Rhetoric and Educational Discourse Persuasive Texts

This book will be the first to offer a philosophical and linguistic analysis of rhetoric and discourse as deployed throughout education. It draws upon the work of Foucault, Derrida, and Lyotard to investigate rhetoric in the classroom; in learning mediated through new communication technologies (e.g. the Internet), in professional development, in policy documents, in institutional management and leadership, and in education research itself. It will be a key resource for those conducting research into discourse in any branch of education.

Educational policy is often dismissed as simply rhetoric and a collection of half truths. However, this is to underestimate the power of rhetoric and the ways in which rhetorical strategies are integral to persuasive acts. Through a series of illustrative chapters, this book argues that rather than something to be dismissed, rhetorical analysis offers a rich and deep arena in which to explore and examine educational issues and practices. It adopts an original stance in relation to contemporary debates and will make a significant contribution to educational debates in elucidating and illustrating the pervasiveness of persuasive strategies in educational practices.Rhetoric and Educational Discourse is a useful resource for postgraduate and research students in education and applied linguistics. The book will also be of interest to academics and researchers in these fields of study and those interested in discursive approaches to research and scholarship.

1. Introduction: Acts of Seduction? 2. Rhetorical Practices 3. Metaphors of and in Learning and Teaching 4. Inventing the 'Good Teacher' 5. Cyberspace, Cyberbole: Metaphorizing the Virtual 6. Taking Up Workplace Learning 7. Action at a Distance: the Rhetoric of Research Management 8. Sultans of Spin? 9. The Migrating and Forging of Policy 10. Writing Research

Richard Edwards is Professor of Educattion and Katherine Nicoll is Lecturer in Education, both at the University of Stirling. Nicky Solomon is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Technology, Sydney. Robin Usher is Professor of Education at RMIT University in Melbourne.