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the first part (summarizing the event) will be more or less factual, although the description
of the events may itself take place in partly evaluative terms (Van Dijk, 1996) [AQ: p?]

Connor, 1996 [AQ: not in reference list, please supply]

Connor, 1999 [AQ: not in reference list, please supply]

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Article

Discourse & Communication

The rhetorical properties 4(4) 119

The Author(s) 2010

of the schematic structures Reprints and permission: sagepub.

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DOI: 10.1177/1750481310381579
of newspaper editorials: A http://dcm.sagepub.com

comparative study of English

and Persian editorials

Alireza Bonyadi
University of Malaya, Malaysia

Abstract
Drawing on the theory of inter-cultural rhetoric analysis and considering the important role of
newspaper editorials in shaping public opinions, this article examines the schematic structures of
Persian and English newspaper editorials of criticism. The aim of this comparative study was to
explore the discourse conventions employed in the editorials of The New York Times and Tehran
Times. While revealing some interesting genre-specific features of schematic structures of the
editorials in the two newspapers, the results of the study also indicated that cultural constraints did
not substantially affect the schematic structures of the editorials. However, they had implications
for realization of certain rhetorical structures in the editorials.

Keywords
editorials, inter-cultural rhetoric, rhetorical strategies, writing conventions

Introduction
Based on the notion that different speech communities have different ways of organizing
ideas in writing to reflect their cultural thought patterns, Contrastive Rhetoric Theory
argues that these differences might cause failure of communication for language learners
(Kachru, 1995). Being influenced by contrastive analysis, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,
rhetoric and pedagogy (Connor, 2008), the American applied linguist Robert Kaplan
(1966) initiated a study aiming to prove that language and writing are both cultural phe-
nomena. He studied the expository essays of some ESL students to determine their
preferred rhetorical patterns.

Corresponding author:
Alireza Bonyadi, PhD Room, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: [email protected]
2 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

Based on the results of the study, he graphically classified the emergent patterns as
linear, parallel, indirect and digressive. Kaplan elaborated that each language and each
culture has a paragraph order unique to itself, and that part of the learning of a particular
language is the mastering of its logical system (1966: 20). He coined the phrase contras-
tive rhetoric to describe the differences he had seen, and he began to encourage instruc-
tors to use this research in their classroom (Purves, 1988). Kaplans study, in fact, helped
Contrastive Rhetoric to establish itself as a new field of study in the 1990s aiming to
respond to the needs of American colleges and universities facing an increased number
of international and immigrant students who needed to acquire the discourse conventions
of English academic writing (Kubota and Lehner, 2004: 5).
After the initial cross-cultural studies of contrastive rhetoric covering the expository
essays of ESL students with the aim of identifying writing problems caused mainly by
their L1 rhetorical strategies, the genre-specific studies got an important status in
rhetorical studies. Moreover, studies on genre analysis contributed to the further expan-
sion of contrastive rhetoric studies to examine other domains in writing. To mention just
a few outstanding studies of this kind, we may refer to the analysis of genre in a profes-
sional setting by Bhatia (1993), a cross-cultural analysis of job applications by Connor
et al. (1995), and the cross-cultural study of business letters in English, French and
Japanese conducted by Jenkins and Hinds (1987). Thus, in line with this trend, studying
the newspaper as a kind of professional genre established itself as a new inquiry in con-
trastive rhetoric studies.

Studies on newspaper editorials

Newspaper editorials have an important role in shaping public opinion. Specifically, they
try to interpret the news articles while implicitly constructing the reality from a particular
point of view for readers (Jaworski and Galasinski, 2002). Furthermore, they perhaps
more than any other type of writing, reflect national styles regarding modes of styles
(Connor, 1996: 143). Thus, based on these characteristics some researchers conducted
textual analysis of newspaper editorials.
One of the initial studies on editorials is that of Dantas-Whitney and Grabe (1989).
The aim of this study was a textual comparison of editorials published in Portuguese and
English. One dimension of the study was the presentation of the information which
included six text features such as the use of nominalization, prepositions, third-person
singular, pronouns and locative verbs.
Based on the results of the study, it was found that the English editorials used more
formal styles than the Portuguese editorials. English editorials also used more nominal-
ization and prepositions. Portuguese editorials, on the other hand, used more personal
aspects of the text such as third-person singular and pronouns and locative verbs.
This study revealed some textual features of the editorials in two languages providing
an analytical tool for further studies on editorials in different settings. Trikkonen-Condit
and Lieflander-Koistinen (1989) conducted a cross-cultural study of editorials in Finnish,
English and German newspapers. The aim of the study was to compare the strength and
placement of the main claim or argument of the editorials. The result of the study indi-
cated that Finnish editorials were different from those of others in that they did not
Bonyadi 3

always argue a point of view, preferring to provide the readers with required information.
The stated policy of the newspaper was to build consensus rather than division.
Furthermore, the German editorials placed the argument statement at the beginning of
the editorials more often than the English newspapers did. Finnish editorials, on the other
hand, did not always argue a point a view, but rather informed. Focusing more on the
argumentative styles of newspaper editorials, this study revealed noticeable information
on the persuasive strategies and rhetorical structures employed in editorials.
Focusing on the structural analysis of newspaper editorials, Bolivar (1994) intro-
duced a minimum unit of interaction called triad which consisted of three distinct
elements, namely Lead, Follow and Valuate. She further elaborated that each of these
elements served a distinction function in discourse: the Lead introduces the about-ness
and posture, the Follow responds and the Valuate closes with an evaluation (p. 293).
The triad, she argued, may have more than three turns provided that the sequence of the
Lead and Follow is repeated before concluding with the closing Valuate. Bolivar studied
the structure of 23 editorials culled from The Guardian. The study confirmed the exis-
tence of the three-part structure in the selected editorials. However, she underlined that
the three-part structure cannot be necessarily presumed as a universal feature of the
editorials in all languages. Introducing a unit of interaction, triad, which is comparable
to the exchange unit that is used for the analysis of spoken discourse might be consid-
ered as an important step in analysis of written discourse as it provided the researchers
with a new analytical unit.
Drawing on the findings of Bolivar (1994), Riazi and Assar (2001) conducted a similar
study on Persian editorials. To determine if Persian editorial writers employed the same
minimum unit of interaction, they analysed 60 editorials culled from the editorials of
six currently published Persian newspapers. The results of their study confirmed the
presence of the same unit of interaction in the Persian editorials.
Later, Ansary and Babaii (2004) studied English newspaper editorials to determine
actual rhetorical patterns of text development. They identified four obligatory structural
or rhetorical elements: Run on Headline (RH), Addressing an Issue (AI), Argumentation
(A) and Articulating a position (AP).
Ansary (2004) also, in a separate study, analysed newspaper editorials culled from
three English newspapers published in three different socio-cultural environments by
native speakers of English (The Washington Times), and non-native speakers (The Iran
News and Pakistan Today). Results of his rhetorical analysis of texts indicated that
in terms of rhetorical elements of the structure (RH), (AI), (A) and (AP) mentioned
in Ansary and Babaii (2004), there was statistically no significant difference between
English newspaper editorials written by non-native editorial writers and native ones in
whatever socio-cultural context they are produced. Ansary and Babaiis study illumi-
nated argumentative nature of the editorials in a cross-cultural setting.
Dayag (2004) examined the discourse structure of newspaper editorials in Philippine
English in terms of their macrostructure claim and data and their lexico-grammatical
features. The study revealed that more than half of the total number of the propositions
in the selected editorials expressed through the macro-proposition of claim defined as
those propositions that made a claim, passed a judgment, expressed an opinion or took a
stance. Data was the other macro-proposition used for reflecting facts, personal experiences,
4 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

and reports of what someone had said with hardly any comments on the proposition
under consideration. As for the lexico-grammatical features ascribed to the above-
mentioned macro-propositions, the study found the attitudinal adjectives and adverbs,
conditional clauses, reporting verbs, modal auxiliaries, rhetorical questions and condi-
tional and adversative clauses as the dominant features in the editorials. Dayags study
revealed some textual features of the newspaper editorials in the Philippines where
English is used as an L2. It also showed how editorials can be analysed in terms of their
macrostructures.
Katajamaki and Koskela (2006) studied the rhetorical structure of editorials in
English, Swedish and Finnish business newspapers. The researchers used a modification
of van Dijks model of rhetorical structure. The model consisted of three sections:

1) The introduction section dealing with the event or a critical state of affairs.
2) The intermediate section (dealing with the consequences of the event and the analysis)
divided into two stages: intermediate stage and solution stage.
3) Coda divided into two stages: conclusion and moral.

Based on the results of the study, the researchers concluded that most of the editorials
followed the proposed model. This, they claimed, proved that the editorial in general is
a unified genre irrespective of the type of the journalism in which it occurs. They indi-
cated that there was variation in two stages of rhetorical structures of the editorials,
namely, the solution and the moral stage.
One might cast doubt on Katajamaki and Koskelas claim on considering the editori-
als as a unified genre in media discourse as their study solely focused on business edito-
rials. Wang (2006) studied Chinese and Australian newspaper commentaries in terms of
their text types, micro-genre. Defining the term micro-genre as one of the text types
(media-exposition, problem/solution, media challenge and media discussion), the study
indicated that generally the Chinese writers tended to employ the micro-genre of media
explanatory exposition more often than the other micro-genres. The study also found
that Chinese writers in terms of rhetorical structures tended to show diversity and indi-
vidual characteristics. The Australian writers, on the other hand, tended to use the media
argumentative exposition as the dominant micro-genre, and in terms of rhetorical struc-
tures they tended to be convergent and followed certain stable patterns.
The above-mentioned description of the rhetorical studies on newspaper editorials
revealed the important point that there are certain conventions in writing editorials and
that these conventions might be different cross-culturally. However, it seems that the
term editorials in most of the studies has been considered as a uni-variant text. That
is, in the collection of data, the important issue of editorial variations have not been given
due consideration. Thus, the present article aims to focus on the schematic structures of
editorials of criticism excluding the other types of editorials such as editorials of Defence,
Endorsement, Praise, Appeal and Entertainment. Through a comparative study, we
attempt to answer the following question:

How are the schematic structures of editorials realized in the American newspaper
The New York Times and the Iranian English-language newspaper Tehran Times?
Bonyadi 5

Methodology
Data collection
The present study has employed a purposeful sampling for the purpose of data collection,
and there are two main reasons for doing so. First, we aimed at focusing on only the
editorials of criticism. Second, as some editorials in Tehran Times were not written by
Iranians, there was a need to identify and exclude them from the corpus.
Thus, by adopting a non-random purposeful sampling, the present study selected 40
editorials, 20 culled from the electronic version of the Iranian English newspaper Tehran
Times at [http://www.tehrantimes.com/], and 20 editorials culled from the electronic ver-
sion of the American daily newspaper, The New York Times at [http://www.nytimes.
com/2008/04/18/opinion/] out of a large pool of editorials published daily over a specific
span of time (April to September2008). The two newspapers are among the top broad-
sheets in terms of readership as stated by the official websites of the papers.

Classification of the editorials

The schematic structure of a genre is said to be prototype (Flowerdew and Dudley-
Evans, 2002: 470); however, it might be subject to different amounts of variation based
the specific communicative purposes it serves. The editorials of criticism as a sub-
genre of editorials for instance, might be realized differently from the other types.
Thus, the present study has focused on only one type of the editorials namely editorials
of criticism. These editorials are distinguished from the other types of the editorials in
that they have a different communicative purpose which is calling for changes to be
made immediately (Hall, 2003: 159). Generally, editorials of criticism can be defined
here as editorials that aimed at criticizing policies and decisions that are considered as
controversial by the newspaper staff.
Considering the limitations of the study (focusing on only those editorials of criticism
written by the Iranian editorial writers for the editorials of Tehran Times), the number of
editorials (40) can be considered large enough to enable us to determine with a certain
degree of reliability the schematic structures of the editorials along with their rhetorical
characteristics. Besides, the selected editorials constitute a coherent collection that can
be studied meaningfully as they represent the same type of discourse, namely editorials
of criticism.

Identification of the schematic structures

For the purpose of analysing the data it was of importance to initially identify the differ-
ent schematic structures of the selected editorials. It is to be noted that unlike the other
genres such as Academic articles in which the different sections and subsections are eas-
ily identifiable by definite titles and sub-titles, the identification of different schematic
parts in the editorials, however, is not usually as straightforward as one might assume.
To address the problem, the present study has taken the first triad in the selected edi-
torials as The Introduction and the last triad as The Ending part. The in-between triads,
6 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

then, have been considered to form The Body section of the editorials. It is also to be
noted that the triad has been used here to differentiate the schematic parts of the editorials
as it constitutes the minimum unit of interaction in the written text (Bolivar, 1994: 276).

Summary of analysis and discussion

The first schematic structure:The Introduction
The analysis of the selected editorials in The New York Times and Tehran Times revealed
some important key characteristics of the first schematic structure of the editorials of
criticism in The New York Times and Tehran Times.
Through the first schematic structure in the editorials of criticism, INTRODUCTION,
the editorial writers set the scene and take a stance on a controversial issue. This section
was composed of two distinctive sub-sections or MOVES which may correspond to
Case move proposed by Bhatia (1993). These moves were labelled as ORIENTATION
(OR), and CRITICISM (CR). Although the editorials were representative of two differ-
ent linguistic and cultural backgrounds, the two-move structure was evident in the two
sets of data (see Table 1).
The analysis revealed that each move (OR) and (CR) had a certain communicative
intention contributing to the overall intention of the editorials. In both newspapers the
first move (OR) had the function of engaging the readers with the topic and the second
move (CR) had the function of asserting the criticism.
Moreover, it was also revealed that each of these functions was realized through dif-
ferent rhetorical strategies. For instance, the first move in the first schematic structure not
only might be initiated by presenting a summary of the news events as suggested by van
Dijk (1996), but it might also be initiated by declarative and evaluative sentences, a rhe-
torical question and other rhetorical strategies.
The occurrence of a two-move structure both in NYT and TT editorials confirms
Bhatias assertion put forward in 1993. Elaborating on the structural interpretation of text
genre, he asserted that specialist writers seem to be fairly consistent in the way they
organize their overall message in a particular genre, and the analysis of structural orga-
nization of the genre reveals preferred ways of communicating intention in specific areas
of inquiry (Bhatia, 1993: 29).
This two-part structure also suggests that specialist writers in cross-cultural settings
would also somehow share the basic organization structure provided that they are act-
ing within the same domain of genre. Although the precondition of acting within the
same genre would not guarantee using the same preferred structures cross-culturally,
the present ever-increasing advancement in media technology is making the specialist
writers to get closer to each other at least when it comes to making use of basic struc-
tural preferences.
However, based on the analysis of the data, it became clear that there were certain
differences between the editorials in terms of the degree of being evaluative, the fre-
quency of using certain rhetorical strategies such as rhetorical questions and declarative
statements, the amount of information loaded in the first move and move initiation.
Table 1. Comparative schematic representation of two editorials in The New York Times and Tehran Times
Bonyadi

Schematic NYT text Moves TT text Schematic

structure structure

White House aides had billed Both Russia and Georgia claim the
President Bushs Rose Garden current conflict started after the
speech last week as a major other side violated a ceasefire in
turning point at which the South Ossetia.
president would unveil an (OR)
ambitious set of proposals to
address the problem of global
warming a late-breaking act of
atonement, as it were, for seven
years of doing nothing.
INTRODUCTION Sadly, Mr. Bushs ideas amounted But whoever is responsible for the INTRODUCTION
to the same old stuff, gussied up clashes, it is never acceptable to kill
to look new. innocent civilians.
Instead of trying to make up Moreover, the fighting could even
for years of denial and neglect, lead to a wider war between Russia
his speech seemed cynically and Georgia.
designed to prevent others (CR) What is the sin of civilians that they
from showing the leadership he should fall victim to the ambitions of
refuses to provide to derail Ossetian separatists or Georgian or
Congress from imposing a price Russian leaders?
on emissions of carbon dioxide Should civilian neighborhoods
and the states from regulating become battlegrounds in the conflict
emissions on their own. between Georgia, which enjoys
Western support, and Russia, which
is angry over NATOs encroachment
into its sphere of influence?
7
8 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

Taking evaluation as the conveying of the writers view of the status of the information
in a text (Thompson and Ye, 1991: 367), the analysis of the data revealed that the /L/
sentences in the first move (OR) were evaluative. However, two of the Tehran Times
editorials (15%) initiated the (OR) move in less evaluative ways while all the lead sen-
tences in The New York Times (100%) were evaluative. This partially confirms van Dijks
assertion about the first part of the editorials. According to him the first part (summariz-
ing the event) will be more or less factual, although the description of the events may
itself take place in partly evaluative terms (Van Dijk, 1996).
This at the same time suggests that the Introduction section in Tehran Times editorials
is less evaluative than that of The New York Times. That is, the writer refrains from
imposing his own point of view on the text. The following excerpts (No. 1 and 2) illus-
trate the difference.

1) The top U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in the
country, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker, told Senate committees on April 8
that Iranian agents and weapons were fueling the ongoing strife there and that further U.S.
troop withdrawals would have to wait.

Petraeus recommended that troop withdrawals from Iraq be paused for 45 days after July
when U.S. forces in Iraq will be reduced to 140,000 and U.S. President George W. Bush
accepted this recommendation on April 10, saying Petraeus will have all the time he
needs. Iran, Petraeus told the Senate Armed Services Committee, has fueled the recent
violence in a particularly damaging way through its lethal support of the special groups.
(Ref. 17.1 TT)

2) Ehud Olmert, Israels soon to be ex-prime minister voiced some startling truths this week.
He said that in exchange for peace, Israel should withdraw from almost all of the West
Bank and share its capital city, Jerusalem, with the Palestinians. He also said that as part
of a negotiated peace deal with Syria, Israel should be ready to give up the Golan Heights.
(Ref.1.1 NYT)

As is evident in excerpt no. 1 (taken from Tehran Times editorials) the editorial quotes
Gen. Petraeus without including its evaluative attitude toward the claims except for the
word top. By using the reporting verb told, the editorial writer aimed at showing his
objectivity in reporting the event. However, in the excerpt no. 2 (taken from The New
York Times editorials) one can see the evaluative attitude of the writer(s) manifested in
the reporting verb voiced and the phrase startling truth.
The analysed data revealed that the criticism move in three (15%) of the editorials in
Tehran Times were realized through interrogative sentences and rhetorical questions.
Compared with the absence of any question of this type in the (CR) move of the NYT, it is
possible to assert that Tehran Times editorial writers are more assertive in criticism than
NYT. So, by posing an interrogative statement at the beginning of the (CR) move, they aim
at engaging the readers in an active interaction with themselves without too much delay.
Throughout the selected editorials, the two moves (OR), (CR) were initiated
sequentially. That is, (OR) move was usually followed by (CR) move. Nevertheless,
Bonyadi 9

based on the findings, five (25%) of the NYT editorials and three (15%) of Tehran Times
editorials skipped the (OR) move. Generally, this skipping of the (OR) move might be
attributed to a number of factors such as presupposed information, reader/writer respon-
sible rhetoric, prevalence of criticism and harshness of the criticism. First of all, it seems
that the editorial writers especially in NYT presuppose certain propositions on the
part of their readers. Thus, refraining from asserting this presupposed information, the
writers go directly to the (CR) move skipping the (OR) move. Excerpt no. 3, for instance,
shows how propositions like There are many disagreements between Russia and
Georgia., Russias actions are unpredictable. and The people are not careful about the
event. have all been asserted without being further elaborated in the move.

3) Russia is playing a game of cat-and-mouse with neighboring Georgia that, if everyone is

not a lot more careful, could quickly turn deadly. (Ref. 19 NYT)

Second, referring to the idea of reader responsibility and writer responsibility put
forward by Hinds (1987), one may account for the lack of the (OR) move in some NYT
editorials by suggesting that NYT uses a more reader responsible rhetoric than Tehran
Times. This is also substantiated in our analysed data by the fact that the (OR) moves in
NYT have been realized through 804 words while they took 1198 words in Tehran Times.
Third, it seems that whenever the topic of criticism is very prevalent and obvious,
editorials tend to skip the (OR) move. Excerpt no. 4 taken from Tehran Times exempli-
fies the point:

4) Runaway inflation has unnerved minds and made the poor poorer and the rich richer.
(Ref. 13 TT)

It might be argued that as the problem of inflation throughout the country is so obvious
most of the people are living in the country and so they are already experiencing its
consequences the writers think that there is no need to provide their readers with fur-
ther background information on the issue through using an (OR) move.
Finally, it appears that whenever the writers tend to assert a harsh criticism, they try
to initiate the topic by a (CR) rather than by an (OR) move. Excerpt no. 5 might be con-
sidered as an example of the point.

5) There are so many reasons not to trust Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwes dictatorial president.
(Ref. 6 NYT)

The second schematic structure: The Body

The analysis of The Body section of the collected editorials in both Tehran Times and The
New York Times newspapers revealed that developing the main topic of the editorial was
the only move in this section that corresponds to the Argument move proposed by Bhatia
(1993). This move was realized through presenting, developing and evaluating sub-topics
forming a typical sequence of LFV triad or any deviant form of it such as LV, LFLFV.
10 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

In both newspapers there was a mismatch between triad boundaries and paragraph
boundaries. Considering the number of the triads overlapped with paragraph units (NYT:
44, TT: 7), it might be suggested that the degree of this mismatch was greater in Tehran
Times editorials than those of The New York Times. This possibly indicates that writers in
the NYT, to some extent, try to initiate, develop and conclude each subtopic through one
single paragraph while the writers in the TT prefer to extend the subtopic to more than
one paragraph. As an example of the case, the excerpt no. 6 represents a subtopic in the
TT that is developed through a single paragraph.

6) L: We have similar concerns about Pakistan. F: This week, helicopter-borne American
Special Operations forces attacked Qaeda militants in a Pakistani village near the Afghan
border. V: At least one civilian, a child, was killed and possibly more in what may be the
start of a new American offensive. (Ref. NYT 8)

On the other hand, excerpt no. 7 represents a subtopic developed through four sepa-
rate paragraphs as below:

7) First para. L: In January, when a U.S. Navy vessel and Iranian speedboats were involved
in an incident in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran said that there was nothing
unusual about the episode since the Iranian sailors were just conducting a
routine procedure.

Second para. F: But the U.S. called it a provocative action and the U.S. propaganda
machine did its best to show that it was a pretty aggressive incident.

Third para. F: After that incident, Bush claimed in Abu Dhabi that Iran is threatening the
security of the world and that the U.S. and Arab allies must join together to
confront the danger before its too late.

Fourth para. V: These tactics are just one part of a larger U.S. plan meant to show that Iran
remains a threat, despite the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report of
December 2007, which said Iran has no nuclear weapons program. (Ref. TT 17)

Moreover, in both papers the triad patterns of LFV and LV were the dominant pattern
of subtopics. That is, the subtopic was introduced by a Lead sentence which in some
cases was followed by one or more Follow sentences. The Valuate turns then terminated
the sub-topics.
However, there were some differences in the way the writers organized the subtopics
in The Body section of the editorials. Considering the total number of the words used to
express the sub-topics in The Body section of the both papers (NYT: 5952, TT: 5781) and
the total number of subtopics (NYT: 77, TT: 53), one can argue that NYT editorials
included more subtopics than editorials in TT. In the same vein, it might be argued that
the average number of words per subtopic in Tehran Times (109 words) was greater than
what was used in NYT subtopics (77 words). This may signify the idea that the editorial
writers in Tehran Times avoid presenting and discussing many subtopics in each edito-
rial. However, they tend to elaborate on the limited number of subtopics much more
comprehensively than the editorial writers in The New York Times do. In other words,
Bonyadi 11

compared with TT, the subtopics in the NYT, although outnumbering the subtopics in the
TT, are not fully developed. Due to this reason, the sub-topics in Tehran Times editorials
are fully elaborated on and in most cases, as we noticed before, turns were developed
through separate paragraphs.
Furthermore, the greater number of subtopics in the NYT (77) might reveal other rhe-
torical differences between the two newspapers. That is, a greater number of subtopics in
The Body section of the NYT editorials might suggest that the writers feel a greater need
to provide more support to their main topic throughout The Body section.
Although some of the subtopics in both newspapers (TT: 36%, NYT: 50%) are intro-
duced into the editorials without presenting the follow-up information (LV pattern), the
reason for skipping the F turns seems to be different in the two newspapers.
In Tehran Times editorials Leads in the LV patterns tend to be bulky usually consisting
of a long compound or complex sentence expressed in one single paragraph. Excerpt no. 7
exemplifies the point.

7) L: Meanwhile, in talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Tehran in early June,
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei made his rejection of this pro-
posed security pact clear by stating that occupiers who interfere in Iraqs affairs through
their military and security might are the main cause of Iraqs problems and are the . . .
main obstacle in the way of the Iraqi nations progress and prosperity. V: Clearly, there
is no doubt that the continued aggression of U.S. forces in Iraq should not be tolerated by
the Iranian people. (Ref. TT 9)

As is evident in the excerpt, the Lead sentence not only presents the subtopic but also
elaborates on it within the very Lead sentence through using a that-clause and other
clauses introduced by the conjunction and. Thus, jumping from initiation of the topic
/L/ to conclusion /V/ might be ascribed to the inclusion of the needed background infor-
mation, /F/, within the lead sentence. Otherwise, it might have been possible for the
editorial writer, by minor syntactical changes, to break the long Lead sentence into two
parts and make the above subtopic appear as below:

L: Meanwhile, in talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Tehran in early June,
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei made his rejection of this
proposed security pact clear.

F: He stated that that occupiers who interfere in Iraqs affairs through their military and
security might are the main causes of Iraqs problems and are the . . . main obstacle in
the way of the Iraqi nations progress and prosperity.

V: Clearly, there is no doubt that the continued aggression of U.S. forces in Iraq should not
be tolerated by the Iranian people.

However, jumping from initiation to conclusion and skipping the /F/ turn in The New York
Times editorials in most cases seems to stem either from the presupposition of the informa-
tion related to the presented subtopic or writers eagerness to refrain from delaying revealing
of their opinion on the subtopic. To do so, after initiating the topic through a lead sentence,
they present their comments on the subtopic. Excerpt no. 8 is an example of such cases.
12 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

8) L: He (Pakistans new president, Asif Ali Zardari) is an undeniably flawed leader, with
little political experience and a history tainted by charges of corruption.

V: But he deserves a chance, and American support, to fulfill his promises to bolster
democracy, clean up Pakistans intelligence services and work with the United States to
defeat terrorism. (Ref. NYT 4)

As is evident in the above-mentioned excerpt, the Lead introduces Asif Ali Zardari,
Pakistans new president, as a flawed leader without elaborating on his political experi-
ences and charges of corruption. It is as if these pieces of information have been taken
for granted on the assumption that the readers are already familiar with them. So, the
editorial writer had skipped the /F/ turn and terminated the subtopic by an evaluative
remark, /V/, which represents his own opinion on the sub-topic.
Moreover, the analysis of The Body section of the editorials in both newspapers indi-
cates that there is a difference between the two papers in terms of using first-person
plural pronoun, We, as an indication of the voice of the paper. As we discussed
before, this pronoun is observable in most of the editorials in NYT. However, there is a
lack of using this pronoun in the editorials of Tehran Times. The following excerpts taken
from NYT editorials are all instances of the case.

9) We know some in the Kremlin dont care if ties with the West are broken. (Ref. NYT 10)

10) We fear it will take more than words to save Zimbabwe. (Ref. NYT 14)

Considering the lack of using such pronouns in The Body section of Tehran Times
editorials, one may argue that NYT editorials sometimes by using We try to establish a
kind of solidarity between the writer and the readers. They also try to bring a certain
authority to the paper in the editorials. In fact, by using the first-person plural pronoun,
the editorials are putting the credibility of the paper on the line (Rolnicki et al., 2007). At
the same time, by using the pronoun, NYT editorials try to signal explicitly to the readers
that they have switched from fact-based reporting to purely opinion writing.
However, the lack of this pronoun in Tehran Times editorials might suggest that the
writers want to appear as objective as possible even in expressing their opinions. It also
seems that using the pronoun We would make them look too personal and subjective.
Considering the important role of valuate turns in both terminating the subtopics and
revealing the opinion of the editorial writer, it is of importance to discuss how these turns
are realized in The Body section of the two newspaper editorials. The analysis of the
valuate turns revealed that the turns had been mainly used to either state the general com-
ments of the editorial writers or conclude the information already presented in the Lead
and Follow turns of the relevant subtopics. Specifically, 73.33 percent of the valuates in
NYT and 88.05 percent of the valuates in TT editorials were of the concluder type, trying
to conclude the subtopics or comment on them. These figures indicated that the editorial
writers in both newspapers generally tended to state their comments through valuate
turns. However, the two newspaper were found to be different in using the valuate turns
for suggesting the desirable course of action, Directives.
Bonyadi 13

The third schematic structure:The Ending

The analysis of The Ending section of the selected editorials in both papers revealed that
the last move, Concluding the topic, was realized through different rhetorical strategies.
Frequent use of informative comments (NYT: 33.33%, TT: 45%) indicated that Stating
informative comments was the predominant rhetorical strategy in both papers. However,
the papers differed in the way the strategy was used. In other words, none of the editori-
als in The New York Times ended with informative comments alone unless it was fol-
lowed by other rhetorical strategies such as making a prediction and stating a necessity.
Considering the fact that 40 percent of the editorials in Tehran Times ended with the
sole offering of informative comments in The Ending section, one might suggest that edi-
torial writers in Tehran Times tend to realize the last move, The conclusion, through
mainly informative comments. In other words, their passion for interpreting the news
events rather than providing the readers with practical solutions and suggestions encour-
ages them to make use of informative comments in The Ending section of the editorials.
Sociolinguistically, this might be ascribed to the value of interpretation in a theocratic
country like Iran. Interpretation of religious texts is of high value and only certain scholars
are entitled to do it. It is, in fact, one of the common ways of communicating the religious
values to the common people. This characteristic might have found its way to the editorials
of Tehran Times.
Unlike The Ending section of editorials in Tehran Times, the dominant rhetorical
strategy in The New York Times was found to be presenting Directives. In fact, 37.25
percent of the turns in The Ending section were found to either offer a suggestion or
express a necessity, realized through must, can and should. This can be ascribed to
the socio-political power of the press. In other words, backed by detailed information
acquired from news actors and other primary sources and their reliance on the effective-
ness of the media reports in general has made them find themselves in a position to have
an authoritative tone in the last part of the editorials.
Both of the papers used making predictions as one of the rhetorical strategies for real-
izing the last move. The number of predictive turns (N = 13) employed in Tehran Times
compared to that of The New York Times (N = 6) suggests that the second commonly used
strategy employed in the final section of Tehran Times editorials is making predictions
which in most cases are realized through conditional sentences. It can be suggested that
the conditional sentences serve to offer a rationale for the prediction.
Meanwhile, the same difference in terms of using the first-person plural pronoun- We-
did exist in The Ending section of the two papers. In other words, the closer they got to
end of the editorials, the more often the editorial writers in The New York Times tended
to use the pronoun. The use of this pronoun in The Ending section of the editorials (NYT:
N = 9 times, TT: N = 2) seems to be contrary to the idea that journalists in general and
editorial writers in particular should try to refrain from being subjective. Van Ginneken
(1998) comments on the use of such words as:

Words such as we, us, our and they, them, theirs regularly recur in newspaper texts. Each and
every time such a word is used, humanity is implicitly chopped in half. . . . Sometimes it means:
we First Worlders, as distinguished from those Second and Third Worlders. Sometimes it
14 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

means: we journalists and/ or academics, as distinguished from others and non-professionals.

Sometimes it means: we, the writer and the reader, as distinguished from outsiders not sharing
the text. But it is important to note that the use of such terms (explicitly or implicitly,
consciously or unconsciously) constantly defines and redefines the world, often in highly ideo-
logical ways. (pp. 1545)

In light of the above-mentioned comment on the use of the words like we and us,
it might be argued that through the word we the editorial writers in The New York
Times tend not only to establish a kind of solidarity between the paper and the readers
(the writer and the reader), but also increases the authoritative tone of the paper (First
Worlder and Third Worlder). The rare use of this word in Tehran Times editorials,
however, might suggest that the writers try to convey an impression of objectivity
throughout the editorial. Moreover, they do not consider themselves in a position to
define the world.
Table 2 represents the major similarities and differences between the two sets of edi-
torials. As the table suggests, in general, the socio-cultural differences are unlikely to
affect the basic schematic structures of the editorials. However, they might have implica-
tions for realization of certain rhetorical patterns such as employing evaluative rhetoric,
directive statements, rhetorical questions and other patterns.

Pedagogical implications
The interface between the linguistic analysis of newspaper editorials, as an example of
media discourse, and the teaching of English as a foreign or second language would be a
relevant issue if one considers the growing number of students majoring in English-
language studies in Iranian universities. These students can profit from a comparative
study of English-Persian editorials since it may enhance their rhetorical awareness in
media discourse.
In fact, certain characteristics of newspapers, such as having a wide variety of sub-
genres, the standard language use and their fresh and current content have encouraged
the use of newspaper language as input to language teaching materials.
Considering the fact that linguistic awareness can be more effectively developed
with purposeful language practice and critical analysis of a genre (Bronia, 2005: 79), the
findings of the present study can provide the EFL teachers and students with the required
knowledge about the discourse conventions in a certain sub-genre, namely newspaper
editorials, making them ready to use the newspaper editorials in the classrooms.
Specifically, newspaper editorials can be employed in teaching courses dealing with
reading, academic writing and journalism. According to Bhatia:

A genre-based flexible language curriculum can facilitate language learning within, across and
beyond the confines of a curriculum, which will allow more freedom to the participants in the
teaching and learning process. This can be effectively realized by using a daily newspaper,
which is easily available and also contains a wide variety of genres and sub-genres that can
enrich the linguistics repertoire of any language learner. (1993: 157)
Bonyadi 15

Table 2.The identified major similarities and differences between the two sets of editorials

Schematic Similarities Differences Cultural notes

structures

Introduction Following the Tehran Times (TT) Using less evaluative tone in TT
same moves editorials were editorials might be attributed to
(OR) and (CR). found to be less writers' desire to appear more
evaluative than objective in giving the news
those of The New accounts.
York Times (NYT). Using rhetorical questions in
Most of the (CR) (CR) might be attributed to the
moves in TT are writers' tendency in engaging
realized through the readers in the topic.
rhetorical questions. Frequent skipping of the (OR)
More frequent move is attributable to the
skipping of the reader-oriented nature of the
(OR) move in NYT. NYT editorials.
The Body Following the Each subtopic in It might be inferred that a
same move NYT editorials is paragraph in NYT editorials
(Developing initiated, developed includes only one single idea
the topic). and concluded while it takes more than one in
through one TT.
paragraph while it Establishing a kind of solidarity
takes more than with the readers
one paragraph in TT. Presenting more subtopics
The use of first- in NYT editorials might be
person pronoun attributed to the writhers'
we in NYT tendency in approaching the
editorials. main topic from different points
More subtopics are of view.
presented in NYT.
The Ending Following the TT editorials tend Giving informative comments
same move to conclude the on the news events in TT
(Concluding main topic through editorials might be attributed
the topic). mainly informative to the writers' main objective
comments. which is interpreting the news
The use of first- events.
person pronoun The use of the pronoun is
we in NYT attributable to NYT editorial
NYT editorials tend writers' intention to give a
to conclude the sense of authority to the text
main topic through in The Ending section of the
directive sentences editorials.
Using directive sentences in The
Ending section of the editorials
in NYT might be attributed to
the writers' desire to persuade
their readers to take an action
towards the news events.
16 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

Through designing interesting classroom activities based on editorials, it is possible

to provide the students with the logic of the ideas and the organization and development
of the arguments in the editorials. This would in turn change the students into critical
readers who are able to read between the lines of a newspaper and to critique stories for
structure, content and meaning.
However, using the newspaper and its sub-genres as an input in EFL classes without
initial focusing on their generic distinctive features such as, communicative purpose,
schematic structures and the syntactic patterns may be counterproductive. To Bhatia,

Genre specificity, thus, within the pages of newspaper is so significant that any attempt to use
newspaper language without being aware of it can become misleading. In other words, if the
learner is not made sensitive to genre distinctions, then the very strength of newspaper language
can become its weakness. (1993: 165)

Thus, any study that attempts to provide EFL students with generic characteristics of the
editorials will make them ready to make use of newspaper editorials in the classrooms.
Emphasizing the importance of more critical awareness toward the analysis of lan-
guage, Wallace (1992) has argued that readers would not be successful in their reading
unless they are made involved in challenging the ideological assumptions and proposi-
tional knowledge which are usually presented as obvious in written texts (p. 61).
Hence, in order for teachers to raise the critical consciousness of their students in EFL
classes, the teachers should try to develop a general understanding of:

The schematic structures of the editorials.

The importance of textual analysis of the newspaper editorials.
The role of editorials in the newspaper genre.
The relationship between ideology and power as represented in the newspaper
editorials.

The findings of the present study can at the same time equip EFL teachers and students
with the required knowledge about the discourse conventions in a certain sub-genre
namely newspaper editorials.
In light of the findings of the present research, the teachers may familiarize the EFL
learners with different schematic structures of the editorials namely, The Introduction,
The Body and The Ending. This can be done by grouping the students and providing
each group with two different newspaper editorials. The groups then can be asked to go
through the editorials trying to divide them into different sections. Later, they may focus
on how the writers have initiated, developed and concluded the topic in the identified
sections in terms of the rhetorical moves, that is, Orientation, Criticism, Development
and Concluding that are all discussed in the preceding section. The groups then may
discuss the possible similarities and differences in rhetorical strategies used for realiza-
tion of the moves.
Such pre-knowledge of the formal schemata would facilitate the reading processes
and in fact failure to sensitize language users to the various genre distinctions might
result in ineffective teaching and learning (Bhatia, 1993: 173).
Bonyadi 17

Moreover, as Bronia (2005) has indicated, editorials overlap significantly with the
argumentative essays of the students in the educational settings in terms of their purpose,
schematic structures and some lexico-grammatical features. Even in terms of schematic
structures, editorials have a lot in common with what we are very likely to find in many
academic essays (Bhatia, 1993: 165).
As a public discourse, editorials can influence the academic writing of the students
so they can be used as a resource to help students write their academic argumentative
and persuasive essays. Furthermore, as editorials perhaps more than any other types of
writing reflect national styles regarding moods of persuasion (Connor, 1999: 143), they
set the standard for written persuasion in a language. Being so, exploring both theo-
retical and practical rhetorical strategies for patterning can help our university students
develop logical connections that enable them to produce the types of prose required by
the academy (Bliss, 2001: 16). Thus, the findings of the present research study can be
utilized in teaching reading newspaper texts and writing courses at the tertiary level.
Students of ESP courses especially those of journalism might benefit from the findings
of the study as well.

Conclusion
The analysis of the selected editorials in The New York Times and Tehran Times revealed
some important key characteristics of different schematic structures of the editorials of
criticism in The New York Times and Tehran Times.
With reference to the first schematic structure, The Introduction, the findings of this
study revealed that in the editorials of criticism of both newspapers, the first schematic
structure of editorials of criticism The Introduction was composed of two distinctive
sub-sections or MOVES, viz. orientation and criticism with the former being optional,
based on factors such as the readers presumed background knowledge, prevalence of the
topic of criticism and the harshness of the criticism.
However, there were certain differences between the editorials in terms of some rhe-
torical conventions. The use of interrogative and rhetorical questions in the (CR) move
of Tehran Times editorials, for example, suggested that the editorials were more assertive
in the criticism than their writer(s) in The New York Times.
Communicating the (OR) move through evaluative words and phrases had also made
the NYT editorials appear more evaluative than those in the other paper. Furthermore,
frequent skipping of the (OR) move and the amount of information loaded in it suggests
that NYT editorial writers tended to use reader responsible rhetoric as apposed to writer
responsible rhetoric the distinction made by Hinds (1987). Referring to the issue of
cultural text patterns, Hinds clarifies that in some languages it is the responsibility of the
writer to construct the text in a way to make the reader follow the argument without dif-
ficulty. In some languages, however, it is the reader who is primarily responsible for
effective communication (Hinds, 1987: 143).
The analysis of The Body section of the editorials in the two newspapers indicated
that developing the main topic of the paper was the only move in this section of the edi-
torials. It was also found that there were some similarities and differences in the way the
main topics of the editorials were developed through the section.
18 Discourse & Communication 4(4)

The two newspapers mainly used LFV and LV patterns for presenting the subtopics.
However, NYT editorial writers, when compared with TT writers, included more subtop-
ics in the editorials, suggesting that the writers felt a greater need to provide more sup-
port to their main topic. On the other hand, turns in TT editorials were found to be fully
developed, compensating for the limited number of the triads per editorial.
The subtopics in both papers were mainly concluded through valuate turns, represent-
ing the writers concluding remarks and evaluative comments on the relevant subtopics.
However, NYT editorial writers compared with TT writers used these valuate turns for
proposing directive suggestions as well.
With reference to the last schematic structure of the editorials, The Ending, the study
revealed that for the Conclusion move the two newspapers employed certain rhetorical
strategies including frequent use of informative comments and predictive statements.
These were the predominant strategies in The Ending section of Tehran Times editorials
and might be ascribed to the influence of certain cultural characteristics on the language
use, specifically the notion of interpretation.
Expressing suggestion and necessity through directive statements were found to be
the common rhetoric strategy employed in The Ending section of the selected editorials
in The New York Times. The use of this strategy accompanied by the first person plural
pronoun We can be attributed to the issue of power.
By frequent use of the first-person plural pronoun, We, NYT writers also aimed at
bringing a certain authority and credibility to the paper, while TT editorial writers
refrained from using the pronoun possibly to establish a sense of objectivity in the paper.
In general, due to the inclusion of different rhetorical strategies, The Ending sections
of The New York Times editorial appeared to be much more argumentative than those in
Tehran Times. The analysis of the selected editorials in the two papers indicated that the
editorial writers not only tended to support their argument by factual information, usu-
ally presented through the first and second schematic structures The Introduction and
The Body but also aimed at providing suitable rhetorical strategies to serve the factual
information through the last schematic structure of the editorials, The Ending.

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