Instructions for the assignment
In addition, each mini-review should be 300-400 words. This is not a lot of space to summarize and evaluate, but that is the point. The mini-reviews will force you to be concise and specific with your words so that by the time you begin writing your “Rhetorical Review,” your ideas will be edited, exact, and refined.
Step 1:
For this discussion, you will choose one text from your text set. Write a summary of the main ideas of the text, including the specific intended audience this text addresses. This is where you discuss what the text says. Then, move on to a discussion of how the text says it. You can choose to discuss any aspect of the text, as long as you can provide specific examples from the text to support your points. Aspects you might discuss include organization, vocabulary, sources referenced (type and/or frequency), use of visuals, anecdotes, etc. (Please watch the Rhetorical Choices video, inside the Rhetorical Choices quiz, if you haven’t already) Since you only have 300-400 words, you should focus specifically on the aspect(s) of the text that seem the most significant to how effectively the text communicates its message to its intended audience.
Feedback given! This is the most important to edit and or re-write the mini-review.
Hi Swan,
I think your summary was well-done and that you didn’t need to include the long quote at the end of it — your words were succinct and got to the point so that it made the quote a bit superfluous and just took up more space that you could’ve used for rhetorical analysis.
The same problem goes for your second section — the quote is entirely too long and takes up space that you’re supposed to be using for pointing out rhetorical choices made by the author and explaining what effect those choices have on the audience. If your takeaway was that Cunningham was trying to inform teachers and students about letting language flourish, what part of that long quote specifically pointing you towards that idea? Did Cunningham use a specific tone or choice of word that made you pinpoint what her purpose was?
I’d suggest revising this post and taking out the large quotes so you can spend more time on rhetorical analysis. Try picking out two or three different rhetorical choices made within the text, describe them, and then analyze what effect those choices are supposed to have on the reader. What is a reader supposed to think, feel, or do after engaging with this text? What led them to that reaction or thought process?
(The one source is the one I provided. )
Below is what I wrote that needs to be edited based on the feedback.
CAN NOT EXCEED 400 WORDS OR CAN NOT BE BELOW 300
Summary: In the passage “African-American Language is Not Good English” written by Jennifer M. Cunningham it begins to talk about how we can’t say that there is only one way to correctly write English. The point of the article is to explain why comparing “African American English” and “American English” is truly a mistake. The following quote explains that trying to mesh the two together is a mistake, and instead, we need to recognize both as their own language and cherish them for what they are. “When we focus on the ways that African American Language and Standard American English are different, communicators can better understand, acquire, and switch between both, and society is more capable of recognizing the validity of the language and its users. Conflating the two into one linguistic variety is confusing at best and damaging at worst.”
Discussing the text: “In the writing classroom, teachers can help students navigate Standard American English expectations while not suggesting a linguistic hierarchy. By speaking about language choices in terms of difference rather than deficiency and in relation to academic and nonacademic conventions, we can value both (or any) languages. Delpit suggests validating students by welcoming their home languages—and, therefore, their cultures and identities—into the classroom so they feel respected and might be more willing to add Standard American English to their linguistic repertoires. If students understand that different audiences and contexts expect different language choices and that African American Language is different from Standard American English but that neither is better or worse than the other, then they are better able to accept and use both proficiently.” When Jennifer M. Cunningham wrote this and the way she went about it the goal of the passage was to educate the education system. She was trying to inform teachers and even students that we should not have one way to write English and instead, we should let English and other languages flourish for what they are.
The assigment is based on the text. It is only on the following on page 88:
Make sure that you read African American Language is not Good English (page 88) Jennifer M. Cunningham provided in the PDF
I am also willing to pay a little over $8 for great work:)
