Understanding

the Basics

Syllabus requirements Historical and Rhetorical Context Textual Integrity – Distinctive

qualities Rhetorical techniques Set Texts

Do you need to take copious notes?No…but there will be a written response quiz at the end so….

Thomas Babington Macaulay, the 19th-century writer and politician, said that "the object of oratory alone is not truth but persuasion. "

"Let thy speech be short, comprehending much in few words.” Ecclesiastes.

The speech is by definition a public performance, an attempt to persuade the audience of the orator's point of view, after having gained their attention in the first place.

Students explore the ideas expressed in the text through analysing its construction, content and language. They examine how particular features of the text contribute to textual integrity. They research others’ perspectives of the text and test these against their own understanding and interpretations. Students evaluate how the text has been read, received and valued in historical and other contexts. They extrapolate questions of textual integrity and significance.

Module B

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 1: engaging with the text and its ideas engaging with the text and its ideas

Phase 2: exploring how these ideas are exploring how these ideas are expressed via analysis of construction, content expressed via analysis of construction, content and language, and examining how particular and language, and examining how particular features of the text contribute to textual integrityfeatures of the text contribute to textual integrity

Phase 3: researching others’ perspectives of researching others’ perspectives of the text, evaluating how set work has been the text, evaluating how set work has been read, received and valued in historical and read, received and valued in historical and other contextsother contexts

Phase 4: developing a deep personal critical developing a deep personal critical understanding of the text through exploring understanding of the text through exploring questions of textual integrity and significance.questions of textual integrity and significance.

Lets get down to the basics

Rhetorical / Literary Context

Ancient Greece

Aristotle – Logician & Philosopher3 books of Rhetoric - 10 classical tips - still relevant

1. Be logical.2. Think clearly.3. Reason cogently.4. Remember that argument is the life and soul of persuasion.5. Study human nature.6. Observe the characters and emotions of your audience, as well as your own character and emotions.7. Attend to delivery.8. Use language rightly.9. Arrange your material well.10. End crisply.

Subject

Purpose Audience

The Writing Triangle

Ethos

Logos Pathos

The Rhetorical Triangle

The Rhetorical Triangle ties into the three kinds of persuasive appeals: logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos refers to the consistency and clarity of the message and to the logic of the reasons. Ethos refers to the credibility of the writer/speaker, conveyed through tone and style. Pathos refers to the audience’s capacity to feel and see what the writer feels and sees.

A great speech grabs people’s emotions by manipulating listeners with a combination of concrete information and emotive examples or phraseology. A ribbon of facts, information and practical suggestions for action must be woven via techniques such as:

•anecdotes for relating or appealing to the audience, •logical structure •humour for an emotional change of pace; •thoughtful quotes•personalization such as, "all of us in this room..." or "those of us who..." or "each and everyone of you...". •focus content limited to three salient points. Anything more and the entire effect is diluted.

Assumptions About Rhetoric

1. 1. The practice of rhetoric is culturally determined.

2. When we practice rhetoric, we use language to ‘induce cooperation’ in an audience.

3. Rhetoric is discourse that affects an audience, that informs, moves, delights, and teaches, has a rhetorical aim.

4. Rhetoric implies choices, for both the writer and the audience.

A good speech needs to know

its:

•Audience

•Purpose

•Subject

Matter

Questions

Logos

Cause and EffectCause and EffectDeductive Reasoning-Reasoning from principlesDeductive Reasoning-Reasoning from principles

Inductive Reasoning-Reasoning from Inductive Reasoning-Reasoning from experienceexperience

Contradictions-Finding holes in the opposite Contradictions-Finding holes in the opposite argumentargument

Ethos – Credibility

Persuading by convincing the audience that the speaker is

worth listening to and evaluating:

TrustworthinessSimilarity with audience & their

valuesSpecial KnowledgeExpert Knowledge

Appeals to Negative Emotions: Fear, Discrimination, Revenge

Appeals to Positive Emotions: Love, Charity, Brotherhood, Justice

Use of Figurative Speech: metaphors, rhetorical questions, parallelism

Pathos = Emotions

Emotional Impact – Cicero suggested to use the eyes, but many great orators also make use of body language and volume and tone for emotional emphasis.

Confused?

logos The appeal to reason.

pathos The appeal to emotion.

ethos The persuasive appeal of one's character.

Test Your Understanding

Outline the significance and meaning of Outline the significance and meaning of Logos, Pathos and EthosLogos, Pathos and Ethos

What are some of the main persuasive What are some of the main persuasive techniques commonly used in great techniques commonly used in great speeches?speeches?

Complete responses on your Weebly site

Due at the beginning of Week 2

For each of the following slides: jot down information regarding

speaker identity, historical/social context.

You can make use of the notes made as part of your holiday research task.

The slides should act as a stimulus to your responses

For out of the war came a

lesson which transcended the

horror and tragedy and the

inexcusable folly.

Fourteen of the

victims of the

tragedy came from Australia.

It’s time to move the process of reconciliation

forward with a little more speed. That is the task. If not now, when? If not

us, who?

...as the shackles of prejudice and intolerance fall from our own limbs we can

together strive to identify and remove the impediments to

human development everywhere.

Many will reject any notion that some of the legacies of the past live in the present and need to be dealt with.

...novels are ambiguous and

multi-faceted, not because they’re

perverse, but because they

attempt to grapple with what was once referred to as the human condition,

and they do so using a medium which is

notoriously slippery-namely, language

itself.

Any life lost in war is a human life, irrespective of its being that of an

Israeli or an Arab.