Rhetoric Commons^™

Bridging Libraries And Classrooms: Co-Teaching For Student Success, Joy Urbina, Isabel Baca

Librarian Conference Presentations

An instructional librarian and writing professor describe their collaborative approach to co-teaching. Learn how integrating information literacy with writing instruction strengthens students' critical thinking and research skills and discover practical strategies from this successful cross-disciplinary partnership.

“Honey, Life Is Just A Classroom:” Using Taylor Swift As A Pedagogical Tool For College Composition, Liz Thomae

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

As educators, we confront the challenge of cultivating a deeper understanding of writing in an age obsessed with utilitarianism, instant gratification, and pragmatism. Students come into our classrooms inundated with these messages of utility and often find subjects within the humanities, especially first year writing, boring and unhelpful. Especially with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) use in our classrooms and society at large, we as pedagogues have our work cut out for us. I propose a pedagogical approach that bridges students' interests with essential writing skills by integrating Taylor Swift's music into the composition classroom. Swift's evolution as …

Becoming A Beloved Community: A Restorative Reckoning For A Radical Conversion To Transform Discourse In Higher Education, Latasha Tomay Varlack-Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation critically examines the misappropriation of Restorative Justice Discourse (RJD) within three predominantly white institutions (PWIs), analyzing 59 institutional documents through Critical Discourse Analysis, Relational Critical Discourse Analysis, and Rhetorical Criticism (Fairclough, 1995; Vaandering, 2021; van Dijk, 2008). Tribal Colleges and Universities and South African institutions have emerged as exemplars of authentic RJD, countering co-optation within PWIs. The findings demonstrate that RJD as applied in PWIs is framed in ways that attenuate its transformative potential, perpetuating color-evasiveness (Bonilla-Silva, 2017) and obscuring the intersectional experiences of Black, Indigenous, and disabled communities (Crenshaw, 1991; Million, 2009).

Grounded in decolonial praxis (Smith, …

16 Types Of Listening (Infographic), Cassandra Savukinas

B. The Art of Listening

An infographic based on J.W. Williams' book, Listening Skills Training. Listening is described as Helpful (Attentive Listening), Problematic (Discriminative Listening), or Depends (Critical Listening). Includes short descriptions of each. Two versions of the infographic are in the same file, one with more color and one with less (for using less printer ink).

The Rhetorical Interlude In Alfonso Cuarón’S Gravity: Suggesting A Model For Examining Rhetorical Discourse In Film, Brent Yergensen, Scott Church

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay advances the concept of the “rhetorical interlude,” a means by which scholars and teachers may examine how rhetorical messages are embedded in films. To illustrate, this study includes an examination of the rhetorical interlude in the film Gravity (Cuarón, 2013) as the film’s protagonist, Ryan Stone, is visited by the apparition of her dead colleague, Matt Kowalski, who instructs her on survival in space and on the significance of moving on from personal tragedy. In a pattern of ghostly apparitions appearing in perplexing outer space situations, Gravity situates scientific complexity as capable of being transcended with the help …

Cake And Conclusions: Rhetorical Roots In “Sheetcaking” And Fallacious Community Responses, Marissa Lammon

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The convergence of politics and comedy within political entertainment has created a new environment, dissemination of information, and formation of public opinion. In response to white nationalist rallies, comedian Tina Fey utilized her political comedy platform to satirically comment on the inaction of several privileged consumers. Community response to the satirical skit reflected the complexity of satire as rhetorical strategy, notably when present online and within popular culture discourse, and the cognitive demands that result in fallacious tendencies. The following examines the fallacies that arise in response to Fey’s satirical message and the implications for political entertainment media.

Don’T Sweat The Technique: Rhetoric, Coded Social Critique, And Conspiracy Theories In Hip-Hop, Josh Chase

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Conspiracy theories are once again a topic of heated debate in both popular and scholarly media. Critics on one side of this debate often take for granted an “underlying assumption that conspiracy theories should be subdued if not eliminated” (Uscinski 444). Other scholars have expressed concern over the ways the “conspiracy theorist” pejorative stifles dissent and regulates political rationality (Rankin; deHaven-Smith). Bratich argues that social anxieties about issues like emerging technology and race “get managed” through the public debate about conspiracy theories as an “object of concern” (160–61). This paper asks, what are the consequences when “conspiracy panic” spreads beyond …

Afrosurrealism, Aristotle, And Racial Presence In Netflix’S Luke Cage, Angela D. Mack

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

This essay examines Netflix’s Luke Cage as a rhetorical reading of racial embodiment and productions of the cultural identity of Blackness and People of Color, and the tensions they produce to help audiences understand the current climatic flux between racial hostility and American idealism. With only two seasons in the small-screen version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Cheo Hodari Coker’s adaptation of the 1970s Blaxploitation Power Man comic foregrounded the recent wave of superhero narratives that expanded minority/gender representation from both major comic houses (MCU and DC Extended Universe [DCEU]). This examination employs the lens of Afrosurrealism, a conceptual …

Relandscaping The Rhetorical Tradition Through Hip Hop, Robert Tinajero

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

The field of rhetorical studies is rich and complex but has, in many ways, ignored or marginalized the study of rap music and hip hop culture. This article analyzes ways in which hip hop rhetoric adds to the terrain of rhetorical studies and posits ways that it can shift perspectives, subjects of study, practice, and theoretical frameworks within the discipline. There are also reasons hypothesized for why hip hop has been marginalized in pedagogy and academic writing within the rhetorical tradition and why it should not be ignored.

The Diyinii Of Naachid: Diné Rhetoric As Ritual, Edward L. Karshner

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Rhetoric is far more than a theory of communication or the antiquated ancestor of freshman composition courses. As a system, rhetoric is the process that directs, on the one hand, individual experiences with the world and structures, and on the other, the stories cultures tell about themselves. These foundational narratives (myths) reveal a culture’s metaphysical understanding of the nature of reality, the psychological understanding of human nature, and the epistemological notion of what can be known. Using the Diné Bahané, this paper will explore Diné rhetoric as naachid, an inclusive, outward-directed communication model of problem solving which functions …

Pity The Poor Reader, Charles H. Haddad

School of Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications

I conceived my book “Pity the Poor Reader” as an un-textbook, an irreverent “Elements of style.” Like Elements, it’s designed to complement textbooks. Pity is concise, memorable and portable. Under 300 pages, Pity serves as an aspiring writer’s keepsake. Concision lies at the heart of Pity. The key concepts of writing well are distilled into irreverent, memorable lines and axioms. Many of them are organized as lists that are easily printed and taped to a wall or a computer. Indeed, in testing the book with my university students, I’ve found that many of them did print out its list of …

Strategic Rhetorics: Apartheid South Africa/Apartheid Israel: Address To Chapman University’S Gaza Solidarity Encampment, May 2024, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"On 2 May 2024, Chapman University faculty were asked to participate in a 'faculty speak out' in support of the Chapman Students For Justice In Palestine’s Gaza solidarity encampment. We were invited to speak 'from our expertise and/or personal experiences in a call for a ceasefire in Gaza' (Leitz, 2024). This is a slightly expanded version of what I said[.]"

Rhetorical (Re)Inscription Practices Among Black Intercollegiate Football Participants In The Era Of Name, Image And Likeness, Mikayla Beaudrie

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When intercollegiate athletic participants were permitted the right to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL), the landscape of college sports was fundamentally changed. This qualitative explanatory case study investigated one consequence of that change: the discourse of amateurism. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has historically identified participants in the athletic programs it oversees with the word “student-athlete.” In the years since the word was first introduced, its meaning has generally been static. In short, the linguistic sign “student-athlete” has been signified in and by the discourse to reflect the amateur status of collegiate sport participants, emphasizing …

In-Class Debate On Chatgpt, Chris Gable

AI Assignment Library

Students are assigned into one of three debate teams, and will argue for, against, or a middle ground on the issue of using AI and ChatGPT in Higher Education. They present their positions in-class, cross-examine each other, and write a final reflection on the experience.

Program Profile 8: Chapman University: Bridging The Gap With Action Research, Ian Barnard, Matthew Goldman, Sarah K. Robblee, Natalie Salagean, Daniel Strasberger, Candice Yacono

English Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"In the English Department at Chapman, all graduate students are eligible to apply for positions as GTAs after they have completed a graduate seminar in teaching composition. Those who are offered and accept GTA positions take a second graduate seminar, composition pedagogy and research practicum, simultaneously with their first semester of teaching. In order to encourage GTAs to develop identities as teacher-scholars, GTAs develop IRB-approved action research projects (Buyserie; Hawkes; Hudson et al.; Souleles) as their major work in this second seminar. These action research projects allow GTAs to research a question they have about the teaching of composition, using …

“Why You Always So Political?”: A Counterstory About Educational-Environmental Racism At A Predominantly White University, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

Chicano/Latino Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using critical race counterstorytelling, I tell a story about the experiences of Mexican/Mexican American/Xicanx (MMAX) undergraduate students at private, historically and predominantly white university in the Northeast. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observations, pláticas, document analyses, and literature on race and space and racism in higher education, I argue that the racially hostile campus environment experienced by MMAX students at their respective university manifests itself as a form of educational-environmental racism. Through narrated dialogue, Aurora (a composite character) and I delve into a critical conversation about how educational-environmental racism is experienced by MMAX students through a racialized landscape in the …

Centering Community College Students' Experiences: A Multiple Methods Study Of Multiple Measures For Writing Placement, Nicole L. Hancock

English Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges are trying to reform their placement procedures from use of a single placement test score to a system that collects multiple measures to be used either as a replacement solitary measure or in conjunction with other measures for more accurate placement into writing courses than what occurred with the placement test, which often resulted in disparate impact for students of color. In this study of multiple measures placement assessment for writing courses, I critique several large studies of community college multiple measures assessment for the lack of a community college perspective. The studies largely supported use of high …

Reimagining The Humanistic Tradition: Using Isocratic Philosophy, Ignatian Pedagogy, And Civic Engagement To Journey With Youth And Walk With The Excluded, Allen Brizee

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

The world is in a perilous place. Challenged by zealots, autocrats, a pandemic, and now a war in Europe, elected officials and their constituents no longer exchange ideas in a functioning public sphere, once a hallmark of the humanistic tradition. The timeliness of the Universal Apostolic Preferences (UAPs), therefore, is profound as they provide beacons of light for dark times. In this article, I trace Isocratic philosophy through Ignatian pedagogy and contemporary civic engagement to argue that we can use these three models to help us Journey with Youth and Walk with the Excluded. Key to this approach is a …

Reading With Social, Digital Annotation: Encouraging Engaged Critical Reading In A Challenging Age, Miranda L. Egger

English Theses & Dissertations

This design-based research study examines the pedagogical role of social, digital annotation in teaching reading as rhetorical invention, particularly the kind of invention necessary for thoughtful democratic participation in the contemporary discursive era, often described as troubled. In this dissertation study, I deployed a classroom-based intervention meant to challenge how educators in rhetoric and composition/writing studies might directly address the acute and exigent discursive struggle in the first-year composition classroom. This study ultimately finds that social, digital annotation invites significant shifts in students’ reading habits, in that Hypothes.is-based annotations yielded a far more complex, multifaceted set of reading skills, behaviors, …

Authorial Agency: Investigating Composition Pedagogies Under A New Lens, Tyler Hurst

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This essay considers the work of three prominent composition scholars through the lens of authorial agency, which I define as a form of agency that focuses on the individual voice and self-determination of students in the writing space. Though the concept of agency has been previously considered by composition scholars, this contribution might aid in understanding various pedagogical approaches by analyzing how authorial agency is already being engaged within composition pedagogies and investigating how authorial agency aids teachers in understanding their pedagogy so that students learn to take back control of their own authoritative voice and self-determination. By re-investigating …

Fragmentation In The Dual Enrollment Experience: The Importance Of Students’ Self-Perceptions In Dual Enrollment First-Year Composition Students, Sarah Crystal Johnson

English Theses & Dissertations

Dual enrollment has become an embedded aspect of our writing programs yet is still an under-researched area within rhetoric and composition. One reason for this research gap is that many DE students experience their FYC courses on secondary campuses, liminal spaces that are more difficult to access for research. DE students within these spaces experience daily tensions between the collegiate expectations of FYC curriculum and the secondary social contexts in which their DE FYC courses are taught. These unique contextual experiences impact their perceptions of themselves as writers. This research is an attempt to step into this DE research gap …

A Semiotic Phenomenology Of Consumptive Pedagogy By College Instructors In A General Education Program, Giselle L. Betts

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the instructional and visual pedagogy of university faculty teaching sociological consumer education within an interdisciplinary general education program. This study addresses gaps in the literature regarding program and course format, visual utilization, and teaching philosophies from faculty members’ perspectives. Utilizing a semiotic phenomenological approach, implications for instructional facilitation are discussed at length.Findings of this study include five themes that impact the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, as well as sociological consumer education. Participant life experiences and disciplines are implicated as instrumental towards participant instructional philosophies. The nature and impact of interdisciplinary program …

Mapping The Pathways To Campus Writing Sites: Implications For Writing Program Administrators, Meagon Clarkson-Guyll

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the extent to which the writing program administrator and their affiliated writing program are structurally, organizationally, and rhetorically visibly connected to other campus sites of writing. To complete this project data was collected across five benchmarked institutions from publicly accessible online texts. Rhetorical analysis, informed by rhetorical genre studies and institutional ethnography, was conducted to conclude how writing programs are rhetorically situated in their home campus and how the role of the writing program administrator is rhetorically shaped within institutional structures and texts. The analysis concludes with recommended authorial interventions for the writing program administrator to adapt …

Building Bridges In First-Year Composition: Investigating The Support Of Threshold Concepts In Writing-Related Transfer Across The Curriculum, Elise Antoinette Green

English Theses & Dissertations

Drawing on a multiple-case, embedded design (Yin, 2018), I highlight the in-depth differences and similarities that exist across students’ experiences in first-year composition (FYC), looking specifically at whether learners used genre and rhetorical situation as threshold concepts to transfer writing-related knowledge and skills across the curriculum. I designed and conducted this research by drawing on theories of learning transfer (Perkins & Salomon, 1988; 1989; 1992; Salomon & Perkins, 1989), writing-related transfer (Moore, 2017; Nowacek, 2011; Yancey, Robertson, & Taczak, 2014; Yancey et al., 2019), and threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2006). Across this study, I collected data as I facilitated …

Students At A Crossroads: Ta Development Across Pedagogical And Curricular Contexts, Cassandra Ann Book

English Theses & Dissertations

A longstanding question in rhetoric and composition has been how to best educate composition graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs). Although many assume that writing centers are useful spaces for TAs to practice pedagogy and learn about writing processes in preparation for classroom teaching, recent scholarship complicates the claim that transfer from writing centers and/or practicums into composition classrooms is straightforward. Moreover, no study fully considers how the role of the writing center and teaching writing in English MA programs intersects with students’ development as teachers, writers, and scholars. This project brings together several strands of scholarship—the transferability of writing center experience …

Global Language Variation In Online Writing Instructional Spaces: English As A Lingua Franca Among Global Participants In A Massive Open Online Course, Angela May Dadak

English Theses & Dissertations

Two vectors of the internationalization of US higher education—online courses and student diversity—intersect at a point where a broad mix of culturally and linguistically diverse students enroll in online courses, including writing courses. This study applies an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) lens to examine language in an online writing environment in order to understand how the participants use their linguistic resources to communicate in English across varieties and around the world. This study employs discourse analysis to two discussion forums from a US-based composition MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). More than three quarters of the MOOC participants came …

Full Disclosure / Now What?, Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Politics, Praxis, And Performativity Of Teacher Neutrality, Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Handwritten Notes: Classroom Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Dr. Saffy's handwritten class notes, rhetoric and rhetoric of Aristotle. No date given.

Handwritten Note: Class Notes, Edna Louise Saffy

Saffy Collection - All Textual Materials

Notes pertaining to student assignments. No date given.