Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

From Small Beginnings To Large-Scale Harm: On Demagoguery And Misogyny In The Classroom And Writing Center, Shannon Roberson

Theses and Dissertations

My project is grounded in the rhetorical concept of aretê—excellence or virtue—as it relates to education and educational spaces within demagogic and misogynist cultural forces. The problems of demagoguery and misogyny stem from small-scale perpetuation of agonistic norms that go unaddressed in U.S. culture, a culture that is deeply identity-driven. These forces persist on social media platforms and within patriarchal systems of education.

For my project, I suggest rhetorical media literacy education of small-scale demagoguery moments on social media as a way to bring awareness to larger-scale events. On a micro-scale, social media influencers cultivate behaviors that mimic demagogic …

The Effects Of Task Complexity And Task Condition On L2 Individual Writing And Peer Interaction, Siak Bie Soh

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study adopts the Cognition Hypothesis to examine the effects of task complexity, (+/- causal reasoning demand) and task condition (individual, dyadic and triadic groupings) on the L2 individual writing and peer interaction. A 2 (Task Complexity) x 3 (Task Condition) repeated-measures ANOVA (RM-ANOVA) research design, was employed on 36 Malaysian university students. Six argumentative topic-based written texts were produced by each participant in each of the three sessions. In each of the sessions, i.e. individual, dyadic and triadic, participants experienced two argumentative tasks: one simple and another complex based on the principle of natural complexity progression. The individual session …

The Undergraduate 2020, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

Spectrum 2020, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Spoken Feedback On Speech Presentations, Woei Ling Wong

Student Works (2020-2029)

Evaluative feedback is often observed in the context of language classroom and are often dialogic. A general rule of thumb is that evaluative feedback represents largely “post-observation evaluation” which relies on performance-based criteria. For non-dialogic evaluative feedback, it usually dwindles down to written form such as appraisal reports. The domain of non-dialogic spoken evaluative feedback is a domain which remains untapped due to restrictions to such interaction platform. This discourse study aims to describe different aspects of how non-dialogic spoken feedback is managed among trained evaluators within a specific linguistic context based on the Discourse Analysis Model that defines the …

A Genre Analysis Of Online Crisis Press Releases On The Mh370 Flight Incident, Che Mat Nor Zulaikha

Student Works (2020-2029)

A crisis press release is a piece of writing intended for the members of media and general public which specifically deals with a particular emergency case or incident. The use of press release in an event of crisis is crucial as a means of communication. This study aims to analyse the press releases on MH370 flight incident from a genre analysis perspective. 44 corporate press releases are collected from the Malaysia Airlines website and analysed. The findings of this study identify the communicative purposes of the crisis press release which are to disseminate information, to address issues and speculations as …

Metaphors Of Political Satire: A Study Of Online Jordanian News Columns, Abedlrazaq Albtoush Mohammad Abedltif

Student Works (2020-2029)

This study aims at examining types of universal and culturally-specific metaphors utilized in satirical socio-political columns of online Jordanian news columns. The selected dataset comprises 97 extracts across the years 2010-2015 and is compiled from the website www.sawaleif.com, which is mainly concerned with the writings of a well-known Jordanian columnist, Ahmad Hasan Al-Zu’bi. The study is mainly qualitative and is handled within the theoretical framework of the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) as well as the critical metaphor analysis championed by Charteris-Black (2004-2005). The linguistic metaphors are manually calculated in order to identify the different target …

"There Is Nothing Else Like It": The Innovative Personality Of Lowney Turner Handy, Nathan Crews

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Institutional Narrative As A Means For Evaluating Mission Alignment At Community Colleges, Paul Wesley Lundburg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Community colleges have expanded their goals and their mission statements to accommodate more students, introduce new programs, and respond to community needs. One result of this expansion has been the perception of mission misalignment: the idea that community colleges are struggling to fulfill their missions. Recent literature has focused on causes and problems presumed to be associated with mission misalignment; however, there is a gap in the empirical research on whether mission misalignment occurs. The purpose of this study was to examine mission misalignment in community colleges, thereby helping to fill the gap in the literature. The research question was …

God Of War: Masculinity And Fatherhood Through Procedural Rhetoric, Andrew A. Morgan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Video games and academia have a long history with one another. Academic researchers have continued to debate the extent to which video games can materialize real world effects. In this thesis, I employ procedural rhetoric and feminist scholarship to analyze the rhetorical power of God of War. I focus on the game’s immersive procedures and the performances of masculinity from Kratos, Atreus, and Baldur. These three characters all perform different masculinities, and their interactions with one another inform the game’s portrayal of masculinity and fatherhood. By engaging in violence and depicting nuanced performances of masculinity, God of War positions the …

#Kancelkulture: An Analysis Of Cancel Culture And Social Media Activism Through The Lens Of Minority College Students, Korri E. Palmer

Senior Independent Study Theses

I am investigating how minority students of color find cancel culture (boycotting a brand or celebrity) to be a beneficial or harmful form of social media activism. I situate social media as a networked public and discuss how consumer activism meets social media activism, specifically on Twitter, to create cancel culture. My study includes results from a combination of a focus group and individual interviews that discuss topics of social media use, participation in cancel culture and activism involvement. This study provides a definition of cancel culture through the perspectives of generation Z social media users and discusses the duality …

La Rhétorique De La Joute Verbale Dans Les Femmes Savantes De Molière, Passakorn Tongvijid

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Cette étude vise à étudier les techniques discursives mises en oeuvre par Molière dans les Femmes savantes. Cette pièce présente une joute oratoire où les personnages ont recours aux différents procédés rhétoriques et argumentatifs pour défendre et soutenir leurs points de vue tout en cherchant à discréditer et dévaloriser les arguments adverses. En effet, les protagonistes se scindent en deux camps. Tandis que les uns font, avec ostentation, l’éloge du savoir, les autres plaident pour la cause de l’amour. Ainsi, s’entremêlent les arguments rationnels et les arguments passionnels tout au long de la bataille verbale.

Facing The Horror Of Uncertainty: Using Female Slashers As A Model For Thinking About And Practicing English Literature And Composition, Rose Hall

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Hear Me Roar, Abigail R. Seethoff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Hear Me Roar, a compilation of personal essays interspersed with short forms, grapples with the nuances of compliance versus autonomy in the context of the male gaze, beauty standards, and pop culture. The collection also explores what it means to treasure something—another person, an object—and how to express and deepen that affection.

Wid Course Enhancements In Stem: The Impact Of Adding ‘Writing Circles’ And Writing Process Pedagogy, Tereza Joy Kramer, Joseph Zeccardi, Rebecca Concepcion, Chi-An Emhoff, Steve Miller, Krista Varela Posell

Interdisciplinary Works

This study reports on a quantitative assessment of enhancements to a Writing in the Disciplines course in Kinesiology. The assessment coded student writing produced in semesters before and after a Kinesiology course was enhanced with both iterated peer review groups and writing-process scaffolding. These enhancements were developed through a sustained partnership between WAC and disciplinary faculty. Analysis of the results revealed significantly higher scores in five Learning Outcomes developed to align with the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing (2011). These findings offer quantitative evidence that adding writing-process pedagogy and iterated peer review improves student outcomes in both writing and …

Decolonizing American Democracy And The Problem Of Gerrymandering: Implications Of Border Designs From A Communication Ethics Perspective, Mark Gardner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project attempts to understand the powerful force of political borders from a historical and communicative perspective. Of particular importance to this research is the role that political borders play in shaping individuals’ relationship to structures and practices of democracy. Following insights of decolonial and communication ethics scholars, this work understands the importance of ethically framing deliberations surrounding physical, metaphorical, and categorical political borders. Five chapters make up this work in the culmination of analyzing political gerrymandering as a form of democratic competition grounded in the rhetoric of colonialism. Tracing the colonial history of borders throughout American democracy provides this …

Bureaucratic Modernity And The Erosion Of Practical Reason: A Rhetorical Education As An Antidote, David Impellizzeri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To what extent and in what ways does modernity reveal itself through the bureaucratic? This project aims at an interpretive understanding of bureaucratic modernity. The rationalization of society and action in the (late) modern world requires that an increasing number of human activities and domains be explained in allegedly neutral, ‘rational’ terms and without reference to morally substantive ends. Ultimately, this entails a form of epistemic reductionism that elevates instrumental rationality to the exclusion of practical reason and probabilistic ways of knowing. Bureaucratic modernity signifies a decrease in choices that can be legitimized in public on some basis other …

An Exploration Of Communication Ethics Scholarship And Economic Spheres, Andrew Tinker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project examines communication ethics scholarship to understand how economics is understood within the field and to establish coordinates for scholars to discuss economic spheres as phenomena that affect communication ethics. Scholars draw from the tradition of virtue ethics to mark communication ethics inquiry as that which explores the practices that protect and promote the “good.” Philosophers of communication and communication ethicists have developed paradigmatic metaphors for the field that allow us to understand the formation of ethical guidelines within communities both familial, corporate, and national, that promote and protect various goods. These metaphors include “hierarchy” and “sameness” from Charles …

In Broken Places, Judith Katherine Spradling

Theses and Dissertations

Constructed from a series of oral histories, the story of Andrea and Grant Jacks allows the audience a unique insight into the struggle of fulfilling the desire to parent. Often painful, this project looks at the diagnosis from both male and female perspectives following a couple’s journey through diagnosis, surgery, and treatment along with the emotional turmoil of dealing with devastating news and loss. This project does not seek to create sympathy for infertile couples but to educate, bring awareness, and offer understanding. The intent of thesis seeks to provide insight and understanding as a basis of support for family, …

The Unexpected Rhetoric Of Professional & Technical Writing, Catherine Boone

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Professional Writing & Rhetoric: A compilation of work on research about website usability, ethics, and an editing portfolio and new teacher manual