The rhetorical triangle
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The document discusses the rhetorical triangle and how it applies to different communication contexts. The rhetorical triangle consists of three sides - the speaker, the audience, and the situation or problem. It is used in speeches/lectures, workshops/group activities, and discussions. For each communication type, the summary provides an example of how the rhetorical triangle would apply by identifying the speaker, audience, and situation.
The rhetorical triangle
- 1. The Rhetorical Triangle Victoria Rock August 23, 2012 The rhetorical triangle consists of three sides; the speaker, the audience, and the situation or problem as well as the location it is going on in. By picturing a triangle and placing each part of the approaches, you can picture the concept of the rhetorical triangle; Speaker =‘s one side of a triangle, Audience =‘s another side of a triangle, and Situation & Location =‘s the last part of the triangle. Speaker Audience Situation/ Location When you think about it, every one of us uses the rhetorical triangle each and every day of our lives. The rhetorical triangle is used when giving a speech or lecture, workshop, discussion, or group activity. Depending on who you wish to communicate your ideas or thoughts, depends on which of these approaches you will need to get your information across to (The Rhetorical Triangle, 2011). Speech/ Lecture When giving a speech or lecture you have to figure out who your audience is and what or where you will do it at. There is a big difference between a speech and lecture and so there will be a big difference in the way you use the rhetorical triangle. A speech is used like a script with an outline of what you want to say. When thinking of speeches I tend to think of politicians because they talk of a specific thing in order to persuade or move a person to their ideas. A person giving a lecturer will be informing you about their information much like teachers when explaining a subject matter. Speeches and Lectures are used when a person addresses a large group with little interaction with the audience (Johnston, 2012). So by looking at the diagram above you can see how the rhetorical triangle works within the guidelines of a speech or lecture;
- 2. Speech/Lecture; Speaker = Politicians/Teacher, Audience = the public/students, Situation & location = their ideas & stage or platform/subject & classroom Workshop/Group Activities Workshops and group activities are used to educate small groups of people. They gather together for a period of time to work on a single project to inform, solve problems, and for training. With workshops and group activities you will find there are two different kinds, technical and applied. Depending on what you objectives are will depend on what and how you will get your message across. For a technical approach you will use the same format as you would for a lecture, while the applied method is more of a hand on approach (What is a workshop?, 1998). Workshops and group activities are used to teach a group of people about a certain topic and allow the audience a chance to ask questions and discuss the topic presented. It also gives the opportunity to take part in activities in order to learn more about the topic. Some examples as to how the rhetorical triangle is used in workshops and group activities are; Technical; Speaker = Professor, Audience = Students, Situation & Location = Subject matter & classroom Applied; Speaker = Instructor, Audience = Employees, Situation & Location = Product & work area Discussion A discussion is much like what we do in a classroom or even at home with our families. The teacher or parent gives us a topic or subject to talk about and we each give our ideas on the subject and interact with each other to come to a conclusion. As we can see the rhetorical triangle works here as well; Speaker = Teacher, Audience = Students, Situation & Location = Subject & classroom Speaker = Parent/Spouse, Audience = Child/ Spouse, Situation & Location = Idea/problem & home So as you can see the rhetorical triangle is an important part of our everyday lives and is used to get messages across to others in the best way possible for each situation (The Rhetorical Triangle, 2011). Reference
- 3. Johnston, K. (2012). Difference Between a Speech & a Lecture. Retrieved from eHow: http://www.ehow.com/info_8388025_difference-between-speech-lecture.html (2011). The Rhetorical Triangle. In E. Board, Introduction to Communications (pp. 136-145). Words of Wisdom. What is a workshop? (1998, July 2). Retrieved from LinguaLinks Library: http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/referencematerials/glossaryofliteracyterms/whatisawork shop.htm