A Study Of Persuasive Strategies In Advertisements Of Electronic Products In English Versus Vietnamese

Abstract

The advertising language is a very special one which has its own characteristics different from any kinds of other languages. This thesis aimed at conducting a study of persuasive strategies in advertisements of electronic products in English versus Vietnamese in spoken and written texts as discourse level. Therefore, it analyzed, compared and contrasted the similarities and differences in persuasive strategies in English and Vietnamese advertisements in terms of layout, lexical choices, syntactic features and pragmatic features. The data for analysis are 300 samples (150 in English and 150 in Vietnamese) which occupy persuasive strategies are posted on the Internet by companies, organizations, groups and individuals in the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia and Vietnam. The findings show that both English and Vietnamese advertisements on the Internet display a general layout with four parts: Headline, Body Copy, Illustration and Standing Details. Vocabulary choices and sentence structures show expressions denoting qualities and benefits of products, characteristics of products and the relationship between manufacturers and customers. In addition, commonly used persuasive strategies of advertisements in both English and Vietnamese are also identified. Finally, pragmatic features reveal that representatives, commissives and directives are the most prominent devices used in persuasive strategies of advertisements of electronic products in English versus Vietnamese. Based on the findings, the thesis gives out some implications and suggestions for teaching and learning in both languages. Linguistically, the research yields a better insight into discourse analysis and advertising in general as well as the features of persuasive strategies used in advertisements iii in English and Vietnamese in particular. Pedagogically, the study result may be useful for teachers and learners of English and Vietnamese as a foreign language, especially for students majoring in Marketing as well as those who work in electronics products advertising fields