Teaching discourses essentially presuppose the use of rhetoric. This study that doubly registers as EFL Research and Communication Research draws on the Theory of Discourse Analysis and Rhetoric Theory of Communication to investigate rhetoric undertones in the teaching discourses of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers engaged in online…

In arguing for a functional rather than contextual definition of rhetoric, this paper explains that an addressed audience and not a public setting is what makes the concept of "rhetorical quality" meaningful. The paper then notes that the defining characteristics of rhetorical quality are goal orientation and strategy, and it reasons that…

This paper examines United States Representative Hale Boggs's 1971 speech on the House floor, in which he denounced J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for wiretapping members of Congress and infiltrating campus student groups. Following an introduction to the objectives of the paper, the first section reviews Boggs's…

The argument of this paper is that psychotherapy is essentially a rhetorical process that, as an alternative to or substitute for religious rhetoric, seeks to lead people to a secular state of grace. The paper first acknowledges the work of four scholars who have written about the rhetoric of psychotherapy: Erling Eng, Pedro Lain Entralgo, Lloyd…

Presents the views of a scholar in speech communication on Henry Johnstone's ideas about rhetoric. Concludes that rhetoric that "appeals" wedges apart percipient and objects of perception, or that it forces a person to examine what he or she knows or is, as well as examining the proffered rhetoric. (NKA)

Traces the rhetorical relationship between the ritual path taken by each rhetor and the types of messages they leave behind at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington D.C., especially in the rhetoric "as addressed" to an audience. Reveals the interplay of ritual choice and message. (MS)

Explains sharp inconsistencies in Edmund Burke's rhetorical abilities by exploring two distinct conceptions of rhetoric: rhetoric as an instrument of prudential reason and as an existential means of constituting oneself. Examines Burke's private correspondence to show how this struggle between rhetorical prudence and rhetorical heroism generated…

An approach to organizing extemporaneous speeches based on questions inherent in the nature of explanation and speculation is described and recommended as an alternative to the superimposition on a topic of prescribed organizational patterns. (JF)

Extends G. P. Mohrmann's premise regarding the textual study of rhetorical discourse to indicate that (1) textual criticism should result in theoretical understanding of texts, not in autonomous theories; (2) the sequencing or timing of textual elements offers ground for critical judgment; and (3) foundational conceptions frame discourse and…

Noting that a shared social reality that is constituted, sustained, and modified in symbolic interaction is central to life in an organization, this paper contends that contemporary developments in rhetorical theory make possible careful descriptions of how discourse functions in maintaining and changing that social reality. The paper demonstrates…

Based on an investigation of 207 of United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's opinions concerning the First Amendment, this paper argues for the existence of a rhetorical genre grounded in the jurisprudence known as "legal realism." The paper begins with an overview of the philosophy of legal realism that leads to a…

Discusses the relationship of Michel Foucault's work to the human perspective. Argues that Fisher is inaccurate in characterizing Foucault as an "anti-humanist." Claims that Foucault's concept of the "statement" and his method of critique turn the humanist perspective toward a liberating, activist form that allows for change…

Contributes to scholarship advancing the understanding of human communication by examining A. Solzhenitsyn's 1978 address "A World Split Apart," and the intense critical reaction that followed. Examines the speech as a Jeremiad. Suggests that even though the speech conforms to the genre's touchstones, it may have been addressed to an…

Explores a type of inference which rests on "rules of communication" as differentiated from inferences resting on logical, semantical, or institutional rules. (MH)

Reports the development of a Verbal Systems Analysis procedure for investigating significant form in verbal communications through a process which operationalizes two of the central concepts of form in Kenneth Burke's theory of symbolic action. (MH)