Integrated Skills III – 2012/01

What are the topics of this part of the debate?

Assertions made by Senator Clinton, as well as her husband, about Obama’s view on war and Republican policies.

Language Used in Debates

OBAMA: When Senator Clinton or President Clinton asserts that I said that the Republicans had had better economic policies since 1980, that is not the case. CLINTON: Well, I couldn't agree more. But I do think that your record and what you say does matter. OBAMA: You just said that I complimented the Republican ideas. That is not true. What I said -- and I will provide you with a quote (…) OBAMA: I didn't say they were good ones. (….) But what I did say is that we have to be thinking in the same transformative way about our Democratic agenda.

The proposition The affirmative side The negative side The audience

Propositions of fact: assert the truth of falsity of some factual matter. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are being achieved. Propositions of Value: these are value judgments Private high schools are better than public high schools. Watching TV is a waste of time. Propositions of Policy: these are concerned with courses of action one can take. Japan should abolish death penalty. The Japanese government should ban all genetically modified foods.

The proposition must be focused on one single idea. A bad example may be "Japan should abandon nuclear power plants and promote solar power generation.” The proposition must be controversial. In other words, the arguments for and against the proposition must be more or less balanced. The proposition must be neutrally worded. The proposition like "Resolved: That Japan should abolish inhumane death penalty" is biased in favor of the affirmative side. The proposition must be suitable for participants in terms of interest and difficulty.

1) The use of L1 in L2 teaching 2) The use of authentic materials in L2 coursebooks and classrooms 3) Testing - traditional tests X process assessment 4) Diploma in our area - should people that do not have a college diploma in language/literature be a translator, teachers etc?

PREPARING FOR A DEBATE

Create complementary pairs: look for a negative that goes along with a positive. Prepare for a critique of your ideas by your opponents. Eliminate ideas if you discover that a potential opposition carries more weight.

After generating a lot of ideas for their debate case, debaters should focus on formulating the strongest arguments for and against a given resolution. Argument: process in communication in which reasoning (logic) is used to persuade others.

1) Argument by example: The debater offers evidence of what is known and proven as a fact. Example: Studies have been conducted on population X, which demonstrate that increased consumption of vegetables are beneficial to health. Therefore we should switch from meat- based diet to vegetable- based diet if we want to be healthy. 2) Argument by analogy: The debater knows that A is true (justified, desirable). The thing she/he would like to make a claim about (B) is similar to A. Therefore he/she concludes that B is also true (justified, desirable) Example: National culture for a nation is like nutrition for an individual. If you deprive an individual of nutrition, he will perish. The same happens to nations who are deprived of their culture.

3) Argument of cause and effect : The debater identifies two phenomena and reasons that there is a causal relationship between them. Example: If parents who are unqualified to teach start teaching their children, the level of education will decrease dramatically. 4) Argument from authority/ testimony – the debater use an authority to prove the claim. Example: A psychologist from Harvard university, Ms Jennifer Smith claims that watching violent films does not have any influence on children, because they have the ability to distinguish between fiction and reality.

1) Write a proposition 2) Create a T-Chart 3) Work in groups to build your arguments based 4) Groups debate: use specific language 5) Audience acts as a judge