Comparing rhetorical devices in history textbooks and teachers’ lessons: Implications for the development of academic language skills

Abstract

Rhetorical devices signal the authors’ attitudes and intentions to their texts or their audiences. Mastering these resources characterises academic language proficiency and contributes to academic success. We explored whether oral and written academic texts provide different opportunities to gain knowledge about rhetorical devices and academic language. We compared 10 teachers’ lessons with 10 textbooks – matched according to educational level (Secondary Education), topic (History), instructional content and genre – to determine the frequency, type and format of rhetorical devices: visual forms, reduced verbal forms, or completely discursive forms (with or without explicit orders). The results show that teachers employ more rhetorical devices, include rhetorical devices practically absent from textbooks (those related to discourse-knowledge integration, monitoring, and inter/intra-referential processes), and use both reduced expressions and completely discursive forms (with and without explicit orders). Textbooks employ more rhetorical devices for the overall connection of ideas and widely exploit visual forms.