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Full-Text Articles in Speech and Rhetorical Studies

How Attorneys Judge Collegiate Mock Trials, Ruth R. Wagoner, R. Adam Molnar Dec 2015

How Attorneys Judge Collegiate Mock Trials, Ruth R. Wagoner, R. Adam Molnar

Speaker & Gavel

In collegiate mock trial competition, practicing attorneys who don’t coach or know the participating schools judge the students' persuasive skill. Fifty-six attorneys were interviewed after they judged collegiate mock trials. They were asked which student behaviors they rewarded, which behaviors they punished, and overall which team presented more effectively. The attorneys' responses were grouped into thematic categories and arranged by priorities. Attorneys were consistent in what they said they valued in student performances. Interviewees' answers to the question about overall team performance were compared with the numeric ballots. If global assessment were included, it would change the outcome of a …


When Water Works: A Case Study Of Campaign Tears And The 2008 Presidential Election, Ryan Neville-Shepard Dec 2015

When Water Works: A Case Study Of Campaign Tears And The 2008 Presidential Election, Ryan Neville-Shepard

Speaker & Gavel

Since the fall of Senator Ed Muskie in the 1972 Democratic primary there has been an unwritten rule that political candidates should avoid crying. However, four presidential candidates cried in ten separate incidents during the 2008 election cycle, with only three episodes receiving negative attention. Addressing this inconsistency in the “Muskie rule,” in this essay I argue the effect of crying on a political candidate’s image is not well understood. As such, this essay develops and applies a framework for comprehending when crying will likely trigger a public relations crisis, and when it might actually benefit a candidate.


A Functional Analysis Of 2008 General Election Presidential Tv Spots, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz Dec 2015

A Functional Analysis Of 2008 General Election Presidential Tv Spots, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

This study performed content analysis on the general election TV spots from Democratic nominee Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain in the 2008 presidential campaign. There was no significant difference in function by incumbency, which is not surprising given that neither major party candidates was the sitting president or vice president. Unlike ads from previous years, these ads contained more attacks (65%) than acclaims (34%; and like earlier campaigns few defenses: 1%). These ads stressed policy (58%) more than character (42%). The Democratic candidate, as in previous elections, discussed policy more, and character less, than the Republican candidate. Both …


Complete Issue 49(2) Dec 2015

Complete Issue 49(2)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 49, issue 2) of Speaker & Gavel.


Help? Not If You Don’T Know What To Look For: Applying Social Cognitive Theory To Program Evaluation In Competitive Forensics, Audra R. Diers Dec 2015

Help? Not If You Don’T Know What To Look For: Applying Social Cognitive Theory To Program Evaluation In Competitive Forensics, Audra R. Diers

Speaker & Gavel

Jessica Furgerson offered an important call to action by arguing Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives should be applied as a way to evaluate research skill acquisition in forensics participation. I have used her analysis as a way to show that more than just understanding what we do (and should do) in forensics, we should use theory to guide team goal-setting and program evaluation. In addition, I have argued forensics program administrators should establish theory-based program evaluation using Bandura’s social cognitive theory to demonstrate the value forensics offers to the overall university education mission.


I Need Help Finding It: Understanding The Benefits Of Research Skill Acquisition In Competitive Forensics, Jessica L. Furgerson Dec 2015

I Need Help Finding It: Understanding The Benefits Of Research Skill Acquisition In Competitive Forensics, Jessica L. Furgerson

Speaker & Gavel

Research skill acquisition is an invaluable but under explored benefit of forensics participation. Although coaches, students, and administrators acknowledge that participants gain research skills via forensics, little is known about what these skills are and how they specifically benefit students. This paper isolates three specific research dimensions students learn while participating in competitive speech and debate: locating, examining, and applying source mate-rial. Connections are then drawn between these dimensions and the attainment of high level learning resulting in the creation of educational outcomes related to research skill acquisition via forensics. Understanding the process and importance of research skill acquisition is …


What’S In A Name? Defending Forensics: A Response To Kimble’S “By Any Other Name”, Christopher P. Outzen, Daniel Cronn-Mills Dec 2015

What’S In A Name? Defending Forensics: A Response To Kimble’S “By Any Other Name”, Christopher P. Outzen, Daniel Cronn-Mills

Speaker & Gavel

Our essay is a response to Kimble’s “By Any Other Name: On the Merits of Moving Beyond Forensics.” We argue forensics has not lost the battle for its name, since the battle does not necessarily exist. We contend changing the name is unnecessary since forensics is the most accurate label one may apply to inter-scholastic speaking and debating. Furthermore, changing the name would have considerable negative repercussions. Instead, the forensic community needs to return to its roots as educators and activists to enhance public understanding of the term to include forensic speaking and debate. We conclude the name forensics is …


By Any Other Name: On The Merits Of Moving Beyond Forensics, James Kimble Dec 2015

By Any Other Name: On The Merits Of Moving Beyond Forensics, James Kimble

Speaker & Gavel

This essay argues that the interscholastic speaking and debating activity that calls itself forensics has effectively lost the battle for its own name. As students of and experts in rhetoric and performance, members of the forensics community should be the first to recognize the importance of an undisputed name. Yet the community continues to call itself by a name that medical science has overtaken. The resulting confusion does the community no favors and weakens the activity within the academy. The essay concludes that it might be time for a new name that the activity can claim for its own.


The Usefulness And Uselessness Of Forensics A Speaker & Gavel Special Issue, Stephen M. Croucher Dec 2015

The Usefulness And Uselessness Of Forensics A Speaker & Gavel Special Issue, Stephen M. Croucher

Speaker & Gavel

Editor's introduction by Stephen M. Croucher from volume 49, issue 2 of Speaker & Gavel.


Complete Issue 50(1) Dec 2015

Complete Issue 50(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 50, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.


Stressing A Developmental Approach Toward Persuasion In Interscholastic Forensics, Jim Schnell Dec 2015

Stressing A Developmental Approach Toward Persuasion In Interscholastic Forensics, Jim Schnell

Speaker & Gavel

A variety of models exist for teaching persuasive speaking to beginning speakers. A common shortcoming of models is that they require additional instruction to ensure student understanding. The Developmental Speech Sequence Model (DSSM) is an approach that can be applied effectively with beginning forensics competitors. The 10-point model described in this report is detailed but it also allows the speaker degrees of creative freedom. Forensics coaches can modify use of this model depending on the experience and skill level of the beginning competitor, allowing for a more customized approach that can benefit the student. Ten points within three sections comprise …


A Functional Analysis Of 2008 And 2012 Presidential Candidacy Announcement Speeches, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz Dec 2015

A Functional Analysis Of 2008 And 2012 Presidential Candidacy Announcement Speeches, William L. Benoit, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

This study investigates messages in the surfacing phase of the presidential campaign, through a content analysis of presidential candidacy announcement speeches from the 2008 and 2012 elections. This study applied the Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to nine Democratic announcement speeches from 2008, 11 Republican announcement addresses from 2008, and 12 Republican announcement speeches from 2012. This work extends previous research on announcement speeches from 1960-2004 (Benoit, Henson, Whalen, & Pier, 2007). Overall, announcements from 2008 and 2012 used acclaims (75%) more than attacks (25%) or defenses (0.5%). The same announcements discussed policy more than character (58% to 42%); …


How Coaches Maintain The Status Quo: An Application Of Chaim Perelman’S Values And Universal Audience To Npda, Crystal Lane Swift Dec 2015

How Coaches Maintain The Status Quo: An Application Of Chaim Perelman’S Values And Universal Audience To Npda, Crystal Lane Swift

Speaker & Gavel

Chaim Perelman is explored as a rhetorically significant figure, beginning with a bit of background, delving into his theory, and finishing with some of his critics. His theories are still applicable today. All in all, Perelman is primarily concerned with the relationship between argumentation and value judgments. Overall, coaches and debaters alike could benefit from revisiting Perelman. This paper serves as a starting point to the current meta-debate over values and audiences within intercollegiate NPDA, where the same issues regarding value judgments and the universal audience are still raised.


Obama Transforming: Using Functional Theory To Identify Transformational Leadership, Kristina Drumheller, Greg G. Armfield Dec 2015

Obama Transforming: Using Functional Theory To Identify Transformational Leadership, Kristina Drumheller, Greg G. Armfield

Speaker & Gavel

The 2008 presidential campaign convention speeches broke records as viewers flocked to the speeches by Obama, Palin, and McCain in numbers that rivaled American Idol ratings. Adapting functional theory (Benoit, 2007) to include transformational leadership characteristics (Bass & Avolio, 1990), President Obama‘s 2008 nomination acceptance speech was used test the adapting of functional theory for analyzing leadership claims. Secondary data were used as evidentiary support of Obama‘s efforts to make changes once in the White House. Results are discussed and framed within functional theory and transfor-mational leadership.


Newspaper Coverage Of The 2008 General Election Presidential Campaigns, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode, Mark Glantz Dec 2015

Newspaper Coverage Of The 2008 General Election Presidential Campaigns, William L. Benoit, Jayne R. Goode, Mark Glantz

Speaker & Gavel

News coverage of political campaigns is very important to the political campaign process. Some voters pay little attention to debates or other sources of information about the candidates and their policies. The news is one important source of this information. Newspapers can also supplement and reinforce the information possessed by voters who do attend to campaign messages. This study content analyzed news coverage of the 2008 general election presidential campaign (New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today). Horse race coverage was most common topic (45%), followed by themes about character (32%), and policy (23%). The tone of newspaper coverage was …


Complete Issue 50(2) Dec 2015

Complete Issue 50(2)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 50, issue 2) of Speaker & Gavel.


The Next 50 Years Of Forensics: Acknowledging Problems, Preparing Solutions, Christopher P. Outzen, Lucas J. Youngvorst, Daniel Cronn-Mills Dec 2015

The Next 50 Years Of Forensics: Acknowledging Problems, Preparing Solutions, Christopher P. Outzen, Lucas J. Youngvorst, Daniel Cronn-Mills

Speaker & Gavel

In previous decades, forensics was a well-respected co-curricular activity, with students becoming involved as early as middle school and moving into colleges across the country. The activity provides a multitude of meanings for individuals, teams, and colleges across the nation conjuring feelings of friendship, community, education, leadership, and competition. Many within the forensic community know the reputation of this activity can be attributed to influential individuals such as Grace Walsh, L. E. Norton, and Larry Schnoor, among others. Despite the great past and present of this activity, the future is looming with potential pitfalls that could damage the activity. We …


Dsr-Tka: Reflective Thoughts, Larry Schnoor Dec 2015

Dsr-Tka: Reflective Thoughts, Larry Schnoor

Speaker & Gavel

When I was asked to write a short article about Delta Sigma Rho – Tau Kappa Alpha for the 50th anniversary issue of the Speaker and Gavel, I had no idea of how the project would bring so many memories. As with many former directors of forensic programs that were involved with DSR-TKA, I realized that when I had the opportunity to visit with some of them, we would have some memories we shared about a specific DSR-TKA national tournament. In doing some research for this article however, many additional memories came floating back into my mind.


"Permanent Adaptation" - The Ndt's Last 50 Years, Allan Louden Dec 2015

"Permanent Adaptation" - The Ndt's Last 50 Years, Allan Louden

Speaker & Gavel

It remains a surprise I have been involved with competitive debate for five decades, a sobering self- reflection. Viewed more charitably, participating in history imparts a certain authority, a wisdom reserved to longevity, even as one’s memory reconstructs. This essay purports to provide a history of the National Debate Tournament for roughly the last 50 years. Doing justice to the historical sweep would be a book-length project, this summary much more modest. The essay is inevitably selective, recounted from a particular point of view. History never allows more. It has been my experience that there are enduring prospects for organizations …


An Incubating Institution: Speaker And Gavel’S Current Criticism Section And The Development Of Twentieth Century Rhetorical Criticism, James Francisca Klumpp Dec 2015

An Incubating Institution: Speaker And Gavel’S Current Criticism Section And The Development Of Twentieth Century Rhetorical Criticism, James Francisca Klumpp

Speaker & Gavel

This essay traces the role of Speaker and Gavel’s Current Criticism section in the development of the dramatic changes that marked rhetorical criticism and public address in the late twentieth century. The essay argues that critics restricted from old line journals found outlets and developed their critical skills through the publication of their works in Speaker and Gavel.


Rhetorical Criticism: The Past Fifty Years, David Zarefsky Dec 2015

Rhetorical Criticism: The Past Fifty Years, David Zarefsky

Speaker & Gavel

Not quite fifty years ago, in its fourth volume, Speaker and Gavel launched a feature called “Current Criticism.” Under the editorship of Wayne Brockriede, the journal took on an added mission: offering criticism of very recent cases of public address. Rather than traditional scholarly studies, the critiques were moiré like editorials: brief statements of an author’s point of view, with supporting arguments and evidence, ob topics of current interest related to public policy. The best of these essays were collected in a book edited by Robert O. Weiss and Bernard L. Brock and published for DSR-TKA in 1971.


50th Anniversary Of Speaker & Gavel Special Issue Introduction, Stephen M. Croucher Dec 2015

50th Anniversary Of Speaker & Gavel Special Issue Introduction, Stephen M. Croucher

Speaker & Gavel

Editor's introduction by Stephen M. Croucher from volume 50, issue 2 of Speaker & Gavel.


Complete Issue 51(1) Dec 2015

Complete Issue 51(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 51, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.


A Functional Analysis Of 2008 And 2012 Presidential Nomination Acceptance Addresses, William L. Benoit Dec 2015

A Functional Analysis Of 2008 And 2012 Presidential Nomination Acceptance Addresses, William L. Benoit

Speaker & Gavel

This study investigates the presidential candidates’ nomination acceptance ad-dresses in 2008 and 2012. This study applied Benoit’s (2007) Functional Theory of Political Campaign Discourse to the four Acceptances (one from McCain, two from Obama, and one from Romney). Traditionally the conventions kick off the general election campaign and the nominees’ acceptance addresses are high-lights of these events. This work extends previous research on acceptance ad-dresses speeches from 1952-2004. The speeches in 2008 and 2012 used acclaims (73%) more than attacks (27%) or defenses (0.5%). Incumbents acclaimed more, and attacked less, than challengers, particularly when they discussed their records in office …


Experiential Learning And The Basic Communication Course: A New Path To Assessing Forensic Learning Outcomes, Ben Walker Dec 2015

Experiential Learning And The Basic Communication Course: A New Path To Assessing Forensic Learning Outcomes, Ben Walker

Speaker & Gavel

Scholars have often touted the educational benefits of forensics (e.g.: Bartanen, 1998; Beasley, 1979; Brownlee, 1979; Ehninger, 1952; Gartell, 1973; Jensen, 2008; McBath, 1975; Millsap, 1998; Schroeder & Schroeder, 1995; Stenger, 1999; Yaremchuk, 1979). Critics, most notably Burnett, Brand, and Meister (2003), have argued forensics is only a competitive game with the idea of education used as a crutch to uphold the activity in the eyes of schools. While attempting to counter critics, many forensic educators have scrambled to find proof of student learning. Besides theoretical approaches to potential learning methods (e.g., Dreibelbis & Gullifor, 1992; Friedley, 1992; Sellnow, Littlefield, …


Survival Strategies In Solidly Partisan States An Analysis Of Centrist Appeals In 2012 U.S. Senate Debates, Matthew L. Spialek, Stevie M. Munz Dec 2015

Survival Strategies In Solidly Partisan States An Analysis Of Centrist Appeals In 2012 U.S. Senate Debates, Matthew L. Spialek, Stevie M. Munz

Speaker & Gavel

With the growing number of centrist senators diminishing on Capitol Hill, the next few election cycles will be crucial to the survival of this moderate group of lawmakers. Campaign debate scholars should investigate how vulnerable incumbents construct a centrist issue agenda and image to connect with voters in states ideologically incongruent with the incumbents’ parties. In doing so, debate scholars will also fill the lack of lower-level debate research. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, this analysis examined the debate appeals of Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Scott Brown (R-MA). Findings suggest McCaskill’s issue agenda was congruent with a centrist …


Complete Issue 52(1) Dec 2015

Complete Issue 52(1)

Speaker & Gavel

Complete digitized issue (volume 52, issue 1) of Speaker & Gavel.


Hosting A Tournament, Larry Schnoor, Ben Stewart Dec 2015

Hosting A Tournament, Larry Schnoor, Ben Stewart

Speaker & Gavel

There comes a time in one's tenure as a Forensic Coach when one may think of hosting a tournament for various reasons. This can be a wonderful and meaningful experience for both you and the attending coaches and students, but it carries with it many challenges and a great deal of work. In trying to deal with what needs to be considered and planned in order to host a successful tournament, there are numerous elements that need to be given consideration. This article will at-tempt to provide you with guidelines and conditions to consider before one makes the final decision …


The First-Year Coach, Keith Bistodeau Dec 2015

The First-Year Coach, Keith Bistodeau

Speaker & Gavel

The first year coaching a team is both exciting and terrifying. The first year coaching a team is your first taste of the career you may be doing for the rest of your life, on top of teaching, research, having a family, and having social life. Some of you reading this article may have a plethora of experience in forensics as a competitor, graduate student assistant, judge, sibling, or friend, while others may have no experience in forensics at all. Don’t worry; we have all been in your shoes in one way or another. This article is a checklist for …


Budget Considerations, Larry Schnoor Dec 2015

Budget Considerations, Larry Schnoor

Speaker & Gavel

There are many responsibilities and duties for the director of forensics. One such responsibility that every coach will have to give very careful consideration and attention is the budget necessary for a sound forensic program. Yes, the question of funds is very important when one considers beginning and maintaining a sound forensic program in any college or university. We only have to look at how the events of the past few years have provided us with the evidence that our administrators are under the gun to tighten financial expenditures and in doing so, have begun to look closely at departments …