Evaluating the Ideological Stances in the speeches of British Political Leaders on the Syrian Refugees' Crisis:

An Appraisal Approach

Abstract

This study is an attempt to analyze the speeches of leaders of the main UK political parties
on the Syrian refugees' crisis following the spread of horrific images of Syrian families
and children facing death in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Europe to escape the
ongoing war in their home country. The study applies the Appraisal Model as the main
approach of analysis, as the researcher seeks to investigate how the Syrian refugees are
represented in the political speeches of prominent party leaders in the UK. In addition, the
study explores how the western values of democracy and human rights are maintained or
overlooked while dealing with the Syrian refugees escaping the war in their homeland to
some European countries and the UK. The study consists of four sections. The
introductory one outlines the context, objective, significance and the methodology of the
study. Section two outlines the review of literature, while section three deals with the
analysis and discussion of data, and section four presents the findings and conclusion of
the study.