Rhetorical Education Research Articles

The Power of Free Speech without Adequate Tools – Political Rhetoric in Croatia

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on the power of rhetoric in a political discourse analyzing the rhetorical skills of a contemporary Croatian politicians. Croatia as a post-communist country paid very little attention to rhetorical education, and as a consequence people who enter political arena are not competent public speakers and often showed a lack of persuasive power. This essay analyses part of the rhetorical ability of a politicians including strategies for building ethos and argumentation skills. Based on a real-life examples, it can be concluded that both politicians as well their audience (i.e. voters) need to be better rhetorically educated which will help in resolving disputes and using persuasion for the benefits of the whole society.

Nikolay Grech’s Rhetorical Teaching as a Tool of Text Analysis

Russian rhetoric began with Mikhail Lomonosov’s Brief Guide to Eloquence (1765), which was written in the classical tradition of the Aristotelian-Ciceronian teaching about effective and persuasive speech. By the time philology had become a unified knowledge system in 1820s, Russian rhetoric stopped being a part of the trivium of verbal sciences, which also included grammar and logic, and evolved into a theory of language arts [slovesnost] that included both fiction and nonfiction literature. Its focus shifted from statement building to development and classification of the existing types and genres of literature. The science gave birth to a new discipline, namely the history and theory of literature, Nikolay Grech being one of its founders. Thus, the subject of rhetoric was mostly the principles of understanding of written fiction. Grech’s concept reflected those new trends in the development of rhetoric while focusing on the analysis of the system of Russian literature as a whole. The present research employed the methods of comparative analysis and analytical interpretation of the text. The article introduces N. Grech’s ideas about rhetorical and fictional prose, as well as his classification of prose and poetry. The author showed how the emergence of borderline, semi-rhetorical, and semi-poetic genres, changed the relationship between prose and poetry and, accordingly, between rhetoric and poetics. From a tool for creating an utterance, rhetoric gradually became a tool for analyzing a finished text.

Introduction: This Is America

Introduction: This Is America

Review

Review

СВИДЕТЕЛЬ И ХРИСТИАНИН: КОНЦЕПТ ИСТОРИОПИСАНИЯ В ПОЗДНЕЙ АНТИЧНОСТИ

When we begin to study historical sources and, in particular, works of the genre of historical writing, we should understand how the authors of these texts perceived their activities. The understanding of the meaning of historical writing in a particular historical period, the tasks and requirements that are set for the author is the basis for a reasoned decoding of a historical text. Similar research work is currently underway in the history of concepts. Reinhart Koselleck worked on the problem of historical shifts in the understanding of historical writing in his articles on the modern period and the Enlightenment. The aim of this article is to elicit an understanding of historical writing in late antiquity by adjusting existing historiographic positions. The toolkit of history of concepts is used to achieve this aim. The period of late antiquity is traditionally regarded as the decline of literature skills, including historical writing. However, it seems that this historiographic position arose more as a result of the steady discursive pattern of Latin authors than as a reflection of the actual situation of late antiquity. Researchers’ attention to this period has grown significantly since the 1990s, but, at the same time, the concept of historical writing was not significantly revised. The image of the period as a decline extended to historical writing. The departure from the classical tradition of historiography was associated with the spread of Christianity in the empire. Christianity offered different guidelines in the past, shifted value priorities replacing historical precedents with the Old Testament and evangelical examples. In addition, the genre of historical writing within the framework of Christianity was transformed into the history of the church, changing its purposes to describe the ideological and political struggle of various religious factions and to make apologetics of the Christian worldview as opposed to the pagan one. However, despite the validity of such notions, it should be emphasized that the spread of Christianity was not a crucial factor that influenced the change in priorities in historical writing. Moreover, the positioning of historical writing as a statement of truth about current events remained unchanged. That means that the understanding of the activity of the author of a historical work did not undergo significant shifts in the period of late antiquity compared to the classical one. The main changes affected the subject matter of historical writing, that is, a sample of precedents that the authors considered necessary to describe within the framework of their current priorities. This conclusion is also confirmed by the fact that most Latin Christian historians directly or indirectly point out that they are based not only on their Christian predecessors, but also on pagan classics. The knowledge of the latter was included in grammatical and rhetorical education at least in the form of epitomes, and served as a source of direct and indirect quotes, imitations and stylizations – not as explicit as, for example, Christian patristics, but rather, by default, as a kind of conventional agreement.

ЛИКИ УНИВЕРСИТЕТСКОЙ ИСПАНИИ В БИБЛИОТЕКЕ СТРОГАНОВА: ИСПАНСКИЙ ГУМАНИСТ ЭРНАНДО НУНЬЕС ДЕ ГУСМАН

The Spanish collection of the Stroganov Library reveals Spain as a country with a rich cultural heritage. The last owner of the family library, G.A. Stroganov, was the Russian ambassador to Spain, and his interest in Spanish subjects was reflected in the book collection. One of the most valuable publications is a series of engraved portraits of outstanding Spaniards, published from 1791 to 1819. As a cultural time-specific project of the Enlightenment era, this series reveals the value priorities of Spanish society, which allows us to understand its socio-cultural guidelines over a long historical period. An impressive share of the persons selected by the Spaniards among their outstanding representatives belongs to university figures. This speaks not only about the influence of the Age of Enlightenment, but also about the rich history of university tradition in Spain. The subject of our study is the figure of the Spanish humanist H. Núñez de Guzman (1475-1553). In his youth, he studied with Nebrija. In the College of St. Clement in Bologna he started studying the culture of classical Greece. After returning to Spain, he studied Hebrew and Arabic in Granada. He was invited by Cisneros to the University of Alcala to work on a project to create a multilingual Bible. At this university, which became an important center of Spanish humanism, he taught rhetoric and Greek. In 1524, he received a chair of Greek at the University of Salamanca, where he also taught Latin, rhetoric, and lectured on the "Natural History" of Pliny. In Salamanca, Núñez published commentaries on the works of Seneca (1529), Mela (1543) and Pliny (1544); he prepared a collection of proverbs in the Castilian language, which was published in 1555. A deep connoisseur of Latin and Greek, Núñez is considered the patriarch of the Spanish Hellenists. They were a cohort of humanists who, on Spanish soil, combined in their worldview the features of the outgoing Middle Ages and the ideas of the Renaissance. Núñez played a significant role in the development of the Greek language as a subject of study in Spanish universities. The Greek language, the knowledge of which nourished and developed humanistic upbringing and education, gets its spread in Spain during the life and activity of Núñez. In the series of portraits of outstanding Spaniards, the portrait of Núñez is placed in the fourteenth notebook, published in 1802.The engraved portrait is made by Esquivel according to the drawing of Engidanos. Núñez is depicted sitting in nature with an open book in his hands. In the biography attached to the portrait, it is noted that "few have more reason to be included in the list of outstanding people than Fernando Núñez de Guzman. His character, his erudition and behavior are an example of the highest honor." Núñez donated his valuable collection of books in Latin and Greek to the University of Salamanca. Núñez remains interesting for researchers today. The image and selfless devotion of the erudite continue to evoke deep respect, and the legacy left – gratitude.

Papers on Quintilian and Ancient Declamation by Michael Winterbottom

Reviewed by: Papers on Quintilian and Ancient Declamation by Michael Winterbottom W. Martin Bloomer Michael Winterbottom. Papers on Quintilian and Ancient Declamation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. xxvi, 371. $115.00. ISBN 978-0-19-883605-6. From the vast (19 books listed in the complete bibliography), various (mostly Latin prose from Cicero through medieval Latin, text critical studies, editions, and studies of Quintilian and declamation), and long-standing (1962-present) researches of Winterbottom, this volume republishes 24 studies and 12 reviews on Quintilian and declamation. To read this book through is to review the constitution of the state of scholarship on declamation, most essentially, the text itself--but not by Winterbottom alone of course. One virtue of gathering all of the papers together is that we see Winterbottom in conversation and correspondence with the other great Latin prose editors, Häkanson, Shackelton-Bailey; a phrase will thank G. Goold or M. Reeve; notices of discussion with Donald Russell. For example, Ch. 15, "More Problems in Quintilian," offers a few revisions to the 1970 monograph Problems in Quintilian and includes textual critical notes to accompany his OCT, but this chapter derives from a reconsideration of all of Quintilian in discussion with Russell for his Loeb edition. The reader may wish he had been a fly on the wall. The papers on textual criticism are an education in problem-solving. The great strength of Winterbottom's opus has been his process of emendation. Very often he detects a problem by seeing a gap, a lacuna or the suppression or compression of the excerpted version of a text (where we lack the original). To detect the gap is no simple matter of seeing the idiom, syntax, or sense is faulty. Winterbottom is alive to the idiosyncracies of his text's genre. Declamation can be free-wheeling and allusive. A declamatory treatment is always a present version meant to surprise the audience, which has just heard or remembers from schooldays or another performance other versions of the same or similar theme, law, character. What is the indignant father going to say this time about his daughter shacking up with a pirate? If it is good, it will have zest and surprise. So when some aggrieved son says, "I'm double disowned," I imagine one Roman saying to the other, did he really just say ab his abdicor and his neighbor says no, he said bis abdicor. And another saying, huh? The scribes or the excerptor may have missed the point as well. Winterbottom is good of course at assembling relevant evidence (parallels, variants, earlier editors' solutions or failures). But to follow his researches is a wonderful, dense education, better in my experience than [End Page 482] trying to glean why Houseman preferred something (in failing to get the point I am like the dullard Roman in the declamatory audience above or the dolts that constitute the lion's share of the universe). Winterbottom doesn't call anybody a dolt, but he is clear about editors and editions he finds wanting, and why. Bile and the implicit appeal to taste (the approach of "clearly the conjecture just advanced is the best and only Latin expression and you should be appropriately smitten") and the failure to be clear about the ratio edendi (a feature of the extreme economy of the OCT critical apparatus) are absent. One reservation: I do wish that five of the twelve review articles had not been sustained criticism of Cousin's Budé edition of Quintilian. Who needs to read five times the details that "The apparatus pullulates with error"? The papers on rhetoric and declamation and philosophy and declamation are the most helpful for those interested in the intellectual and educational milieu of declamation. Winterbottom is very good at describing the affinities of declamation or Quintilian with Cicero. A crucial point he has made several times: Seneca the elder was wrong in believing that declamation began in his day; it began with Greek teachers of rhetoric and Cicero, especially but not only in his early style, was deeply affected by this ethical, emotional, and sententious mode. Chapter 3 on "Quintilian and Rhetoric" charts Quintilian's return to Cicero. This had...

The Columbo method—A rhetoric of inquiry practiced across professions

The increasing numbers of trade articles about the almost trademark “Columbo Method” evidences a growing phenomenon. As demonstrated by the fictional television detective of Columbo 1968-2003, the method is an approach to investigation characterized by rhetorical inquiry (system of questions and timing), an antipotent persona (nonauthoritative, unassuming Everyman), and tenacity in overcoming a responder’s resistance to collaboration or influence. The essay provides a theoretical analysis of Columbo’s informed but indirect questioning, pretense of ignorance, solicitation of help, folksy congeniality, and the false exit. A literature review presents applications of the Columbo Method by professionals to describe effective workplace interaction with resistant responders (conflicting values or allegiances, lifestyle and demographic differences, shyness, anxiety, fear of change, etc.). Third, the theory is applied in an in-depth rhetorical analysis of cases of communication in academia. Most importantly, the work strives to make an impact in ethical approaches to communication with implications for developing rhetorical pedagogy. ©Journal of Professional Communication, all rights reserved.

Exploration of Practical English Rhetoric Education Based on Applied Talents

Aristotle is the most representative figure in classical rhetoric. Nowadays, rhetoric is a subject that studies how to use rhetoric to improve the effect of language expression, with the aim of improving learners' ability of rhetorical analysis and appreciation and practical application. Rhetoric can be found in famous literary works, famous speeches, proverbs and idioms, prose poems, online buzzwords and advertising language. Confucius said: "Words are without words, but actions are not far away." Human language is beautiful and interesting because of rhetoric. The effective use of rhetorical devices can make people find everything new and fresh, and achieve the effect of lingering sound and never forgetting anything. Mastering rhetorical devices can properly express thoughts and feelings, and achieve the artistic effect of creating flowers with wonderful pen.

Мовленнєві жанри в мовній освіті НУШ як перспектива реалізації риторичного аспекту української мови

The article outlines the semantic features of the Ukrainian language rhetorical aspect in general secondary education in terms of implementing the principle of text-centrism and the formation of students' speech and rhetorical skills. The specifics of rhetorical education of language teachers are revealed and the parameters of their readiness for teaching students of speech genres are determined, as well as the methodological features of this activity in basic language education are described. The requirements to be a discourse personality capable of realizing linguodidactic discourse in the language education of the New Ukrainian School, and to be competent in the implementation of pedagogical communication genres are substantiated. The model curriculum in the Ukrainian language in the context of mastering speech genres with the use of different types of students’ educational activities (organizational, cognitive, speech, text) and focusing on the formation of expected meta-subject results in accordance with the State Standard of Basic Secondary Education was analyzed. The definition of the «speech genre» concept in linguodidactics is given, a proposal is made for the linguopragmatic transformation of the established classification of speech genres (information genres, genres of influence, information and influential genres). Examples of exercises and learning tasks for mastering speech genres at the Ukrainian language lessons at the adaptation stage of language education in the New Ukrainian School are given.

Fostering Ethical Engagement Across Religious Difference in the Context of Rhetorical Education

Fostering Ethical Engagement Across Religious Difference in the Context of Rhetorical Education

Education for Sustainable Development in Kenya: Rhetoric and Reality in Basic Education

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is increasingly being recognized as a critical element of education systems and facilitator of sustainable development. This is because its ultimate goal is to foster ideal teaching, learning, policies and practices needed to enhance social, economic, ecological viability and wellbeing for the present and future generations. Embracing ESD could therefore, facilitate realization of objectives of the Competence- Based Curriculum (CBC) that Kenya has rolled out. Particularly, the CBC is expected to foster acquisition of core competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and self-efficacy. But, limited understanding, inappropriate pedagogical approaches, and weak collaboration among key stakeholders are some of the challenges that face application of ESD. This paper consolidates and discusses the pertinent ESD aspects to successful implementation of the CBC in basic education in Kenya. Specifically, elucidated are the underpinning pedagogical theories and their implications, relevant legal and policy frameworks, some success stories, challenges and proposed solutions.

Collaborating between Writing and STEM: Teaching Disciplinary Genres, Researching Disciplinary Interventions, and Engaging Science Audiences

Collaborating between Writing and STEM: Teaching Disciplinary Genres, Researching Disciplinary Interventions, and Engaging Science Audiences

Archival Artistry: Exploring Disability Aesthetics in Late Twentieth Century Higher Education


 
 
 Jay Dolmage’s (2014) Disability Rhetoric encourages scholars to search beyond normative Aristolean bounds of rhetoric and embrace a critical lens of rhetorical activity as embodied, and disability as an inalienable aspect of said embodiment (p. 289). To that end, this project posits an innovative structure for rhetorically (re)analyzing disability history in higher education through a framework of disability aesthetics. In Academic Ableism, Jay Dolmage (2017) argues that an institution’s aesthetic ideologies and architecture denote a rhetorical agenda of ableism. In Disability Aesthetics, Tobin Siebers (2010) asserts disability is a vital aspect of aesthetic interpretation. Both works determine that disability has always held a crucial, critical role in the production and consumption of aestheticism, as it invites able-bodied individuals to consider the dynamic, nonnormative instantiations of the human body as a social, civic issue (p. 2). Disability, therefore, has the power to reinvigorate the sociorhetorical impact of both aesthetic representation and the human experience writ large. With this framework in mind, this project arranges an archival historiography of disability history in higher education in the late twentieth century at a mid-sized U.S. state institution. During this time, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act was finally signed into law, and universities confronted a legal demand to allow all students access. Ultimately, this project seeks to demonstrate how disability scholars and historiographers can widen the view of both disability history and disability rhetoric in higher education through a focus on student aesthetic performance and intervention.
 
 

What matters most? A prioritization of medical students’ preferences for effective teaching

ABSTRACT Guided by rhetorical and relational goals theory, this study explores medical students’ preferences for effective teaching using a “build-a-professor” design. Using a budget methodology, medical students (N = 177) created their ideal clinical or nonclinical medical school educator by prioritizing 10 teaching behaviors and characteristics from instructional communication literature. Overall, medical students prioritized clarity, relevance, and competence as necessity components for effective instruction, whereas other teaching behaviors and characteristics were characterized as luxury components. When comparing ideal clinical and nonclinical medical educators, medical students prioritized clarity less, but prioritized assertiveness and responsiveness more for clinical medical educators. Overall, results suggest that medical school educators might prioritize rhetorical teaching goals, especially teacher clarity, to meet medical students’ pedagogical preferences. However, results also suggest that educators realize that relational teaching, including caring and responsiveness, becomes more important as medical students learn during clinical education.

L2 Teacher’s Instructional Techniques for Rhetorical Writing Patterns of L2 Learners

This study explores the writing of EFL learners with a focus on rhetoric. For this purpose, two groups (experimental group (EG) and controlled group(CG)) of 72 EFL learners (M=34, F=38) are selected and required to write English argumentative compositions on the same topic in two distinct sessions. These tasks are then calculated as suggested in the ESL Compositions Rubrics (Jacobs et. al. 1981) by two professional scorers. The numbers of words per sentence (sentence length), spelling errors, use of rhetorical devices, and number of T-units are counted manually. These results showed that: a) there was a positive correlation (r=0.749 p<0.005) between rhetorical instruction and writing styles, b) texts written by the EG are significantly longer than those by the CG, c) EG texts show more idiosyncratic features in T-units, and d) the number of rhetorical devices used in the EG were higher than those by CG. These results showed that scores, rhetorical patterns, and syntactic complexity of L2 writing were significantly enhanced. Implications for the EFL writing class are also illustrated.

Revisioning Americanization through Administrative History

ABSTRACT This article calls for an expansion of the inquiry methods used to explore rhetorical education during the Americanization movement of the early twentieth century. It offers the methodology of administrative history as an approach to help scholars gain perspective on why and how local programs were developed and implemented from the perspective of administrators and participants. This approach enables a more robust understanding of not only the complexity of Americanization programs but also the diversity of approaches that were employed.

Making Space

Making Space

Ridicule, Technical Communication, and Nineteenth-Century Women Performing College Math

ABSTRACT This article examines how nineteenth-century participants in technical and professional communication (TPC) used rhetorical techniques of ridicule to critique audiences’ assumptions and advocate for expanded educational opportunities. Encouraging laughter ostensibly about college mathematics, Vassar students drew on their knowledge of rhetoric and higher education to disrupt audience expectations regarding the gendered identities of mathematician and college student. Using a case study, this article broadly urges the development of the role of humor as a technique in TPC.

The Byzantine reception of Aristotle’s Rhetoric: the 12th century Renaissance

Abstract In this paper, I argue that, after centuries of neglect, a revival of interest towards Aristotle’s Rhetoric took place in 12th century Constantinople, which led to the production of a number of commentaries. In order to give an overview of the commentary tradition on the Rhetoric, I examine first the surviving extant commentaries themselves, then the information that the commentators offer regarding their preceding interpretations, and last the traces of commentaries on the Rhetoric found in other treatises. This examination will show that, at least within a specific group of scholars, the Rhetoric was studied and commented upon like never before. Finally, I attempt to explain this revival of interest, especially with respect to the role that philosophical and rhetorical education played in 12th century Byzantium.