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Teaching for Rhetorical and Civic Transfer: Iterative Definition Building to Promote Reflection on Key Terms

Tabor, Laura
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4180-8052
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1435841796

Abstract Details

2015, Master of Arts, Miami University, English.
This thesis proposes a pedagogical model of iterative definition building in the writing classroom. The study reviews how scholars of composition and rhetorical studies offer complex and flexible definitions that can help students begin investigating key terms of written communication. In order to propose a course where student definitions and re- definitions took the forefront of writing instruction, I surveyed students in the first-year writing course “Composition and Rhetoric” at Miami University. I asked students to define five key terms – rhetoric, writing, democracy, community, and citizenship – based on trends I had seen in composition literature such as the rising interest in public writing and community engagement. The surveyed students submitted definitions once in the beginning of the semester and once in the final week of the semester. Afterwards, the analysis was put into action as a course plan for a class called “Writing in Democratic Communities” which would value students’ definitions while also allowing them to reflectively modify their definitions as they moved through various course activities and readings. The project hopes to provide a process by which to turn any composition-class content area into a transfer-driven curriculum by creating pre-assessment surveys and scaffolded reflection activities that require students to apply abstract concepts to their current and future discourse communities.
Jason Palmeri, PhD (Committee Chair)
Michele Simmons, PhD (Committee Member)
Katharine Ronald, PhD (Committee Member)
74 p.
Composition

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Tabor, L. (2015). Teaching for Rhetorical and Civic Transfer: Iterative Definition Building to Promote Reflection on Key Terms [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1435841796

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Tabor, Laura. Teaching for Rhetorical and Civic Transfer: Iterative Definition Building to Promote Reflection on Key Terms. 2015. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1435841796.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Tabor, Laura. "Teaching for Rhetorical and Civic Transfer: Iterative Definition Building to Promote Reflection on Key Terms." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1435841796

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1435841796
496
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This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.