Transcript ENGL 2900 - Southern Utah University

The Rhetorical Pedagogy
ENGL 2900
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 20th 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
appeal to
ethics
e
Logos
emotions
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.