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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 31:2 (2021) ► pp.434–457

“Stories that are worth spreading”

A communicative model of TED talk narratives

ORCID logo | King AbdulAziz University | Cairo University

The present study aims to provide a conceptualization of how narratives function in TED talks. It uses Bamberg’s positioning theory as a theoretical framework to build a communicative model of TED Talk narratives. TED narratives are “small stories” that are told, indeed performed, in the presence of an audience and designed to accomplish particular rhetorical aims. The model specifically investigates (1) how genre features affect the design and rhetorical aims of TED talk narratives, (2) TED speaker’s narrative positioning and multi-modal narrative performance, (3) evidence of the audience’s engagement in the narrative and finally, (4) TED narratives as a scaffold for potential individual and social change. Using a multi-modal discourse analysis approach, the model is applied to the narratives used in Guy Winch’s TED Talk (Winch, 2015). The model provides an analytical tool for investigating the dynamic interaction and semiotic signaling involved in the communicative performance of TED Talk narratives.

Keywords: positioning theory, narrative analysis, semiotic narrative performance, small stories, TED talk, audience engagement
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Bamberg’s positioning theory (1997a, 2004)
  • TED Talk genre features: The effect of media resources on TED Talk narrative production
  • Winch’s TED Talk (2015) “Why We All need to Practice emotional First Aid”
  • Winch’s narrative positioning in “The child band-aid” narrative
  • Winch’s (2015) narrative performance: The multi-modal signaling in the “birthday call narrative” and evidence of the audience’s engagement
  • Evidence of evolving concepts, narratives and signals in Winch’s TED Talk (2015)
  • The communicative model of TED Talk narrative: A conceptualization of how TED Talk narratives function
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 February 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19037.nad
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