Search results for "argumentation theory"
showing 10 items of 79 documents
Pragmatic evidence, context, and story design: an essay on recent developments in experimental pragmatics
2012
What is pragmatic evidence? In this contribution, I argue that pragmatic evidence basically is connected with pragmatic intuitions related to a context. The context usually is either given as a story, or is left to the imagination of a judge (a linguist, a reader, a test participant). It is shown that stories not only play an important role in pragmatic argumentation and analysis, but also with regard to story design in experimental settings.
Negotiating digital surveillance legislation in post-Snowden times : An argumentation analysis of Finnish political discourse
2019
Abstract In the digital era, when security agencies world-wide have been challenging basic democratic principles with massive data gathering, Finland has had a different approach: it has conducted no large-scale surveillance of citizens’ online activities. Now, however, the country is planning such a vast expansion of state surveillance that the constitution itself must be altered. The present article examines one key point in this legislative process to see how the new surveillance measures are argued for and criticized, and how the differing points of view are negotiated to ultimately enable political action. Drawing particularly on Fairclough and Fairclough’s (2012) approach to argumenta…
Atenuación en el discurso de los participantes no profesionales de los juicios orales. ¿Un caso de lenguaje débil?
2020
El objetivo de este artículo es estudiar la manera en que se manifiesta la atenuación en los participantes no profesionales de los juicios orales. Tradicionalmente, se ha vinculado el empleo de recursos relacionados con la atenuación (como los hedges o las fórmulas de cortesía) con el lenguaje débil, pues las personas que usan estos recursos en su declaración limitan su compromiso con lo dicho y son percibidas como menos creíbles y menos inteligentes (Erickson, Lind, Johnson & O'Barr, 1978). No obstante, tras analizar un corpus de 12 juicios orales españoles pertenecientes al juzgado de lo penal, se ha comprobado que el uso de estos y otros recursos que se asocian con la atenuación pueden p…
Defending either a personal or an assigned standpoint
2018
Abstract This study clarifies whether a specific type of role play supports upper secondary school students’ collaborative argumentation. Data consist of 12 dyadic face-to-face and 12 chat debates. Data analysis focused on the quality of students’ argumentation. Comparisons were made between students who defended standpoints at variance with their personal opinions on the topics, between the two study modes and topics, and by gender. When the students defended a standpoint differing from their personal opinion, the male students engaged in counterargumentation more often than the female students. When, in turn, the students defended their personal standpoint, they produced both counterargum…
Students’ Interpretations of a Persuasive Multimodal Video About Vaccines
2021
The present study investigated students’ (N = 404) interpretations of the main message and use of modes in a persuasive multimodal video on vaccines. It also examined whether students’ topic knowledge, language arts grades, and self-identified gender were associated with their interpretations. Students analyzed a YouTube video in which two entertainers demonstrated the importance of vaccinating children. Students’ interpretations of the usefulness of vaccines varied in terms of quality of reasoning, which was associated with students’ topic knowledge. Notably, many students’ interpretations of the use of modes were incomplete, or they did not even mention certain modes in their response. Th…
The Polish School of Argumentation: A Manifesto
2014
Building on our diverse research traditions in the study of reasoning, language and communication, the Polish School of Argumentation integrates various disciplines and institutions across Poland in which scholars are dedicated to understanding the phenomenon of the force of argument. Our primary goal is to craft a methodological programme and establish organisational infrastructure: this is the first key step in facilitating and fostering our research movement, which joins people with a common research focus, complementary skills and an enthusiasm to work together. This statement—the Manifesto—lays the foundations for the research programme of the Polish School of Argumentation.
Isocrates on paradoxical discourse
2013
It has long been stated that, in Isocrates' Helen, there seems to be an open contradiction between the author's harsh criticism of logoi paradoxoi and the simple fact that his own encomia of Helen and Busiris appear to be specimens of that very genre. Traditionally, this contradiction has been explained by Isocrates' need to distanciate his own work from that of his predecessors. This paper undertakes a different approach. Isocrates' criticism of paradoxographic literature is based upon observations about what is and what is not allowed in moral epideictic discourse. Isocrates' specific instructions about proper and improper moral argumentation can function as hermeneutical tool to analyze …
The role of emotions and conflicting online reviews on consumers' purchase intentions
2018
Abstract Drawing on dual-process theories, this paper explains how the systematic and heuristic information processing of online reviews with conflicting information can influence consumers' purchase decision making. The study adopts major assumptions of complexity and configuration theory in employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on 680 TripAdvisor users to test the complex interrelationships between emotions and the systematic and heuristic cues used in processing reviews. The results show that the systematic and heuristic processing of online reviews can produce independent impacts on consumer decision making. Both processing routes can interact with each other to affect th…
University Applicants’ Critical Thinking Skills: The Case of the Finnish Educational Sciences
2016
This study investigates the quality of the critical thinking skills of applicants (n = 77) seeking entry to the faculty of educational sciences in a Finnish university and how these skills are associated with the applicant’s age, previous higher education experience, and matriculation and entrance examination scores. The data consist of the applicants’ responses to problem-solving tasks and their matriculation and entrance examination scores. Critical thinking skills were measured with comparison and argumentation tasks. The results indicate that comparison of the texts and analysis of the arguments they contained were more difficult tasks than putting forward arguments both for and against…
Teaching Argumentation Skills in an Electronic Mail Environment
1997
SUMMARY This paper discusses the qualities of computer‐mediated communication (CMC) relevant to the teaching of argumentation skills. It describes an electronic mail (e‐mail) study experiment carried out in an MEd level course in education. The aim of the experiment was to explore the possibility of using CMC to promote the argumentation skills of university students. The experiment (n = 31) was based on a comparison of tutor‐led seminar mode (2 groups) with a student‐led discussion mode (2 groups) using an e‐mail study. The students practised argumentation during a six‐week e‐mail study period. The comparison group (n = 193) engaged in a traditional self‐study. All the students’ argumentat…