Improvisation at Rhetoric Workshops as a Way of Teaching Communication Skills

Abstract

The paper describes an educational project on teaching rhetoric at the university level as part of practical rhetoric workshops. What makes this didactic proposal innovative and unique is the incorporation of improvisation tools in rhetoric classes. The aim of the article is to demonstrate how techniques from contemporary improvisational theatre help students improve their communication skills. The article begins with a brief overview of rhetorical education at Polish universities and a description of basic rhetorical competences related to the creation and analysis of texts. An introduction to improvisational theatre and the specifics of improvisation workshops are presented. Then, a proposal is made to combine these different approaches to the development of communicative competences in a series of workshops. Two exercises are presented, representative of the entire workshop series and devoted to the categories of ethos and narration. The benefits of using this method are discussed by showing the learning outcomes as a specific connection between communicative competences and the mechanisms of understanding rhetorical categories.