This activity aims to assist students with persuasive tactics for argumentative speeches. The activity involves students creating an argumentative speech to defend a hot-take assertion chosen from a list provided by the instructor. In small groups, students will craft an argument supporting their hot-take assertion and present it to the class.…

While many studies have investigated the effect of task complexity on L2 writing, little has been reported on the effects of intended task complexity manipulations on task-generated cognitive demands in L2 writing. This study, therefore, was designed to examine the relative effects of task complexity and cognitive demands on students' L2 writing.…

Many instructors and textbooks encourage the use of debate and critical thinking in the classroom by creating artificial public space in which students then act out engagements. The tools gained from such activities do encourage better thinking and speaking, but they do not adequately prepare students for "real" situations when they must…

Courses: Argumentation, Public Speaking, Political Communication. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students should be able to (1) demonstrate comprehension of Burke's (1941) concept of terministic screens; (2) apply the concept of terministic screens to write a brief political autobiography of themselves that analyzes the history…

This article, the first of a two-part series, offers readers 13 teaching innovations debuted at the 2017 Association for Business Communication's annual conference in Dublin, Ireland. Assignment topics presented here include communication strategy and message-packaging skills, deep communication insights, and career and personal development.…

This article describes a lesson in which students will examine several views expressed by the founders to understand the context for including freedom of the press in the First Amendment. Students will be asked to think about the role that the news media and the need to be an informed citizen continue to play in our democracy. Students will…

The ubiquitousness of images in the digital era highlights the importance of individuals' visual communication skills in the 21st Century. We conducted a literature review of visual literacy initiatives in academic institutions to illustrate best practices for imparting these skills in students. The literature review identified five categories of…

In this article, the author discusses a four-part exercise called "To the Moon!" The exercise encourages students to develop and orally defend their choice of four volunteers who will be part of a team to colonize Earth's moon. This oral exercise prepares them for subsequent written work. As Bean (1996, 7) states, "Good writing...grows out of good…

This study was based on the hypothesis that students' epistemological beliefs could become more expertlike with a combination of appropriate instructional activities: (i) preclass reading with metacognitive reflection, and (ii) in-class active learning that produces cognitive dissonance. This hypothesis was tested through a five-year study…

The bilingual poetry and stories of Salvadoran writer Jorge Argueta have been an invaluable resource in this author's classroom. She has used poems from "Talking with Mother Earth" for homework and class analysis during a study of ecosystems, the story "Xochitl and the Flowers" to lead into persuasive writing, and "Bean Soup" to teach…

This paper delineates an exercise where students are encouraged to give their point of view to a quotation received (the activity is an adaptation from the Impromptu Speaking event in Competitive Forensics). The paper states that students are to explain the meaning of a quotation (topic themes may be from ecology, education, environment, life,…

The environment is a ready-made subject in writing classrooms, and teachers at all levels are encouraging students to write about nature and environmental issues. Environmental issues provide a equitable meeting place for students from a variety of different backgrounds, interests, and ideologies. There are also many pedagogical advantages to…

Noting that the process of making and supporting generalizations and argumentation are two thinking strategies that cut across almost every subject area, this paper presents several class activities designed to improve students' ability to make and support generalizations and produce arguments in a written (or oral) composition. The first activity…

An assignment that has proven successful in teaching "Communication Theories" (a senior-level capstone course at Northern Kentucky University) is "The Application Folder." The goal of the assignment is for students to apply concepts from the course in their everyday life. Students monitor and analyze what they watch, read, and…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conference e-Learning 2013, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and is part of the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (Prague, Czech Republic, July 23-26, 2013). The e-Learning 2013 conference aims to…