[MUSIC] English for teaching purposes. [MUSIC] Exposition and Argumentation. >> Have you ever noticed that classes are like idea loop. Loops connected to each other by language hinges. There are many kinds of idea loops and language hinges. In this course, we have broken them down into smaller chunks. So you can just speak the language you need, take it to your class, and get going. [MUSIC] There are teachers that argue that the essential way in which we build idea loops in class is by using what is called exposition and argumentation. The name of this rhetorical combination is transparent. You present a thesis point and use the arguments you need to prove it. Exposition and argument will be particularly interesting for lecturers who work in the fields of philosophy, humanities, the law, many theoretical mathematics, and of course, logic. They are usually associated to the written medium where they actually live more naturally. Essays are ideal media to spread ideas and discuss them thoroughly till you've reach the prove point. Classroom discourse that relies heavily on exposition on argument tends to be teacher centered and traditional lecture like. This practice implies, indeed, that you do most of the talking, and the students listen and take notes. I believe that the moment when exposition and argument are most important is when we're preparing our classes. There and then we want to make sure that our ideas flow through a logical path. Their logical relations with one another. And most importantly for us in the class, that the language delivery is adequate. By now, you must be eager to know what exposition and argument is all about. Let's see. Exposition an argument or consider it two of the main rhetorical modes. Yeah, I know, it doesn't help much. Remember the loops and the hinges? We're going to take a closer look at them. Imagine a roller coaster made of a series of loops. Coasters usually have pretty interesting names like, I don't know, the Beast, in Mason, Ohio. Let's say that the name of the coaster is the topic that unifies it's loops and turns. The whole path is designed to prove the point that the coaster is, well, a beast. And so every part of the roller coaster somehow supports one of the features of a beast. It makes a statement to prove that the coaster is the beast. For example, it's ferocious, scary, fearless, reckless, very aggressive. The sum of all the sections and parts that make the roller coaster is what we should consider its exposition argument. And at this point, I seem to have proven that a roller coaster is an impeccable example of exposition and argument, and I like that. Let's take a look at what happens in the classroom. How do we express exposition and argument? Each lesson has a general topic that the lecturer develops along the class. And also learning objective that she tries to achieve by offering the relevant information, evidence, and examples, so that the students can make meaningful connections in their heads. Allow me to focus on traditional lectures for just a short while. A lecturer walks into the classroom with a mission of presenting the students with ideas, supported by logical argumentative evidence. She will hence, have a thesis statement or a controlling idea that articulate all her idea loops by means of language hinges. Each hinge, is a supporting idea which is fully developed in the loop of examples, causes and effects. Generalizations, opinions, or evidence. Once the loop is completed, a new hinge is added and we're back in another loop. Now the hinges are connected, all of them, to form an articular path. And the articulation of that path is crafted by means of expressions that make the relations between the supporting ideas explicit. You have probably traveled your life in English accompanied by a list of connectors or linkers. Call them any way you want. The [FOREIGN] of linkers, is to express, identify, and clarify idea relations. The relations are, of course, tagged by the lecturer. Who intends for students to understand the flow of arguments. Just to enable them to take a stance for, or against, such ideas. When we add arguments one after the other relying only on the power of their additive meaning, that reiteration of the fact that the ideas need only be presented for the conclusion to emerge is somehow poetic. But it can also debilitate the relation between ideas by oversimplifying it. Handle with care. Classic addition connectors are, in addition, moreover, what's more. All very transparent. Sometimes, proving a point requires a little help from a well-known celebrity. Name dropping is a popular practice in argumentation, but beware of the fact that. Manipulating quotations to fulfill one's plans. Or, of using the use of arguments from authority can make your ideas look suspicious, to say the least. We introduce these arguments by using expressions like, as stated by, in accordance to, in like with, and the like. Examples are very commonly used in all sorts of academic discourse. They seem to bring down to earth the ideas that we mean to prove. We will explore examples more in depth later on in the course. Just bear in mind that the most frequent expression used to introduce examples is well for example. Proving ideas by pairing them with others that are either similar or completely opposite is not only common, but clearly efficient. Again, we will deal with comparison and contrast more in depth later in the course. In the meantime, think of what expressions like in contrast, as opposed to, likewise, in much the same way, evoke. When you pull the thread of an argument, sometimes you identify the origin of things, and you realize that the best way to prove the point is by explaining why it came to be. What caused it or what it will cause in turn? For the time being, think of where it's like because, since or so, due to, and the ways in which they introduce either causes or affects in your discourse. Language allows us to explore what would happen under certain conditions, at least hypothetically. This is what we do with syllogisms, which basically express logical relations that we. Establish between two premises, and then from those two premises and the relation, we draw a logical conclusion. Take a look at the following examples. They also fun to play with, but excess manipulation will make us form fallacies instead. A fallacy is a flawed argument, one that leads to present, and sometimes actually believe something that is not true after having built a chain of arguments that looks superficially acceptable. There are many types of fallacies that we should avoid at all times. For instance, sometimes, inadvertently, we can represent the whole by means of a part, and somehow create a false equation in which the trunk would be the elephant, and vice versa. Or we may just over-generalize to try and prove that an argument is right. In a moment of passion, we may disqualify an idea only because someone we dislike stated it. Or make even more passionate and motion of appeals that have absolutely nothing to do with the ideas we are presenting, but we intend to use to convince others that we are right. And at any given moment, we could just throw something in the discussion to just distract and must lead. To keep fallacies at bay, make sure to check your line of fact when proving a point seems inadequately easy. When your arguments feel too grandiloquent. Or when you fail to trace a clear path from the beginning to the end of your exposition. You probably remember as well as I do, long lectures by brilliant profs, who would talk for two hours without a blink. Their arguments were flawless. They were engaging and entertaining, and that's okay. Some people will argue that there are subjects that call for this kind of presentation. And I'm not sure I agree. What I do know, is that if you try and do this in a language other than your own, you're going to be exhausted in two minutes. The good news is if you don't lecture for two hours non-stop, you can have students do things and make learning more fun and more connected to reality. Try breaking your class into small exposition segments. Ask students to analyze the arguments you presented and, try to come up with different supporting ideas. Try to reach a different conclusion. Or try to run a different path to reach a similar conclusion. You can also prepare short cases and ask students to relate each case to a theoretical point. Or present a theoretical case and ask students to think of cases in which the theory applies. These were only a few examples of ideas that you can apply in your own classes to stop talking and have students do things. And I'm sure right now you're thinking of your own ideas. Keep thinking, we'll meet again in our next installment. [MUSIC]
