Cognitive abilities in the age of adolescence reach a high standard. Critical thinking, an ability of each young individual, offers possible solutions for everyday situations as well as for complex tasks requiring an intellectual engagement. It is crucial to find new ways to support and further develop critical thinking of adolescents. The theoretical section is divided into three subsections. The first of them is based on a specification of the period of adolescence mainly focusing on the cognitive development. The second section is dedicated to critical thinking and in the last section, the academic debate as a method of education is presented. The core of this thesis is to examine the influence of debating on the development of critical thinking of adolescents. The empirical section describes a survey conducted as a part of an international survey project Evaluations. The theoretical baseline has determined three specific tasks to evaluate the gathered data. In these tasks, three groups of participants are observed and compared - debaters beginners, advanced debaters and non-debaters. Keywords: Adolescence, Debating, Cognitive development, Critical thinking.

Fundação Araucária / Esta tese propõe um método de argumentação para resolução colaborativa de divergências na combinação de ontologias individuais, denominado CAMIO (Collaborative Argumentation in Merging Individual Ontologies), para apoiar, fundamentar e formalizar a argumentação colaborativa para resolução de divergências provenientes da combinação de ontologias desenvolvidas individualmente. Divergências são inerentes ao desenvolvimento colaborativo de ontologias, e, geralmente são resolvidas através de processos de negociação entre os participantes. Comumente, nestas negociações os participantes defendem suas ideias com base em argumentos informais, assim denominados porque são baseados em conhecimento tácito, que o participante adquire em suas experiências pessoais, e é difícil de formalizar e comunicar, pois se trata de um conhecimento específico adquirido em um determinado tempo e espaço. Quando a argumentação é primordialmente baseada na experiência pessoal ou nos interesses particulares dos participantes, é maior o risco da ontologia se afastar do modelo pretendido. Consequentemente, é mais difícil alcançar a corretude da ontologia e os erros existentes devem ser revistos e corrigidos em fases subsequentes, onerando o seu custo de desenvolvimento e, caso não sejam corrigidos, podendo até inviabilizar sua utilização. O método CAMIO propõe formalizar a argumentação através do uso de princípios filosóficos advindos das teorias de essência, identidade, unidade e dependência (preconizados pela metodologia OntoClean) para justificar parte dos argumentos utilizados na negociação entre os participantes. Com o uso da OntoClean busca-se facilitar o alcance do consenso e diminuir a distância existente entre o modelo pretendido e o modelo especificado, pois a aplicação da metodologia ajuda a revelar o significado pretendido à representação dos conceitos, através da compreensão das consequências lógicas das escolhas ontológicas de modelagem, e dessa forma procura garantir uma interpretação consistente aos elementos da ontologia. As avaliações dos experimentos realizados usando o método proposto sugerem que nossa abordagem é factível e implementável na prática. / This thesis proposes an argumentation method for collaborative solution of divergences in the merging of individual ontologies, the so-called CAMIO (Collaborative Argumentation in Merging Individual Ontologies). Such method aims to support, serve as basis, and formalize the collaborative argumentation for solving divergences deriving from the merging of ontologies individually developed. Divergences are inherent to the collaborative development of ontologies and are generally solved through negotiation processes among the participants. Commonly, during these negotiations the participants advocate their ideas based on informal argumentation, which are so called due to their tacit knowledge basis – knowledge stemming from the participant’s personal experiences and that is hard to formalize and spread, once it is specific and acquired in a specific time and space. The more argumentation primarily derives from personal experiences or individual interests of the participants, the higher the risk that the ontology deviates from the intended model. Consequently, it is harder to achieve the ontology correctness and existing errors must be reviewed and corrected in subsequent stages, increasing the ontology development cost and, if not corrected, even making its utilization not viable. The CAMIO method proposes the formalization of argumentation through the use of philosophical principles deriving from the theories of essence, identity, unity, and dependence (preconized by the OntoClean methodology) as for justifying part of the argumentation used in the negotiation among participants. The OntoClean utilization aims to facilitate reaching a consensus and reducing the distance between the intended and the specified models, once the application of the methodology helps reveal the meaning intended for the representation of concepts through the understanding of the logical consequences of the modeling ontological choices, thus assuring a consistent interpretation of the ontology elements. The evaluations of the experiments performed by using the proposed method suggest that our approach is feasible and implementable in practice.

This thesis explores the role, if any, that implicature plays as a strategy in informal debate. Transcripts of spontaneous debates from television and radio public affairs talk shows were analyzed with a focus on the use of implicature as a strategic rhetorical tool employed to gain advantage in an argument.

Skills such as identifying evidence, evaluating the credibility of information sources, analyzing complex historical and geopolitical issues from multiple perspectives, asking good questions, and forming and articulating a point of view are useful for succeeding in school and in life. Speech and debate training can help students learn and practice these skills and is widely available in many independent elementary and middle schools, yet it is generally not available in public elementary and middle schools. There has been virtually no research on this topic. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the perceptions of speech and debate professionals with respect to benefits, curriculum and pedagogy, feasibility, and acceptability concerning speech and debate programs in public primary schools. Using the snowball sampling technique, 25 speech and debate professionals in different parts of the speech and debate ecosystem and in different parts of the United States were identified and interviewed using a semi-structured qualitative approach. The findings indicated that speech and debate training supports health literacy and social-emotional development in students as early as elementary school by contributing to multiple aspects of “whole child” wellness, including through the promotion of identity development, mental health, psychological strengths, and life skills at essential periods of development. The findings underscored the importance of a culturally relevant pedagogical approach wherein students critically respond to, analyze, and interrogate larger social structural issues through the lens of their own cultural experiences and identities. Despite the consensus that nearly any educator can facilitate speech and debate instruction with limited training, there are several impediments to adoption and implementation, including time and school-community support. Speech and debate training requires many hours across multiple days to implement effectively. Gaining support across the curriculum from teachers and administrators was facilitated by these stakeholders having first-hand experience and observing positive outcomes for students. Policy and practice implications are proposed along with recommendations for future research relevant to increasing speech and debate programming in public elementary schools.

Skills of argument have attracted the attention of educators but remain challenging to both assess and develop. In contrast to the traditional essay, dialogic argument requires reflection on and coordination of one’s own claims with those of an interlocutor. Investigating a tool for assessing an individual’s dialogic argument skill is an objective of the present work. Building on an earlier study by the author and colleagues, and informed by philosophical writings on objectives of argumentation, undertaken here is a conceptual analysis of instances of dialogic argumentation by skilled arguers in order to discern its essential characteristics. The identified set of characteristics is then used as a basis for evaluating the argumentation skills exhibited by a sample of sixth grade students. A practical purpose is development of an assessment tool for use in educational contexts, identifying the range and variation of argumentation skills individuals bring to dialog. A value of the individual instrument referred to as a constructed dialog and developed and employed here, is that it overcomes the statistical problem created by lack of independence between participants in a dialog which requires that the unit of analysis be the pair-- thereby defeating the objective of assessing the skill of an individual. Empirical results document that young adolescents display competence in some basic skills of argumentation but, even following an intervention designed to build and exercise such skills, they continue to use these sparingly and to lack other equally fundamental ones. Discussion addresses implications for education, as well as the potential for use of the constructed dialog as an assessment tool for evaluating an individual student’s skill in argumentation and the associated understanding it reflects regarding the nature and objectives of argumentation.

This thesis explores public discourses surrounding audiobooks as manifested in cultural articles in Swedish newspapers. The aim is to gain a deeper understanding about values and opinions about the audio book as a literary media. The method employed is discourse analysis, with a theoretical frame- work built mainly on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffes discourse theory. The articles were gath- ered from Sweden’s four biggest newspapers, totaling 45 articles between the years 2016-2023. Four major themes were identified in the material: the form and content of the audiobook, the act of reading versus listening, the commodification of literature, and the economic aspects of the audiobook market. Further, the study identifies both pessimistic and optimistic discourses. Pessi- mistic discourses see audiobooks as a threat to traditional literary forms and quality, while optimistic discourses highlight the potential of audiobooks to expand the concept of literature and promote reading. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how audiobooks are discussed and debated in Swedish media, reflecting broader societal and cultural concerns. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Augustine of Hippo remains one of the most prominent and influential figures in the world of Catholicism, famous for his many writings and sermons on Catholic Christianity as well as his ardent defence of it. His debate with Fortunatus, a member of the Manichaean faith presented Augustine with one of his defining moments as a member of the Catholic clergy. This is because Augustine had only been a presbyter in the Church at Hippo for a few months when this debate took place and therefore had much at stake against his wily opponent. To make matters even more complicated for Augustine, he himself had been a Manichee for at least nine years and knew Fortunatus as a skilled debater. But rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, was a field in which Augustine excelled, having both a natural proclivity for speaking as well as the formal education behind it. Chapter one begins with an introduction to the debate, the primary characters, and the religions involved. Chapter two continues with an exposition of Augustine and his association with Manichaeism and then goes on to describe Augustine‟s anti-Manichaean works. From this point, chapter two continues with a section on Manichaeism, its spread, its myth and its practice. From this contextual basis, chapter three deals with the methodology of Critical Discourse Analysis and the three most important characters in the form of Halliday, Fairclough and van Dijk. This chapter is followed by another chapter on theory: Argumentation Theory. Chapter four includes subsections on van Eemeren and his methodologies of Pragma-Dialectics and Strategic Maneuvering. The analysis chapters of this dissertation begin with chapter five which deals with concepts from Critical Discourse Analysis and Argumentation Theory. This chapter includes subsections on categories of enquiry, followed by a section on a number of recurring devices, namely: answering questions, changing the topic and quoting scripture. A Critical Discourse Analysis section follows with subsections that include difference, evaluation and knowledge as a common ground component of contexts. This in turn is followed by sections on Argumentation Theory and Strategic Maneuvering, which include subsections on economy, efficacy and coherence; realism and wellfoundedness; logical reasoning process and pragmatic inferences; reasonableness versus effectiveness; the rhetorical perspective; discussion strategies; dialectical aims versus rhetorical aims and deceptive manoeuvring. The final analysis chapter, the Contra Fortunatum in context, includes subsections on the opening of the debate, the structure of the debate and the topics of discussion. Within this last section subsections on the Nebridian conundrum, the origin of evil, and free will occur. The next subsection dicusses topics not mentioned in the debate: the Manichaean myth, Mani and the previous friendship between Fortunatus and Augustine. Following this there are sections on Manichaeism presenting itself as a form of Christianity, the debaters talking past each other and the issues of audience composition and power relations between the various role players. Chapter seven takes a concluding look at the issue of who should be designated the winner of the debate. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Augustinus van Hippo bly een van die mees prominente en invloedryke figure in die wêreld van die Katolisisme, bekend vir sy vele skrywes en preke oor die Katolieke Christendom sowel as sy ywerige verdediging daarvan. Sy debat met Fortunatus, ʼn lid van die Manichese geloof, het aan Augustinus een van die bepalende oomblikke in sy rol as Katolieke geestelike besorg. Die rede hiervoor is dat Augustinus ten tyde van die debat nog net ʼn paar maande ʼn presbiter in die kerk in Hippo was; daarom was daar baie op die spel in die debat teen hierdie gedugte opponent. Om dinge selfs nog meer ingewikkeld vir Augustinus te maak, was hy self vir ten minste nege jaar 'n Manicheër en was hy bekend met Fortunatus se retoriese vermoëns. Retoriek, of die kuns van oorreding, was egter 'n veld waarin Augustinus uitgeblink het. Hy het beide ʼn natuurlike aanvoeling vir redevoering sowel as ʼn formele opleiding gehad. Hoofstuk een van die proefskrif begin met ʼn inleiding tot die debat, die hoofkarakters en die gelowe wat betrokke is. Hoofstuk twee gaan voort met ʼn uiteensetting van Augustinus en sy assosiasie met die Manichese geloof en beskryf ook Augustinus se anti-Manichese werke. Van hier af gaan hoofstuk twee dan verder met 'n afdeling oor die Manichese geloof, die mitologie en lewenswyse, sowel as die verspreiding van die Manicheïsme. Met hierdie kontekstuele agtergrond as basis handel hoofstuk drie oor die metodologie van Kritiese Diskoersanalise en die drie belangrikste eksponente van hierdie teoretiese rigting, Halliday, Fairclough en Van Dijk. Hierdie hoofstuk word gevolg deur nog ʼn teoretiese hoofstuk wat handel oor Argumentasieteorie. Hoofstuk vier sluit onderafdelings in oor Van Eemeren en sy metodologieë van Pragma-Dialektiek en Strategiese Maneuvers. Die ontledingshoofstukke van hierdie proefskrif begin by hoofstuk vyf wat handel oor Kritiese Diskoersanalise en Argumentasieteorie. Hierdie hoofstuk sluit onderafdelings in oor kategorieë van ondersoek, opgevolg deur ʼn gedeelte oor 'n aantal herhalende tegnieke: die beantwoording van vrae, die verandering van die onderwerp en skrifaanhalings. ʼn Volgende afdeling oor Kritiese Diskoersanalise volg daarop met onderafdelings wat verskil, evaluasie en kennis as ʼn gemeenskaplike komponent op die terrein van konteks insluit. Hierop volg 'n afdeling oor Strategiese Maneuvers. Laasgenoemde sluit onderafdelings in oor ekonomie, doeltreffendheid en koherensie; realisme en gegrondheid; logiese denkprosesse en pragmatiese gevolgtrekkings; redelikheid versus effektiwiteit; die retoriese perspektief; besprekingstrategieë; dialektiese doelwitte versus retoriese doelwitte en maneuvers van misleiding. Die finale ontledingshoofstuk, getiteld die Contra Fortunatum in konteks, sluit onderafdelings in oor die openingsreëls van die debat, die struktuur van die debat en tematiek daarvan. In die laaste afdelings word die kwessies van die Nebridiese vraagstuk, die oorsprong van boosheid en die vrye wil ingesluit. Die volgende onderafdeling bevat onderwerpe wat nie in die debat behandel word nie: die Manichese mite, Mani en die vroeëre vriendskap tussen Fortunatus en Augustinus. Daarop volg die afdelings oor die Manichese strategie om hierdie godsdiens as Christelike godsdiens voor te stel, die deelnemers se taktiek om verby mekaar te praat asook oor die samestelling van die gehoor en kwessie van die magsverhoudinge tussen die onderskeie rolspelers. Die laaste hoofstuk sluit samevattend af met 'n kort bespreking van die kwessie van wie as die wenner van die debat beskou moet word.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the impact of intermediate school forensics on high school forensic programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. First, the thesis records student and instructor evaluations of both the intermediate school and high school forensic programs. Second, it compares the evaluations by students with intermediate forensics and students without intermediate forensics. Third, it discusses the impact of intermediate forensics on high school forensic programs. This study reveals that intermediate forensics is beneficial to high school forensics. Previously trained students teach and interest others in high school. They are more confident, have more initiative and win more than other students.

Since the foundation of the University of Vermont’s (UVM) first official extracurricular organization in 1803—the literary and debating society, Phi Sigma Nu—undergraduates have continuously produced extracurricular publications for differing purposes, made possible by the changing varieties of undergraduate organizations that developed concomitantly with the university over time. Several historical monographs have been written that utilize these various types of materials to describe undergraduate student life, yet none have focused their efforts upon these printed sources in and of themselves, nor has the subject of undergraduate publications merited a full historical monograph to this day. This thesis seeks to address this historiographical deficiency. In the first half of the nineteenth century, UVM’s early extracurricular organizations acted as a supplement to the official classical curriculum, facilitating much of these early students’ interactions with the English language in a period prior to the professionalization and departmentalization of English literature within the formal university. Undergraduates of the early national and antebellum eras employed the literary and debating society as an organization to connect ideas located in their classical course work with the vernacular, English-speaking world that surrounded them, and their publications exist as one of the mechanisms that these students utilized to marry their early neohumanistic curriculum with the changing necessities of life in Burlington, the state of Vermont, and the nation on a whole. These undergraduates—immersed in the oratorical culture of the classical college—published transcripts from important speeches, discourses, and poems that they had heard spoken at events such as commencement or the anniversary celebrations of the societies and later desired to preserve for future reading or sharing with others. Such publications represent the earliest form of undergraduate publishing at UVM and can provide historians with not only the means to describe undergraduates’ earliest relationships with the rising medium of print in the new national and antebellum periods, but also an important clue into the boundaries and interests of their own intellects.