Abstract:
This study interrogates the covid-19 addresses of president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to discover their inherent rhetorical appeals and goals. Qualitative content
analysis was the design for the work, by which the research officer purposively sampled
five (5) COVID-19 addresses of the president for interpretive analysis. The focus of the
study was on the covid-19 addresses delivered between February 2021 and March 2022
which were rhetorically analysed based on the Aristotelian rhetorical theory. The study
found numerous persuasive strategies that exposed the presence of Aristotle's triad of
appeals; ethos, logos and pathos in all the five selected update speeches. The findings
of the study revealed further that, appeal to exemplary leadership, expert approval and
trust in authorities were used under ethos while appeal to fear and empathy, nationhood
and optimism are appeal types found to have depicted the patho-centric mode of
persuasion. And the type of appeals which exemplified logos include; appeal to logical
argumentation, datadriven policies and statistical data. Again, achievement of zero
COVID-19 active cases in Ghana was found to be the overarching persuasive goal and
two other supporting goals of attaining a vaccine-induced herd immunity and adherence
to the COVID-19 safety protocols. The study also conclusively upholds the effective
utilization of Aristotle’s trichotomy of appeals by Mr. Akufo Addo in his addresses to
strategically influence an appreciative response among his audience, on the fatality of
the virus, efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and adherence to the safety protocols.
Suggestions were made to the effect that; subsequent studies could examine the impact
of the persuasive techniques employed by the president on the Ghanaian populace. And
replicating this study on the other covid-19 speeches by the president, apart from the
ones selected for the current study.
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Communication Instruction,
School of Communication and Media Studies,
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies
in partial Fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Arts
(Communication Skills)
in the University of Education, Winneba