ENGL 2900 The Rhetorical Pedagogy

What is it? Rhetoric is the art of finding the best available means of persuading a specific audience in a specific situation. Ancient art of using language to persuade.

History Classical Rhetoric Current-Traditional Rhetoric Twentieth Century Rhetoric

Classical Rhetoric More “scholarly attention during the 20 th century” Began with Aristotle’s work, “On Rhetoric” He develops the ‘communication triangle’  Ethos  Pathos  Logos

Current Traditional Rhetoric o In use mostly in the late 1800’s through about the 1960’s o Focuses  “formal correctness, elegance of style, and the modes of discourse: description, narration, exposition, and argument…. A rhetoric devoted to arrangement and style” (Richard Nordquist)  Coherence  Correctness  The opposition of the Expressive Pedagogy

Twentieth Century Rhetoric Personal interpretation of things. Guidelines

The Triangle Ethos Pathos author audience appeal to ethics e emotions Logos message appeal to logic

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Advantages If we use these guidelines, we will be able to be as proficient as possible in our communication Rhetoric allows us to broaden our views and see bigger perspectives

Disadvantages If anything can be interpreted in anyway, how can any argument seem valid? We can use our language to mislead the reader’s / audience’s perception.