Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

The Futures Of Comparative Literature Envisioned By Chinese Comparatists, Sheng Meng

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In their article "The Futures of Comparative Literature Envisioned by Chinese Compara­tists" Sheng Meng and Yue Chen discuss the future of Comparative Literature from the perspective of Chinese comparatists. They argue that in response to the latest rhetoric around the crisis and death of Comparative Literature as a discipline, Chinese comparatists have fallen into four major repre­sentative groups. While the first one advocates restoring of international literary relations study of the French School, the second and the third camp see the future of the discipline lying in both the turn to translation and world literature respectively. However, the most ambitious …

Selected Bibliography For The Study Of The "Death" Of The Discipline Of Comparative Literature, Peina Zhuang

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

The Significance Of The Variation Theory In Cross-Cultural Communication, Yi Wan

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "The Significance of the Variation Theory in Cross-Cultural Communication" Yi Wan analyzes some problems that East-West Comparative Literature, as a discipline, has encountered and discusses the significance of the development of the Variation Theory, proposed by Shunqing Cao. The author aims to explore two important points of this new platform, namely, heterogeneity and variation, and compares this new perspective to the French School, which is based on "influences" and the American School which is based on "analogies." By investigating the variations of literary texts or theories during the course of cross-civilization communication from the perspectives of imagology …

Full Issue, The Anthology

The Anthology

This is the entirety of the 2017 Winthrop Anthology issue.

Student Perspectives On Writing Assignments, Stephen Gallas, Bryan Wisch

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Collaborative writing is increasingly a focal point in modern writing pedagogy. When analyzing the benefits that collaborative writing has on students, however, there does not seem to be enough research conducted with regards to whether or not students actually prefer collaborative writing over individual writing. While the opinion of scholars on the matter is known, it would be useful to know where students stand on the issue, and whether or not writing preferences of individual writing students affect the process, as well as product, of writing. By conducting an IRB-approved survey on a class first-year composition students, the researchers have …

Designing For Human-Machine Collaboration: Smart Hearing Aids As Wearable Technologies, Krista Kennedy

Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition - All Scholarship

This study examines design aspects that shape human/machine collaboration between wearers of smart hearing aids and their networked aids. The Starkey Halo hearing aid and the TruLink iPhone app that facilitates real-time adjustments by the wearer offer a case study in designing for this sort of collaboration and for the wearer’s rhetorical management of disability disclosure in social contexts. Through close textual analysis of the company’s promotional materials for patient and professional audiences as well as interface analysis and autoethnography, I examine the ways that close integration between the wearer, onboard algorithms and hardware, and geolocative telemetry shape everyday interactions …

Learning To Pray The Lord’S Prayer For Spiritual Transformation At Tachikawa Church Of Christ, Naoyoshi Fukushima

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis describes a project to lead the members of Tachikawa Church of Christ to learn and experience the power and blessings of praying the Lord’s Prayer for spiritual edification and maturity. The program consisted of eight weeks of learning the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and doing spiritual exercises. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I delivered eight sermons on the Lord’s Prayer with strong emphasis on the relational nature of the prayer.

Those who engaged in the spiritual exercises were given opportunities to experience joy, peace, and correction as they tried to live in harmony …

Black Australia ‘Writes Back’ To The Literary Traditions Of Empire, Danica Čerče

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

I In her article "Black Australia 'Writes Back' to the Literary Traditions of Empire" Danica Čerče discusses the verse of Australian Indigenous authors Romaine Moreton and Alf Taylor, notable for the overt objection to the institutional and historical processes. These have enabled and maintained the dominant position of those identified as white on the one hand, and the concomitant political, economic, and cultural subordination of Indigenous Australians on the other. Focused on strategies and poetic devices used by the two poets to engage non-Indigenous readers in the experience of their writing, the article examines how the rhetoric of their critique …

"Already Writers": A Case Study In Assessment And Visual Rhetoric Connections In Digital Multimodal Composition, Fawn Elise Canady

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

English language arts must respond to shifts in literacy practices that reflect changes in ‘college and career ready’ that are more than technologically mediated, but also emphasize creative and social skills. The case study in this dissertation is a small part of a larger, ongoing formative experiment in digital multimodal composition (DMC). A formative experiment is a methodological approach that favors a collaborative, iterative research process that is centered on an instructional goal in authentic classroom settings (Reinking & Bradley, 2008). The intention of the larger research study was to support students’ learning through DMC. This dissertation explored one of …

Tinkering With Comments: Tailoring Practice By Spying On Written Artifacts, Vicki Kennell, Amy Elliot, Joshua Weirick

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Presentations

Using data from two IRB-approved research studies, this panel presentation explores methods of and uses for coding tutors' and writers' written comments about documents. Half the presentation focuses on asynchronous online tutorial comments, and the other half focuses on graduate writing group members' comments on their peers' documents. The presentation demonstrates how coding methods have implications for writing center programming because they help us identify areas for potential additional tutor training by highlighting what tutors actually do in online sessions and because they clarify the type of positive impact a writing group might have over time.

Presentation And Final Research Paper For Eng 102 [English], Anita Baksh

Open Educational Resources

English 102 is a required course for almost all LaGuardia students. While most students enroll in the course in their second semester, there are some advanced students who take the course later. It is recommended that Composition I and II be taken in sequence since the latter builds upon skills acquired in the first composition course. Composition II is a process-based writing course. Students further develop the critical thinking, writing, and research skills they acquired in ENG 101. They learn close-reading techniques and study diverse texts in at least three genres (poetry, drama, and fiction). Students are required to write …

Identifying And Exploring A Literary Question [English], Cristina Bruns

Open Educational Resources

ENG 102, as a baseline course aligned with the Integration and Problem Solving competency and written ability, has two broad learning objectives: that students will read and analyze literary texts and that they will write academic essays.

The students in ENG 102 are usually non-majors in the first or second year of their college work and are taking the class to meet the second semester of composition that is required of most majors. Consequently, many of them enter the class with limited experience in reading and analyzing literary texts, and so the assignment is difficult for many students.

This assignment …

Don't Rock The Boat: Curricular Choices Of Contingent And Permanent Composition Faculty, Amy Lynch-Biniek

Academic Labor: Research and Artistry (2017-2022 archives)

No abstract provided.

Exploring Gender In First-Year Composition, Ross Alan Bradley

Theses and Dissertations

Recently scholars in Creative Writing have begun researching gender and how gender relates to student success composition classes. This thesis uses critical discourse analysis and linguistic markers associated with different genders to examine student interaction with emphasis on gender domination and power inequalities between students of different genders. Data was collected from both face-to-face and online first-year composition classes. The first chapter gives a brief overview of relevant literature and outlines the other chapters, the second chapter describes literature that was researched for the study, and the third chapter lays critical discourse analysis, which was used to analyze the data. …

Searching Infinity For Authentic Form: The Problem Of Memoir, Annmarie Lynn Dill

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a rhetorical analysis of the genre of memoir specifically examining the language used to define, describe, and critique the genre, focusing on the ways the language undermines memoir’s generic value. Since the 1990’s memoir has become increasingly popular, but lacks much academic investigation or critique into the conventions of the genre, though it has amassed much criticism. The genre’s rhetorical situation is at odds with general academic standards because inquiry must come before conclusive evaluations. To bridge this gap in scholarship, I have used methods of rhetorical criticism to analyze the definitions of memoir produced by five …

The American Pickers Demonstrates Communication Skills, Jeffrey Brand

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity prepares students to identify persuasive communication practices in non-classroom environments and to view reality-based television programs as a learning platform for understanding communication theories and concepts. Using selected scenes or an entire episode from a popular reality-television program, American Pickers, students can observe how Mike and Frank establish a rapport with new customers, get to know them and their stories, negotiate sales, interact with each other as a team, and leave with a new relationship (client) and connection intact. The purpose of this exercise is to help students observe these initial contacts and relationships as they develop on …

Developing A Supportive Communication Climate For Virtual Task Groups, Brent Kice

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This class activity places students in virtual teams to assess Gibb’s (1961) defensive or supportive behaviors as a means of reinforcing trust among virtual task-group members. A worksheet offering a fictitious online chat transcript is provided for group analysis; student directions for creating unique team names are also given. This activity helps students to establish positive climates for virtual task groups.

Men’S Rights Activists And The Ray Rice Domestic-Violence Case: Using Critical Communication Pedagogy To Counter Hegemonic Masculinity, David H. Kahl

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Some groups in society communicate in ways that attempt to marginalize others. One such group is the Men’s Rights Activists (MRA) who use language to attempt to normalize the subjugation of women through its rejection of feminism. This activity is designed to engage students in a dialogue about MRA’s response to the domestic-violence incident involving Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice and his fiancé, Janay Palmer, in a hotel elevator. Specifically, the activity allows students to learn about MRA members and their hegemonic ideology, to examine/view the domestic-violence incident, and to use critical-communication pedagogy (CCP) as a means to examine …

Closing The Assessment Loop In The Basic Communication Course, Claire H. Procopio

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Participation in the learning-outcome assessment is an important expectation of most communication teachers. Considerable communication research has been devoted to defining assessment, identifying what is assessed, and determining how best to do assessment (Morreale, Backlund, Hay, & Moore, 2011). The National Communication Association (NCA) recently announced the publication of Learning Outcomes in Communication (NCA, 2015). This case study explores how a program, one new to learning-outcome assessment in the basic course, overcame common challenges with implementing assessments. The case illustrates how to use assessment data meaningfully and offers specific strategies that individual communication instructors, course directors, and assessment leaders can …

Blending Theory And Application: Student-Authored Organizational Case Studies, Colleen Arendt

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Case studies have been used as a pedagogical method for nearly a century. The case-study method provides numerous benefits for students, encouraging problem-solving, perspective taking, reflecting, and strategizing. After a semester of reading and discussing published case studies, the purpose of this assignment is to have students write and analyze their own case studies based on their organizational experiences. This assignment blends theory and application, helps students engage in important sensemaking about their experiences, and calls on them to contribute knowledge and content to the course. Variations, debriefing prompts, and an assignment appraisal are included.

Enemies Of The State: The Symbolic Annihilation Of White-Zimbabwean Identity In The Twenty-First Century, Rick Malleus

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This article explores the Zimbabwean government-controlled newspapers’ symbolic annihilation of white-Zimbabwean identity in the twenty-first century. Zimbabwe has been through political, social, and economic upheaval in the last 15 years, and it is in this context that the media’s construction of white identity is examined. Using a content analysis of online articles from The Herald and The Chronicle, six themes of constructed white identity were identified. The government media’s motivation for this symbolic annihilation of white-Zimbabwean identity is discussed, and the article concludes with a consideration about why this construction of white-Zimbabwean identity matters.

An Examination Of The Narratives Of Lottery-Scholarship Legislation, Kristopher D. Copeland

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

States have relied on lottery-scholarship policies to support public goals, such as higher education. In this paper, I utilize the narrative paradigm to examine how stories from the Hope for Arkansas lottery campaign became embedded in the policy-design process. Through in-depth interviews with 19 participants and a document analysis of 86 documents, the findings suggest that the Hope for Arkansas campaign’s narratives were tied to the policy-design process of the lottery legislation.

Listening To Unheard Voices: Nurses’ Communication Experiences With The Nrs Pain Scale, Matthew H. Barton, Kevin Stein

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This study examines nurses’ experiences with the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS). These responses characterize the communication trials that nurses face with pain diagnosis, pain management, and overall patient care. Interviews with 20 nurses reveal three themes: subject dissatisfaction, feeling limited, and subjective satisfaction. An analysis of these themes reveals the need for renewed discussion about the way pain is communicated and the challenging expectations nurses must regularly confront. Implications for listening to important, but often quiet, even silent, voices in pain management and clinical practice are discussed.

Weight-Based Stigma And Self-Esteem: A Test And Extension Of The Stigma Communication Model, Andie Malterud, Jenn Anderson

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Personal experience with weight-based stigma is negatively associated with self-esteem (Myers & Rosen, 1999). Our study examines how self-esteem is affected by exposure to weight-based stigma communication that is directed at another person. Using Smith’s (2007) stigma communication framework, we created a 2 (Stigma level: high, low) x 2 (Gender of stigmatized person: male, female) x 2 (Body of stigmatized person: large, small) posttest-only experiment. Participants’ self-esteem was highest after seeing a small body subjected to intense stigma and lowest after seeing a large body subjected to intense stigma. Additionally, we observed three-way interactions affecting the perceptions of two stigma-communication …

Should A Dropped Argument Always Be Treated As A Conceded Argument?, Ryan K. Clark

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

In this brief essay, I shall argue that the answer to this question is ”No.” The notion that “dropped equals conceded” reflects a well-intentioned norm against intervention which is embodied in the tabula rasa metaphor of adjudication . However, accepted as and absolute rule, it favors quantity (i.e., speed) reduces debate to “ink on the flow” instead of arguments weighed in the mind, and distorts our understanding of what actually happens in debates. In it’s place, I propose a norm which proceeds from an alternative formulation of adjudication. It is only when an uncontested argument passes prima facie tests that …

From The Editor, Anthony M. Wachs

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

No abstract provided.

Constructive Peer Evaluations: The Toilet Paper Stuck To My Shoe Lesson, Stephanie Kelly

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Peer evaluation is a useful learning tool that provides students with a holistic view of their work. However, getting students to provide quality feedback to their peers can be a struggle. The purpose of this activity is to make students realize that constructive criticism, when given tactfully, is the only polite option so that they will share thorough, useful feedback throughout the semester.

Simulated Creative Collaboration: Experiencing Challenges To Innovative Virtual Teaming In The Classroom, Brian C. Britt, Kristen Hatten

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

This activity provides students with in-depth experience working as part of an innovative virtual team, which will enable them to better understand the relative advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to creative collaboration in different contexts. Participants are divided into groups, which must then solve an assigned problem using a specified communication technology and creative process from the literature. The instructor will introduce a variety of obstacles to communication using each technology, which may inhibit students’ creative processes. Following the activity, the class will discuss these challenges, participants’ responses, and the range of experiences with different collaborative processes and technologies.

Using Social Lubricants To Increase Conversationality, Nathaniel Simmons

Discourse: The Journal of the SCASD

Responding to the epidemic of the dying art of conversation (Asha, 2014; Barnwell, 2014 April), this activity constructs a space in which students tap into social lubricants as a conversational, artistic tool to increase conversational skills. Inspired by Monahan & Lannutti’s (2000) social lubricant work, this study views social lubricants— any object or action that facilitates social interaction, such as a dog or a compliment— as a vital resource that merits pedagogical attention. After completing a role-play in which students tap into a social lubricant to achieve an assigned goal, students will be able to: (a) define social lubricants; (b) …