A Rhetorical Approach
A rhetorical approach to writing understands texts primarily
as acts of communication or as performances rather than as static
objects; writing and reading, speaking and listening, are always
intertwined. To implement such a rhetorical perspective effectively,
instructors need to be able to articulate—and guide their
students in discovering—how a piece of writing works. This,
in essence, is the work of rhetorical analysis. Further, PWR
instructors help students explore the contexts in which texts
live and work, assessing differences in taste and in cultural
beliefs and values, in conventions of diction and style, in standards
of appropriateness and correctness.
Why does PWR have a rhetorical focus? Aristotle’s dictum
that “the end of rhetoric is sound judgment” provides
a good answer to this question. First- and second-year university
students are already on a journey toward coming to strong and
effective critical judgments, and rhetorical theory and practice
provides them with a set of tools to use on that journey. Although
rhetorical studies spring from an ancient tradition, contemporary
scholars ranging from physicists to postmodern philosophers have
increasingly begun asking rhetorical questions: not only questions
of the most effective means of persuasion, but questions of how
competing discourses shape our thoughts and actions. In this
emphasis, PWR differentiates itself from other writing-intensive
courses Stanford undergraduates are likely to encounter.
Rhetoric also provides the appropriate underpinnings for PWR
2, which focuses on the difference that media make to the construction
and delivery of messages. As we move more and more into an age
of secondary orality and the primacy of images, rhetoric’s
original function as the art of oral discourse is perfectly suited
to guide us.
