In this article, we draw on the work of Michel Foucault to analyze one student's subject development in an expository writing classroom. James, the participant, was embarking on the project of becoming a good student, as he understood it, after struggling and leaving school previously. Drawing on interviews, classroom observations and written…

A symposium in the November 2006 issue of "College English" addresses the question, "What should college English be?" In this article, the author presents his answer to this question--it should be a functional approach to English studies. By English studies he means everything that is done in English departments. Most English departments teach…

Examines the way in which Darwin employed conventional language and conventional religious categories of popular thought to explain and lend credibility to the ideas he advanced in "The Orgin of Species." (MH)

Although first enunciated in 1827 by Samuel Newman, the modes of discourse--narration, description, exposition, and argument--were not very popular until formulated in 1866 and presented in the United States in a rhetoric textbook in 1885. After 1890, they were gradually accepted by the most influential rhetoricians of the day, and their use in…

Ascertaining that the college freshman and professional writing he analyzed did not differ significantly in the rank order or frequency with which transitional devices were used in description, author advises that it may be a waste of time to teach high school and college students these devices as if they were not already a basic component of…

This paper examines what rhetoric used in communicating with general audiences is appropriate to educational research as a form of knowing. Answers to this question depend not only on characteristics of knowledge, but also on what one considers a defensible goal in research reporting. Assuming that this goal is communicating authorized convictions…

Analyzes changes in content and shifts in emphasis in rhetoric texts from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Suggests that the current-traditional approach to the teaching of rhetoric used in most college classrooms has a strong similarity to that advocated by early rhetoricians. (RBW)

In teaching the principles of rational discourse in advanced expository writing, it is necessary to clarify the similarities and differences between the logic and rhetoric of Aristotle and to identify a common ground between the two. The study of logic within rhetoric focuses on the inductive standards used to support two kinds of argument: the…

The chief insistence of the educational reform that Peter Ramus initiated in the sixteenth century in England was that the liberal arts should exist as separate and distinct disciplines, divided from one another. He split the old rhetorical laws to avoid duplication between dialectic and rhetoric and thus influenced the style of preaching found in…

Discusses ways to define, describe and evaluate plain style. Provides results of T-unit and stylistic analysis of several authors, including Orwell and Swift. Distinguishes between scientific ideals of plain style as depersonalized clarity and plain style essayists' cultivation of personal voice. Applies theories of F. Christensen and J. Williams…

As background to an argument for purposive reintegration of discourse study, this paper examines the concept of explanatory discourse as it developed within the Western rhetorical tradition. Following a discussion of the rise of a rhetoric of explanation, the first section cites the roots of the explanatory pedagogy developing during the first…

The rhetoric program at the University of Iowa is an integrated skills program based on four assumptions: (1) writing and speaking are modes of communication, (2) writing and speaking are equally important, (3) writing and speaking can be taught together, and (4) the administration, relevant faculty, and teachers must believe that writing and…

To help students become more honest rhetoricians," teachers must recognize the issues involved in teaching controversial subjects." (Author/SW)

A study compared university students' Japanese and English native-language essays (22 expository, 24 persuasive) in terms of organization and macrolevel discourse features. Results indicate inductive rhetorical patterns were more common in Japanese than English essays and more common in persuasive than expository mode across languages. However,…