Examines the characteristics of incrementalism as it defines the present system in competitive debate. Outlines the strengths and weaknesses of this slow and deliberate pursuit of diverse goals and contends that it holds much argumentative promise. (JMF)

The purpose of this article is to promote an increased awareness of the processes for setting cut-scores for complex performance assessments by (a) describing the Analytic Judgment Method (AJM) for setting cut-scores, and (b) critically evaluating the technical adequacy and practicability of the AJM by focusing on one investigation where the AJM…

Studying the writing strategies used in advertisements helps students discover that rhetorical technique and patterns of development are not a system of arbitrary rules, but a means of achieving specific and real effects. By analyzing its purpose, audience, persona, and argumentative content, students learn how each element contributes to an ad's…

Although texts on debate and argumentation deal with accepted forms of evidence, reasoning, and logical methods of proof, they do not cover adequately the "undefined" forms of proof. Criteria of evidence found in forensic literature are not always followed strictly by judges, in courtroom or classroom. Many debate judges allow imprecise, vague, or…

This booklet is one of the National Humanities Faculty publications designed to examine the question of what is taught, and why. This dialogue between Edwin Delattre and Thomas Donovan explores how humans go about reasoning and solving problems according to their collective, reflective intelligence. (Author/MJ)

Paper presents a model of the processes involved in listener response to deductive arguments. (Editor)

The attitudes of cognitively complex subjects were not more likely to polarize after thought. No differences between complex and noncomplex subjects were obtained with the original set, and with the replication set noncomplex subjects were more likely to polarize. Results suggest limitations on the generality of polarization. (Author)

A training procedure to teach the discrimination of implication from asserted fact was developed and tested with adults in on experiment, and was revised and tested with adults and seventh- and ninth-grade students in another experiment. A marginal developmental trend of better discrimination with increasing age was found. (Author/GK)

Believes that comparative studies of ethno-educational phenomena promise to advance efforts to develop educational change and socialization theory, and to better inform teaching. Also states that the Comparative and International Education Society can gain greater coherence and perceived usefulness if its members make contributions to this problem…

The "principle of confrontation," rather than traditional systems of logic (induction and deduction), should be employed to determine the reliability and utility of arguments. The principle of confrontation relies on the premise that the validity of any statement may be tested by subjecting it to the "risk of disconfirmation" (criticism by…

Contemporary rhetoricians are concerned with the re-examination of classical doctrines in the hope of finding solutions to current problems. In this study, the author presents a methodological perspective consistent with current interests, by re-examining the assumptions that underlie each classical precept. He outlines an inventional system based…

Considers the problems of the liberal arts curriculum, concerned with the distinctive potential in human nature, and reviews career education, concerned with the practical possibilities of human action, as a possible solution. (Author/RK)

This paper examines how prominent private schools in Australia are performing in a market context according to the tenets of performativity. From a discourse analysis of promotional materials that include prospectuses, advertisements, and school publications, it considers the "value-addedness" that these schools purport to offer. In this…