Listening: Understanding Interactional Cues & Discourse (Advanced) C1 - Lesson 3: Recognizing How Speakers Use Language to Persuade, Influence, or Manipulate

Listening C1

The Power of Persuasion

Lesson Goals

• Identify the "Three Pillars of Persuasion" in a speech.
• Recognize rhetorical devices (Rule of Three, Repetition).
• Detect manipulative tactics like "False Dichotomies."

Advanced speakers—especially politicians, lawyers, and advertisers—don't just want you to listen. They want you to act. They use specific tools to hack your brain.

1. The Rhetorical Triangle

[Image of rhetorical triangle ethos pathos logos]

Aristotle identified three ways to persuade someone. When listening, identifying which one the speaker is using helps you analyze their argument.

🤝 ETHOS
Credibility & Trust

❤️ PATHOS
Emotion & Stories

🧠 LOGOS
Logic & Facts

2. Tricks of the Trade

Listen for these common patterns. They are designed to make speech memorable and hypnotic.

The Rule of Three Putting words in groups of three makes them stick.
"We must represent the past, the present, and the future."

Rhetorical Questions Asking a question just to answer it yourself.
"Do we want to fail? No. We want to succeed."

False Dichotomy (Manipulation) Presenting only two options when there are actually many.
"You are either with us, or you are against us." (Ignoring the middle ground).

Strategy: Identifying Bias

Manipulative speakers use "Weasel Words". These are words that sound confident but are actually vague.

"Experts say that this product is the best."

Ask yourself: WHICH experts? If they don't say who, they are likely trying to manipulate you.

Practice Activity: Deconstruct the Pitch

Listen to the sales pitch. Identify the technique used.

1. "I've been a doctor for 20 years..."
   (Technique: Ethos / Pathos / Logos)
2. "Imagine the pain of losing everything you love..."
   (Technique: Ethos / Pathos / Logos)
3. "It's safe, it's cheap, and it's effective."
   (Technique: False Dichotomy / Rule of Three)

Rhetorical Vocabulary

• Rhetoric (noun) /ˈrɛtərɪk/ [វោហារសាស្ត្រ] - The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing.
• Appeal (noun) /əˈpiːl/ [ការទាក់ទាញ] - A serious or urgent request to the public (e.g., an appeal to emotion).
• Dichotomy (noun) /daɪˈkɒtəmi/ [ការបែងចែកជាពីរ] - A division between two things that are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

Your Mission 🎙️

Watch a famous political speech (e.g., Barack Obama or Martin Luther King Jr.).

1. Find one example of the Rule of Three.
2. Find one example of Repetition (repeating a phrase for effect).