This paper is organized around a goal-complication-resolution framework of questions: What do people want from higher education?; How could people achieve what they want?; What is stopping them?; and What can they do about it? The paper's context is writing in the disciplines, rather than composition specifically or academic writing in general.…

This paper analyzes the connections between the oral genres displayed by Gitano (also known as Gypsies or Romani) children and adults during religious instruction classes of an Evangelist Church and the writings produced by Gitano children in a computer after-school program of the same community. Subjects were Gitano children (n=30), ages 5-13…

This book is about defining, establishing, and sustaining a literacy community in a seventh-grade reading classroom. The book examines this particular literacy community, its meaning making, and the power structures within the community--providing educators with insights they can apply in their own classrooms. It is based on a 4-year examination,…

Judaism is, through its scholarly traditions, both inclusive and isolationist. In the Bavli Talmud the rabbis discuss whether or not the Torah, or any other sacred writing, can be translated into the languages of the "goyim" (Hebrew for nations, generally referring to nations other than Israel) and have that translation continue to…

All styles of genre research share an attention to particular features of texts in use. The question is, however, how to teach genre. This paper first reviews what seem to be two opposed theories of teaching genre. After arguing that to differing extents both theories rely upon a transmission model of teaching, the paper then discusses attempts to…

Explores the concept of voice by turning to disclosure discourse about sexual abuse. Argues that sexually abused children are strategic and logical in the way they regulate access to this private information. Notes that the children locate their voice of logic in their selection of confidants. States that researchers can position themselves as…

Discusses the unexplored territory of the stories teenagers have to tell. Contends that teenagers tell personal experience narratives as much as anybody else, using a repertoire of tales at a high level of competence as a means of social currency within their everyday conversational exchanges. Illustrates with quotes from fieldwork in secondary…

Shows the path to professionalization through four phases of ornithological discourse history, drawing upon articles in "The Auk," published from 1890-90. States that, originally a single discourse form, the personal narrative of natural history served ornithological science. Finds that a gap between science and public understanding was…

Argues that the phrase "think like a lawyer" confers a technical understanding of legal practices unavailable to ordinary people. Invites critics, in another approach, to examine ways laws are negotiated within rhetorical culture, then transformed into legal edicts. Studies the case of "Separate but Equal" doctrine to offer a…

Traces philosophical appraisals of technology, both as devices for human purposes and, as technological rationality, as ways of thinking and acting. Two applications of communication technology in the context of Canadian coastal communities illustrate the distinction between training and education, and the importance of public space in which to…

Compares the work of three educational theorists from across the political spectrum. Places E. D. Hirsch's concept of cultural literacy against the liberal ideas posited by Louise Rosenblatt and the more radical ideas of Henry Giroux. Finds crucial differences among the three regarding whose knowledge and discourse is validated in the classroom.…

Shows how microethnography can be an effective tool for analyzing the possibilities and constraints of electronic discourse by overviewing two electronic mail ethnography projects. Suggests that such approaches can help students better understand electronic rhetoric as well as electronic ideology (the power relationships and cultural values that…

Compares electronic support groups to electronic hobby groups to demonstrate the difference in terms of the rhetorical behavior of participants. Finds that some discourse characteristics and rhetorical features are common to all groups, others are unique to the special requirements of electronic support groups. (PA)

Analyzes the events of July 23, 1993, when Carol Moseley-Braun was involved in two rhetorical events in the United States Senate dealing with racial issues and the rhetorical culture of the Senate. Concludes that the reactions are as telling as the actions, revealing a United States Senate fundamentally unprepared for such a subject and such a…

Discusses the controversy surrounding the existence of a culture created by those who use computers; some argue that computers lack emotional contact and that computer-mediated communication does not have the commonality to form a culture. Analyzes transcripts collected through a synchronous computer system, and argues that cultures are both…