1 / 11

Rhetorical Genre Analysis

Rhetorical Genre Analysis. Genre Definitions and Features. Genre = rhetorical responses to and reflections of the situation in which they are used Genres both respond to and create rhetorical situations.

gaia
Download Presentation

Rhetorical Genre Analysis

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Rhetorical Genre Analysis

  2. Genre Definitions and Features • Genre = rhetorical responses to and reflections of the situation in which they are used • Genres both respond to and create rhetorical situations. • Genres are “typified ways of responding to recurring social constructions /situations” – Miller definition • Genre is socially situated and culturally embedded --- meaning that genres carry with them the beliefs, ideologies, and values of particular communities and cultures. • Genre analysis is really a means to a greater rhetorical awareness that will help students with knowledge transfer. • Genres are dynamic – they are both stable and capable of change at the same time.

  3. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation SETTING • Where does the genre appear? • How and when is it transmitted and used? • With what other genres does this genre appear? SUBJECT • What topics, issues, ideas, questions, etc. does the genre address? • When people use this genre, what is it that they are interacting about?

  4. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation PARTICIPANTS: Who uses the genre? • Writers • What writes the texts in this genre? • Are multiple writers possible? • What roles do they perform? • What characteristics must writers of this genre possess? • Under what circumstances do writers write the genre?

  5. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation PARTICIPANTS: Who uses the genre? • READERS • Who reads the texts in this genre? • Is there more than one type of reader? • What roles do they perform? • What characteristics must readers of this genre possess? • Under what circumstances do readers read the genre (e.g., at their leisure, on the run, in waiting rooms)?

  6. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation PURPOSES • Why do writers write this genre and why do readers read it? • What purposes does the genre fulfill for the people who use it?

  7. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation IDENTIFY PATTERNS IN GENRE’S FEATURES: • What recurrent features do the samples share? • What content is typically included? Excluded? • What counts as evidence? • What rhetorical appeals are used? Ethos, Logos, Pathos • How are texts structured? What are their parts and how are they organized? • Is there a common format, layout or appearance? • What types of sentences does the genre usually use? • What diction is most common? Jargon? slang? • How would you describe the writer’s voice?

  8. Analyzing Genre + Rhetorical Situation CONNECT GENRE FEATURES TO RHETORICAL SITUATION • What do these rhetorical patterns reveal about the genre and its rhetorical situation? • Why are these patterns significant? • What can you learn about the actions being performed through the genre by observing its language patterns? • What do participants have to know or believe to understand or appreciate the genre? • What values, beliefs, goals and assumptions are revealed through the genre’s patterns? • What content is most important? ignored? • What actions does the genre make possible? Make difficult? • What attitude towards readers is implied in the genre? Attitude toward the world?

  9. Genre as ideological/cultural critique • What sorts of communication does the genre encourage? • What sorts of communication does it constrain? • Who can – and cannot – use this genre? Does it empower some while silencing others? • Whose needs are most and least served by this genre? • Are its effects dysfunctional beyond their immediate context? • What values and beliefs are instantiated within this set of practices? • What are the political and ethical implications of the rhetorical situation constructed, persona embodied, audience invoked and context of situation assumed by a particular genre?

  10. Genre + Kairos • Kairos = fit opportunity for speech + reasonable appropriateness of response • TIMING + APPROPRIATENESS • It is important to understand the cultural Kairos that helps to create, define and change a particular genre. • Why was/is the timing right for the genre? • How does genre fit appropriately into the cultural context?

  11. Tips for Genre Analysis • Narrow the focus of your genre • Poetry ---- free verse poetry • You Tube videos ---- instructional You Tube videos • Find many examples of the genre. • Look for examples of genre outliers too. • Interview participants of the genres – composers + users.

More Related