Li Juyuan (2009) investigates the use of modality and ideological meaning of advertisements. How the hidden attitudinal meanings are conveyed through different modal expressions is revealed by analyzing an advertisement sample. How the common distribution characteristics of modality realize textual ideological meanings is revealed by analyzing the distribution characteristics of 10 advertising discourses of different types.

Wang Hesi, Yin Pian and Wang Furong (2011) focus on the comparative study of interpersonal meaning in English and Chinese political speeches from the perspective of modality. The similarities and differences of how English and Chinese political speeches realize interpersonal function by using modality are presented.

1.2 Research purposes and significances

Nowadays, it is a major way for people to shape their ideas of a country through news reports. Controlled by the reporters’ language, the hidden information conveyed by the reports influenced readers’ attitudes and vale systems subconsciously. Nowadays, China wants to win more rights of speech and strengthen its international influence. Thus, it is necessary to pay attention to its image constructed by the foreign press. 

There are so many studies about different kinds of news reports from different viewpoints. However, less attention has been paid to news reports about international relation between China and Japan on the basis of corpus. The purpose of the research is to clarify how modal expressions work in different modality orientations and reveal how VOA and BBC news reporters influence readers’ viewpoints with modality. Furthermore, the research aims to make a profounder understanding of news reports through certain modality orientations.

The significances of the study can be concluded as follows. Firstly, this study tries to raise the public awareness of Sino-Japanese relations. It unveils the hidden ideology in the news reports and western countries’ attitudes towards China. Secondly, it helps people think independently so as to minimize the influence of reporters. The master of modality and reporters’ orientation contributes to promoting people’s language awareness, and improving their capacity of perceiving the deep meaning of news reports. Thirdly, readers may get a better command of expressing their own opinions with modality accurately and appropriately.

1.3 Research questions

This study will explore how different modal expressions distribute in the VOA and BBC reports on the relation between China and Japan on the basis of corpus and identify how different modality orientations are realized so as to reflect interpersonal meanings. This investigation tries to probe into the following questions

1) What's the distribution of different modal expressions in the news reports about Sino-Japanese relationship?

2) How are different modal expressions used to express certain type of orientation in the news reports about Sino-Japanese relationship?

3) How do VOA and BBC reports on Sino-Japanese relationships imply their attitudes towards Japan and China through modality? 

For this study, 30 authentic news reports on the Sino-Japan relations are collected from the official websites for BBC and VOA. Among them, 15 pieces of news are from BBC and the others are from VOA. The reports are mainly related to the three controversial events between China and Japan in recent years, which are the China-Japan island row, PM Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni shrine and China’s air-defense identification zone.

1.4 Thesis structure

This thesis consists of four chapters. 

Chapter 1 first briefly introduces previous studies of news reports and modality, and then states the research purposes and significance. Literature review is composed of studies on news reports and modality.   BBC和VOA中日关系新闻报道语篇分析情态和态度(4):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_45353.html