Hi, everyone.
For Tuesday's in-class analysis, here are your concepts and questions. Work through the set that is relevant to your group; we'll break for discussion either before or after the synthesis questions. One group member will probably want to use the assignment sheet and available Internet resources to find out more about the context of your chosen text.
Lung Group: “Letter to Hu Jintao”
1. examples of illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, or extending (Harris ch.2)
2. the rhetorical “move” in each paragraph (i.e., its communicative function or the role it plays in her larger argument)
3. cogent reasoning (Lazere ch. 2) and/or Rogerian “believing and doubting”
Preparation for Synthesis: Cite the passage(s) that you think holds your writer’s main argument. Very briefly, list the main points your writer uses to develop that argument. There should be an implied logical progression in that list, so you might have to dig through the examples and illustrations to get at them.
Synthesis Question: What role could cultural context play in how Lung wrote her open letter, given that it was originally written in Chinese for a Taiwanese audience, before being translated into and circulated in English?
Neeleman Group: JetBlue triad of documents
1. cogent reasoning (Lazere ch. 2) and/or Rogerian “believing and doubting”
2. use or avoidance of disembodied voice (Matalene)
3. how the 3 different documents work together to create or remove certainty
Preparation for Synthesis: Cite the passage(s) that you think holds your writer’s main argument. Very briefly, list the main points your writer uses to develop that argument. There should be an implied logical progression in that list, so you might have to dig through the examples and illustrations to get at them.
Synthesis Question: How does Neeleman construct audience in these documents in terms of Ong's audience construction?
Sheils and Musgrove Group: “Why Johnny Can’t Write” debate
1. cogent reasoning (Lazere ch. 2) and/or logical fallacies (Lazere ch. 2)
2. ESBYODS principles (Lazere ch. 5)
3. conflict levels or clashing value pairs (Kaufer)
4. examples of illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, or extending (Harris ch.2)
Preparation for Synthesis: Cite the passage(s) that you think holds your writer’s main argument. Very briefly, list the main points your writer uses to develop that argument. There should be an implied logical progression in that list, so you might have to dig through the examples and illustrations to get at them.
Synthesis Question: What kind of audience does each writer write for, and how do you think that affected their decisions about how to argue (note specific differences where you can)?
Pausch Group: “Childhood Dreams—The Last Lecture”
1. the rhetorical “move” in each paragraph (i.e., its communicative function or the role it plays in his larger argument)
2. use of experience as evidence (Matalene)
3. use of irony
Preparation for Synthesis: Cite the passage(s) that you think holds your writer’s main argument. Very briefly, list the main points your writer uses to develop that argument. There should be an implied logical progression in that list, so you might have to dig through the examples and illustrations to get at them.
Synthesis Question: How does Randy Pausch use his own experiences as a way for the audience to reflect on current values, beliefs, and trends of the American middle-class?
-Dr. Graban
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7 comments:
1. The author utilizes the Rogerian argument in that he empathizes with the customers, acknowledging the fact that they are upset.
2.the letter to Jetblue customers uses embodied voice throughout in order to connect to the audience, creating human language.
3. The first document, the letter, apologizes to the customers, the youtube video reinforces this apology and promises a solution, and the bill of rights is evidence of that solution. All documents reinforce their apology and promise that it won't happen again.
Prep for synthesis: The letter develops all four stasis in order to take the reader logically through the issue and development of a solution. The passages that develop the argument are the 1st sentence of the 2nd paragraph (stating their apology) and the 1st sentence of the 3rd paragraph (stating their solution and promise for a better future).
Synthesis: The writer assumes the audience to be upset and distrusting of the airline. He realizes that he will need to provide strong evidence to support his claim for a solution.
We began by analyzing the moves in the letter. It begins like a letter would with a salutation, but almost immediately you can tell it is not intended for one audience, and is not really a letter at all. Lung begins with an angry almost bitter tone by talking about a poorly made joke to produce more Hu Jintao's. She leads onto this saying why would we want that and what has happened in the 2 years under the rule of Hu Jintao. We looked for terms to relate to Harris and found that Lung is using extending to some extent by taking the discussion of China and its standards and instead of talking about them in terms of "western rights" she uses a socialist idea to explain them, and she still finds that China has an extremely poor media freedom. There is always an argument that China is better than everyone else especially western countries, and this may be because of the pressure western countries put on China for its harsh violations of civil rights, and freedoms. Lung even compares these intentional shut downs of media to cutting the throat of China. Time after time the publications that were considered the "voice of the people" were systematically shut down having their editors and staff removed. One of the editors was even jailed, and protests ensued because nobody believed the accusation was true. Lung commends Hu Jintao for his exceptional ability to control the internet, because it is so ridiculous. The cutting of the throat of China comes when the Freezing Point one of the last things the Chinese people had was shut down. It was immediately removed from the internet as well and no trace was left. The so called "execution" took place during the Chinese New Year and therefore the outcries from the public were silenced over the happy vacation time they were having. This letter was translated into Chinese and English and many different languages to gain support for the injustices going on in China. The rest of the world was preparing for the Beijing Olympics and Lung felt the need to show the western world the true China. As well as stand up for her own people both Chinese and Taiwanese.
Mickey and AJ
Musgrove uses cogent resoning very effectively when he states in his claim that "students rarely experience any significant penalties for their bad behavior in writing" He follows this up with his support when he states, "They may get a low mark on an assignment, but it would would be a rare event indeed if a student failed a course for an inadequate writing performance." Lastly he concludes his cogent reasoning with "Just imagine the line at the dean's door!" He makes his argument in a way that makes it seem rediculous that students would get a bad grade for their writing ability, which justifies the reason that students cannot write as something that is just a fact. The main fallacy that Musgrove presents is that he goes back and forth between blaiming the students and the faculty and in the end he doesn't even come up with a solution but presents a sarcastic idea and almost mocks the system.
Brett and Kelsie
In David’s apology letter to JetBlue customers, his argument is cognently reasoned, because he first states his claim, “We are committed to you, our valued customers, and are taking immediate corrective steps to regain your confidence in us.” Supporting evidence to this claim is the JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights lists possible delays that might occure, and what will be given to the customer in return, if these delays happen. The Bill of Rights also restates JetBlue’s “dedication to bringing humanity back to air travel”. David again puts emphasis on what JetBlue will do to reorganize itself to better serve its customers in his Youtube video, “ Our Promise to You”.
None of these documents use avoidance or disembodied voice. They are actually all very personable. In the letter he uses words such as, you, we, family, saddening, and regaining confidence. The Youtube video is very conversational as the CEO of JetBlue speaks to his customers.
All 3 documents work well together because the letter states the claim as well as the video, and the Bill of Rights supports this claim with evidence of what they will do to make changes with the airline. The video also has supporting evidence from the CEO, David Neeleman, of what JetBlue can do for their customers.
Neeleman does multiple things to create or construct his audience. In his apology letter he uses personable language and addresses the customers as human beings, which reiterates JetBlue’s commitment to “bring humanity back to air travel”. Most CEO’s probably would not chose to make a Youtube video to address their customers. In doing this, Neeleman is able to appear more real and intouch with his audience. Customers are able to see that he is committed to making sure that the customer is always put first. The Youtube video and the Bill of Rights are aimed at future customers, since they do not offer an apology. The apology letter is aimed towards previous customers to ensure their continual support of JetBlue.
The main point of Lung's open letter to Hu Jinto is to criticize his dictatorial regime. She borrows a lot of key terms, such as "Chinese conditions", "voice of the people", and "statesmen" in order to undermine the regime. She calls attention the reality of media censorship and the ways in which Hi Jinto manipulates and censors media under the guise of the people's interests. As a Taiwanese writers, Lung has some objectivity in criticizing the regime. She is able to borrow key ideas from the Chinese government and re-evaluate their meaning in terms of her own perspective. This idea of extending words and phrases that the Chinese have used to justify their actions strengthens the letter because it allows the audience to see exactly how Jinto's regime pretends to be working towards the interests of the people when there is an entirely different reality taking place. She is writing in reaction to the Freezing Point affair and uses it to point out the fears and anxieties of Hu Jinto's regime- his radical behavior is not a consequence of his care for the well being of the Chinese, rather a fear that he will be spoken against. This media censorship and manipulation speaks of a severe instability within the regime, according to Lung's critical perspective.
Musgrove is writing for a higher educated audience, mostly college professors and students whom are concerned with writing techniques below the desired standard, while Sheils is addressing an audience composed of mainly adults who would be concerned with their children’s writing education and the development of adequate abilities. Sheils argues using references to expert opinions, and outside research to make himself seem more credible to the readers that he is trying to convince. The use of outside research from credible sources allows the reader to look past the fallacy in his argument that students are illiterate, when in actuality they cannot uphold her defined standards for academic writing. Musgrove argues using his personal experience as a professor which aids his argument directed towards collegiate minds. Both articles are aimed towards motivating their readers to take action towards change for the better, but Musgrove uses a positive tone to motivate the students that he is addressing to make positive changes in their writing styles. Sheils bases his argument more along the lines of scaring adults into taking action to change the policies that would affect their children’s learning development.
-Maggie and Kayleen
Mitch and Emily: Pauscch
Question #1 Pausch's main persuasive technique is pulling examples from his past to show how he was able to live out his childhood dreams, but not in a sympathetic way. He uses a lot of humor and ways of showing how he was able to achieve these dreams even though they did not play out exactly as he had planned.
Pausch's Moves Pages 3-11
Paragraphs 1-3 - These paragraphs play his role as a speaker, establishing who he is, and grabbing the audiences attention by giving his history.
Paragraphs 4-13 - These paragraphs explain his dreams and how they really did not pan out as he originally planned, but in fact turned better than he planned. His use of humor is what holds this section together.
Paragraphs 15-21 - These establish who he is today and what he uses is the fact that he is part of things we see every day or on vacation. He mentions he was part of developing rides at Disney and part of developing several forms of entertainment, he is holding his audience by use of examples and making the audience know they are int he presence of the guy who is responsible.
The remaining paragraphs of the speech focus on his job as a professor and wanting to inspire others to live out their dreams. So more use of experience here.
Question #2 He uses difference experiences in his life to not necessarily to prove a point that you will achieve every dream that you have, but that does not mean that other dreams that you may have are not obtainable.
Question #3 This speech very ironic, he is trying to inspire others to live out their dreams, but he has never really did and now is on his deathbed so they will most likely never happen. His irony kind of in a way shows others that you may have dreams that cannot happen, but that does mean that you cannot make a difference, which was his dream to inspire.
Preparation for Sythesis: He begins by establishing who he is, why he is speaking to begin with. Then he moves on to his dreams as a child and how they did not really did not happen, but he was able to gain experience from this. He was able to move on to basically wanting to inspire others by saying that it is alright and do not give up on wanting to do something because it did not happen just right.
Synthesis: The dreams he used were the common dreams that children hold in the American Middle Class, which ultimately made this entire speech relative to his audience.
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