Frameworks, Methodological Approaches, and Multimodal-Rhetorical Interaction in TED Talks: A Systematic Review

Abstract

TED Talks have emerged as a prominent genre of educational and motivational public discourse, characterized by sophisticated orchestration of multimodal elements. This systematic literature review synthesizes empirical research on multimodal-rhetorical interaction in TED Talks, examining theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, multimodal elements, rhetorical strategies, and research gaps in the field. Following the PRISMA framework, the researcher conducted a comprehensive search across various databases. After title/abstract screening (n=20) and full-text review, in which empirical studies published in 2020–2026 analyzing multimodal-rhetorical interaction in TED Talks or similar motivational public speaking were considered, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. Dominant frameworks include multimodal discourse analysis and multimodal persuasion models. Verbal discourse, gestures, and visual aids are most frequently studied. Key rhetorical strategies include narrative storytelling, ethos-building, emotional appeals (including humor), rhetorical devices, and dense nonverbal orchestration. Multimodal-rhetorical interaction in TED Talks represents a rich but methodologically constrained research domain.