OK, so what’s this AP English Language class about, anyway?

OK, so what’s this AP English Language class about, anyway? Rhetoric, baby!

Wait, huh? What’s rhetoric?

Well…this is…

…and this is…

…and, yep, this is, too…

…so’s this…

…and this, too…

…and this….

In fact… …any exchange between a speaker and a listener is a rhetorical transaction. (We’re having one right now!) (Some of you are having more than one right now!) (Quit it!)

Aristotle says, • Rhetoric is the available means of persuasion. (Aristotle) • But we like: the artful or articulate means of argumentation or persuasion (vs. “available” because this involves CHOICES being made)

And we prefer “argumentation” • Persuasion: compelling to action vs. • Argumentation: compelling to a common understanding; to attempt to have someone hear you for a common understanding

Aristotelian Triangle • A rhetorical situation • The success of the situation/transaction = communication • Topic (subject): topoi (Gr.), loci (L.) • Audience: reader, listener (the sooner you find out about your audience, the better you’ll do!) • Primary • Secondary • Hoped-for

Aristotelian Triangle • Speaker (writer): needs to develop credibility (called ethos) • Appeal to logic = logos • Appeal to emotion = pathos • Appeal to credibility of someone (could be speaker, could be audience, could be opposition) = ethos • The Circle of Context: rhetorical situations and rhetorical transactions do not happen in a vacuum

ARISTOTELIAN TRIANGLE OF RHETORICAL SITUATIONS TOPIC CIRCLE OF CONTEXT SPEAKER AUDIENCE

OK. So what? Why take this class? Why study rhetoric?

Well… IMAGINE THAT YOU ENTER A PARLOR. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about.

In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before.

You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar.

Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance.

However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress. --Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form

In other words, this class will give you a place at the table.

Our Goals • Lifelong Skills: develop confidence and facility with language • Lifelong Learners: develop an appreciation for challenging educational experiences • Critical Thinkers, Analytical Readers, Articulate Writers: the best possible education • Create post-high school opportunities: gain college/university acceptance at institutions of your choice.

Our Goals • Experience success w/AP English tests and receive college credit for AP work completed on the high school campus: It’s at the end of the list because it’s just icing on the cake. The focus is the skills, not the test!

Academic Argument • Some say, • others say, • but here’s my answer and why. • (It could be called the Con-Pro structure.)

OK, so what’s this AP English Language class about, anyway?