This semester, Fall 2013, I am teaching two sections of the Rhetoric and Writing class at Ball State University. This class aims at introducing and developing understanding of principles of rhetoric; basic research methods; elements, strategies, and conventions of persuasion used in constructing written and multimodal texts. One of our major assignments is the multimodal assignment, which in my class is a causal argument video. This post deals with some of the in-class activities that I find efficient in implementing that multimodal project in the composition class. Video as Multimodal TextIn the context of freshman composition, I find it important to conceptualize video production as a form of multimodal expression. The Causal Argument Video should not just be viewed as a fun assignment with the potential to spark students' interest. It should also be viewed as a legitimate composing task with the same conventions, rules, guidelines, and constraints as "traditional" writing assignments. Video production involves planning, composing, and revising, the same process encountered with "traditional writing assignments." Besides, video production puts even more of an emphasis on the composing process, since it usually necessitates more planning than regular writing assignments. Beyond using verbal text to get its message across, video production employs a combination of written, spoken, non-verbal, visual, and/or auditory material that communicates a message. Multimodal EvaluationAfter establishing video as a form of multimodal text, it becomes crucial to look at what makes multimodal forms of expression effective. In that regard, I implement a class activity that enables students to evaluate different multimodal texts. Students are assigned various texts and are asked to assess them utilizing the Relationship between Modes as described by Karen Schriver, the Principles of Design as established by Robin Williams, and the Visual Assessment Criteria as proposed by Cynthia Selfe. As they are completing this evaluation, I make sure they identify the modes used in each text and how these modes are interacting to create a unified meaning. In addition, they work closely in looking at how different elements are arranged in the text and how this arrangement is working to make the text meaningful. Finally, they evaluate the visual coherence, salience, and organization of different elements in the text. While going through each step, they are asked to reflect on the effectiveness of the choices made by the author and to propose different alternatives that could have worked better. This exercise enables students to realize that multimodal composition is indeed complex and relies on a set of principles to be effective. ExampleThe following are two multimodal texts, which are making a similar argument. They were posted on the blog It's Okay To Be Smart by Joe Hanson. While the video uses the Girl With A Pearl Earring to emphasize the existence of a "wonderland" between Science and Art, the second multimodal text uses different modes to reiterate this very point. Go over these two multimodal forms of expression and evaluate their relative effectiveness. Read Part IIThis semester, Fall 2013, I am teaching two sections of the Rhetoric and Writing class at Ball State University. This class aims at introducing and developing understanding of principles of rhetoric; basic research methods; elements, strategies, and conventions of persuasion used in constructing written and multimodal texts. One of our major assignments is the multimodal assignment, which in my class is a causal argument video. This post deals with some of the in-class activities that I find efficient in implementing that multimodal project in the composition class. The Grammar of Video Making: Camera Distance, Angle, MovementIn teaching the video assignment, I find it important to remind students that video is a language we all speak. Since we were children, we have been watching movies, television shows, video clips, etc. Even though most of us have not attempted to use the video medium to communicate to others, we have at least been able to construct meaning out of what we watched over the years. For that reason, video has become a language we understand at this point. Understanding a language, however, does not necessarily imply that we are fully conscious of all its rules. In teaching the video project for that matter, I find it imperative to bring to consciousness the rules that we have internalized and that have been part of our subconscious. As part of the effort to bring to light these below-the-consciousness rules, I discuss video making conventions as they relate to camera usage. Just as words in an essay are carefully chosen to deliver the message at the author's intended way, the camera of the video maker is likewise used to the same effect. In the context of video making, everything that appears on the screen has to be driven by the author's careful and effective choice. The video maker has to ensure that the audience views the elements on the screen the way he has intended. For example, if the author wants the audience to pay attention to a cat on the screen, he has to make sure that he uses a shot that effectively makes the cat the salient element on the screen. That said, the video maker has to be knowledgable of the conventions surrounding the camera shots, angles, and movements. Camera Distance "Camera distance," refers to the distance between the camera and the person or object being photographed or filmed. A specific language or grammar of video making, which the video maker should understand, has been developed to describe different camera shots. These shots have different implications on the way the message is received. Extreme Long Shot:
Long Shot
Medium Shot
Close-Up Shot
The Extreme Close-Up Shot
Camera Angle "Camera Angle" refers to the relative angle from which the camera was placed to photograph or film and object or a person. Bird's Eye View
High Angle View
Eye Level View
Low Angle (Worm's Eye) View
Oblique Angle View
Camera Movements Zooming
Panning
Tilting
Application
The terminology presented above allows video makers to effectively talk about different shots they used or saw used in a video. In real life, however, not every shot used in a professional video would necessarily fall into one of the above categories. In fact, video makers often use a combination of camera shots and angles and/or movements to cause the suitable emotional impact on the audience. Look at the following images of the Ball State Bell Tower and see if you could apply the above terminology to describe each one. While doing so, think of the different emotional implications each of these images has for you. The first section of this post is a portion of an article by Professor James M. Lang that appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education about Writing Transfer. The second section is a response from a reader by the name Tony E. Jackson. These two interactions reveal a lot about the teaching of writing and prescriptivism, which I have captured in the third section of this post. January 21, 2013 Why Don't They Apply What They've Learned, Part I By James M. Lang For two years I taught in a special program in which the same cohort of students took two consecutive courses with me: freshman composition in the fall and introduction to literature in the spring. In the composition courses, I worked hard to help students move beyond the standard strategies they had learned in high school for writing introductory paragraphs: Start with a broad statement about life ("Since the beginning of time, people have been fighting wars ...") and narrow down to a specific topic. In both years that I taught the two-course sequence, I was startled to see many students come back from winter break and—on their very first papers in the spring class—revert directly back to those tired strategies that I had worked so hard to help them unlearn in the fall. One such student came into my office early in the spring semester to show me a draft of her paper, and it included a lame reverse-pyramid (i.e., general to specific) introduction. "You have to rewrite your introduction," I said to her. "Why aren't you using any of the introductory paragraph strategies we worked on last semester?" She looked up at me in genuine puzzlement: "You mean that the stuff we learned last semester applies in this course, too?" D'oh!... Read the whole article here Tony E. Jakson I always enjoy reading your insightful and stimulating thoughts about teaching. But here's a (ok, maybe snarky) response/question about the specific problem you mention. Is the problem specifically beginning with generalizations about *life*, or just the standard move from general to specific? If it's the former, then you can ignore the rest of this post. But if it's the latter (general to specific as a rhetorical strategy) I wish more of my students would come in with a grip on it, because it's extremely useful and, I'd argue, educational. In fact, let's see: you begin with "For two years I taught in a special program in which the same cohort of students took two consecutive courses with me:" And then you move from cohort to more specific, many: "I was startled to see many students"; And then you move to more specific with both numbers and time: "One such student came into my office early in the spring semester." This doesn't seem a tired strategy to me at all. It may not be the only strategy, but it's a very solid one. Could it be that the students were simply transferring the better rhetorical strategy? My Own TakeHere is James Lang, a professor of English, advising his students to abandon the same old tired inverted pyramid type of introduction while he is instinctively using it in this very post. This great conversation between Jackson and Lang reveals an instantiation of language rules and patterns that have been internalized and being used below the level of consciousness.
Most of us have a tendency to think that we are fully aware of how we use language - how we speak and even how we write. This exchange, however, clearly exemplifies quite the opposite. We can make conscious decisions to choose the words and the expressions we use, to censor some while privileging others, but the organizational schema of our thoughts mostly remains below the level our consciousness. This is why Lang, in this very episode, is using the same organizational schema -from general to specific - he is indeed critiquing. The teaching of writing calls for writing instructors to know the aspects of language that are used in a conscious manner and the aspects that are rather automatic and instinctive. While the former could successfully be subjected to prescriptivism, the latter, however, requires participation in discourse communities where the targeted forms are used. That said, in order for Lang's students to successfully use different models of introduction, it would not be sufficient that they merely be introduced to them. It requires participation in discourse communities where these models of introduction are used in a prolific way. Through participation and exposure, these models of introduction will become an integral part of the discourse of the students and will naturally appear in their writing. |
AuthorHi, I am Ritassida Mamadou Djiguimde. This blog is intended to provide a linguistic perspective on different language phenomena taking place worldwide with a particular focus on Burkina Faso. Archives
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