A Socio-cognitive Discourse Analysis of Expats’ Construction of COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study employed socio-cognitive discourse analysis to examine interviews with expatriates in China and explore how their cognitive discourse regarding collectivism amid the COVID-19 pandemic was formed. It revealed that the discursive strategies that the expats adopted to address disparities in values included reframing and de-ideologization. Additionally, the context model was introduced to investigate the process of how the interviewees’ social memories evolved into discourse, further unveiling the significance of intercultural communication elements in context, such as the politeness principle and intercultural ethics.