AN INTRODUCTION TO

ACADEMIC, PARLIAMENTARY AND CROSS-EXAMINATION

STYLES OF DEBATE

 

Foreword

This is a collection of articles that Brian Casey wrote in the mid 1980’s introducing students to the three styles of debating most commonly used at present at the high school level in Canada.

The order in which the styles are presented is intended to be from the most basic to the most sophisticated. I would recommend to coaches that novice debaters begin using Academic style, without heckling. Once they have developed some proficiency at this, introduce heckling. Next move on to Parliamentary style, with its Points of Order, Privilege and Information and special forms of address and terminology. Once they have mastered these styles, expose students to Cross-examination and Academic with Worlds Style Points of Information. These most difficult and challenging of styles require debaters to ask and answer questions.

Debating can be done on prepared or impromptu topics. To begin with, you may want to give debaters relatively simple or humorous resolutions, to whet their appetites. Once they see how enjoyable debating is, they will want to do thorough research on more serious subjects, and perhaps to enter competitions.

Speaking times can be very short - say, a minute or two - to begin with, but as they gain experience, debaters will be able to hold the floor for longer periods as they become more aware of the intricacies of the art. The speaking times mentioned in Mr. Casey’s articles are usual maximum times for prepared debates.

We prefer to use Cambridge rebuttal format (except in Parliamentary style, where the Oxford format is traditional), to put all students on the same footing.

The size of teams varies from province to province and event to event. In Nova Scotia, we have used debating duels (one on one) and two-person teams in our Provincial Impromptu Championships and three-person teams for our Junior and Senior High School Championships. Three-person teams seem particularly appropriate for Parliamentary style debates while two-person teams are probably preferable for Cross-examination matchs. (We use three-person teams for our provincial championships to give more students a chance to compete without necessitating more judges. Three students judged for the same price as two!)

9 March 1999 John D. Filliter

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