Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

My Larry Story: Around The Horn, Susan Collie, Randy Cox, Daniel Cronn-Mills, Joel Hefling, Todd T. Holm, Vicki Karns, James Kimble, Lee Mayfield, Karen (Piercy) Morris, Richard Paine, John Perlich, Judy Santacatarina, Dan Smith, Leah White, David Whitt, David Worth

Speaker & Gavel

This article celebrates the life of Larry Schnoor.

Volume 60, Issue 1, 2024 Speaker & Gavel Front Matter

Speaker & Gavel

Front matter and table of contents for Volume 60, Issue 1, 2024 of Speaker & Gavel.

Rhetoric Vs. Reality: A Study Of Public Rhetoric And Private Behavior Across Party Lines, Elizabeth Callecod

Bakerman Student Research Awards

In the United States, Republicans and Democrats are viewed as being intrinsically distinct in their moral convictions. More specifically, Republicans are generally viewed as the party which more frequently upholds and uses religious and moral rhetoric, particularly regarding sexual activity, while Democrats are generally thought to rely on more pragmatic and inclusive rhetoric. Previous explanations explore why these partisan stereotypes exist but fail to compare how these different rhetorical styles compare to the actual behavior exhibited by both parties’ members. By using measurements of how often individuals from both parties participate in sexual morally contentious activities, such as viewing pornography, …

Búsqueda De Babosas Marinas: Understanding Barriers Of Environmental Literacy And Climate Advocacy Within Southern California Spanish-Speakers, Cintya Felix, Ashley Lam, Lorena Muñoz, Micah Kim

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Hispanic and Latino populations are the largest ethnic minority in California, and more than 10.4 million Californians consider Spanish their first language. However, English is the primary language in most educational and public spaces. This means Spanish-speaking communities have limited access to coastal ecosystems and learning opportunities about coastal areas impacted by climate change and extreme weather, which becomes a barrier to civic engagement, climate advocacy, and local decision-making. During the 2023 summer, we partnered with local climate advocacy organizations and held educational programs at two public beaches in southern California. The presentations in English and Spanish taught foundational …

The Role Of Media Literacy In Understanding Ideological Bias In News Coverage Of Texas Ag Ken Paxton's Lawsuit Against Annunciation House, Sybonae Acosta Castillo

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

In an era of rapidly evolving news media, understanding how information is framed and spread has become a critical skill for navigating today’s complex social and political landscapes. Media literacy allows people to critically evaluate news substance, discern bias, and acknowledge the influence of language on public perception. This research examines how Texas’s six leading news outlets (Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman, Everything Lubbock, El Paso Times, and the Tyler Morning Telegraph) reported on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent lawsuit against Annunciation House, an …

Incorporating Families Experiencing Disabilities Into The Rhythm Of Small Groups At Saturn Road Church Of Christ, Robby John

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses the critical gap in the inclusion of families experiencing disabilities within small groups at Saturn Road Church of Christ. The primary aim is to develop a curriculum that raises awareness among small group leaders about this significant issue. To provide a theological reflection on the necessity of such a venture, I explored the topic through the lens of four theological pillars: the image of God, the incarnation, ecclesiology, and eschatological hope. This exploration revealed several key themes that serve as foundational building blocks for the awareness curriculum. Ultimately, the final artifact is an awareness curriculum designed to …

A Teacher-Development Curriculum: Encouraging Community Discipleship Through Faith And Learning Integration At Bracken Christian High School, Denice F. Knight-Slater

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The title of this project is “A Teacher-Development Curriculum: Encouraging Community Discipleship through Faith and Learning Integration at Bracken Christian High School.” The purpose of the project was to create a seven-part curriculum that would empower educators to form an interconnected teaching community centered upon the practice of faith and learning integration. The development team hoped our work would articulate good practices and equip teachers to engage in faith conversations with their students. We utilized Parker Palmer’s classic, The Courage to Teach, as the scaffolding for our curriculum. The development team modeled faith and learning integration by creating a …

Halfies, Half-Written Letters, And One-Eyed Gods: Connecting The Dots Of Communicative Cultures, Gregory Stephens

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay distills the theory of communicative cultures as a tool for cultural analysis. Nadine Gordimer’s line about the difficulties of returning to “half-written letters” is used to frame anthropology’s critique of “bounded culture” or “container cultures,” predominat in Cultural Studies. Anthropologists Lila Abu-Lughod and Kirin Narayan have described “halfies” as in-between peoples who can help us understand fluid, processual cultures as normative. Building on this stance, and the work of rhetorical genre scholars, Stephens defines communicative cultures as “a set of shared commitments expressed through cultural means.” This approach to cultural analysis, in which literature is viewed as an …

Communication Monographs Fall 2024 Newsletter, Shannon Burth, Srividya Ramasubramanian

CODE^SHIFT Research

No abstract provided.

Do #Blm At The Plantation: A Study Of Plantation Tourism After The Racial Reckoning Of 2020, Denetria N. Lee

LSU Master's Theses

Following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the widespread public protest of racial injustice created a groundswell that prompted corporate and media responses, so much so that by the end of the summer of 2020, it seemed as if "Black Lives Mattered" everywhere and to everyone. Public response incentivized subsequent corporate response in financial pledges and other commitments to racial justice initiatives until 2020, which became known as the year that America confronted racism or the racial reckoning of 2020. While the public demanded acknowledgment of the many forms of contemporary racial …

In The Eye Of Ai: Conspiracies Of Facial Recognition Software, Kira Courtois, Rachel M. Schneider, Carleigh J. Davis

English and Technical Communication Faculty Research & Creative Works

The intersections of power and conspiracy rhetorics represent complexities for scholars who seek to understand social engagement and its various discursive properties. Our study addresses these complexities through the lens of facial recognition technology (FRT), analyzing how conversations on the platform X (formerly Twitter) surrounding FRT mirror discourse in other places that have been called conspiracy theories. By gathering Tweets that contain discourse about FRT and coding them using features synthesized from previous literature, we work to understand the ways that populations express valid feelings of disenfranchisement through traditionally conspiratorial rhetorical tropes. Our results highlight the importance of traditionally conspiratorial …

Dangerous Speech As An Atrocity Early Warning Indicator: Measuring Changing Conflict Dynamics, Catherine Buerger, Susan Benesch

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Dangerous speech, any expression that can increase the likelihood that someone will commit or condone violence against members of another group, can be a powerful early warning signal of impending mass violence. However, one cannot make a list of words that are dangerous, since the effect of the message depends not only on its content, but also on how it is communicated: by whom, to whom, and under what circumstances. What may be benign in one context may be extremely inflammatory in another. Thus, effective monitoring requires deep knowledge of the local setting and structural factors. The spread of dangerous …

Expanding The Scope: Multimodal Dimensions In Aphasia Discourse Analysis—Preliminary Findings, Manaswita Dutta, Bijoyaa Mohapatra

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background:

Aphasia, resulting from acquired brain injury, disrupts language processing and usage, significantly impacting individuals’ social communication and life participation. Given the limitations of traditional assessments in capturing the nuanced challenges faced by individuals with aphasia, this study seeks to explore the potential benefits of integrating multimodal communication elements into discourse analysis to better capture narrative proficiency in this population.ObjectiveThis study examined how incorporating multimodal communication elements (e.g., physical gestures, writing, drawing) into discourse analysis may affect the narrative outcomes of persons with aphasia compared to those observed using methods that exclude multimodal considerations.

Methods:

Participants included individuals with chronic …

I Could Get A Look At A T-Bone Steak By Sticking My Head Up A Bull’S A** But I Would Rather Take The Butcher’S Word For It: An Applied Approach To Persuasive Communication, Corey J. Liberman

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

This teaching activity tasks students working in groups to determine how to structure messages to increase the likelihood that those targeted with these messages would find themselves in a new cohort. Persuasion is all about the creation, solidification, and alteration of attitudes and are, according to research, the most statistically significant predictors of behavior: people are more likely to engage in behaviors if they have positively-valenced attitudes toward them. According to Harvard Health (2022), 8% of the world’s population does not eat meat, while the remaining 92% find themselves in other cohorts (e.g., eat meat monthly, eat meat weekly, eat …

Recuperative Rhetorics: A Novel Framework For Rhetorical Analysis, Nicolas Palumbo

Masters Theses (Archived)

This thesis details the creation of the Recuperative Rhetorics analytical framework, which is a scalable, transdisciplinary framework for analyzing rhetorical texts, from individual speeches to societal understandings of legacy and history. It discusses the framework’s theoretical underpinnings, explains how to utilize it in analyzing rhetoric and rhetorical works, and provides examples of the framework in action across multiple mediums. The framework takes inspiration from the theories and praxes of Situationist International, primarily those of the spectacle, ready-made objects, détournement, and recuperation. The framework uses these ideas, and then builds upon more established analytical frameworks to establish a base from which …

"These Lyrics But It's The Opening Of A Ted Talk" - A Public Speaking Activity Inspired By Tiktok, Abby Ferrell

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This activity encourages students to practice delivery skills in a fun and laid-back way that connects to social media. This activity can be used in-person or online and is intended for public speaking, oral/interpersonal communication, and introductory theatre classes. Based on content creator Madeleine Chalk’s “These lyrics but it’s the opening of a TED Talk” videos, students will deliver song lyrics as if they were giving a TED talk. In doing so, they will practice delivery skills such as eye contact, vocal variety, and body language. After the activity, students will debrief on the mechanics of delivery, audience engagement, and …

You Never Walk Alone: Bts As A Symbol Of Light For Youth, Aaliyah Robinson

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This essay examines how the South Korean music group, BTS, has utilized their platform to bring awareness to mental health in youth. I specifically analyze the use of their personal stories and experiences as a means of communication or outreach to their fans, also known as the ARMY. Exploring the theory of identification, or a direct sense of connectedness between a speaker and an audience, I argue that through their music and personalized rhetoric speech patterns, BTS seeks to allow their fans to view their experiences as the same. This has created a dynamic encompassing a sense of friendship and …

"You Are More Than Just Your Gift:" Facework And Idealization In Disney's Encanto, Janelle L.H. Gruber, Valerie Lynn Schrader

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

In this rhetorical analysis, we apply Goffman’s theory of facework to the Disney film Encanto, arguing that Encanto provides important lessons regarding facework and advocates for using facework in moderation. Encanto tells the story of the Madrigals, a family who experiences a miracle that results in each member of the family having a special gift – all except for one, the teenage protagonist, Mirabel. When Mirabel recognizes that both the miracle and her family are in danger, she realizes that her individual family members are using facework in order to fit in with the rest of the family and impress …

Looking To The Past And Abroad To Enhance U.S. Presidential Debates, Jacob W. Justice, Talya P. Slaw, John Koch

Studies in Debate and Oratory

Presidential debates are a valuable, but flawed, method of educating voters about policy issues and candidates. Growing dissatisfaction with presidential debates, and polling evidence suggesting they are failing to inform audiences, creates exigence to reconsider the format of future debates. In this essay, we propose modifications to the format of United States presidential debates, in the interest of facilitating greater clash and audience education. To improve U.S. presidential debates, we draw upon two sources of inspiration: the history of U.S. presidential debates and international experiences with political debates. We recommend exploration of new debate formats that include (1) a narrow …

Communication Monographs Summer 2024 Newsletter, Martina Santia, Srividya Ramasubramanian

CODE^SHIFT Research

No abstract provided.