TRANSFORMING STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF CIVIL PUBLIC DISCOURSE Barbara Mae Gayle, University of Portland. Supported by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Students studying civil public discourse explored whether the media emphasis on adversarial dialogue results in problematic discourse strategies that influence public policy and shape societys attitudes

DIATRIBE TO DIALOGUE My public speaking course focusing on civil public discourse helped students develop key intellectual habits: Locating major issues in a dispute Identifying various perspectives embedded in divisive issues Recognizing argumentation strategies used to polarize discourse Evaluating a variety of alternatives Employing specific methods for establishing deliberative communities I developed multiple activities that: Incorporated reasoned interactions on divisive topics, Encouraged students to “try on� divergent views, Created an understanding of the processes necessary to sustain civil public discourse in an adversarial climate, Enhanced students’ presentational abilities. I explored the efficacy of my course construction in: Helping students understand the complexities of public controversies Determining whether challenging course materials can transform student perspectives. The first part of my project explored whether new students: View public deliberation using polarized thinking, Think differently about civil public discourse after completing the course Improve their presentational skills The second part of my project determined whether supporting two different perspectives: Changed student speaker attitudes Altered student listeners' beliefs. NWCA Publication First Draft Final Paper CONSULTING THE EXPERTS Incorporating the work of: Deborah Tannen’s Argument Culture Pearce and Littlejohn’s Moral Conflict Makau and Marty’s Cooperative Argumentation Chasin et al’s From diatribe to dialogue on divisive public issues Foss and Griffin’s article, Beyond Persuasion: A proposal for invitational rhetoric, helped me frame the problem. Examining Mezirow’s Learning as Transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress Baxter Magolda’s Teaching to promote intellectual and personal maturity: Incorporating students’ worldviews and identities into the learning process provided a theoretical lens to investigate the learning process. Reference One Reference Two

STUDY FINDINGS RQ1: DO STUDENTS VIEW THE WORLD IN POLAR TERMS AND DOES THIS COURSE HAVE AN IMPACT ON THIER VIEWS? Students pre/post test scores reveal a moderate amounts of indicates polarized thinking. A qualitative analysis of their assignments reflected win-lose thinking. RQ2: DOES STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF CIVIL PUBLIC DISCOURSE THEORY AND PRAXIS INCREASE? Comparisons of student journal entries revealed: Students increased their awareness of the importance of civil public discourse Students were able to examine an issue from multiple perspectives Students could build a context that encouraged civility and collaborative reasoning. RQ3: DO STUDENTS ATTAIN SIMILAR LEVELs OF PUBLIC SPEAKING SKILLS AS IN A TRADITIONAL SPEECH COURSE? Pre/post tests comparing two skills-based courses reveal similar abilities across courses. Students' self-critique paper reveals their overall improvement. RQ4 DO STUDENT SPEAKERS AND LISTENERS ALTER THEIR ATTITUDES AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES AND IDEAS IN A CIVIL PUBLIC DISCOURSE CLASS? Pre/post attitude tests suggest students changed their attitudes about: Megan’s Law Animal testing School vouchers Human cloning Minimum wage increase. Speakers Reported more attitude change. Maintained that the quality of evidence was influential in changing their stance. Listeners Reported less attitude change Maintained their personal experiences were most influential in retaining their original views. Results suggest a transformation for speakers based on involvement and effort, but not for listeners. Research Question One Research Question Two Research Question Three Research Question Four

SOCIAL SCIENCE METHODOLOGY EMPLOYED Participants in this research project were: Fourteen frosh in an honors section of civil public discourse Twenty frosh in a civil public discourse section Twenty four frosh in a skills-based course Twenty five frosh in a skills-based course Pre/post tests measured student attitudes about: Polar Thinking—simplistic black and white thinking Civil Public Discourse—inclusive and reasoned discourse Public Presentational Skills—developing a topic to fit audience and occasion Attitudes on Classmate’s Topics—how their views were shaped, altered or reinforced Students’ testimony as speakers and the listeners' process journal entries were coded to: Ascertain the rationale provided for their attitude change Determine the reasons for maintaining their perspective. A teaching journal recorded: Pedagogical challenges Observations of student behavior Pre/Post Test of Polar Thinking and Civil Public Discourse PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS Participating in reasoned discourse suggests that students at a minimum: Explore the underlying assumptions of their own stance Understand the layered complexity of a topic Refrain from belittling others Avoid believing their own stance is superior. Deliberatively engaging students in understanding multiple perspectives on the same topic: Creates more reflection about how they came to a particular stance Enhances students' understanding of others' values Enables them to be more open to a variety of viewpoints Engages them in a transformative learning situation O’Keefe suggests as an issue becomes more personally relevant, the motivation for engaging in thoughtful consideration increases. Four Student Speech Examples