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6th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 14 of 14

Devices or Fallacies?

Repetition and rhetorical questions versus stereotypes and scare tactics.

What your child practices

Your child tells rhetorical devices (repetition, rhetorical questions) apart from faulty reasoning (hyperbole, emotional appeals and stereotypes) in what they read.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 6.9(G); 6.12(H) · rhetorical devices, logical fallacies and faulty reasoning in sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Rhetorical devices are fair tools: repetition, rhetorical questions and evidence from trusted sources.
  2. Faulty reasoning tricks readers: wild exaggeration, scare tactics and stereotypes.
  3. Ask: does this give a real reason, or just a strong feeling?

Example: Which is hyperbole used as faulty reasoning: “Recess helps students focus.” or “If we cancel recess, no student will ever smile again.”? “No student will ever smile again” is a wild stretch. It isn’t a real reason. Answer: “If we cancel recess, no student will ever smile again.”

Devices or Fallacies? in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 14 of 14 in 6th grade English Language Arts, after Roots: mis, bene, man, vac, scrib, jur.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is a logical fallacy?

    • a kind of poem
    • a well-chosen word
    • a reliable source
    • a mistake in reasoning that weakens an argument

  2. Question 2

    Which statement uses an emotional appeal?

    • “Think of the lonely puppies waiting in shelters tonight.”
    • “The shelter opens at nine.”
    • “Adoption costs fifty dollars.”
    • “The shelter has 40 dogs.”

  3. Question 3

    “Weather service scientists report record heat this year.” This supports a claim with…

    • evidence from a trusted source
    • a rhetorical question
    • hyperbole
    • a stereotype

  4. Question 4

    Which is a rhetorical question?

    • “Who doesn't love a sunny day?”
    • “Where is the library?”
    • “How many apples are left?”
    • “What time is it?”

  5. Question 5

    “Recycling saves energy, saves money and saves space.” This uses…

    • a citation
    • a hasty claim
    • parallel repetition for emphasis
    • a stereotype

  6. Question 6

    Which is NOT a logical fallacy?

    • insulting the speaker
    • giving statistics from a reliable study
    • calling a group lazy
    • exaggerating the danger

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