TTLA: Judging language of reality TV judges in some Vietnamese entertainment programs (related to English)

INFORMATION ABOUT DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name of the researcher:Tran Thi Thanh Huong  

2. Gender: Female

3. Date of birth: June 19, 1974

4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Decision on recognition of PhD students No. 3216/QD-XHNV-SDH, dated December 31, 2014 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes during the training process: Adjust the title of the doctoral thesis according to Decision No. 2490/QD-XHNV, dated October 4, 2017 of the President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Thesis topic name:The language of judging by reality TV judges in some Vietnamese entertainment programs (related to English).

8. Major: Linguistics Code: 62.22.02.40

9. Scientific instructor:Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang

10. Summary of new results of the thesis:

- The thesis has surveyed, analyzed, identified characteristics and found out the trends of using explicit and implicit evaluation expressions of judges on reality television in Vietnamese entertainment programs selected for the survey. Explicit evaluation language is studied based on words containing values ​​and meaning structures (according to 7 elements of evaluation meaning in the local grammar model of Hunston and Sinclaire, 2000). Implicit evaluation language is considered based on speech acts and lexical means used for implicit evaluation.

- The thesis examines the expressions of scale and theme in the evaluation language of the judges based on the signs of positive-negative value parameters, high-medium-low scale. The topics are surveyed in 5 groups: general topics, appearance, possessions, personality, skills/abilities. The formal characteristics of the evaluation language (explicit-implicit) are examined in correlation with the value parameters, scale and evaluation theme to find out the trends that judges often use to evaluate.

- The thesis examines the manifestations of power in the judges' evaluation expressions through lexical means (vocal words, means of indicating illocutionary force, code-switching) and discourse means (interruption, word count, coordination of evaluation expressions) and three types of power (legitimate, referential, expert).

- From there, for each main research result, the language survey thesis of the judges was collected from equivalent television programs in the US to connect, helping to confirm the characteristics and trends of language assessment in the surveyed aspects.

11. Practical application:

- The research results help to enhance the effectiveness of Vietnamese communication, especially in assessment environments.

- The survey results related to the evaluation expressions of American examiners in similar contexts in English can become materials for Vietnamese people learning English.

- Findings on explicit evaluative language signs, evaluative semantic structure elements, value parameters (positive-negative), and evaluation scales can serve to develop an analytical framework on evaluative language in feedback, opinion polls, suggestions, etc. of students, customers, or users; research on evaluative language in artificial intelligence.

12. Further studies:

- Research on judge-contestant interactions and audience feedback.

- Research on language assessment in other environments (education, family, workplace, network,…)

- Research on the subject and power factors in communication evaluation in correlation with effectiveness and communication problems.

13. Published works related to the thesis:

1) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2014), “Communication strategies of judges in reality TV shows in Vietnamese and English”, Language and Life (7), pp.53-62.

2) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2016), “Comparing evaluations in Vietnamese and English (through the case of judges' evaluation communication events on reality TV in some entertainment programs)”, Proceedings of the Workshop on Preserving the Purity of Vietnamese and Language Education in Schools, June 2016, Volume 2, Dan Tri Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.1364-1374.

3) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2017), “Expression of power in the evaluation of reality TV judges”, Language and Life (4), pp.16-24.

4) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2017), “The semantic structure of judges' explicit evaluation expressions in some reality TV shows in Vietnamese (related to English)”, Language and Life (10), pp.17-24.

INFORMATION ON DOCTORAL THESIS

1. Full name: Tran Thi Thanh Huong 2. Sex: Female

3. Date of birth: June 19^th, 1974 4. Place of birth: Hanoi

5. Admission decision number: 3216/QD-XHNV-SDH, Dated: December 31^st, 2014 by the Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

6. Changes in academic process: Correcting the thesis title according to Decision number 2490/QD-XHNV dated 04^thOctober 2017 by the Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

7. Official thesis title: Language of evaluation by judges on reality television in some Vietnamese entertaining programs (with reference to English).

8. Major: Linguistics Code: 62.22.02.40

9. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khang

10. Summary of the new findings of the thesis:

The doctoral thesis investigated, analyzed, identified characteristics and found trends in the use of explicit and implicit expressions by judges on reality television in the Vietnamese entertaining programs selected to survey. The explicit language of evaluation was studied via value-laden words semantic structures (in terms of the seven semantic elements of evaluation in the local grammar model of Hunston and Sinclaire, 2000). Implicit language of evaluation was studied based on speech acts and lexical devices used to make covert evaluations.

The doctoral thesis looked into expressions of scale and topics in the judges' evaluations based on signs of positive-negative parameter, high-medium-low scale. Topics reviewed belong to 5 groups: general, appearance, possession, personality, skills/abilities. Characteristics of evaluative language forms (explicit-implicit) were evaluated in relation to value parameter, scale and topics of evaluation in order to find judges' tendencies in using them for evaluation.

The doctoral thesis examines manifestations of power in judges' evaluations via lexical devices (addressing forms, illocutionary force indicating devices, code-switching) and discursive means (interruptions, word amounts, evaluation coordinations) and three types of power (legitimate, reference, expert).

structuring, for each major study result in Vietnamese, the doctoral thesis investigating the judges' language of evaluation collected from similar television shows in the United States as a reference, to confirm evaluation characteristics and their trends in the investigated aspects.

11. Practical applicability, if any:

- The research results can help to improve communication effectiveness of Vietnamese people, especially in evaluating environments.

- The survey results related to the evaluations of the American judges in similar contexts in English can become materials for the Vietnamese to learn English.

- Findings on signs of explicit evaluations, semantic elements of evaluation structures, value parameter (positive-negative), evaluation scales may serve to develop manual or automatical frameworks to anlyze evaluations in feedbacks, comments, suggestions, and so on, given by students, customers or users; to study the language of evaluation in artificial intelligence.

12. Further research directions, if any:

- Study on judge-contestant interactions and audience's responses.

- Study on language of evaluation in other evaluating environments (education, families, work places, networks, and so on).

- Study on factors of topics and power in evaluative communication in relation with communicative effects and problems.

13. Thesis-related publications:

1) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2014), “Strategies of addressing by members of judge panel on reality television in Vietnamese and English”, Language and Life (7), pp.53-62.

2) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2016), “Contrasting evaluations in English and Vietnamese (via cases of judges' evaluation events on reality television in some entertaining programs”, Conference Proceedings: Maintaining the purity of Vietnamese and language education at schools, June 2016, 2nd Volume, Dan Tri Publishing House, Hanoi, pp.1364-1374.

3) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2017), “Expression of power in evaluations of judges on reality television”, Language and Life (4), pp.16-24.

4) Tran Thi Thanh Huong (2017), “Explicit evaluative expressions' constructions by judges in some reality television shows in Vietnamese (with reference to English)”, Language and Life (10), pp.17-24.