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Rhetoric & composition.

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Debate as a Critical Thinking Carnival: Tis to Laugh! Denise Heikinen, Michigan Technological University, Department of Humanities, Houghton, MI 49931-1295

In my paper I take a fresh look at how formal debate can work as a process leading to critical thinking in the classroom. Some object to classroom debates for fear of they encourage too much of a competitive spirit where the loudest voice and the quickest wit wins out over genuine and disinterested exploration of a topic. Concerns about gender issues cause anxiety as well. However, I suggest we begin with a re-definition of the Greek rhetorical term agon as a "gathering" of struggle rather than the struggle itself, as some contend is its original meaning. This enables us to think of debate as a gathering that fosters a carnilvalesque process of critical thought, rather than an endgame itself. Bakhtin's carnival theory can help us further appreciate debate's ability to be critical if we emphasize its comical elements. Assigning students to unfamiliar roles allows carnival's topsy-turvy effect to free them to consider the possibility of change. They begin to explore ideas their personal ideologies might otherwise reject. Debate can also prepare passive students to experience what an opinion feels like. And a carefully planned debate helps create an atmosphere of collaboration that persists throughout the term.

(Mis)Uses of Argument: The Limits of the Toulmin Model for Ethical Research and Community Building in First-Year Composition. Rick L. Hunter, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Program in Composition and Rhetoric, Department of English, Madison, WI 53706

Until recently, the UW-Madison's first-year writing program taught a stripped-down version of Stephen Toulmin's argument theory as an entry into larger academic discourses. While this approach is successful in many ways, the presenter believes that by failing to attend to qualifiers and rebuttals this act de-emphasizes the ethical responsibilities of researchers, for as students are beginning to write and analyze arguments, they often practice the "human tendency to fix or reify one's beliefs" (Cintron, 2003, pg. 6) in a way that writing becomes a solipsistic venture. Working from Elbow's "Believing Game" and Rogerian Rhetoric, the presentation examines the limits of the abridged Toulmin model for developing ethical arguments as well as building community in the writing classroom. To this end, I investigate the following question: In what ways might we redefine argument such that the first-year writing classroom and the texts created within it become more than agonistic spaces? This paper proposes that Elbow's "believing game" (1973) and Rogerian Rhetoric create a space in which conflicts can be acknowledged and transformed, and through role-playing and perspective-taking, students become capable of generating new understandings by truly embracing differences.

Our Sense of Community, Our Sense of Ecology: Rethinking Service Learning through Eco-composition. Heidi Stevenson, Northern Michigan University, Department of English, Marquette, MI 49855

Many composition instructors hope that service learning will encourage a mutually beneficial relationship between student writer and...

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