No Problem: PBL in Freshman Composition through Multigenre Rhetorical Analysis

When people ask me about my profession and I respond that I am an English teacher, they typically assume that I "teach students how to write." But what exactly does that mean?  How does one teach writing? How can an instructor stand at the front of a classroom and spew forth valuable knowledge about the act of writing and useful methods for approaching composition?

The answer is simple- it is not possible to effectively teach students how to write through conventional, "sage on the stage" lecture. Hours of Power Points and droning disquisition serve only to hinder the development and refinement of compositional techniques. Do you think you are capable of sitting through an hour and half oration about thesis statements, paragraph structure, or proper comma usage without falling asleep or checking Facebook? Despite my avid interest in the subject and passion for writing, I know I couldn't make it through a single class structured like this.

Problem-based instructional methods are key to my discipline. This pedagogical style in particular promotes student agency throughout the learning process by requiring active engagement in the subject matter while allowing space for creative, subjective responses in both written work and class/group discussion. Problem-based instruction is perhaps the only surefire path toward either instilling an earnest desire to write within students who claim to "hate English classes" and "hate writing," or reigniting this passion within students who, due to prior "sage on the stage" classroom experiences, have lost the flame necessary to enthusiastically engage in critical analysis through composition.

In the first week of class, I assign a long term rhetorical analysis paper/group project. For those that are unfamiliar with the idea of rhetorical analysis, it involves deconstructing a given text/advertisement/speech, identifying key aspects (exigence, purpose, intended audience, constraints, ethos/pathos/logos appeals), and critically analyzing how these aspects function together as a whole to achieve a certain goal.

 First, I list possible categories for analysis on the board, provide short examples of texts/advertisements/speeches from each category, and allow them a few minutes to decide which topic most interests them. Categories I have listed in the past include: political campaign advertisements, product advertisements, or ideological advertisements/texts (commercials or texts that attempt to persuade an audience to think about a certain ethical/moral/cultural issue). I then separate the students into groups based on their initial sense of the category they are most interested in. It is important to note that I allow them to change groups up to one week after their initial in-class group conference. The assignment is structured with the following requirements:

• As a group, come to a consensus on a particular topic that interests you within your selected category.
• Select at least 3 examples of advertisements, texts, or speeches within your category to rhetorically analyze. Strive to provide an analysis of all three genres across various forms of media. For example, the political advertisements group could potentially select a brief campaign commercial, a campaign flyer or blog entry, and a recorded speech.
• Individual group members should rhetorically analyze each of the three examples separately, justify their claims/analysis with evidence from the example, then compare their answers and justifications with the group. Come to some form of consensus about each piece in terms of its exigence, purpose, intended audience (and secondary/tertiary audiences where appropriate), constraints, and rhetorical appeals (ethos/pathos/logos). Some examples may require visual analysis (commercials, posters, flyers, etc...). 
• Identify the problematic aspects within each example. In other words, identify how the authors/speakers are using/abusing rhetoric through various manipulative rhetorical appeals and playing toward an intended audience to achieve a certain purpose. 
• Analyze whether they are intentionally excluding pertinent information and/or counterarguments and justify your claims with evidence. 
• Analyze whether they are delivering their message in a dishonest or manipulative manner and explain why/why not with evidence.
• Critically discuss these problems in terms of how distorted messages in advertisements/texts/speeches promote confusion and conflict and prevent understanding and compromise among a larger population.
• Suggest specific and realistic solutions to the problematic elements within each selected advertisement/text/speech and justify how this solution could promote accurate understanding among the intended audience and a larger population.

This assignment is scaffolded in that smaller assignments throughout the semester play into its successful completion. For example, group members must provide their individual rhetorical analysis of each example on blog posts early in the semester. Each group member must leave constructive criticism and feedback in the form of a thorough comment. This requires individual accountability within the group and provides me with written proof that each group member is submitting valuable input to the discussion. Halfway through the semester, the group must submit a progress report to me in the form of an MLA format memo. Though the template is provided, they must work together to ensure that it is properly edited and executed. Finally, the group must present their project at the end of the semester in a professional presentation using either Prezi or Power Point. Their presentation is rated by their fellow class members using an anonymous survey I construct. After the presentation, the group hands in the formal, MLA style write-up of their collective rhetorical analysis and findings. Group members are later given access to a separate survey in which they anonymously provide me with feedback on accountability and work distribution within the group.

Though this assignment has undergone ample revisions throughout my three semesters of teaching English 1105 and 1106, I find it rewarding for numerous reasons:

• It preserves student agency and promotes curiosity in that they pick their topics, genres, and specific examples and offer their own analysis of said examples. They have control over how they work and how the group manages their time. They are able to change groups if they so choose.
• It allows for critique and revision by requiring feedback from fellow group members on the forum posts and from me in response to the progress report.
• It fosters critical listening skills in the students who are acting as the audience during a given presentation.

• It is multi-genre. Essentially, it works across genres not only in terms of the pieces the groups are analyzing, but in terms of the overall assignment criteria (forum posts, memo, presentation with visuals, and collaborative paper).
• It cultivates numerous 21st century competencies including: critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, individual accountability, use of technology, effective presentation skills, and document production.
• It requires extended, in-depth inquiry about a topic that affects them on a daily basis, rhetorical means of persuasion that exist in nearly every advertisement, text, speech act, etc...Ideally, this assignment encourages students to be conscious and critical of rhetorical means of persuasion and their effects.
• It promotes self reflection in that students must identify what they already know and what they need to know and how to gain this knowledge.
• I encourage students to present this project beyond the comfortable boundaries of the classroom at undergraduate research conferences, encouraging the transfer of knowledge and skills out of my classroom and into academe.