How-to-do-a-debate

Unit3EnglishForDebateWhatisaDebate•Adebateisaformofargument.Itcontainstwoteamsarguingoppositesidesofa“proposition”inanorderlymanner,followingagreeduponrules.Theteamthatagreeswiththetopiciscalledtheaffirmativeandtheteamthatdisagreeswiththetopiciscalledthenegative.Teamsarguetheirpropositionusingreasoningandevidence.TheBenefitsofaDebate•developpositiveattitudestowardtheintellectualexchangeofideas•developaninterestintheinvestigationofissuesandproblems•becomemoreadeptatdevelopingandputtingforwardideas•learntothinkquickly•learntoworkasateam•developleadershipskills•developspeakingandlisteningskills.Tobeagooddebater,youneed…•theconfidencetospeakinpublic.•theabilitytopresentanargumentpersuasively.•thevisiontounderstandthattherearetwosidestomostarguments.•therespectforothers,toletthemhavetheirsay.•thesenseoftiming,toprioritizeyourmaterialandspeakinagiventimeperiod.•thestructuretoorderyourthoughts,tointroduce,developandsummarizeyourpoints.•thegeneralandspecificknowledgeofmanycurrentaffairstopics,learntthroughresearchanddebate.•theflexibilitytoreactquicklytonewideas,andtoremainunflusteredincrises.Preparingforadebate,youshouldlearn…•tousealibrary,andtofindtheexactinformationyouneedintheshortestpossibletime.•tobethoroughandaccurate.•toanalyze,todistinguishbetweenthevitalandtheunimportant.•tolearntheneedofprovingyourstatements;ofsupportingeverystatementwithvalidevidenceandsoundreasoning•todemandthesamesortofproofforthestatementsofothers.•topresentideasinaclearandeffectivemanner,andinaway,whichwinsotherstoyourwayofthinking.•tothinkunderpressure,to“usehishead”inatimeofneed,tomakedecisionsquicklyandaccurately.HowtoConstructEffectiveArguments•Language•Languageisimportant,ofcourse,sincecontestantsmustbeunderstood.Judgeslookforaccuratepronunciation,andarticulationaswellastheabilitytovarythepaceandpitchofthevoicewhenspeaking.Thisoftenrequiresspeakerstoslowtheirspeechmorethantheywouldforeverydaylanguage.•Vocabularyusemustbeappropriate,correctandinterestingalthoughitisperhapsbetternottousewordsthatyouhavedifficultypronouncing.Therearenomarkstobegainedfromtryingtousebigwordsyoudon'tunderstandorcan'tpronounce.Somespeakers“fellovertheirownwords”eitherbyspeakingtooquicklyorbecausetheyhaddifficultycontrollingtheirnerves.•Trytoavoidbeingtooinformalbutdon'tgooverboardtheotherway.Content•Contentiswhatyousay,itisthesubstanceofyourspeech.Youshoulddivideyourcontentintoargumentsandsupportingmaterials.•AnargumentisastatementThetopicistrue(orfalse'dependingonwhichsideyouareon)becauseofx,wheretheargumentfillsinforthex.ForexampleinthetopicThatthezoosshouldbeclosedanargumentmaybe:thezoosshouldbeclosedbecausetheyconfinetheanimalsinanunnaturalenvironment•Themostimportantaspectofdebatingisthatassertionsmustbejustified.Noonecanbeconvincedorpersuadedofanythingiftheyaregivennoreasonfordoingso.Thatistosayyoushouldusematerialstosupportyourarguments.•Supportingmaterialscanbeexamples.Yourargumentscanalsobebackedupwithothersupportingmaterials,likereasons,statistics,andevenwithanecdotes(逸事），idioms,proverbs,quotationsandanalogies.Delivery•CuecardsDonotwriteoutallyourspeechoncuecards.Debatingisanexerciseinlivelyinteractionbetweentwoteamsandbetweentheaudiences,notinreadingaspeech.Theaudiencecantellwhenyouarereading.Usecuecardsthesamewayyouwoulduseaprompt(提示词）inaplay.Theyarethereforreferenceifyouloseyourspot.•EyecontactEyecontactisverycloselyrelatedtocuecards.Ifyoulookattheaudienceyouwillholdtheirattention.Ifyouspendyourtimereadingfromcuecardsorlookingatapointjustabovetheaudience'sheadtheywillloseconcentrationveryquickly.Whenyou'vegotthembytheeyeballs,theirheartsandmindswillfollow.•VoiceTherearemanythingsyoucandowithyourvoicetomakeiteffective.Youmustprojectsothatyoucanbeheard,butconstantshoutingisveryannoying.Adjustyourvolume,pitchandrateofspeakingtoemphasizeimportantpointsandcatchtheaudience'sattention.•BodylanguageYourbodyisatoolforyoutouse.Makehandgesturesdeliberatelyandwithconfidence.Moveyourheadandupperbodytomaintaineyecontactwithallmembersoftheaudience.Standwithconfidence.Don'tletyourbodyapologizeforyourpresencebyappearingnervous.Remember…Confidenceisvitalindebate.Yourpresentation,speech,andappearancematteralmostasmuchasyourdeliveryandyourcontent.So…•Dressappropriately•Havenotesprepared.Youdonotwantyourdebatetobeanoralpresentationofawrittenessay.•Practicespeakingaloudinfrontofamirrorandtheninfrontofotherpeople.Refutearguments•Refutationistheprocessofprovingthatanargumentoraseriesofarguments,ortheconclusionsdrawnfromthatargumentorarguments,isfalse,erroneous,oratleastdoubtful.Inadebate,effectiverefutationsarekeytosuccess.Refutationshouldbehandledsystematically.Guidelinestofollow•Anticipatewhatyouropponentwillsay.•Takecarefulnotesofwhatyouropponentsaysandnoteyourreactionstowhatissaid.•Findyouropponents'fallaciesinargumentsandattackonthatbasis•Organizeyourargumentseffectively.Avoidfallaciesinarguments•Makingeffectiveandlogicalargumentsiskeytosuccessinadebate.Tomakeyourargumentssound,youhavetobecarefulaboutfallaciesinreasoning.Typicalfallacies•EmotionalargumentE