A Comparative Study of Chinese and English Online Shopping Reviews from the Engagement of Appraisal Theory—Take Taobao Electronic Products Online Shopping Reviews as Example

Abstract

Online shopping has developed into a popular mode of consumption. Many e-commerce platforms offer customer feedback mechanisms, and customers can rate products after purchase. In addition to advice from retailers, reference opinions are also provided for potential consumers. Consumers can use reviews to interact with potential consumers. Therefore, from a linguistic perspective, this interactive process has an interpersonal meaning. This paper used engagement of appraisal theory to analyze and compare Chinese and English online shopping reviews concerning the engagement and its distribution. 100 Chinese online shopping comments and 100 English online shopping comments about the same type of electronic products were selected, then they were organised, categorised and analysed according to the theoretical framework. The conclusions are that Chinese and English consumers can change the level of discursive responsibility through engagement resources, thus expanding or narrowing the space of dialogue with potential consumers, and secondly English consumers tend to use accurate and clear intervening resources, while Chinese tend to use uncertain and vague engagement resources. From a cross-cultural perspective, this study can help Chinese and English potential consumers to identify evaluation resources, as well as suggestions for Chinese and English businesses on how to internationalize their products.