A Sociopragmatic Study of Persuasive Appeals in English TEDx Talks

Abstract

In TEDx lectures, persuasive communication has developed into a potent instrument for idea dissemination. However, little is known about the persuasive arguments made by speakers with varying professional backgrounds, particularly how the social aspects of occupation affect the selection of such arguments. To address this gap, this study investigates persuasive appeals in the context of TEDx talks in English. More precisely, it seeks to identify the categories of speech actions TEDx speakers use that exhibit persuasive appeals and how they differ based on the speaker’s profession. This study demonstrates that pathos is the more common persuasive appeal employed by amateur TEDx presenters to emotionally engage the audience, whereas logos and ethos are essential for professionals in TEDx lectures, fitting with their role as specialists. Furthermore, there is a correlation between the persuasive appeal and the speech acts that English TEDx speakers perform, as each compelling appeal in the chosen data is linked to a consistent pattern of speech acts. For data analysis, a sample of four English TEDx talks is chosen from four different TEDx speakers. The target sample was analyzed through an eclectic model based on Searle’s (1976) Theory of Speech Acts and Lucas’s (2009) Model of Persuasive Strategies. The study comprised both a qualitative analysis and a quantitative analysis, which helped present the conclusion that English TEDx speakers use different persuasive appeals depending on their occupation, and the social variable of occupation, in turn, is reflected in the TEDx speakers’ use of pragmatic strategies, namely speech acts.