A speaker I admire is the one who got me into communication and made me decide to major in the field. He was my professor when i went to West Valley college and his name was Paul Sanders. It is not that he spoke all of the time in our class, that was the students' job. His examples for the class showed his ability to use ethos and pathos. Not only was his personal character very easy to watch, he made the class laugh and provoked emotion. This helped me to find my own qualities when speaking.
I think my speaking style relies on logos and ethos. I rely heavily on my sources and try to create credibility. I am also able to back my arguments by the way I strategize and structure my arguments. I think a mixture of Aristotle's ideas can work to describe anyone's speaking style including my own. I believe a mixture of all styles would be the most effective way to communicate and be convincing.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I went to WVC and just transferred this year, but while I was there I heard lots of amazing things about Paul Sanders! I'm extremely jealous that you got him as a professor.
ReplyDeleteI think that it's a good idea to build your credibility by using valid sources. It's especially easy for students like us to cheat by using Wikipedia and other unverified internet sources. The fact that you take time out of your day to verify that your sources are correct should be an example to all students!
I agree that the best way to be convincing and to communicate well is not to rely too heavily on any one style. A blending of the three will address all members of your audience, whether they react well to emotion, personality, or cold hard facts.
Very good post! :)
Like Katla, I transferred from West Valley recently too (last year) and my last semester there was the fall of '08 (at the same time I was also taking classes here at sjsu). Unlike Katla, however, I did take Saunders for his Interpersonal Communications class with my friend and he was AWESOME! My friend needed it as a requirement and while not required for me I still could transfer the unit to sjsu as an upper division, so we took it together.
ReplyDeleteThe class was VERY fun and the activities Paul had us participate in were all very engaging and related to course content.
Like you said, Paul demonstrated qualities of ethos and pathos; he's a very nice, funny guy.
Oh, I just remembered as I typed that last paragraph.
I had Paul Saunders from like October through the end of the semester - December. The class originally started with Victoria Sevillia (she also teaches lower division at sjsu), but an incident happened with a student (my last semester at West Valley was eventful!) and she dropped herself out of the class; Paul
Saunders was our replacement.
Anyway, I'm so glad I had the chance to have him as a teacher. My friend and I had so much fun in his class, and we learned a lot about the topics. Never had I been in a class that was so engaging and interactive, and he would be right there with us interacting. This is the class that attracted me to being a communications instructor, although not 100% that's what I want to do.
Nice post and keep it up!
I too had Paul Sanders! Taking his class, Interpersonal Communications, literally changed my life. Before I took that class I did not have the necessary skills to hold a decent conversation with strangers. My problem was I never knew what to talk about, because I would think that I had to talk about myself all the time. WRONG!
ReplyDeleteHe taught that asking questions is the key to building conversation. By the way, what I remember most about him was his "catching the ball" routine; If someone gets mad at you it doesn't mean you have to "catch" their anger too.
Someday I will go back and tell him how much that class helped me. I hope he is still teaching at West Valley. Anyways, great post. You are right about Sanders’ delivery method. It was an effective and useful technique for a class that is designed to bring people out of their shells.