Question

1) Read the following student perspective and then choose your answer.

According to Campbell's article, there were high hopes that the advent of television would facilitate communication with the public and create an atmosphere of open communication between national leaders and the public. While there are multiple outlets for political news shows, Americans seem to be equally attracted to reality programming, soap operas, and televised sporting events, thus only partially fulfilling the early promise of increased national political awareness and interest.

Which approach is the student taking in the argument essay?
a) The student is defending the author's claim.
b) The student is challenging the author's claim.
c) The student is qualifying the author's claim.
d) The student's perspective is unclear.

2) Read the following student perspective and then choose your answer.
Campbell claims that up-to-date information about elected officials and political events was not accessible to the American people before the advent of television. He concludes that the widespread distribution of televisions throughout the nation served to increase interest and awareness in American political life. He fails to consider, however, that just because numerous news outlets are available does not mean that Americans are interested or are actually watching. It is more likely that they are tuned into sitcoms, cartoons, and reality shows.

Which approach is the student taking to the argument essay?
a) The student is defending the author's claim.
b) The student is challenging the author's claim.
c) The student is qualifying the author's claim.
d) The student's perspective is unclear.

Answer 1

1: c) The student is qualifying the author's claim.

2: b) The student is challenging the author's claim.

Step-by-step explanation:

Qualifying a Claim

It means, making a claim factually more correct, and persuading those to agree who earlier had disagreed with the claim.

The phrases "Americans seem to be equally attracted" and "thus only partially fulfilling" clearly show that the student is not challenging the author's claims nor is he defending it. But he is trying to make the claim factually correct and acceptable to those who disagreed with author's claims. Student's perspective is very clear. He has clearly conveyed his point of view.

Challenging a Claim:

As the term shows, it means to make the entire claim doubtful or clearly challenging its validity.

The phrases "just because numerous news outlets are available does not mean that Americans are interested" and "It is more likely that they are tuned into sitcoms, cartoons, and reality shows." indicate that the student is making the author's claims doubtful. He has raised a question over its validity.

The student is very clear in pointing out the flaw in author's claim.