{"id":1765,"date":"2024-11-15T14:23:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T19:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2024-11-18T18:27:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T23:27:06","slug":"american-rhetoric-through-an-international-lens-english-108-109-presentations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/2024\/11\/american-rhetoric-through-an-international-lens-english-108-109-presentations\/","title":{"rendered":"American Rhetoric Through an International Lens: English 108\/109 Presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Maureen Wilson —<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

American politics are arguably in its most schismatic state following this year\u2019s election. Scholars have coined this era \u201cThe Turbulent Twenties,\u201d an odd contrast to the country\u2019s condition almost a century ago. But, what does this look like to our international students, stuck amidst our complicated relationship to the government? On the Hamilton campus, in English 108 and 109, the students were asked to analyze a speech from a current political figure and offer their own perspective on how effective these speeches truly are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English 108\/109 classes are focused on educating non-native speakers\u2014typically international students\u2014about the conventions, composition, and rhetoric of the English language. A core tenet of this is studying and applying ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos to a broad array of texts. For instructors Kathy Lamb and Betsy Carras, understanding the historical context of American culture is essential and relevant. One way in which the class took a step toward this goal was analyzing the 1963 \u201cI Have A Dream\u201d Speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. From there, groups were formed and instructed to examine a speech from Vivek Ramaswamy, Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz, or J.D. Vance. Students examined aspects related to tone, word choice, rhetorical devices, persuasiveness, and overall content. Further interpreting the connection between speaker, public, and listener was pivotal for full assignment completion, as well as fulfilling Miami\u2019s institutional vision to foster critical thinking skills outside the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The backgrounds of the students in this class vary widely; some are from India, Peru, and Taiwan, but most are from China. However, the most surprising demographic is that there are only five females in the class. Nevertheless, there’s a great deal to learn from everyone included, and after speaking with Betsy Carras, there\u2019s a lot to appreciate from these students, who have formed a special bond by seeing each other every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general consensus regarding the effectiveness of the speeches was that it was clear when the speaker knew what they were talking about, and repetition seemed to be a successful way of getting the point across. Some took notice of the pandering on behalf of the speakers, and the blatant appeals to emotion, something Americans may not be keen to realize or admit themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students themselves had a chance to reflect after the presentations.  One class member said, \u201c[The speakers of the various speeches] used confident tones, and their rhetorical devices were on point. They also talked about the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and how they want America to be a great nation and not one that fosters discrimination. I think both the speeches and their speakers did a really good job in persuading their audience and their supporters to vote for their candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another student observed, \u201cLots of pathos are being used and I think that is perfectly fine to fit this crowd of audience. Though, I think it\u2019s just sharp words rather than useful information when considering actual voting.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of the class had this to say: \u201cThese political speeches demonstrate the importance of language and expression in shaping public perception. Speakers convey their messages through emotional and logical appeals. Some speakers touch the hearts of the audience by connecting with their emotions, while others focus on facts and policy details. The effectiveness of a speech depends mainly on whether it can clearly express ideas and inspire the audience to trust and act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One student quickly remarked, \u201cBoth sides [employed] numerous tactics in the usage of rhetorical devices. However, not all of them were persuasive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, another class member remarked, \u201cI really like that this assignment allowed me to understand the American election speeches that I didn\u2019t know before, and it allowed me to hear the different thoughts of many American politicians. I have benefited a lot from this. My favorite speaker is Vivek. His speech mode is very confident. At the same time, he mobilizes people’s enthusiasm and boosts their morale very well. This is something worth learning from him in terms of speech. After this activity, I am more interested in the subject of speech. I may spend some spare time watching other famous speeches to learn more about speech skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can we take from these presentations? Perhaps we can gain plenty of insight by listening to those voices we don’t typically observe or deem important. There’s a lot to appreciate about good, persuasive rhetoric and English classes 108 and 109 have found that and then some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maureen Wilson — American politics are arguably in its most schismatic state following this year\u2019s election. Scholars have coined this era \u201cThe Turbulent Twenties,\u201d […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":9223,"featured_media":1766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-communities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}