M.A. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of rhetorical criticism in public speaking organisations in South Africa. Public speaking is defined as rhetoric and the evaluation of public speaking as rhetorical criticism. The different perspectives towards rhetorical criticism are outlined and the approaches encompassed by these perspectives are discussed. The focus of the study is the state of rhetorical criticism in the public speaking organisations in South Africa. It was therefore necessary to establish the orientations and purposes of these organisations. The public speaking organisations identified at the outset of the study were Afrikaanse Taal-en Kultuurvereniging and Toastmasters International. The research project involved participant observation for the purpose of first-order interpretation ofthe methods ofevaluation used by these organisations. These organisations were founded for the purposes of promoting the skill of public speaking and developing confidence in speakers. By applying purposive sampling initially, snowball sampling emerged and the other public speaking organisations in South Africa were identified. This enabled the inclusion of the whole population for the purposes of this study. The investigation of the contemporary theories on rhetorical criticism revealed that there was a breakaway from the initial speaker orientation that focused on the effect of the speaker. Different perspectives on rhetorical criticism emerged since the traditional perspective that included approaches that focused on various forms of message analysis. Although effectiveness remained the overall criteria in the assessment ofpublic speaking, the emphasis has shifted to the message rather than the speaker. It is accepted that rhetorical criticism is subjective but at the same time it should be justified by reasons.

The purpose of this study is to formulate criteria for the evaluation of the declamation, the selection of material for declamation, the method of coaching, the method of delivery, and the value of the declamation contest as a method of teaching.

This thesis tabulated five hundred and twenty correct criteria checking points. Based on the analysis of rating scale, the data show that the fourty adminstrators (subjects) made an average of 3724 speches a year (about 93 per school adminstrator), and the findings presented some evidences of the need of speech training for school administrators.

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This study shows that there is a high degree of agreement as to the objectives in teaching public speaking. The range of agreement on the six objectives used in this study is 91 percent to 64 percent. There is, also a fair degree of agreement as to the procedure, which may be followed to obtain these objectives. The percent of agreement on the forty-seven procedures suggested in this study are as follows: 90 percent or above on procedures 75 percent to 90 percent on procedures 50 percent or above on all others Therefore, if teachers desire to help individuals become better speakers, they may aid their students by focusing their attention upon these objectives, and by using the teaching procedures recommended. / M.S.

Thesis (M. A. (English Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2018 / This study contributes to the rekindled interest in rhetoric in the 21st century, with the rise of important politicians on the world stage. It investigates the different rhetorical devices used by politicians to get their audiences to consent to their ideas. Selected political speeches analysed in this study highlight the different rhetorical techniques used by notable politicians in public speaking platforms. These techniques include the use of plural pronouns, repetition, allusion, rhetorical questions, negation, comparatives, present and future tense, hyperbole, and personification. The political speeches analysed here are Barack Obama’s inauguration speech (2009), Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech (1994), Thabo Mbeki’s “I am an African” speech (1996), Muhammadu Buhari’s inauguration speech (2015), and Mmusi Maimane’s SONA Debate speech (2015). The study found that all the five speeches make use of the identified rhetorical devices to ‘sell’ their ideas to their listeners and canvass their support. The study clarifies the concept of rhetoric in public speaking and also explains why people (listeners) may be persuaded by politicians to ‘buy’ their ideas, conveyed through manipulative political language. It is imperative that people be made aware of the influence that political rhetoric could have on their decision-making, particularly when public opinion is formed regarding events announced on public media. Members of the public or prospective voters will be able to distinguish the truth from falsehood, if they are familiar with the elements of rhetoric in political speeches. Politicians are likely to be stopped in their tracks from betraying public trust for personal gains. It is also important to realise that there is nothing wrong if politicians apply rhetoric in public speaking, as long as they have no intention of deceiving the listeners. However, modern-day politicians seem to use it differently. This study has identified various rhetorical devices used in the selected speeches that provide some understanding of how other terms such as persuasion and manipulation are related to rhetoric.Key words: language and power, manipulation, persuasion, politicians, political rhetoric, public speaking.

This paper explores the concepts of rules, norms, and ethics as they pertain to intercollegiate forensic competition. The perspective is taken that these concepts tend to be conflated. Definitions of rules and ethics are drawn primarily from the National Forensics Association (NFA). The pertinent literature is reviewed, methods are explained, and results are reported and discussed. The conclusions pertain to the idea that forensics coaches and students alike are hesitant to accept universal rules and ethics, and prefer more contextualized standards. Suggestions for future research are also offered. / Department of Communication Studies

This research was done to find out if engineering oral presentations (EOPs) are a genre, if there are systematic differences between EOPs delivered by native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of English, if there are systematic differences between EOPs delivered by novices and experts and, if the engineering discourse community (DC) members have beliefs concerning what constitute 'good' EOPs. One engineering seminar and four engineering conferences carried out in Malaysia and the UK between March and September 1994 were participated. From this participant observation exercise, 100 questionnaires were gathered and responses analysed; sixty-eight EOPs delivered by NSs and NNSs were transcribed and analysed using Genre Analysis frameworks. Results from the analysis of EOPs were counterchecked with the responses in the questionnaires. It was found that EOPs did have describable characteristics which qualify them as a genre; There were few differences between EOPs delivered by NSs and NNSs of English because the latter tend to follow the former; There were describable differences between EOPs delivered by experts and novices. The engineering DC members did have their genre expectations but not all of their beliefs concerning what constitute 'good' EOPs were possible to materialise in actual occasions because of certain unavoidable constraints. These constraints were found to be affecting the variants of the genre more than the invariants. These variant-invariant elements were found to be related to the characteristics of exemplars, prototypes, prestige markers and the patterns of imitations of NNSs and novices of the engineering DC members. 'Ecological validity' was pointed out to be one of the ways of achieving the reliability and the validity of the research. Potential teaching implications were also discussed. Unavoidable limitations of the research were pointed out and finally immediate and longer term research projects have been identified.