Rhetorical analysis of cultural narratives

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1023317ANR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester

2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences

Department

Educatiewetenschappen

Educational team

Geert Vandermeersche (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

20 contact hours Lecture
2 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals

Course Content

People are often (implicitly) guided in their actions and thinking by larger narratives about the society and their own role in it. These are called cultural narratives and they play a role in many domains of society from politics, culture, education and within the personal lives of people. As they can have such a large impact on human actions and thinking, they cannot remain blind spots. We must not only learn to see them, but also to rhetorically examine them. We must analyze how they are constructed, understand how they impact people, and learn how we can determine their ethical value within a broader social debate. After sketching a broader theoretical framework, we will examine a number of important cultural narratives (from politics, education and culture) in the lectures of this course.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Powerpoint slides, texts and articles that are part of a number of classes will be available to students via the electronic learning platform Canvas., Canvas

Additional info

More information on the contents, (mandatory or optional) learning materials and the calculations of the study time will be given in the first class.

Generative AI can be used in this course, further details will be provided during course activities and the Canvas Course Platform. Any use of generative AI should be properly referenced.

Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Program specific learning results

This course contributes to the following programme-specific learning outcomes of the Bachelor’s degree in Adult Educational Sciences, in particular (see overview document: Learning Outcocmes Bachelor Adult Educational Sciences)

1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 18 & 20

Course specific learning results

The student ....

can define concepts from the central, theoretical frameworks (rhetoric, discourse analysis and narrative theory), using the terminology learned;
can describe and illustrate the role of language in the public sphere, using the learned terminology (central frameworks), by means of developments within and examples from the agogic domain (more specifically debates around education, culture and art);
can understand the principles of spoken and written language production (good practices within different text genres; e.g. opinion texts, speeches, academic articles, powerpoints) and relate these to insights from the central frameworks
can apply the insights into the rhetorical role of communication (more specifically propaganda, fallacies, conflict language and their remedies) to concrete, new situations in political and social debate.
can analyze why certain communication situations derail and can advise how they can be improved using concepts from the central frameworks and the rhetorical role of language in communication situations (propaganda, fallacies, conflict language and their remedies);
can formulate arguments and positions from an articulate and (self) critical position and present own analyses of texts (e.g., policy texts) on a broader, current debate about education, culture, or the arts based on learned principles & good practices.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 60% of the final mark.
PRAC Practical Assignment determines 40% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Written Exam with a relative weight of 60 which comprises 60% of the final mark.

Note: multiple choice and essay questions

Within the PRAC Practical Assignment category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Individual assignment with a relative weight of 10 which comprises 10% of the final mark.

Note: 1 assignment: individual assignment on 1 module of the course
Group assignment with a relative weight of 30 which comprises 30% of the final mark.

Note: 1 assignment: group assignment (within a course-crossing framework)

Additional info regarding evaluation

Students have to get 10/20 on every one of the course parts to succeed for the course. In you get a failing grade for one of the two parts, you will recieve the lowest partial grade as the final score. The partial grade for which you succeeded in the first sitting can be transfered to the second sitting and you will not have to take up this course part again.

The partial results of the separate course parts are not transferable to the next academic year.

In the second stiting, the group presentation is replaced by an alternative assignment.

If you are absent for one component, you will get an "Absent" as the final grade for the entire course. If you do not submit one of the assignment, you will receive an "absent" for this course component.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context