RHETORICAL GOALS

A KEY GOAL

Developing rhetorical awareness is the main learning goal of the class, given that it’s a class in the field of Composition and Rhetoric. You may not have known the name of the field, given that the course prefix WRTG doesn’t match the name of the department that offers the class: the Program for Writing and Rhetoric. (See the About WRTG 3020 page for more info.)

BUT WHAT IS IT?

“Rhetorical awareness” is, in some ways, a fairly simple concept, and in other ways, a really difficult one. On a simple level, being “rhetorically aware” means being aware that any act of communication you engage in has an audience and a purpose, and that the success or failure of your communication is based almost entirely on how well it meets the needs of that audience and fulfills that purpose.

Sounds easy enough, right? Some people have naturally good rhetorical awareness, or what is often called “good people skills,” meaning that they know how to read people and deliver messages to them in the format best suited to that particular group of people. They may not even be conscious of it, but they know which strategies to use to appeal to which audiences, and they’re keenly aware of how their message is impacting their audience.

For example, a rhetorically aware teenager knows better than to beg her parents to pay for a trip to Cancun for Spring Break by pointing out that “all my friends are doing it.” As a persuasive strategy directed at parents, that one is a miserable failure. The rhetorically aware teenager would take a different approach, like pointing out that this is an opportunity to learn responsibility or to explore other cultures. But that would only work if the teenager was genuine in her reasoning. If she’s not genuine, then those are just manipulative tactics that aren’t very rhetorically savvy.

WHY NOW?

It’s actually somewhat rare for teenagers to be rhetorically aware, as such awareness requires a focus on the “others” of one’s audience, rather than on one’s self. So that’s why you don’t start learning about rhetorical awareness until college, when you’ve matured to the point that you’re able to see things from other people’s perspectives more easily. And when you can see things from your audience’s perspective, you can make much better decisions as a writer than if you only focus on your perspective.

RHETORICAL AWARENESS GOALS

In order to help you develop rhetorical awareness, this class will ask you to engage in the following activities, with the hope that you’ll be able to apply what you learn to new rhetorical situations you encounter elsewhere. In other words, you might think of these as learning outcomes.

Become a Rhetorically Aware Reader

Although this is a writing class, I’ve put reading goals before writing goals because good reading skills are the basis for good writing skills. You can’t develop rhetorical awareness as a writer until you’ve developed rhetorical awareness as a reader.

Accurately identify the rhetorical situation (audience, author, purpose, genre, occasion, conversation) for messages and analyze how each element contributes to the meaning of the message
Accurately identify the rhetorical strategies (appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos) used to support the claims made in the message and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each strategy
Analyze how the rhetorical situation and rhetorical strategies of a message impact the extent to which you allow the message to influence your own thinking on the topic
Analyze how those elements impact where a message falls on established scales of reliability
Identify the rhetorical moves common to different discourses, genres, and communication mediums and understand the role those moves play in influencing audiences
Recognize the difference between claims and evidence provided by academics or journalists and claims made by non-specialists, as well as why the source of the claims matters
Understand the variety of factors that go into producing and distributing the wide range of messages we receive on a daily basis, across different discourses and communication mediums, and analyze how these factors impact how influential the message is on particular audiences
Compare and evaluate the knowledge we gain about gender identity and sexual orientation from different discourses, including personal experience, popular culture, news and mass media, educational, activist, public policy, and academic

An important part of the process of becoming educated is placing what you read in its larger context — its rhetorical context — so that you better understand how the message fits into the broad scope of human knowledge. For example, because you understand that the rhetorical context (audience, purpose, genre) for Glamour magazine is rather different from that of, say, Scientific American, you (hopefully!) don’t put equal weight on the kind of information you find in either magazine.

You know that, in the broad scope of human knowledge, one carries much greater authority, although you may not yet have given some serious thought to why that is. Understanding why that is, and how different types of messages construct different types of knowledge, is part of the process of becoming more rhetorically aware.

Become a Rhetorically Aware Writer

Make decisions about how to compose messages, including which genre and communication medium to use, what content to cover, and how to format the content, based on the demands of the rhetorical situation for each message
Employ appropriate rhetorical strategies to connect with real audiences, accomplish a specific purpose, establish credibility, and communicate meaningful messages
Approach writing as a design art that draws on multiple factors beyond the content in order to communicate a message
Identify and follow the communication customs of the discourse community or communities that serve as your target audience
Select sources of evidence your target audience will deem trustworthy
Document your sources using MLA or APA style citations (or the equivalent for multimodal compositions)
Use layout and presentation strategies that make your message as easy to read as possible, based on research into how readers process information in the genre and medium you’re using

Nearly all of your class activities ask you to address a particular audience, for a particular purpose, using genres and rhetorical appeals appropriate to that rhetorical situation. You’ll practice writing different kinds of messages to your classmates, your instructor, other CU students, other college students in general, and other audiences you select for your projects.

And to help you better understand what you’re learning in the process, you’ll also write reflections or “rhetorical rationales” that explain the choices you made based on the particular characteristics of your audience and purpose.

Deepen critical reading skills

A learning goal that is closely related to rhetorical awareness is critical thinking. Below is my adaptation of the learning outcomes for critical thinking and critical reading as defined by the CCHE.

Recognize the nature and purpose of different genres
Identify the main claim, supporting points, evidence, and other forms of support in texts from a variety of text and multimodal genres
Read closely and carefully, creating a conversation with the text on both intellectual and personal levels
Approach differing perspectives and experiences with empathy and an open mind
Critically evaluate texts, paying special attention to underlying assumptions, credibility of the source, the nature and quality of evidence, and rhetorical strategies the writer uses to persuade his or her audience
Seek out new readings and resources beyond those required in order to follow your own curiosity in the subject

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Read this handout to learn more about rhetorical appeals and rhetorical situation, both of which are key concepts you’ll need to understand in order to successfully complete the course: What is Rhetoric?

I will also discuss rhetorical awareness throughout course materials, in paper assignments, calendar entries, and class discussions, as a way of helping you better understand the concepts. But it’s worth keeping in mind that rhetorical awareness is the sort of skill that takes many years as well as a certain degree of emotional maturity to learn, given that it requires that you think empathetically about the need and expectations of your audience, rather than about your own needs and wants. In other words, it requires that you step outside of your own perspective and see your messages from the perspectives of people who may be very different from you.

In fact, the concept of rhetorical awareness — and why it’s so important — may not really start to sink in until you’ve graduated from college and find yourself having to produce writing on the job whose worth will be determined entirely by whether it meets the needs and expectations of your target audience — i.e., your rhetorical situation. Then you’ll be glad you learned about these concepts in this class! :-)

KEY TERMS

As a result of studying the concept of rhetorical awareness and practicing developing your skills in this area, you should be able to define these key terms: