Exploring linguistic features, ideologies, and critical thinking in Chinese news comments

Existing research on news predominantly focuses on authorial framing, neglecting the reader's perspective within news comments. This study addresses this gap by analyzing news comments – short, real-time reader responses – on Chinese social media. Building on van Dijk's (1997) assertion that news is inherently ideological, the research explores the relationship between critical thinking, linguistic features, and the ideologies revealed in these comments. Ideology, defined as "systems of ideas" and "shared representations of social groups" (van Dijk, 2006), is viewed as permeating all discourse. Critical thinking, a core component of discourse interpretation (Fairclough, 2006), is examined for its role in shaping both personal and social ideologies and the linguistic choices made by commenters. The study aims to identify typical linguistic forms, ideologies, and critical thinking patterns in Chinese news comments and investigate their interrelationships.

The study draws upon various approaches within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), including Fairclough's critical approach, Wodak's discourse-historical approach, and van Dijk's sociocognitive approach (SCA). While acknowledging the strengths of each, the researchers opt for an SCA framework, integrating tenets from all three approaches. This selection is justified by SCA's effectiveness in mapping the relationships between language, cognition (including critical thinking), and ideologies. The study also distinguishes between the authorial and audience perspectives in CDA, arguing that the latter reveals audience perceptions and attitudes toward social practices and the power dynamics they embody.

The study employed a mixed-methods approach involving data collection from three major Chinese social media platforms (WeChat, Baidu, and Sina) and semi-structured interviews with 19 undergraduate students. Twelve news items across six categories (entertainment, games, technology, finance, sports, international/domestic affairs) were selected based on their potential to elicit diverse comments. Interviews lasted approximately 20 minutes, using a protocol to guide participants' responses. Data analysis followed a sociocognitive approach, encompassing six analytical steps: semantic macrostructures, local meanings, subtle formal structures, global and local discourse forms, linguistic realizations, and context. The 19 students were selected to represent a diverse range of backgrounds from different schools within the university.

The analysis revealed several key findings. Linguistically, news comments frequently employed idioms reflecting shared sociocultural knowledge, connotative meanings (including metonymy), and complex parallel sentence structures. These structures served to emphasize points and create emotional context. Ideologically, a strong sense of ingroup affiliation and national pride was evident, particularly in comments on topics related to China's economic or political power. However, critical thinking manifested as the expression of multiple perspectives, indicating a rational analysis that sometimes diverged from dominant social ideologies. The study found that news topics significantly influenced the linguistic features, ideologies, and critical thinking demonstrated in the comments. Political, economic, and technological topics elicited more formal and professional language, while entertainment and sports topics were discussed more informally. Comments on politically charged topics showed strong patriotic tendencies, although some displayed critical, dialectical analysis reflecting a more nuanced understanding. Entertainment and domestic news items spurred more diverse opinions and critical thinking, showcasing a capacity for analyzing issues from multiple viewpoints.

The findings demonstrate the complex interplay between linguistic features, ideologies, and critical thinking in Chinese news comments. Language, interpreted as a social practice, reflects the respondents' attitudes and social participation, revealing both individual and collective ideologies. The study highlights the younger generation's unique linguistic features and their awareness of social justice. The interplay between critical thinking, ideology, and linguistic choices is illustrated by a model showing critical thinking as a filtering and analytical tool guiding the selection and expression of personal and social ideologies, which in turn shapes linguistic choices. The framing of news items also influences the linguistic forms of comments and may stimulate critical thinking.

This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between linguistic features, ideologies, and critical thinking in Chinese news comments. It reveals the nuanced ways in which commenters express their views, reflecting both national pride and critical engagement. Future research could further explore the dynamics between critical thinking, personal, and social ideologies and investigate the effects of other cognitive attributes on language and ideologies, extending the scope of the SCA framework.

One potential limitation is the focus on a specific demographic (college students in Northeast China), limiting the generalizability of the findings. The relatively small sample size of interviews might also affect the generalizability of the results. Further research is needed to explore the diversity of opinions across different demographics and geographic locations in China.