One course in persuasion reviews six theories of attitude change--five based on Otto Lerbinger's designs for persuasive communication (cognitive design, stimulus response design, motivational design, personality design, and social design), and a sixth (perceptual design) developed by the instructors. Instruction in each includes a variety of…

In the exchange round, either instructors change classrooms for a round of speeches in order to offer students a new critic or else the student goes to a new classroom on the day he or she is scheduled to speak, thus facing a new audience and instructor-critic. The present study attempts to validate the exchange round as a transfer of training…

Uses the judicial model of reasoning employed by the Supreme Court as an exemplar in teaching critical skills in the basic argumentation and debate course. Describes the model and course highlights. (PD)

Parliamentary procedure might best be taught in a context specific format; it would be better understood by students if not taught as a "stand alone" subject. Since the basic concepts of argumentation theory--propositions, stasis, and presumption and burden of proof--are reinforced by the rules of parliamentary procedure, instructors can…

Intended for use by instructors of upper division speech courses, this paper describes a questioning and answering technique for teaching argumentation. The first section of the paper discusses the concept of argumentative exchange, which is defined as an episode between two or more individuals wherein one or more feel that differences of belief…

Describes the rationale for teaching the cognitive context of argument and argumentation, presents an example of an approach to value argument, and discusses the role of the unconscious in argument. (PD)

One way of giving students a sense of audience in their writing is to combine speech communication and written communication in the classroom. If students can be taught to write as they talk, they can perceive their audience to be real people rather than the amorphous "indefinite other" they typically write for in the traditional writing…

Despite a professional commitment to "teach ethics," speech communication literature and textbooks contain almost no advice or help on how to accomplish this task. An integrated teaching approach, however, can involve students more directly in the ethical issues that may arise in a persuasion course. The first element in increasing student…

Reviews John P. Ryan's contributions to the speech communication profession. Discusses the following aspects of his method of public speaking, notable for its imaginative planning: (1) his insistence upon preparation, good thinking, good speech content; (2) his attention to delivery; repetition, organization, mnemonic words; and (3) his abundance…

A large undergraduate course in persuasion which is taught to multiple sections of 70 students (and has in the past been taught to sections with as many as 200 students) at Northern Illinois University required several innovations to handle the large numbers of students and to enliven such large classes. Innovations include: (1) the creative use…

Addressing two recurrent concerns in educational debate--how a discipline can contribute to students' analytical and critical thinking, and how to improve students' ability to express themselves orally and in writing--the Language of Critical Thinking course is designed to strengthen critical thinking skills by using a legal case study approach.…

Student congress is a speech activity in which students act as a legislative assembly, write and debate bills, and learn parliamentary procedure. It allows the teacher to make points about advocacy, ethics in persuasion, contemporary issues, and the workings of a democracy at the same time that students develop a feeling of control and mastery,…

A shift from a classroom focus on persuasion and argumentation to a broader classroom focus on the communication of controversy might be beneficial to students. The course content should help students come to grips with their internal and external problems, rather than avoid them and seek only quick solutions. To aid students in dealing with…