.
Then I took my coat off. Then he chucked the first punch. I chucked a punch back at
him and I got him right in the mouth and I broke his jaw. Then I walked back and
ran and he pulled me to the ground. Then I got up. Then I grabbed him and chucked
him against a steel pole. He turned and ran off. I didn't bother to chase him.
[Year 5 student, age 10]
Fight Story (2)
It all happened when I was walking home from school.
Two twits1 from my class decided to pick on2 me. They started yelling stupid names
like spazzo3, pigface3 etc. I didn't mind this. I also didn't mind Kelly punching me in
the shoulder. What I did mind was that Kelly kept me occupied while Matthew rode
my bike around the cul de sac of the street. This was harmless. But, still riding, he
kicked off my bag and jumped off the bike leaving it to fall. This made me sore. I
gave in to my temper. When Matthew saw this he took off.
So it was me and David Kelly to battle it out. I chased him around and around the
street. When I finally caught up to him I threw punches galore4. Most of them
missed. Kelly managed to escape and run home.
I think I was the victor, but if I was, I don't think it was worth it.
[Year 5 student, age 10]
1 “twits” = a slang term of abuse assessing someone as stupid or foolish, somewhat light-hearted, not as strong a
“idiot” or “moron”.
2. “pick on” = term used in casual speech roughly synonymous with “bully”, “torment”, “unfairly criticize”.
3. “spazzo”, “pigface” = more slang terms of abuse; significantly stronger and more offensive than “twit”.
4. “galore”= used in casual or informal speech to indicate a large number or quantity
2. Underline any instances of explicit (inscribed) Attitude in fight story 1. (Should only take a
few seconds)
3. Instances of inscribed (explicit) Attitude have been underlined in fight story. Sub-classify
these as instances of Affect, Judgement or Appreciation.
Activity 5 (Green’s study – academic 1)
The recently published linguistics monograph, The Language Myth – why language is NOT and
instinct, has become the subject of much debate in the linguistics community. On the Amazon
online bookshop it is described in the following terms.
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
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Book Description
Language is central to our lives, the cultural tool that arguably sets us apart from
other species. Some scientists have argued that language is innate, a type of unique
human 'instinct' pre-programmed in us from birth. In this book, Evans argues that
this received wisdom is, in fact, a myth.
Below are extracts from reviews/critiques for the book. You should use the tables which follow
after to indicate the following: (1) identify all instances of inscribed Attitude, (2) sub-classify as
either positive or negative (use P or N, (3) sub-classify as either Affect, Judgement or
Appreciation (use AF, J or Ap, (4) identify the target of the attitudinal assessment, (5) identify
the source of the attitude – i.e. who/what is making the assessment? The first extract has been
analysed by way of a model. Look through it and see if you agree with what’s been put there.
Then move on to the following extracts. In some cases part of the analysis has already been
done. (again you should check these, you may disagree)
a. "This book is much-needed, comprehensive critique of universal grammar.
Vyvyan Evans builds a compelling case that will be difficult to refute."
David Crystal, author of The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
Source of the
Attitude
David Crystal
Inscribing expression
much-needed
Attitude pos/neg
Type
Ap
P
David Crystal
comprehensive
Ap
P
David Crystal
compelling
Ap
P
David Crystal
difficult to refute
Ap
P
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
Target of Attitude
the book as a
critique of universal
grammar
the book as a
critique of universal
grammar
Vyvyan Evans’(the
author) case
Vyvyan Evans’(the
author) case
p. 6
b. "Evans' rebuttal of Chomsky's universal grammar from the perspective of
cognitive linguistics provides an excellent antidote to popular textbooks where it is
assumed that the Chomskyan approach to linguistic theory has somehow been
vindicated once and for all."
Michael Fortescue, Professor Emeritus, University of Copenhagen
Source
Michael
Forescue
Michael
Forescue
Inscribing
excellent
popular
textbooks
has been vindicated once and
for all
Type
pos/neg
excellent antidote
Target
antidote
the book as a
rebuttal of
Chomsky’s universal
grammar
Chomsky’s approach
to linguistic theory
c. "The Language Myth builds a compelling case that there is no innate universal
grammar. Evans's work is a welcome contribution to our understanding of the
origin, nature, and use of human language."
Daniel L. Everett, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Bentley University
Source
Daniel Everrett
Inscribing
compelling
welcome
Type
pos/neg
Target
case
d. By “Serious reader” (reviewer’s online username) as submitted to amazon.com on
January 12, 2015
“It is beyond me why a reputable publisher agreed to publish this jumble of
misinformation about language, languages, and the way in which researchers study
them. Though its nominal target is Pinker's notion that language is an instinct, the
text makes it clear that its real target is Noam Chomsky (whose work inspired
Pinker). Alas, it's pretty clear that when it comes to Chomsky's work, the author
hasn't actually understood any of it (maybe not even have read it).”
Source
“Serious reader”
Inscribing
it is beyond me
Pinker
jumble
misinformation
inspired
alas
hasn’t understood
Type
pos/neg
Appraisal workshop Ahvaz 2016: Strand 1 (introductory) – worksheet 1.
Target
why a reputable
publisher agree to
publish this…
Chomsky’s work
p. 7
Does the reviewer suggesting the author of the book “may not even have
read” Chomsky’s work “inscribe” or “invoke” and Attitude?
--------------------------------------e. By “akh” as submitted to amazon.com on March 2, 2015
“The author clearly has an interest in semantics and pragmatics, so it is all the more
surprising that the tone he/she adopts is completely inappropriate and off-putting.
He/she is aggressive and disrespectful (almost to the point of hysteria) about those
with whom he/she disagrees.”
Source
Inscribing
has an interest
all the more surprising
Type
pos/neg
Target
the tone he/she
adopts
inappropriate
off-putting
aggressive
disrespectful
to the point of hysteria
Activity 6 (Green’s study – academic 1)
(Text extract from Hood and Martin 2005)
Green's recent intensive study of ten students and their literacy experiences during
the Year 6/Year 7 transition (Green, 1997) has more in common with the
methodological perspectives of the present project, though it was smaller in scale,
focused on a particular dimension (literacy), and not offering the comparative and
(eventual) longitudinal scope of the 12 to 18 Project. Green's study offers a case
study exploration of the experiences of ten different students, and in doing so moves
on from narrowly defined `literacy practices' to uncover a number of broader issues
which make up those students' school literacy experiences, particularly peer relations,
friendship, bullying, and homework. These are all issues also emphasised by the
students in the four schools studied by the 12 to 18 Project, and are discussed further
in the present article.
1. In the above extract (from a Research Article introduction), Green’s article is assessed both
positively and negatively. Underline any wordings which act to explicitly inscribe a positive
or negative attitudinal assessment of Green’s study. Classify these as Judgement,
Appreciation or Affect
2. Secondly, circle any wordings which more indirectly activate a positive or negative
assessment of Green’s study (i.e. wordings which “invoke” rather than “inscribe” attitude).
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Sub-classify these as instances of Judgement, Appreciation or Affect.
3. Identify the points in the extract which may position the reader to take a positive view of
the author’s own study (i.e. the study on which this article is reporting). What sort of Attitude
is involved here?
Activity 7 (Approaches to Genre)
7A
In the following extract, the term “intuitively” will be attitudinally significant. Do you think
that describing someone as acting or processing information “intuitively” would usually
constitute a positive or negative assessment? Or perhaps “intuitively” is attitudinally neutral?
Consider the following lines derived from a key-word-in-context (KWIC) search of the
Collins Wordbanks online corpus of English (more than 500 million words) to see if the
corpus can assist you in answering this question. Remember, of course, that just because a
term is usually “positive” or is usually “negative” this doesn’t mean this will be the case in all
contexts/texts - a term may convey or be associated with a negative meaning in some cases
but be neutral in others, or may even convey or be associated with a positive meaning in
some cases and a negative meaning in other cases.
‘A woman I know wanted to do a TV series on envy’, I tell Janice. The network
insisted she change the word envy to jealousy. No explanation was given. But
people seem intuitively to know that envy involves something they're ashamed
of. It comes from an earlier, more savage stage of development than jealousy.
This had all happened a lot of years ago after all. Intuitively I guessed there was
more to this. “Leonard Hoffman approached you more than once didn't he ?” I
asked . “As a matter of fact he did”, Morgan conceded after a slight hesitation.
When she saw the gun that lay inside she thought she knew what it was. She
touched the wooden stock. Intuitively she guessed that this was the gun that
David had shot Adam with. She didn't know how she knew, but she did . All
these years David had kept it. She wondered why.
Descartes intuitively knows his first principles, the simple natures, thought and
existence. They determine ontologically what there is, because the truth of clear
and distinct perception is unproblematic.
Once you learn to detect this energy field around living people, animals , trees or
even special stones , you will intuitively be guided to understand the significance
of what you can see or sense.
You should also watch out for any tendency to evasiveness, and to counter this
trait it is important to question her in depth whenever it seems necessary. Try to
encourage a self-critical element in her, so that she will be able to assess herself
logically and less intuitively than she may otherwise tend to do. You will find
that this will help strengthen her character, which can sometimes be rather weak.
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7B
Extract: approaches to genre
As discussed in Chapter 1, the concept of genre is interpreted somewhat differently
across different research and theoretical traditions in linguistics (helpfully
differentiated in Hyon 1996). Within the field of pragmatics there is a considerable
literature that focuses specifically on genres in academic discourse, including that of
the research article. Much of this work has built on the seminal analysis of John
Swales (1987, 1990), and widely applied in such studies is the analytic construct of
'moves'. A differentiation of moves across an introduction (or any other component
of the text) is essentially arrived at intuitively, but can then be described with
reference to the distribution of some syntactic features that are interpreted as doing
the pragmatic work assigned to a 'move'. However, when not based on a functional
theory of language, this gives rise to a theoretically dislocated relationship of
syntactic form to interpreted meaning.
In this study, genre is approached from the perspective of Systemic Functional
Linguistics (SFL). Within SFL, genres have been defined as 'recurrent configurations
of meanings( ... ) that( ... ) enact the social practices of a given culture' (Martin &
Rose 2008: 6). This perspective on genre differs from a pragmatic perspective in a
number of ways. Perhaps the most fundamental difference to note is the question of
the relationship of meaning and language. In SFL this relationship is theorised rather
than intuited. Language is modelled as meaning-making systems of choice. So, to the
extent that genres are enacted in language, analyses of genres proceed from an
exploration of the meaning potentials realised in language choices in instances of
discourse.
In the above extract, the following are targets of attitudinal assessment (i.e. the reader is
positioned to take a positive or negative view of these entities):
(a) “Hyon” (the person or the work/publication);
(b) the approach to the analysis of genre developed by Swales (termed the “pragmatic
perspective”)l
(c) the SFL-based approach to the analysis of genre.
1. How is inscribed Attitude used to position the reader with respect to these targets. Circle
relevant instances of inscribed Attitude.
2. How is invoked Attitude used to position the reader vis-à-vis these targets. Underline
formulations which, in your view, would have the potential, for at least some readers, to
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trigger a positive or negative view of any of these targets.
Activity 8 (cinema reviews)
Text 1 (the ‘amateur’ reviewer)
Look! I like a foreign film! I'm intelligent!
[by demon5974 | Feb 19 '01 – www.epinions.com]
People seem to like subtitled films. Perhaps it justifies their intelligence if they can claim that
they enjoyed a movie in another language. Personally, I dislike subtitled films because you
always end up looking at the bottom of the screen, trying to decipher the plot, when
something important happens. Someone always ends up walking in front of you in the middle
of an important conversation between the two key characters.
The scenery seems to be very beautiful throughout the entire film. I believe this is because
the American audience has never seen it before. The public has seen the Grand Canyon and
the Rocky Mountains before. We have never seen central China, and we enjoy the change.
Now to get to the plot. The first and biggest problem is the annoying effect that has people
flying across rooftops and running up walls. I heard that the same person did the effects for
The Matrix. I could believe that. This movie had that exact same "run up the walls" effect as
The Matrix, only it happened in every scene. Also, the ability the main characters have is
never explained. Why can they fly, while everyone else is forced to walk? Also, when some
situations that could be avoided by flying away aren't, I wondered if their abilities are only
available in certain situations. Again, this is never explained. By the end of this long movie,
this has become unbearably annoying.
Take your generic Jackie Chan movie. The karate that happens is goofy and very fast.
Rewind to ancient China, and you have Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There is only one
difference: In Crouching Tiger, the karate happens so fast that it is impossible to see. I like to
see the punch that breaks the bad guys jaw. The only signal the viewer gets in this movie is
when one of the people falls down.
If you want to see kung-fu, go rent a Jackie Chan movie. If you want a deep plot, rent The
Usual Suspects. Just don't waste any more money on this movie.
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Text 2 (the ‘professional’ review, Xan Brooks, The Guardian)
Perfectly positioned at the cusp of the year, Ang Lee's latest film proves to be a bit of a Janus
itself. On the one hand Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon points forward, with its state-of-theart stunt work and seamless weave of special effects. On the other it faces the past - dusting
off a mythic adventure plotline that could have sprung from the pen of some 12th century
calligrapher. Here, then, is a sublime piece of work; a marriage of old and new so perfectly
managed that it results in something altogether rich, strange and unusual. All hail the first
great film of 2001.
Returning east after a profitable sojourn in the States (where he filmed The Ice Storm and
Ride With the Devil), Lee contrives to rustle up a narrative that is at once grand scale and
intimate; disciplined and extravagant. Its Chinese-language tale centres around three principal
characters: upright warrior Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat), his aquiline partner Yu Shu Lien
(Michelle Yeoh) and Jen (Zhang Ziyi), a spoilt little rich girl who has schooled herself in the
arts of combat and wavers in a kind of limbo between light and dark. For good measure, Lee
also throws in a renegade bandit (cueing a lengthy desert-set interlude), a wicked witch and a
magical, Excalibur-style sword.
In the meantime the tale swoops and sways between keening romance, tense adventure and
near slapstick comedy; oiling the costume changes with moments of breathtaking action.
Choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping (who devised the fight scenes in The Matrix), Crouching
Tiger blooms into fantastical life in its gravity-defying showdowns, as its combatants glide
urgently across rooftops (their slippered feet pitter-pattering faintly on the tiles) or face off
astride the elastic tips of fir trees. In cruder hands, the whole thing would be too ridiculous
for words. Here you find yourself relishing every moment.
In the end, perhaps, Lee has created a bracing new sub-genre with this gorgeous firework
display of a picture. Crouching Tiger is a martial arts movie that arrives pruned of both the
melodrama of the style's early manifestations and the irony that has lately infested it. It is
unapologetically serious at certain moments, unashamedly flamboyant at others. It's a film of
exquisite grace under fire; a work so lush, giddy and beautiful it has you giggling in the
aisles.
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