Post 11

While reading John Swales’ “The Concept of Discourse Community” he defines a discourse community as having “six defining characteristics” (471). A discourse community I am familiar with would be high school varsity volleyball. We as a team come together for the love of the sport and want to play at a competitive level. As for our “mechanisms of intercommunication among its members” (Swales 471) we have practice which allows us to communicate about up coming games and events. Within practices we do multiple drills that work on different skills while our coaches give us feedback and help. I believe other genres involved in the discourse community of high school varsity volleyball would be the genre of sports, extra curricular activities, and athletes. Volleyball has it’s own specific lexis including the different terms used while playing such as; spiking, bumping, serving, setting, and many more. As all high school varsity sports there is a try-out period every year where the best players are chosen for the top positions. It is always changing and students are consistently given chances to join. This is only one discourse community I am familiar with.

Post 10

In the article “The Future of Literacy” by Devoss (et al.) she describes her own progression through her growing knowledge of the computer and computer gaming. It is stated that “Danielle acquired on her own, without a great deal of systematic help or guidance from others” (399). I can relate with this because I began using computers while in grade school and it all started with computer games. As I grew older I started ‘surfing’ the web. With school comes technology, and I began learning different computer applications and programs as I grew older. I have learned how to use Microsoft Word at a young age and have grown into programs such as Adobe Photoshop. When learning new programs I find I learn most techniques through just trying different things and ‘playing around’ with the program. 

I believe some ways in which the computer has altered literacy practices is online chatting, use of slang words, spellcheck, and short-writing or emails. Within online chatting we use slang words and misspell simple words. When children grow up with using slang words they begin to think that is okay in a school or formal setting. Spellcheck allows people to misspell simple words by fixing it before they can or if they do not notice. Email can cause a lack of formality. There have been many times when I go to write an email and I have to think of the proper format. As for myself, Microsoft Word has helped me a lot with my literacy. I’m not very good in the subject of English so when I’m writing a paper I get assistance from Microsoft Word. The web, in general, has shaped my literacy because I can look up a dictionary or thesaurus while writing. It provides such a high level of information that has helped with research. 

Post 9

In Shirley Bryce Heath’s article, “Protean Shapes in Literacy Events” she defines a literacy event as “a conceptual tool useful in examining within particular communities of modern society the actual forms and functions of oral and literate traditions and co-existing relationships between spoken and written language” (371). Literacy events want to find a hierarchy between written and spoken language. When you’re filling out an application but someone is giving you directions. Do you listen to the directions or fill out the form as directed on the application? Some literacy events Heath identifies in Trackton are the children reading Sunday school caption, underneath a biblical scene. They knew how to decipher between brand names and prices as well as cars models, motorcycles and bikes. 

Sherman Alexie taught himself to read at a very young age and learned to read by a Superman comic book. He is an indian and back then there was not much promise for an indian child. He was looked at as stupid. However, Alexie was not stupid, he became more advanced than his peers and was going to prove he was smart. Sherman learned how to read by using literacy events. He took the comic book and read it over and over until he was able to read. He took it upon himself to make it a priority. He uses the phrase “I throw my weight against their locked doors. The doors holds. I am smart. I am arrogant. I am lucky. I am trying to save our lives” (Alexie 14). This is significant because that is what Superman was doing in the comic book he was reading. He was breaking down doors. He’s showing that he will do his best to make sure indian children have the same chance as every other student. 

The Growing Population and Declining Resources

Everyday we find ourselves dealing with rhetorical situations. When you meet someone for the first time you probably take into consideration what they are wearing, how they talk, and whether they are friendly or not. You may analyze them like this so that you can get an idea of what kind of person they are. However, when you study or examine their manners you do not think of these questions. It happens without our knowing. We quickly take the information given to us and make a decision about that person. We see this within media as well. 

Media is where this kind of analysis needs to take place. The media works by persuasion and is consistently telling you to buy something or wanting you to believe something is true. This is where we need to analyze the rhetorical situations we see everyday. We must start with the rhetor. Laura Bolin Carroll defines the rhetor as “the way we use language and images to persuade” (46). The rhetor is someone who believes we need a change in reality and we accomplish this change through rhetorical discourse. 

The audience, exigence, and constraints help us to better analyze rhetorical situations. The audience of the rhetorical situation are the potential costumers. The exigence is the problem or something that needs to be changed. Lastly, Keith Grant-Davie defines constraints as “factors that limit or focus the response to the exigence (problem or need) in a given situation” (102). After getting an idea of what a rhetorical situation is and what factors attribute to it, I will analyze my own visual argument. 

The rhetor of this visual argument would be First World countries and their governments. They keep track of the global population and the declining amount of resources. The audience of my visual argument would be the global population especially Third World countries. We are making the population grow which is putting a struggle on the amount of resources we have. Third World countries still believe having ten children is the way to go because you can all work for the good of the family. However, Third World Countries are starving because there are not enough resources. The exigence of the visual argument is the fact that we, as a human population, are not taking into consideration the resources we have. We are allowing the population to grow even though our resources cannot provide for us all. Thousands of people are starving in East Africa. The constraints of this argument would be that in Third World Countries they do not watch television nor do they have internet so they would probably never see this visual argument. Another constraint would be that in First World Countries they are only having two or three children to a couple. If they were to see this visual argument they would believe they are not contributing to it. Lastly, the fact that it is a cartoon kind of down-plays the issue as a whole. 

The specific argument is that as a global population we are running out of resources. Today people are constantly consuming, shopping and buying and if we do not start to think rationally about our resources we will not have any. After ‘reading’ the visual argument, I believe the rhetor hopes people realize that we only have so many resources and we, continually growing as a population, are going to use them all up if we do not change our ways. 

Another way of ‘reading’ this visual argument is to look at the ways the rhetor tries to persuade you. Laura Bolin Carroll defines logos as “argument for reason, and it usually appeals to an audience’s intellectual side” (52). The logos of my visual argument would be the fact that we continually have a growing population but there seems to be nothing going on to stop it. Intellectuals would see this as a major problem in our society today. Pathos appeals to the audience’s emotional side. Within my argument the fact that the stork is holding ten babies could have some emotional ties. Babies are viewed as innocent and pure and we see them pulling on our resources. However, we all know it is not the babies fault, but they use babies to show the problem. Laura Bolin Carroll defines ethos as “the credibility of the rhetor - which can be a person or organization” (54). I believe the rhetor of this visual argument would be First World countries and their governments because they keep track of global population and the declining amount of resources. If the government were to show the populations this visual argument I believe more people would really consider what is going on because it is from the government which would prove the credibility and give the argument a better sense of ethos. 

Overall, I consider this visual argument to be truthful in the fact that our growing population is weighing heavily on our resources. However, I believe the pathos could be stronger with an issue such as this. Everyone has seen those commercials about starving children in Africa and that is based around the same matter, and they use pathos to their advantage. This visual argument is a cartoon and the stock is a fictional character known for bringing babies to our windows. It demotes the problem to be of lesser importance. Nevertheless, it is a good visual argument for the given issue. Some people cringe when watching those commercials with starving children, and so this cartoon is less heartbreaking and more playful. 

References:

Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing. Vol. 1. Parlor Press. 2010. Pg 45-58. Web. 5 February 2012.

Grant-Davie, Keith. "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents." Writing about Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011.119. 

"Population". http://students.uta.edu/an/ans4397/1302/va.html

Post 7 Rhetorical Analysis

Everyday we find ourselves dealing with rhetorical situations. When you meet someone for the first time you probably take into consideration what they are wearing, how they talk, and whether they are friendly or not. You may analyze them like this so that you can get an idea of what kind of person they are. However, when you study or examine their manners you do not think of these questions. It happens without our knowing. We quickly take the information given to us and make a decision about that person. We see this within media as well. 

Media is where this kind of analysis needs to take place. The media works by persuasion and is consistently telling you to buy something or wanting you to believe something is true. This is where we need to analyze the rhetorical situations we see everyday. We must start with the rhetor. Laura Bolin Carroll defines the rhetor as “the way we use language and images to persuade” (46). The rhetor is someone who believes we need a change in reality and we accomplish this change through rhetorical discourse. 

The audience, exigence, and constraints help us to better analyze rhetorical situations. The audience of the rhetorical situation are the potential costumers. The exigence is the problem or something that needs to be changed. Lastly, Keith Grant-Davie defines constraints as “factors that limit or focus the response to the exigence (problem or need) in a given situation” (102). After getting an idea of what a rhetorical situation is and what factors attribute to it, I will analyze my own visual argument. 

The rhetor of this visual argument would be First World countries and their governments. They keep track of the global population and the declining amount of resources. The audience of my visual argument would be the global population especially Third World countries. We are making the population grow which is putting a struggle on the amount of resources we have. Third World countries still believe having ten children is the way to go because you can all work for the good of the family. However, Third World Countries are starving because there are not enough resources. The exigence of the visual argument is the fact that we as a human population are not taking into consideration the resources we have. We are allowing the population to grow even though our resources cannot provide for us all. The constraints of this argument would be that in Third World Countries they do not watch television nor do they have internet so they would probably never see this visual argument. Another constraint would be that in First World Countries they are only having two or three children to a couple. If they were to see this visual argument they would believe they are not contributing to it. Lastly, the fact that it is a cartoon kind of down-plays the issue as a whole. The specific argument is that as a global population we are running out of resources. Today people are constantly consuming, shopping and buying and if we do not start to think rationally about our resources we will not have any. After ‘reading’ the visual argument, I believe the rhetor hopes people realize that we only have so many resources and we, continually growing as a population, are going to use them all up if we do not change our ways. 

Another way of ‘reading’ this visual argument is to look at the ways the rhetor tries to persuade you. Laura Bolin Carroll defines logos as “argument for reason, and it usually appeals to an audience’s intellectual side” (52). The logos of my visual argument would be the fact that we continually have a growing population but there seems to be nothing going on to stop it. Intellectuals would see this as a major problem in our society today. Pathos appeals to the audience’s emotional side. Within my argument the fact that the stork is holding ten babies could have some emotional ties. Babies are viewed as innocent and pure and we see them pulling on our resources. However, we all know it is not the babies fault, but they use babies to show a problem. Laura Bolin Carroll defines ethos as “the credibility of the rhetor - which can be a person or organization” (54). I believe the rhetor of this visual argument would be First World countries and their governments because they keep track of global population and the declining amount of resources. If the government were to show the populations this visual argument I believe more people would really consider what is going on because it is from the government which has that credibility. 

I consider this visual argument to be truthful in the fact that our growing population is weighing heavily on our resources. However, I believe the pathos could be stronger with an issue such as this. Everyone has seen those commercials about starving children in Africa and that is based around the same matter. This visual argument is a cartoon and the stock is a fictional character known for bringing babies to our windows. It demotes the problem to be of lesser importance. 

Post 6

Grant-Davie's article was a lot like the one we had to read for Monday's class. Exigence is something not the way it should be. There is a change waiting to be made. With my visual argument it is between church and state. The law specifically states there should be a separation between church and state, however there is not when it comes to gay marriage. 

I really like how Bitzer defines the audience as being able to settle the exigence: "those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change" (105). He also describes constraints as "persons, events, objects, and relations which are parts of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence" (105).

The discourse in my visual argument is the fact of the law stating church and state are separate institutions but that is not the case with gay marriage. This discourse is needed because in society we have been growing over the years to accept different ways of life. Being homosexual used to be ridiculed very highly, when today we are much more accepting of different view points. The goal of the discourse is to possibly legalize gay marriage, and for the audience to realize we may have opposing ideas and beliefs but as we live our lives we should let others live theirs. The rhetor(s) of the situation would be the federal government and the law passed. I would say the audience is the people of America and the constraints would be some Americans don't believe in homosexuality. They do not want to tarnish the sacred act of marriage by letting two men get married. This is a big constraint within the issue of church and state. 

Post 5

After reading the article I found rhetoric to be an example of advertisements/persuasion. An example of rhetoric I see on a daily basis would most likely be television commercials. Usually when you are watching a certain television channel, take MTV for instance, the commercials are guided toward a specific audience; teenagers to young adults. These are the channels you see commercials for AXE body wash, Old Spice, Neutrogena, and Tampax. It is directed toward young adults who strive to look good and smell good. I thought it was interesting when Carroll brought up the idea that whenever we meet someone new we, without thinking, judge their clothes, jewelry, and hair to make assumptions on what kind of person they might be. We persuade ourselves with ideas of who someone else might be.

When you have some rhetorical discourse you write accordingly to the audience. If you happen to be upset with a grade you got in class and you write an email to your mother complaining about it, you would write differently to her than if you were writing to the teacher. The type of language used may be different, the delivery of the rhetoric, and the formality of the discourse. 

Throughout our everyday we see rhetoric and use it subconsciously. Making assumptions about other people is something we do all the time. We do not think of these ideas step by step in our head, it happens without our even knowing.