Discusses President Reagan's televised address following the space shuttle tragedy and the unique rhetorical demands of the situation. Examines how generic constraints that establish commonalities among all eulogies are interwoven with the responses to the specific needs of a nation in crisis. (NKA)

Teachers can take advantage of current presidential elections by having students keep journals in which they analyze public discourse as they record their responses to the campaign rhetoric. An interesting phenomenon that emerges from this activity is a sense of the political identity of the students, a perspective that colors virtually all of…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The nine titles deal with the following topics: (1) the role and relationship of discourse and context; (2) political autonomy and accommodation to political alternatives as two major dimensions of political socialization; (3)…

Examines American public discourse about civil rights in national magazines from 1939-1959, indicating three stages in the controversy: (1) a positive recharacterization of blacks, (2) an inclusion of blacks under the nation's ideographs, and (3) a final contest between segregationist and integrationist rhetorics. Discusses the potential for…

Discusses fu, a flowery form of rhetorical writing developed in China during the Han Dynasty. Provides historical background and criticisms of the genre. Emphasizes the feminine principle of fu rhetoric with its resort to pleasure, ornamentation, and flattery. Argues that what is considered love poetry was actually political allegory. (DK)

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 10 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the television sermons of Jerry Falwell, W. A. Criswell, Robert Schuller, Jimmy Swaggert, James Robinson, and Howard Estep; (2) the preaching of Wallace E. Fisher; (3) Theodore…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The ten titles deal with the following topics: (1) rhetorical theories for college writing teachers, (2) contemporary rhetorical criticism of literary art, (3) the rhetoric of the new religious cults, (4) Victorian argument, (5)…

Analyzes President Reagan's foreign policy address of October 27, 1983, on events in Lebanon and Grenada, by taking a flexible approach to Kenneth Burke's "pentad"--preserving the inherent ambiguity of act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. Concludes that the speech reveals a formulation of American character incompatible with a…

150 students at McKinley Technology High School in Washington, DC have engaged the Harvard Model for creating a culture of thinking. This Tishman, Perkins, and Jay framework introduced them to four forces of enculturation and six dimensions of a thinking classroom in combination with African American Literature and Future Studies as specific…

Preparing students for college and work in the Knowledge Age. That is the mission of this generic proposal. A counterpoint to Industrial Age mindsets marking most initiatives in the District of Columbia Public schools and described in the "fifth discipline" works of Peter Senge, Creating a Culture of Thinking in DCPS proposes a project…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 20 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the campaign communication during the Carter-Ford television debates; (2) apprehensiveness and performance in public speaking; (3) a history and criticism of…

Discusses the dominance of the narrative form in President Reagan's rhetoric and how his use of narrative form--characterized by a story-based truth, an emphasis on morality, and a grounding in common sense--affects political judgment, differentiating the perspective of his supporters and his opponents. Considers the power and limitations of…

This collection of articles on the nature of discourse and writing instruction include: "Une demarche de psychologie de discours; quelques aspects introductifs" ("An Application of Discourse Psychology; Introductory Thoughts") (Jean-Paul Bronckart); "Les procedes de prise en charge enonciative dans trois genres de texts expositifs" ("The Processes…

This language arts unit of study for high ability learners in grades 5-6 highlights persuasion in oral and written form, focusing especially on oral communication. Emphasis is placed on providing evidence for opinions. Students must cite passages from literature to defend their points of view in discussion as well as in written arguments.…

Seeking to understand American and Nicaraguan perspectives of the Nicaraguan revolution, a study examined the rhetorical strategies used by Presidents Reagan and Ortega in their speeches. Ten public addresses made by each president in 1985-1986, pertaining to funding for Nicaraguan counterrevolutionary forces, were charted and examined for…