ERIC Number: EJ871724
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Feb
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1081-3004
EISSN: N/A
Teaching Rhetorical Analysis to Promote Transfer of Learning
Graff, Nelson
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, v53 n5 p376-385 Feb 2010
This article describes an assignment piloted in spring of 2008 called the Rhetorical Analysis Project, which required students to analyze three different texts addressing a common issue, compose an argument about the representation of that issue as illustrated by those texts, and revise that argument to match a rhetorical model they chose from some popular magazine. Such tasks have the potential to help students develop the rhetorical awareness and meta-knowledge about writing that research suggests may help them transfer their learning about writing to new contexts and tasks. My investigation with students a semester after the class suggests that they believe they have experienced lasting changes in their reading and writing processes as a result of it, and therefore that such assignments may provide powerful alternatives to the formulaic writing that is taking increasing root in schools in response to high-stakes testing. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)
Descriptors: Rhetoric, Transfer of Training, Rhetorical Criticism, High Stakes Tests, Writing Processes, Writing Instruction, Assignments, Metacognition, Reading Processes, Persuasive Discourse, Teaching Methods, Student Attitudes, English Instruction, Majors (Students)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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