The rhetorical triangle sets up the goals that the argument should accomplish based on who and what the argument is directed towards. The first point in the triangle is the speaker, or the writer (Carscallen & Serna, 2017). The students must establish themselves as a credible source in order for their audience to accept their argument.
The second point in the triangle is the message in context, which is the argument itself (Carscallen & Serna, 2017). While this is the largest portion of the paper, it needs to be considered along with the other two points. The message makes the speaker ask – what exactly am I trying to argue, and why? Once students know how they want the specific audience to think or feel as a result of reading their work, they will know their message.
The third, and perhaps most important point in the triangle, is the audience (Carscallen & Serna, 2017). An argument often needs to be vastly different depending on who the audience is. Many teachers simply use the audience as themselves, or the general public. This is fine, but students should be asked to explore who their audience could be in a more creative way. Since there will be assumptions and beliefs that one audience will have that another may not, it is important for students to understand who their audience is in order to properly select how to convey that message.
Activity #1: Finding the Triangle Source: Douglas & Kiefer
Teachers can give students a piece of media and ask them to identify the elements of the rhetorical triangle. This can be a photo advertisement, a social media post, a magazine article, a commercial, etc. The students will then either read or watch the piece of media and identify the three points of the triangle. The goal is to analyze whether or not the student thinks the argument that the media is making is effective, and why. A commercial for a medical device for seniors isn't going to be effective for a student because they are not in the target audience. A social media post advertising an audition for a musical written by someone who clearly does not know the industry isn't going to be effective because a real performer will know that whoever created it doesn't know what they are doing. An ad in a magazine with only pictures and no captions isn't going to be effective because the audience doesn't know what the message or context is. The goal of the activity is to help students learn to recognize when the triangle is not used effectively, in order to develop their ability to master it.
Activity #2: Creating the Triangle Source: My Brain
After students have seen and analyzed the triangle in other peoples' work, they should practice using it on their own. An easy way to do this is to have students do a creative project in which they create some type of advertisement. They can use the media they looked at for the last activity as their inspiration, or use a different type of ad. Students who are artistic can draw or build something, those who have technological skills can use a computer program, those who enjoy writing can write a short article, and (when appropriate) students could also use apps to create a social media post. Either the teacher can assign students an item or they can choose their own, depending on the class. Students can advertise something specific from a book, such as an enrollment ad for the Lowood School in Jane Eyre, which allows this activity to coordinate with the text being read in class. The advertisements can also just be ordinary objects, or even more complex ideas.