III

Abstract

Social media have reshaped the landscape of corporate communication dramatically (S.

Kim, Kim, & Hoon Sung, 2014), and corporate posts have been a central site of investigation

(Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013, Dolan, Conduit, Fahy, & Goodman, 2017). The present study

takes a social semiotic approach to investigate the interdiscursive and multimodal features of

corporate posts on social media. Drawing upon Matthiessen’s (2009, 2015) register typology,

a systematic analytical framework is developed to explicate the realization of interdiscursivity

by identifying socio-semiotic activities in the multimodal discourse. Visual grammar (Kress &

van Leeuwen, 2006) is adopted in the analysis of visual realization of socio-semiotic activities.

A corpus of 687 corporate posts from the five top courier companies in China are collected

from Sina Weibo. The posts can be grouped into three major categories. The first and most

prevalent category is corporate reporting posts, which are formed by “reporting (text and image)

+ sharing/recreating/exploring (text)”, giving rise to personalized, recreationalized and

declarative reporting. The second category is corporate sharing posts, which are formed by

“sharing (text) + recreating (image)” and serve to personify courier brands who share values

and experiences like a good friend. The last category is corporate promoting posts, which are

formed by “promoting (text + image) + sharing (text)/recreating (image)” and present

personalized and entertaining advertisements.

In terms of visual realization, it is found that the four types of socio-semiotic activities,

namely, reporting, sharing, promoting and recreating, are realized by different image types.

Specifically, visual reporting is primarily realized by photos of courier staff, corporate events

and relevant objects; visual sharing is realized by photos showing images representing or

complementing values or experiences shared in textual messages, staff posters showing courier

staff’s refection, stock images creating artistic effect and textual images of inspirational

messages; visual promoting is realized by advertising posters designed to visualize what can

IV

be delivered by courier service; visual recreating is largely realized by cartoon images

depicting cute courier boys.

By the frequent mixture of the five socio-semiotic activities, corporate Weibo posts are

utilized as a multi-functional communication tool to build corporate identity, to maintain a

good relationship with online followers, and to promote courier service/companies.

Specifically, reporting and exploring activities function to build positive corporate identity by

presenting corporate ability and corporate social responsibility, and to build positive staff

identity by presenting staff achievements, delivery activities and staff’s moral deeds. Sharing

and recreating activities function to maintain a good relationship with online followers by

personifying courier brands and creating entertainment. Promoting activities function to

promote courier service and courier companies in an emotionalized or entertaining way. The

research findings are significant both theoretically and practically. On the one hand, it develops

a systematic framework to explicate interdiscursivity as manifested in visual resources as well

as linguistic resources, furthering our understanding of this concept in multimodal discourse.

On the other hand, it generates general patterns of interdiscursivity, which not only helps

communication scholars categorize corporate posts in content analysis, but also provides

guidance to communication practitioners for the design of corporate posts.

Keywords: interdiscursivity; multimodality; corporate communication; social media; Weibo

posts; courier companies

DALS Thesis Handbook

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5. DALS Thesis II (The Thesis)

DALS Thesis II (The thesis) is the most important learning activity of the DALS programme

which requires student’s substantial effort to accomplish. It should be a demonstration of the

candidate’s ability to provide innovative insights into an aspect of language or professional

practice and integrate what they have learned to tackle an important issue they encounter in

their profession with creative solutions or innovative applications.

The thesis must make an important contribution to the existing body of knowledge and/or

provide innovative insights. It should normally be around 50,000 words and of a standard

worthy of publication in a peer-reviewed professional outlet.

Students are expected to submit their ‘Progress Report’ form (DALS/2) to the FH Office to

ensure smooth progress of the thesis by the last examination day of the semester which

FH6006 is registered to them.

5.1 Aim and Objectives

The main purpose of the thesis is to provide students with an opportunity to conduct an

indepth, independent research study. As students go through the research process, they are

expected to demonstrate a critical understanding of or the ability for the integration of:

i) applying linguistic theories to professional practice;

ii) knowledge from language-related disciplines;

iii) international perspective and local context; and

iv) knowledge of different languages and/or cultures

5.2 Research Areas

FH provides a solid base of resources and expertise to accommodate a wide variety of

research interests. Students may select a topic related to any of the four focus areas in the

DALS programme: Language Education, Intercultural and Professional Communication,

Translating and Interpreting, and Speech Sciences, Language Processing, and Cognition.

5.3 Originality

The thesis must be the result of original work carried out by the student under the guidance of

an approved supervisor. Work that has been submitted for any other academic awards, either

at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, universities in the Chinese mainland or any other

academic institution, cannot be submitted as the main content of the thesis. If the thesis is an

extension or elaboration of the student’s earlier work, the portion that was conducted earlier

must be clearly identified.

5.4 Plagiarism and Copyright Violation

The University views plagiarism and unauthorized copying of copyright materials as a

serious disciplinary offence. The guidance notes as set out in Appendix 3 aim to help students

comply with the institution’s policy on plagiarism in coursework and photocopying of

copyright materials. Students should practise with extreme care when conducting research.

The recognition of copyright materials can follow the guidelines for reference citing.

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5.5 Ethics Review of Research Projects Involving Human Subjects

It is a requirement of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University that all research projects

involving human subjects must be reviewed for ethical appropriateness in accordance with

the guidelines of the Human Subjects Ethics Sub-Committee (HSESC), application via

https://www40.polyu.edu.hk/rohsears/login.jsf. The HSESC must determine that the benefits

of the proposed research outweigh the risks involved before permitting any experiment or

study (including survey, interview, or questionnaire type of investigation) to proceed. The

details are set out in Appendix 9.

5.6 Thesis Content and Format

Students may consult the following reference books on content and formatting:

Bitchener, John. (2010) Writing an Applied Linguistics Thesis or Dissertation. New York:

Palgrave Macmillan.

Lunenburg, Frederick C. (2008) Writing a Successful Thesis Dissertation. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Corwin Press.

Paltridge, Brian & Sue Starfield. (2007) Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second

Language: A Handbook for Supervisors. Routledge.

文秋芳著，2001，《应用语言学：研究方法与论文写作》。北京：外语教学与研究出

版社。

5.6.1 Style

i) The text shall be placed on one side or both sides of A4 paper, the latter being

encouraged wherever possible.

ii) Pagination of the body of the text is to be in Arabic numerals in the bottom centre of

the page. The pagination begins with the first page of the first chapter and runs

through material following the body of the text. Pages with tables, maps, photographs

etc. are to be numbered as well.

iii) Pagination of material preceding the body of the text is to be in lower case Roman

numerals.

iv) The body of the text is to be double spaced; footnotes are to be single spaced.

v) Footnotes shall be placed at the bottom of each page rather than at the end of each

chapter or at the end of the thesis. A line shall be drawn beneath the text across the

page to separate the text from the footnote. Care should be taken to complete a

footnote on the page where it is mentioned in the text, and not continued on the

following page. Footnotes may be numbered consecutively through a chapter or start

with number one - (1) - on each page.

vi) References shall be presented alphabetically, using the reference citation format for

academic journal papers, conference papers, research reports and books in an

internationally accepted format used by the discipline in which the study lies. (See

Appendix 3 for more advice.)

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vii) The thesis shall be submitted on A4 size paper (210 mm x 297 mm) of good quality.

There shall be a margin (before trimming) of 40 mm at the left hand (binding) edge,

25 mm at the top and right margins and 15 mm below the last line of footnotes.

viii) All physical measurements reported in the thesis shall be in the SI system of units

(Systeme Internationale d’Unites). Where, for example, in the review of literature,

quantities are expressed in other units, the corresponding SI values should also be

quoted.

5.6.2 Material Preceding the Body of Text

i) A blank sheet.

ii) Title page of thesis - this shall not be numbered and should be identical with the cover.

iii) Copyright notice (if any)

iv) Acknowledgements - should be made to supervisors and to persons who have

provided special assistance.

v) An abstract of not less than two hundred and not more than five hundred words shall

be part of the thesis and will contain information on all the substantive features of the

work.

vi) A table of contents should be provided which lists the abstract and all main sections

thereafter. Material preceding the body of the text shall be paginated using lower case

Roman numerals. Arabic numerals shall be used for the main body of the text.

vii) A list of Illustrative Materials should be provided, if relevant. The listing of page

references for illustrative materials such as tables, maps and figures will immediately

follow the table of contents on a separate page or pages having the same style as the

table of contents page. Illustrative materials shall have titles and be numbered in

Arabic numerals.

5.6.3 Material Following the Body of the Text. (This shall be numbered in Arabic

numerals)

i) Appendix or appendices

ii) Bibliography

iii) Oversize maps etc., in map pockets

5.7 Submission of the Thesis

Students should upload the soft copy to ‘Turnitin’ for plagiarism check via Blackboard, and

with the confirmation from the Supervisor(s), two or three unbound copies of the thesis

(depending on the number of supervisor(s) involved), together with the ‘DALS Thesis II

Submission’ (DALS/6) form are to be submitted to the FH Office.

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5.8 Setting up of Thesis Assessment Panel

Supervisors should submit the ‘Nomination of External Members and TAP Chair’ form

(DALS/5) at least three months before submission of Thesis II to allow ample time to invite

external members and arrange oral examination.

A Thesis Assessment Panel (TAP) for each oral examination will be formed three months

before DALS thesis II submission. The TAP for the oral examination consists of four

members: Chair, Supervisor, and two External Members at Associate Professor level or

above. All four members have full voting rights. The setting up of the TAP for the oral

examination involves the following procedures:

Appointment Nomination Approval

TAP Chair Supervisor Programme Committee

External Members Supervisor Programme Committee

5.9 Oral Examination of DALS Thesis II

The oral examination is compulsory. The main purpose of the oral examination is to

demonstrate to the TAP that the Thesis is the original work of the student and the student has

met the assessment criteria.

The Chair of TAP for the oral examination will read the Thesis submitted and, if deemed

appropriate, will advise FH Office to send the Thesis to the External Members for review.

Each Member will provide a separate written report after reviewing the Thesis. When the

External Members confirm that the thesis forms an adequate basis for oral examination, the

oral examination will be arranged. If the External Members consider the thesis does not form

an adequate basis for oral examination, TAP Chair’s advice will be sought for appropriate

action.

The Chair of TAP may require the student to revise and resubmit the thesis before it is

considered acceptable to be sent out to the external members. The student is limited to two

sets of revisions and a maximum of six months shall be allowed each time for each set.

In the event that the Chair of TAP finds the thesis unacceptable for release to the external

members after two sets of revisions, the thesis shall be read by the external members

nevertheless, and this information shall be conveyed to the external members.

5.10 Thesis Assessment

In assessing the thesis, the examiners will judge whether it is potentially publishable by

considering:

i) The extent to which the student has been able to meet the broad criteria laid down in

the aims and objectives of the thesis;

ii) The degree of originality;

iii) The significance of the findings;

iv) The way in which the student has drawn upon and integrated theories and techniques;

and

v) The overall quality of the written presentation.

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Following the oral examination, the TAP shall recommend the grade for DALS Thesis II and

one of the following outcomes to the Board of Examiners that:

i) the student shall be awarded the degree of DALS.

ii) the student shall be awarded the degree of DALS subject to minor amendments being

made to the thesis.

In this case, the student will have to submit the revised thesis to the Supervisor

and the Programme Leader within one month of receiving the revision

notification. The revised submission needs to be approved by the supervisor.

No additional fees will be charged for minor revisions.

iii) the student shall revise and re-submit the thesis and/or that another oral examination

is required.

In this case, the student will have to re-submit the revised thesis. The TAP panel

will re-evaluate the revised thesis (with or without an oral examination). Only one

major revision with a maximum period of two semesters is allowed, subject to not

exceeding the normal registration period. An extension fee will apply accordingly.

iv) the thesis is deemed unsatisfactory and no resubmission is permitted.

In this case, the thesis cannot be re-submitted for the DALS award, and the

student will be de-registered from the programme.

A student may appeal against this decision in accordance with standard

University procedures (please refer to the University Student Handbook for

details); or

Student can exit with the award of Master of Arts in Applied Language Research

Studies if he/she has fulfilled the necessary requirements.

If there is no consensus view among members of TAP after the oral examination or re-

examination, the Chair of TAP shall present the case to the Board of Examiners, which shall

make a final decision.

The Board of Examiners will determine the award classifications and recommend to the

Faculty Board for decision.

5.11 Oral Examination Report

Students will receive the oral examination report after the assessment of the thesis has been

completed.

5.12 Submission of Bound Copies of the Thesis

When a student has satisfied all of the requirements of the thesis, he/she must prepare three

bound copies and one PDF version of the final version of the thesis and submit them to

the Programme Leader via FH Office within 1 month. Information on the binding of DALS

thesis is provided in Appendices 7 and 8.

The thesis should be bound in one volume with the title page preceding the abstract. It should

be double-spaced and typed with a 12-pitch traditional (i.e., Times New Roman) font in

English, if the Thesis is written in Chinese, 新細明體 should be used. It should be printed on

one side or both sides of A4 paper, the latter being encouraged wherever possible. The colour

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of the hard cover should be maroon and the lettering should be silver. The information

printed on the cover and spine should conform to the format specified in Appendices 4 and 5.