College of Arts

PhD Dissertation in the Department of English Language (A Critical Discoursal Analysis of Selected Motivational Commencement Speeches)
‏The Department of English Language at the College of Arts discussed a PhD dissertation titled: “‏A Critical Discoursal Analysis of Selected Motivational Commencement Speeches” The study aims at revealing the techniques utilized in commencement speeches and investigating the types of attitudes that are reflected through these techniques. Further, it aims at showing the way in which the audience respond to these speeches and whether or not these responses get along with the aim of these speeches. This is because commencement speeches can have a lasting and serious influence on the audience. In addition, there is no balance between the studies that examine positive discourse and those that examine negative discourse in critical discourse analysis studies. So, the study raises questions related to the techniques that are utilized in commencement speeches, the types of the attitudes that these techniques reflect and the response of the audience. Moreover, the study hypothesizes that various techniques are utilized in commencement speeches and these techniques reflect different types of attitudes. In addition, it hypothesizes that the audience respond to commencement speeches in various ways and these responses get along with the aims of these speeches. The study analyses five commencement speeches (downloaded from the internet) from two sides. First, the five discourse systems, i.e. appraisal, ideation, conjunction, identification and periodicity. Second, the audience response. Moreover, the study adapts an eclectic model. It combines Martin and Rose’s (2007) model which is based on Systemic Functional Linguistics and Bull and Waddle’s (2021) model which deals with speaker-audience interaction. Finally, the study concluded that various techniques were adopted in commencement speeches and these techniques reflected different types of attitudes. Furthermore, it concluded that the audience showed various types of affiliative responses that go with the aims of commencement speeches.
Moreover, commencement speakers encourage the graduates to find their purpose using a clear and simple language.

‏Dissertation Committee: Chair of the CommitteeProf. Dr. Salim Yahya Fathi / College of Arts / University of MosulAnd members:
‏Prof. Dr. Kamal Hazim Hussein / College of Education for Humanities / University of MosulProf. Dr. Abed Hmood Ali / College of Education for Humanities/ University of TikritAsst. Prof. Dr. Marwan Najeeb Tawfiq/ College of Arts / University of MosulAsst. Prof. Dr. Huda Fadhil Ismail/ College of Arts/ University of MosulAnd Prof. Dr. Nashwan Mustafa Saleh / College of Arts / University of Mosul (Member and Supervisor)