Language Department, College of Arts and Sciences

This study entitled, CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE SPEECHES OF PRESIDENT BENIGNO S. AQUINO III, aimed to determine the structure and discourse features of the three (3) speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The structure and discourse features of the three (3) significant speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III, the Inaugural Address 2010, State of the Nation Address of 2011 and 2012 were analyzed base on the transitivity and modality meta-functions of Halliday (1985).

          Based on the analyses of data, findings revealed that 1) The over- all structure of the speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III used linguistic units which express determination, willingness and intention on the part of the speaker; could easily be understood by the hearers and spectators; was easy to embrace and understand despite of the different issues he brought up on economy, health, education and even the on-going corruptions of the previous administrations; he used personal pronouns that are associated with a grammatical person in the first person plural form and linguistic constructions that indicate a relationship of possession, which highlighted foremost his successful and competent administration as well as the people and supporters who believe in his current leadership and better governance; and 2 (a) The discourse features in terms of transitivity in speeches of President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed something that is done; (b) in terms of modality, he used linguistic units to seek common ground and/ or cooperation as well as sense of belongings within the group. It revealed his attitude or opinion about the truth of a proposition expressed by a sentence and made his audience to plainly accept his speeches, thus, it aided him great emphasis to serve and show his positivity to achieve greater goals.

Based on these findings, the researcher recommended for the emphasis on critical discourse studies using micro and macro-structural approach in the analysis of text; that language learners are advised to be taught and be motivated to critically analyze text in the form of spoken or written discourse using the Critical Discourse Analysis. For language teachers, the researcher suggested to systematically apply Critical Discourse Analysis as an approach in their language teaching as an effective pedagogical tool. Finally, for future researchers, it is suggested to conduct similar studies of spoken discourse in different contexts and genres with more outputs.

Identifying the semantic relations used in the poem of Khalil Gibran. 　　The semantic relations used in the poem “Song of the Rain” by Khalil Gibran are Antonymy, Synonymy and Polysemy. The purpose of this study is to determine and to understand the synonymous, antonymous and polysemous words used in the poem. Also, through identifying the semantics of the poem, the reader may understand the meaning of the poem.

The electoral situation in the Philippines can be described as dramatic, and it seems to be a severe political competition since various media are exploited and manipulated; either the purpose is to construct or to assassinate one's character. This paper analyzed 20 editorial cartoons to identify the signifiers, infer the connotative meanings, and analyze the myths present in the editorial cartoons that represent the upcoming Philippine National election in 2022. This research employed a qualitative descriptive research design and content analysis. The researchers utilized purposive sampling in selecting the twenty editorial cartoons from reputable newspaper companies in the Philippines. Results of the study showed that the common signifiers present in the editorial cartoons were the men in barong and wearing salakot representing the Filipino citizens, alligator, lion, and pig representing the candidates, and finger-pointing that connotes blaming. Another significant finding tha...

This study examined the speech acts specifically the illocutionary acts in the first State of the City Address of Mayor Sara Z. Duterte. The researcher made use of the manuscript of the SOCA last September 2017 which was published in a local news website and was verified using the recorded video uploaded in YouTube as the corpus for the analysis. The researcher made use of descriptive approach as its research design. The result was tabulated and interpreted in terms of frequency and percentage. It was found out that assertives are the predominantly used illocutionary act in the speech. This was followed by commissives; then, expressives came in third and last is directives.

The study Recontextualizationof ”Veronika Decides to Die”:  Schema-Based Pre-Reading Activity is aimed at preparing the pre-reading activities as a means to draw out the students’ concerns in the real world.  With the growing incidences in the  country of young people committing suicide, Literature classes can serve as an effective venue for the students to reflect about their lives and learn from other people from different cultures and periods of time that man can provide solutions to problems.  The methodology involved preparing a lesson with the following pre-reading activities: a)  listened to a tribute made by a classmate to someone who committed suicide, b) listened to the song “Why?” by Rascal Flatts to draw reactions about committing suicide, c)  made students take an adapted Anger Management Test, wherein the focus was not to determine the interpretation of the results but to make the students reflect about how they handle difficult situations, d)  grouped the class into 5...

The study Recontextualization of "Veronika Decides to Die": Schema-Based Pre-Reading Activity is aimed at preparing the pre-reading activities as a means to draw out the students' concerns in the real world. With the growing incidences in the country of young people committing suicide, Literature classes can serve as an effective venue for the students to reflect about their lives and learn from other people from different cultures and periods of time that man can provide solutions to problems. The methodology involved preparing a lesson with the following pre-reading activities: a) listened to a tribute made by a classmate to someone who committed suicide, b) listened to the song "Why?" by Rascal Flatts to draw reactions about committing suicide, c) made students take an adapted Anger Management Test, wherein the focus was not to determine the interpretation of the results but to make the students reflect about how they handle difficult situations, d) grouped the class into 5 (Group A-E) to discuss about the questions given, d) reported to class on the discussion made among the group members. The questions given for discussion were as follows: 1) How do the students manage their negative emotionsanger, anxiety, depression or worse, emptiness? 2) What would be the possible reasons which drive young people to commit suicide? 3) What would you do if you were like Veronika who survived death after committing suicide and was given the chance to live 5 more days? The findings were that they have their parents to cling to when they have problems; some believe they can manage or that they will seek the support from their peers or friends. The reasons that they cited as those why young people commit suicide are as follows: the pressure they feel from their parent's expectations from them; losing a loved on and pressure borne from the desire to succeed in life so they can help their families. As to how they would spend the remaining days after having been rescued from death, the students considered making amends to those they wronged, staying with their loved ones and rekindling relationships. The answers of the students were not really new but having drawn out responses from them about the realities in young peoples' lives was significantly important. The term 'recontextualization' is not simply introduced and utilized as a strategy but as a means to awaken the recesses of the students' consciousness about what may possibly happen to them should they fall prey to the pressures around them.