Courses: This single-class teaching activity was designed for courses on public speaking, rhetorical criticism, and critical thinking. In addition, instructors can adapt this activity for online or face-to-face courses on intercultural communication, organizational communication, listening, and political communication. Objectives: By completing…

Three components seem central to the definition of a documentary film: (1) the filmmaker should seek to provide as valid a record as possible of the facts, (2) the filmmaker must not neglect artistry in the portrayal of reality, and (3) a persuasive purpose is inherent to the form. Thus, documentary film provides for the artistic portrayal of…

The "Takings Clause" of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution seems clear enough: when the government takes an individual's property, it must pay him or her for it. The "Sagebrush Rebellion" refers to the numerous incarnations of a movement to privatize public lands and contain environmental regulation. This…

Suggests how rhetorical criticism might be most productively focused by concentrating on the message, value premises, and strategies. (PD)

Discusses Mikhail Bakhtin's vision of the continuous affluence of language and claims it celebrates the polymeric nature of discourse as opposed to the traditional triangular paradigm which proves hopelessly inadequate.

Examines Stephen Toulmin's system of logic and its application to the teaching of composition. Claims that Toulmin's approach is deficient for classroom applications. Argues that composition teachers would do better to retain principles from traditional logic rather than using Toulmin's form as a substitute. (HB)

Proposes that English teachers have an obligation to give more attention to how language can be used in politics. Examines the characteristics of the basic political message. Offers eight suggestions for classroom exercises. (RL)

The area of rhetorical criticism has rarely been perceived as having a valid or useful role in the high school speech curriculum. However, a rationale for the inclusion of rhetorical criticism in high school speech instruction may be found in the accepted goals of speech instruction, because the failure to teach students the skills of rhetorical…

Argues that English departments should be concerned with critical reading and writing of all kinds of texts. Suggests that the same kind of careful criticism used in the study of advertising should be used to evaluate literature, music, movies, and the other arts, with the immediate goal being a more self-conscious awareness of verbal and…

Considers how the history of rhetoric is taught currently and has been taught in the past. Provides data from surveys of historians in rhetoric and composition concerning their methods. Describes how the history of rhetoric is taught at the University of Arizona. Shows how rhetoric can be taught as a social praxis. (HB)

The speech communication department at California State University, Northridge, offers a course entitled, "Rhetoric of Women," that combines a traditional rhetorical criticism approach with recent women's studies research. The course is organized topically, moving from the general to a more specific examination of variables that operate in the…

A course was designed around three major questions: (1) what is the relationship between rhetoric and its context; (2) how does the message construct a particular reality for the audience and the rhetor; and (3) what does the rhetorical artifact suggest about the rhetor? Feminist criticism is used as one of the three methods that focus on the…

Describes a method of teaching students to identify and analyze misleading or manipulative rhetoric used in political campaigns. Provides excerpts from student-written journals based on the 1992 presidential debates. Argues that such activities are beneficial in English classes. (HB)

Rather than relegating Aristotle's "Rhetoric" to history of rhetoric courses, where it is regarded with only an antiquarian interest, it can be used as a practical text for introductory public speaking courses. The advantages would be threefold: (1) its emphasis is essentially on rhetoric as a speaking art rather than an art of…

Teachers' role as primary audience has important implications for writing instruction. Teachers represent a combination of two audiences: a literal audience--a specific person or group of people implied in a writing assignment--and an ideal audience shaped by the writers themselves. As these two general types of audiences imply, writers both…