The Application of Contemporary Western Argumentation Theories in English Speech and Debate in China

Abstract

Western argumentation studies in contemporary China were not revived until the twentieth century with a heavy influence of Western epistemologies, especially pragma-dialectics and informal logic. In recent years, a new domain of argumentation studies has emerged in China as English speech and debate have flourished in Chinese universities over the past three decades. This essay focuses on how Western theories are applied in this emerging domain in China.