Task

Tasks: Rhetorical Analysis

A graphic illustration showing a young woman and a young man talking and discussing. Behind them, there are speech bubbles and question marks. — How do you persuade someone through language? Do you use ethos, logos, or pathos? Or perhaps all three? Image: SereDim / CC BY-NC 4.0

Speed debating:

This activity will help you better understand how ethos, pathos, and logos can be used in real conversations with real people in situations where you need it.

Step 1: Preparation before activity

Before you start, the class should prepare a set of argumentative prompts (e.g 'Today's youth have too much screen time', 'Students should not have to worry about homework', 'We should ban all plastic shopping bags', etc). Fold them up and put them in a basket. Fill another basket with slips of paper that say 'ethos', 'pathos', and 'logos'. Make several slips so that there can be multiple rounds.

Step 2: In class

Students work in pairs.

Each pair picks one argumentative prompt, and each student picks one slip of paper from the ethos/logos/pathos basket.

One student will argue in favour of what is stated on the prompt, and the other against.

The students get two minutes to prepare their arguments. The slip of paper they picked will determine if they are going to appeal to ethos, logos, or pathos.

The pair then has a quick debate: maximum five minutes.

Move on to the next topic and the next pair.

Analysing a TEDTalk:

TEDTalk speakers must be clear and concise, and they must convince the audience to believe the ideas they are putting forth. They often do so by using reasoning, anecdotes, statistical evidence, or references to scientific studies.

Choose a TEDTalk from 'The most popular talks of all time'

Link to: 'The most popular TEDTalks of all time'

Discuss:

How does the speaker bring forth their point of view?
What is the claim, and what evidence is presented to support this claim?
Give examples of the use of ethos, pathos, and logos.
Give examples of other rhetorical devices that the speaker uses.

Analysing an ad:

We surround ourselves with so many commercials and so much advertisement that we no longer pay attention to it. Nevertheless, we are often swayed into buying products that we don't need.

Search the internet for ads and commercials. Choose three different ones: one for a car, one for a food product, and one for a beauty product.

How are ethos, logos, and pathos used to sell the product?
How effective is the use of appeals in each of the ads?

Share your result with a group or the rest of the class.

Group work:

Work in groups. Choose a speech to analyse. You will find a selection of speeches to choose from by following the link:

Link to selection of speeches on NDLA, English 2

Analyse your chosen speech. Focus primarily on ethos, pathos, and logos, but also pay attention to other rhetorical devices.
Present your analysis to the class. You can do this in the form of an oral presentation, a poster, or a short film.