Ethos Pathos Logos

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Introduction According to Alderson (2005:320) critical reading involves “…identifying the function of a piece of writing, recognising author’s presuppositions and assumptions, distinguishing fact from opinion, recognising an intended audience and point of view, and evaluating a point of view…”. Critical reading means reading with the goal of finding deep understanding of a material, whether it is fiction or nonfiction. It is the act of analysing and evaluating what you are reading as you make your way through the text or as you reflect back upon your reading. Authors have a variety of persuasive techniques which can be used as tools to influence the reader’s opinion. By analysing the techniques used by the writer, learner’s ability to critically read and analyse a text develops. Persuasive techniques vary, but according to Aristotle (trans. 1959) can be generalised as appealing to ethos (credibility), logos (logic), and pathos (emotion). This essay will specifically address the appeal to ethos by analysing the author’s motivation and potential bias, the appeal to logos by analysing the difficulties students have distinguishing between opinion and fact, and the appeal to pathos by analysing the use of emotive language (e.g. connotative …show more content…

This can be particularly difficult for students who tend to translate and define words. In my experience, students can sound unintentionally rude or negative by simply choosing the wrong word. When referring to the word as wrong, it is only wrong in connotation, not in literal meaning. It is common for students to use words such as thin and skinny interchangeably, without noting the connotation. When reading, students do not always identify the connotation of a word and the effect it can have on the sentence and the general meaning of the text. It requires critical reading to be able to identify such

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