Comparative Analysis of Metadiscourse in Corporate Social Responsibility Reports between Chinese and Foreign Automobile Enterprises
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: 企业社会责任报告(以下简称CSR报告)是衡量企业综合价值的一个重要标准，也是企业和利益相关者沟通的外宣话语之一。本文基于自建语料库，对比分析中外各4家汽车企业英文网站中CSR报告的元话语分布特征及其异同点。研究发现，外企元话语在总体使用量上多于中企。其中，外企框架标记语、内指标记语、模糊限制语、态度标记语、介入语、自指语等六类元话语的使用频次明显高于中企，其过渡标记语、态度标记语、强势语等三类元话语的使用频次明显低于中企，而双方在引证标记语的使用上则没有明显差异。结果表明，中方汽车企业社会责任话语的元话语使用尚存不足，应更充分考虑目标受众文化环境及表达习惯。本研究可为汽车企业在外宣话语构建中提高CSR报告撰写水平及相关语类教学提供一定的参考。Corporate Social Responsibility Reports (hereinafter referred to as CSR reports) serve as an important benchmark for measuring a company’s overall value and function as a form of external communication between enterprises and their stakeholders. Based on a self-built corpus, this study conducts a comparative analysis of the distribution characteristics and differences of metadiscourse in CSR reports published on the English websites of four Chinese and four foreign automobile enterprises. The findings reveal that foreign enterprises employ a higher overall frequency of metadiscourse than their Chinese counterparts. Specifically, foreign enterprises significantly outnumber Chinese firms in the use of six types of metadiscourse: frame markers, endophoric markers, hedges, attitude markers, engagement markers, and self mentions. Conversely, Chinese enterprises use transitions, attitude markers, and boosters more frequently than foreign firms. However, no significant difference was observed in the use of evidentials between the two groups. The results indicate that Chinese automobile enterprises still have room for improvement in the application of metadiscourse in CSR discourse. Greater consideration should be given to the cultural context and expressive conventions of the target audience. This study provides valuable insights for automobile companies seeking to enhance the quality of their CSR reports in international communication, as well as for pedagogical approaches to related discourse genres.
Source: Modern Linguistics
Author: 晶晶 赵
Institution: Lanzhou Jiaotong University
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4412422261