Rhetoric and Literacy Prepared by Julia Romberger For English 327

What will I discuss in this presentation?  The Rhetorical Triangle  Application to All Kinds of Writing  Connection to Literacy

Back up! What is rhetoric?  Along with philosophy, it is the oldest academic discipline in Western Tradition (We’re talking 500 B.C., here) It helped Greek politicians make decisions.  This discipline teaches strategies for composing and analyzing texts, visuals, and (as technology changes -- interactivity).

What is the rhetorical triangle?

Rhetorical TriangleContext

Audience When considering audience the writer needs to determine:  What they already know  What they are interested in knowing  What they need to know

Communicator or Writer A writer needs to be aware of how the audience perceives him/her – the Ethos. Ethos is connected to:  A writer’s authority  A writer’s competence  A writer’s level of formality

Working Ethos How can a writer improve his/her Ethos?  Convincing arguments  Use of adequate evidence and research  Awareness of audience’s needs  Appropriate presentation style for audience

Message and Purpose  A document or message may have one or more purposes:  To earn or maintain good will  To persuade  To inform  To amuse, please, or entertain  The ultimate purpose of most all writing is to effect positive action and improve relations between people.

The Document A document conveys the message and is structured according to a genre such as:  Letters, Reports, Webpages, Power Point Slides For example, an academic document should contain:  Arguments and Rationales  Evidence and Data

Context Context is the situation surrounding the document’s origination. It is linked to:  The need that spurred the writing of the document (dissonance)  The position of the writer relative to the audience  The tone of the location where the document will be read  Expectations of the person(s) who initiated the writing of the document  Developments concerning the topic and the rhetorical situation

How does this connect to the topic of literacy?

Rhetoric is the how:  Helps develop effective, persuasive documents of various types  Helps meet audience’s expectations – teachers, peers, bosses and so forth  Improves individual profiles for school and career

Literacy is the why:  People are motivated to be literate  Motives are informed by historical, societal, and cultural parameters  Literacy is a complex series of interlinked competencies

To be seen as Literate:  A writer will have to understand the rhetorical situation and what is considered appropriate in its  A writer will have to know the genres  A writer might need to know what kind of authority he/she can claim We’ll be talking about this throughout the semester.

To help our discussions: Learn the terms  Context  Audience  Purpose  Genre  Ethos