Introduction

Ever since antiquity, rhetoric, as bipolar thinking and arguing upon every issue, has been interwoven with the instillation of virtues such as reflection, reasoning, awareness of the civil identity and of the sense of common good. In our era, characterized by rapid social and economic changes at both the polis and the cosmopolis levels, such an effort becomes essential for the formation of a more reasonable and humanistic social reality. Therefore, teaching rhetorical argumentation, even in the earliest stages of education, becomes one of the most powerful tools for the attainment of such a goal through the development of multi-level literacies and the concomitant construction of individual and social identities.

litearcy and citizenship egglezou

Abstract: Definition of the words “argument” and “counterargument” in a case study research with 91 Greek students of 5th and 6th grade present children’s prior knowledge on argumentation and persuasive writing. This study is a part of broader research concerning teaching experimental strategies of an intervention program in Greek public schools with teaching and learning persuasive language, and meaning making in a writing class. The authors discuss the results of this study in evaluation of a questionnaire’s data. The data confirm the existence of cognitive, meta-cognitive and meta-linguistic limitations in their intervention: Children’s pre-existing understanding of concepts and terms, such as “argument”, “counterargument”, “fallacy”, etc., is limited, if not absent. Findings on students’ limited declarative knowledge in defining what an “argument” or a “counterargument” is, indicate the need of a systematic and effective integration of arguments and especially this of counterarguments, as procedural knowledge in teaching argumentative writing with children at the age of 10-12 years.

Key words: definition; argument; counterargument; teaching; writing

foreign language

Introduction

An optimum medium for developing abilities such as critical thinking and analysis of an argumentative text down to its components, is the early and systematic training of students in argumentative writing within a school context. An effective way of reaching this goal could be to expose the students to interactive pactives conducive to writing as a social act- able to «address self in society and social relation to self» (Shor, 1987, p. 95). Rhetorical pedagogy is closely related to this effort (freeley and Steinberg, 2009, p.3; Johnson, 1996, p. 46; Strnberg & Spear-Swerling, 1996, pp. 66-8).

teaching for thinking and rhetoric

Summary: This paper concerns the contribution of imitatio to the argumentative writing of
twenty three 11-years old students of an elementary school (case-study) in the context
of a socially constructed classroom. Through the lecture, listening, analysis and explicit teaching of the argumentative topics and stylistic figures found in a hybrid literary-argumentative text, students were conduced to the mimesis and genesis of multiple persuasive arguments. Imitatio seemed to influence positively the student’s argumentative writing. The qualitative analysis of the final written argumentative texts showed a better awareness of the argumentative genre. Also, the quantification of
data revealed an increased use of the argumentative topics of relations (cause-effect,
antithesis) and of the figure of rhetorical questions.
Key words: imitation, argumentative writing, genre, elementary school

eaching_the_writing_of_argumentative_ge Egglezou

Abstract: This paper aims at presenting the influence of classical, educational principles of rhetoric on the Toastmasters educational program. Toastmasters is an eminent, international organization which aims at instilling communication and leadership skills in its members in a constructionist and pressure-free educational setting. In this context, the ancient theory de ratione dicendi seems to be perfectly applied, interwoven with modern communication theories on public speaking. The research reveals that traditional rhetorical principles and practices continue to be the necessary equipment that each member of Toastmasters should acquire in order to become successful in public speaking. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire given to the active members of the Hellenic Toastmasters Club brings out their profile, their interests and the multiplicity of benefits that are expected to be received in the above educational setting.

Key words: Toastmasters, communication (skills), leadership (skills), public speaking, adult education, lifelong learning

Abstract: According to the genre-based approach to writing, modeling of a ‘target’-genre consists of a useful tool for teaching and learning in language arts. The current study makes part of a broader research concerning teaching experimental strategies for fostering argumentative writing to 25 eleven years-old pupils of a Greek elementary school (case research). Purpose of the study was to examine the influence of an original structural model, “the train of argumentation”, as methodological tool in the context of a socially constructed classroom, to the pupils’ argumentative writing. The proposed model was influenced by Toulmin and used the “journey metaphor” of argumentation for providing pupils with the necessary knowledge about structural exigencies of argumentative genre. Statistical analysis of data proved: a) a significant augmentation of argumentative text structure awareness and b) a significant increase in the use of connective devices inserted in the pupils’ written argumentative texts.
Keywords: genre, argumentative writing, metaphor, model, literacy, elementary school, rhetoric,
structure.

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