Self learning assessment - Essay Example

SELF LEARNING ASSESSMENT I have learnt that becoming a good is, in every case, a process of becoming. Writing well, communicating in meaningful ways always depends on the rhetorical situation and how audience, context and purpose shape what, how and why you are communicating. Key rhetorical concepts, include the rhetorical situation, audience, context, purpose, the conversation model, genre, collaboration, evidence, appeals (ethos, pathos, logos), incorporating sources (fairly paraphrasing, quoting and using citations), etc
The role of rhetoric in writing is to persuade, inspire or impress the reader. To gain trust with readers writers typically convey an understanding of prevalent needs and issues through storytelling, metaphors, satire and humor. To gain credibility and expertise in certain types of written communication, a writer must conduct extensive research. For effective use of rhetoric in writing one must gain the readers trust (Livnat, 2009).
The traditional definition of rhetoric, first proposed by Aristotle, and embellished over the centuries by scholars and teachers, is that rhetoric is the art of observing in any given case the “available means of persuasion.” We employ rhetoric whether we’re conscious of it or not, but becoming conscious of how rhetoric works has transformed my speaking, reading, and writing, making me more successful and an able communicator and a more discerning audience (Koerber, 2006).
Genre refers to abstract, socially recognized ways of using language. I have learnt that it is based on the idea that members of a community usually have little difficulty in recognizing similarities in the texts they use frequently and are able to draw on their repeated experiences with such texts to read, understand, and perhaps write them relatively easily (Judy, 2008). This is, in part, because writing is a practice based on expectations: the reader’s chances of interpreting the writer’s purpose are increased if the writer takes the trouble to anticipate what the reader might be expecting based on previous texts they have read of the same kind. While genres are seen more specifically as related to groups, they are also seen in the wider context of the activities that surround the use of texts. Thus, for Swales (1998, p. 20), genres: ‘Orchestrate verbal life. These genres link the past and the present, and so balance forces for tradition and innovation. They structure the roles of individuals within wider frameworks and further assist those individuals with the actualization of their communicative plans and purposes’.
I have also realized that instead of focusing on the process of composition, the content of texts, or the abstract prescriptions of disembodied grammars, genre has enabled me to write in my target contexts, thereby supporting me to participate effectively in the world outside the classroom (Ceccarelli, 2001).
I have also learnt that when writing any type of paper, it is important to be aware of your audience. Writers who fail to understand who their readers are have the risk of failing to reach the goals they have intended for certain papers. If written for the inappropriate audience, the author’s writing may seem unfocused or inappropriate. Therefore, it is important to provide the proper context, tone, and language suitable to the audience you are addressing. It is also important to know your audience because it will eventually help you determine how and what to write.
References
Ceccarelli, L. (2001). Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public; University of Chicago Press.
Judy, S. (2008). Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Koerber, A. (2006). From Folklore to Fact: The Rhetorical History of Breastfeeding and Immunity, 1950–1997.
Livnat, Z. (2009). The Concept of Scientific Fact: Perelman and Beyond Read More