Discourse Analysis of School Bullying News: A Study based on the Appraisal Theory of Attitude Systems

A case study of China Daily reports in the past year.

Abstract

In the past year, school bullying issues in China and globally have become a focal point of widespread concern and worry. This harmful behavior not only inflicts significant harm on the physical and mental well-being of affected adolescents but also has the potential to negatively impact the overall school environment and society at large. Media coverage on school bullying not only provides the public with access to information and understanding of the issue but also triggers public attention and discussion, driving collaborative efforts across various sectors of society to address the challenges of school bullying. This study selected five news articles with the theme of "school violence" from the English version of China Daily website as the corpus. From the perspective of the subsystem of Appraisal Theory - attitude resources, the articles were annotated using corpus tools to explore the attitude tendencies towards school violence and the construction of identities related to "school" and relevant government departments in the process of addressing school violence. This research aims to assist education departments and schools in finding directions to address school bullying, attract more social forces to engage in the prevention and control of school violence, and promote the healthy development of adolescents in schools.