Facework and Rhetorical Strategies in Intercultural Argumentative Discourse

Intercultural discourse (especially via a lingua franca when interlocutors have a false impression that they are speaking one and the same language) adds a new dimension – facework (the establishment of culture-sensitive politeness strategies) – to the theory and practice of argumentation from a number of perspectives: its specificity as compared to ordinary argumentational discourse, the interpretation of the concept of incommensurability, and the conduct of international negotiations. Politeness systems relevant for different cultures are not unpredictable, but represent linguistically and cognitively a highly generalised universal system which can be adopted by interlocutors and used in practical discourse. Politeness expressions are governed by linguistic components – by language forms of a certain type and by specific discourse patterns. The proper choice of language forms and discourse patterns adds a special dimension to argumentative schemata. The politeness-relevant packaging of discourse adds a zero-step to the normative stages of an argumentative discussion (establishing hierarchical relations as such), and needs permanent alignment of these relations, by using correct language forms and discourse patterns.     

Using Toulmin's Framework for the Analysis of Everyday Argumentation: Some Methodological Considerations

This study used Toulmin's analytical framework of argumentative structure in order to examine employees' argumentative discourse on the way they handle conflict situations in their workplace. The way in which this analytical tool has been applied here challenges critics on the usefulness of the particular analytical tool for the analysis of real-life argumentation. The definition of argumentative elements according to their function in the context of a particular argument, together with the analysis beyond the level of what has been stated explicitly enabled a comprehensive understanding of how specific information, statements or assumptions are interpreted and utilized in arguments examined. Finally, the acknowledgment of the importance of `field-dependency' of argumentative discourse, through the consideration of the social context within which this discourse is embedded, elicited the way in which this context made employees' argumentation a meaningful and acceptable discourse in this particular setting.     

Relevance reviewed: The case of argumentum ad hominem

This article aims tt providing some conceptual tools for dealing adequately with relevance in argumentative discourse. For this purpose, argumentative relevance is defined as a functional interactional relation between certain elements in the discourse. In addition to the distinction between interpretive and evaluative relevance that can be traced in the literature, analytic relevance is introduced as an intermediary concept. In order to classify the various problems of relevance arising in interpreting, analyzing and evaluating argumentative discourse, a taxonomy is proposed in which the concept of relevance is differentiated along three co-ordinate dimensions: object, domain and aspect. With the help of this taxonomy, it can be shown that the problems of evaluative relevance with which the standard approach to fallacies cannot satisfactory deal can be more systematically approached within a pragma-dialectical framework. This is demonstrated for the argumentum and hominem, which is erroneously treated as a homogenous type of relevance fallacy in logico-centric analyses, so that cases where this is not justified must be treated as ad hoc exceptions.     

'I'm Just Saying . . .': Discourse Markers of Standpoint Continuity

Examining discourse markers (Schiffrin, 1987) in two transcribed discussions of controversial issues in an undergraduate 'critical thinking' class, we note frequent uses of 'I'm just saying' and related metadiscursive expressions (I'm/we're saying, I'm/we're not saying, etc.). Our central claim is that these 'saying' expressions are pragmatic devices by which speakers claim 'all along' to have held a consistent argumentative standpoint, one that continues through the discussion unless changed for good reasons. Through close analysis of a series of discourse examples, we show how these discourse markers are used to display continuity, deflect counterarguments, and acknowledge the force of counterarguments while preserving continuity. In a concluding section we reflect critically on the use of these continuity markers with regard to four pragmatic functions that they potentially serve: to specify and clarify argumentative standpoints, to acknowledge a presumption of standpoint continuity, to acknowledge a normative expectation that discussion participants should have standpoints, and to avoid overt disagreement while saving face.     

From Connectives to Argumentative Markers: A Quest for Markers of Argumentative Moves and of Related Aspects of Argumentative Discourse

In this paper, I explore the potential of systematically studying the linguistic surface of discourse for the purposes of identifying markers of argumentative moves and other related categories, such as types of arguments and argumentative strategies. Such a list of argumentative markers can prove useful for the (semi)automatic treatment of a large corpus of texts. After reviewing literature on the linguistic realization of argumentative moves as well as literature on the subject of discourse markers, it becomes clear that the search for representative items of argumentative markers cannot be restricted to those elements marking relations but that it should also include elements that signal a certain function that is of pertinence to argumentative analysis. In this view, argumentative markers can be any single or complex lexical expression as well as a discursive configuration whose presence in a given utterance marks that utterance or the one preceding/following it, or a larger piece of discourse as having a certain argumentative function (as an argumentative move, a type of argument or an argumentative strategy). Examples taken from a French corpus on the controversy surrounding the development and applications of nanotechnology currently under study are used to illustrate the different types of argumentative markers proposed.     

Pragmatic connectives,argumentative coherence and relevance

This article is concerned with pragmatic connectives and their uses in discursive argumentation. Three approaches to pragmatic connectives will be presented: (1) argumentation theory, which implies a conception of pragmatics integrated within semantics, and a specific type of argumentative rules, called topoi; (2) discourse structure theory, which associates a function in the structuring of discourse sequences to pragmatic connectives; (3) relevance theory, which constitutes a cognitive pragmatic theory, in which no specific principle is associated to linguistic items. However, two main functions to pragmatic connectives can be proposed: the facilitation of inferences, and the access to relevance. The final purpose of this article is to indicate how argumentative effects in discourse can be explained in a cognitively-based pragmatic theory.     

The Development of the Pragma-dialectical Approach to Argumentation

This paper describes the development of pragma-dialectics as a theory of argumentative discourse. First the development of the pragma-dialectical model of a critical discussion is explained, with the rules that are to be complied with in order to avoid fallacies from occurring. Then the integration is discussed of rhetorical insight in the dialectical framework. In this endeavour, the concept of strategic manoeuvring is explained that allows for a more refined and more profoundly justified analysis of argumentative discourse and a better identification of fallacies. The paper ends with a brief overview of current research projects.     

Validation of a category system for arguments in conflict discourse

Theories of individuation predict systematic differences in argumentative behavior between adolescent girls and their mothers. In order to reveal the nature and functions of this kind of discourse, two studies were carried out on 110 mother-daughter pairs. The second study (n=80) replicated and extended the first study (n=30) on an independent sample. The mother-daughter pairs were asked to discuss a subject that had recently been at issue between them. To assess the argumentative behavior, a category system was developed that reflects the functional character of utterances in discourse. The aim of the research was to test the reliability and validity of the category system. Daughters are assumed to verbalize their own needs and preferences to increase the differences to the mother, and to weaken or reject the mother's arguments in an effort to resist control. Mothers, on the other hand, are supposed to exert control over the behavior of their daughters but do so within bounds of mutuality. This should lead to verbal initiatives and attempts to explain, support and modify their positions and arguments. The data showed high reliability of the categorization of arguments. The categories also differentiated between mothers and daughters. Daughters were more likely to try to weaken and reject (and accept) the mother's arguments and to state preferences while mothers tried to support and explain their positions and to retain control by initiating questions and arguments to which the daughters responded.     

输入方式对学语前聋生语篇理解的影响：文本和测题类型的调节效应

为了考察信息输入方式、文本类型和测题类型对聋生语篇理解的影响,研究通过录像呈现,以口语、手语、书面语三种输入方式向学语前极重度七、八、九年级聋生呈现叙述性和描述性两种文本类型的语篇信息,并要求其完成理解测试。结果显示：输入方式对聋生语篇理解的效率存在影响,书面语成绩最高且速度最快,依次为手语、口语,文本类型和测题类型对该影响有调节作用。结果表明输入方式是聋生语篇理解的主要影响因素,文本和测题类型是调节因素。     

Teachers Coping with the Stress of Classroom Discipline

Of all of the activities that comprise the role of a teacher, classroom discipline is one of the most significant. In selecting an approach to classroom discipline, some teachers experience, and have to deal with, tensions arising from their desire to use educationally justifiable models while still quickly gaining and maintaining order in the classroom. This paper examines teachers' estimations of the stress that arises when they are unable to discipline students as they would ideally prefer. More importantly, the way teachers cope with any stress which does arise is documented using the Coping Scale for Adults. The results indicate that teachers who report more stress are those most interested in empowering their students in the decision making process. Associated with increased concern is a greater use of Worry, Self-Blame, Tension Reduction, Wishful Thinking and Keep to Self. The most concerned teachers also express a greater tendency to get sick as a result of the stress. These data suggest the need for professional development curricula for teachers to assist them in effectively sharing power with students and in reflecting upon a range of more productive coping strategies.     

Teachers’ high maintenance behaviour as perceived by university students in Taiwan,and their coping strategies

Using a questionnaire survey, this study probed into interpersonal cues and characteristics of teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and their coping strategies, and then analyzed the relationship between their perceived high maintenance behaviors and the dimensions of their coping strategies. The Scale of Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors and the Scale of Coping with Teachers’ High maintenance Behaviors were used as the measurement tools. The subjects were 248 university students, of which 59.3 % were male and 40.7 % were female. According to the research results, the subjects mostly suggested that they define teachers as being high maintenance after getting along with them for one to two weeks and communicating with them using 6–20 sentences. The subjects also suggested that the ranking of the behavioral characteristics of the most significant high maintenance behaviors of teachers is: being old-fashioned, followed by rule followers, idealization, and irresponsible opinions. According to the scores, the ranking of the subjects’ coping strategies for high maintenance behaviors of teachers is obedience and endurance, followed by gentle resistance, compromise, and obvious unhappiness. There is a significant correlation between teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students and the dimensions of their coping strategies. It was found that teachers’ high maintenance behaviors perceived by university students could significantly predict the dimensions of coping strategies. Based on the above, this study proposed some suggestions and provided a discussion for university teachers and future studies.     

Rhetorical Argumentation in Italian Academic Discourse

The recent trend in institutional communication research seems to foster the image of the University as a private organization significantly oriented towards a policy of customer satisfaction. Following the concept of organizational culture, institutional settings too are conceived as organizational contexts, where discourse is a privileged vehicle to convey and spread values, traditions and artifacts, both through internal and external communication practices. Thus, within academic discourse organizational culture is shaped and perpetuated by specific devices of rhetorical argumentation. The corpus of data consists of two different examples of academic discourse: the self promotional endorsement letters of the academic candidates to the chancellor’s position on occasion of the elections and the inaugural speeches proclaimed by the chancellors in charge during the opening celebration of the academic year. The first kind of academic discourse could be meant as an example of political discourse since the candidates use communication strategically and manipulate their academic membership as a rhetorical device to support their aims. On the other hand, the second example is a mere celebration of academic culture which through linguistic rituals recalls and perpetuates the basic values of this microcosm. The data have been analysed with the critical discourse analysis and diatextual analysis which pay particular attention to the context of speech. Moreover, attention has been focused on the metaphors and on the meta-discursive cues. The results show that although with different purposes academic discourse use similar discursive and rhetorical strategies as both belong to the same organization.     

Framed writing of argumentative monologues by sixteen-and seventeen-year-old students

When 16- and 17-year-old students are required to write a framed argumentative text which first supports position A and then supports an opposing position B, the familiarity of the debated topic seems to determine the argumentative quality of the texts produced. Indeed, the possibility of getting personally involved in the discourse leads to more effective writing strategies and to the use of typical marks of argumentation.     

Mapping dispositions for social justice: towards a cartography of reflection

As non-White students now outnumber their White counterparts in America’s public schools, it is important for teacher education programs, which graduate a predominantly White cadre of teachers, to focus on the development of dispositions for social justice. When teachers view cultural diversity as a problem, they risk developing erroneous expectations for their students, which can support the surreptitious insertion of prejudices into the latent curriculum. In order to help preservice teachers reflect on their understanding of diverse perspectives, especially those related to cognitive complexity, this study uses social cartography and discourse analysis to map their dispositions. Discussion and self-reflection lead to understanding and self-monitoring, and mapping can help teacher candidates identify those areas in which they may harbour apathetic worldviews or unifocal perspectives.     

Planning and Revising Written Arguments: the Effects of Two Text Structure-Based Interventions on Persuasiveness of 8th-Grade Students’ Essays

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of two comprehensive argumentative writing interventions—Text Structure Instruction (TSI) and Text Structure Revision Instruction (TSRI)—on the eighth-grade students' ability to compose convincing essays that include structural elements of argumentative discourse. Both treatment groups received explicit text structure instruction in revising argumentative essays. The students in TSRI treatment group were further supported by implementing a free-writing approach during the planning stage and by providing procedural facilitation during the revision stage, whereas the students in TSI treatment group were provided with a traditional planning strategy and a checklist for revising essay. The results indicated that across the conditions, significant increases in the participants. performance from pre-test to post-test were observed on structural elements of argumentative discourse and overall persuasiveness, indicating the effectiveness of both interventions.     

Multiple Audiences as Text Stakeholders: A Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Complex Rhetorical Situations

In public communication contexts, such as when a company announces the proposal for an important organizational change, argumentation typically involves multiple audiences, rather than a single and homogenous group, let alone an individual interlocutor. In such cases, an exhaustive and precise characterization of the audience structure is crucial both for the arguer, who needs to design an effective argumentative strategy, and for the external analyst, who aims at reconstructing such a strategic discourse. While the peculiar relevance of multiple audience is often emphasized in the argumentation literature and in rhetorical studies, proposals for modelling multi-audience argumentative situations remain scarce and unsystematic. To address this gap, we propose an analytical framework which integrates three conceptual constructs: (1) Rigotti and Rocci’s notion of communicative activity type, understood as the implementation of an interaction scheme into a piece of institutional reality, named interaction field; (2) the stakeholder concept, originally developed in strategic management and public relations studies to refer to any actor who affects and/or is affected by the organizational actions and who, accordingly, carries an interest in them; (3) the concept of participant role as it emerges from Goffman’s theory of conversation analysis and related linguistic and media studies. From this integration, we derive the notion of text stakeholder for referring to any organizational actor whose interest (stake) becomes an argumentative issue which the organizational text must account for in order to effectively achieve its communicative aim. The text stakeholder notion enables a more comprehensive reconstruction and characterization of multiple audience by eliciting the relevant participants staged in a text and identifying, for each of them, the interactional role they have, the peculiar interest they bear and the related argumentative issue they create. Considering as an illustrative case the defense document issued by a corporation against a hostile takeover attempt made by another corporation, we show how this framework can support the analysis of strategic maneuvering by better defining the audience demand and, so, better explaining how real arguers design and adapt their topical and presentational choices.     

心理学中话语分析的立场与方法

研究区分了两种不同的“话语”定义,它们各自引申出一类“话语分析”。最为常见的是话语的描述性定义——“话语是建构某个对象的意义、表征或陈述系统”;另一种是功能性定义——“话语即做事”;“话语即行动”;“话语即实践”。话语分析在心理学中首先是一种研究立场,其次是一类研究方法。作为研究立场,话语分析悬置了心理、人格等传统心理学构念;解构了实证研究的客观性原则;重新调整了心理学的研究目标。作为研究方法,心理学中的话语分析有修辞研究、隐喻研究、叙事研究等多种形式     

Classroom discourse and the distribution of student engagement

Research in the social psychology of achievement motivation stresses the contribution of the classroom motivational context to problems of student engagement among low achieving students. This analysis contributes to that literature through a focused analysis of English and language arts instruction during the middle school years. Using data from the Partnership for Literacy Study the author investigates the relationship between classroom evaluation during question and answer sessions and two forms of student engagement, participation in classroom discourse, and student effort on classroom and homework assignments. When teachers focus on provoking student thought and analysis, and postpone evaluation during question and answer sessions by engaging in dialogic instruction, levels of student effort are more evenly distributed among students. Moreover, the relationship between levels of initial achievement and student effort is weaker in classrooms where teachers incorporate elements of dialogic instruction into question and answer sessions. However, dialogic instruction had no effect on the distribution of participation in classroom discourse itself.