What is Rhetoric and Why do We Use it?

Rhetoric refers to the study and uses of written, spoken and visual language. It investigates howlanguage is used to organize and maintain social groups, construct meanings and identities,coordinate behavior, mediate power, produce change, and create knowledge. Rhetoricians oftenassume that language is constitutive (we shape and are shaped by language), dialogic (it exists in theshared territory between self and other), closely connected to thought (mental activity as "innerspeech") and integrated with social, cultural and economic practices. Rhetoric began ۲۵۰۰ years agoas the study of the forms of communication and argument essential to public, political and legal lifein Ancient Greece. It has since evolved a rich and diverse body of research, texts, and pedagogies. Inits long and vigorous history rhetoric has enjoyed many definitions, accommodated differingpurposes, and varied widely in what it included. And yet, for most of its history it has maintained itsfundamental character as a discipline for training students ۱) to perceive how language is at workorally and in writing, and ۲) to become proficient in applying the resources of language in their ownspeaking and writing. Discerning how language is working in others' or one's own writing andspeaking, one must (artificially) divide form and content, what is being said and how this is saidBecause rhetoric examines so attentively the how of language, the methods and means ofcommunication, it has sometimes been discounted as something only concerned with style orappearances, and not with the quality or content of communication. The aim of current article is toexamine the scope, importance and its effect briefly.