NOTICE OF THESIS EXAM WIDANTI SEPTIYANI 202000010006

01/24/2024 00:00:00

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NOTICE OF THESIS EXAM

WIDANTI SEPTIYANI

202000010006

 

December  21, 2023, 1:00 PM

Building C, Room 706

 

Adviser              : Dr. Anna Marietta da Silva

 

Examiners      : Yanti, Ph.D. & Dr. Engliana, M.Hum

 

Title

POSITIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENT AS PORTRAYED IN JAKARTA POST’S ARTICLES ON COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The development of Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA) has shifted the focus in critical discourse studies. While PDA seeks to explore and highlight positive aspects of language use, communication, and social interactions, the prevailing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach examines the underlying power structures, ideologies, and social contexts that shape communication. Thus, CDA and PDA approaches can be used alongside to investigate how the discourse is constructed. It is worth noting that most PDA and CDA studies overwhelmingly focus on Western approaches as frameworks. Although these two frameworks can suffice in providing insightful interpretations when discussing Western issues, the importance of non-Western issues should also be considered. Therefore, through incorporating PDA, CDA, and Shi-Xu Asian Discourse characteristics (2009), the present study attempts to investigate the positive representation of government in COVID-19 articles. This study investigates discursive strategies which are utilized to refer to and label the government as a social actor positively during the pandemic and examines how Asian Discourse characteristics can be observed in the articles. Thus, the current study aims to answer the following research questions to guide the investigation: (1) What are the discursive strategies used in the Jakarta Post’s COVID-19 articles? (1.a) What are the nomination strategies used to refer to the government in the COVID-19 articles? (1.b) What are the predication strategies used to evaluate the government in the COVID-19 articles? (2) How are the Asian discourse characteristics reflected in the discursive strategies?

 

Textual analysis was performed to analyze forty (40) articles with a positive sentiment score, indicating the positive article’s tone. The sentiment scores were obtained from Microsoft Azure Text Analytics which skimmed the articles and evaluated their tone based on the lexical choices. The discursive strategy analysis includes nomination or referential strategies and predication strategies as Wodak (2015) proposed. The nomination strategy categorizes lexical items to refer to the government during the crisis. The study found that the government was characterized by collective nouns, deixis, proper name, professional anthroponym, professional anthroponym with a proper name, and noun phrases. These strategies were chosen by the authors to indicate a sense of unity during the crisis and increase trustworthiness. The predication strategy evaluated the government’s actions during the crisis. The findings indicated that the government’s efforts in initiating the vaccination programs, bilateral and international relations, and policy enforcement were appreciated by the public and thus evaluated positively. While the second research question focuses on unveiling how the Asian discourse characteristics (Shi-Xu, 2009) are reflected in the discursive strategies. It examines how factors, such as historical and social, can influence the choices of lexical item in the articles. The study reflected how leader figures played a pivotal role during a crisis. The findings highlighted that leadership during crisis communication was essential. Besides, the findings also portrayed how Indonesians still adhere to religious values and reflect how religious leaders hold a significant role in vaccination campaigns. In addition, they possess moral authority to encourage the public to have faith that the crisis will be over. By analyzing the articles from a positive lens, it was expected that readers could increase their optimism and the government’s trust during the crisis. Furthermore, the findings also emphasized solidarity as a moral responsibility during the pandemic. Finally, suggestions for future research were provided to enrich the discussions on PDA and Asian discourse.

Keywords : PDA, online articles, COVID-19, crisis, pandemic, Asian discourse