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English · Grade 11

Rhetorical Analysis and Audience

Learners analyze how great American speakers adapt to their audiences. They study Frederick Douglass's 1852 address “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” to see how a speaker can honor and confront the same listeners, and Patrick Henry's 1775 call to arms (as reconstructed decades later by William Wirt) to trace how a speech escalates. They learn to write rhetorical analysis that explains choices, effects and purpose rather than spotting devices.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 140 minutes
  • Rhetorical analysis check: 10 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, highlight a text, match pairs, put in order, sort into groups and arrange tiles
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What learners will discover

  • Analyze a speaker's audience (primary and secondary, shared values, prior beliefs, likely resistance) and how it shapes rhetorical choices.
  • Analyze how style (diction, syntax, imagery, pronouns) and structure contribute to a text's power and persuasiveness.
  • Trace a speaker's shifts in tone, focus or appeal and explain the purpose each shift serves.
  • Write rhetorical analysis that explains a choice, its effect on the audience and how it serves the speaker's purpose.

Lessons

  1. Who is listening? 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  2. Style and structure 6 steps3 practiceabout 34 min
  3. Tracing shifts 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  4. Write rhetorical analysis 5 steps3 practiceabout 40 min
  5. Rhetorical analysis check 10 questions at the end

Keep exploring

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Guide for grown-ups