Key Concepts
This term relates to categories of text
What is a Genre
This term describes a key idea that, once learned, transforms the way a person understands a subject.
What is threshold concepts
This “story” imagines writing as a set of neutral, transferable skills that can be mastered once and for all.
What is the traditional story of writing?
A general explanation for how something works is a _______.
What is a theory?
This phrase is a group with a shared language trying to achieve the same goals.
What is a Discourse Community
This “traditional” story of writing says that good writing is a set of basic skills that, once mastered, transfer easily to any situation.
What is the skills-based or autonomous model of writing?
The traditional story often leads students to believe that once they learn grammar and structure, they can succeed in all writing. Wardle and Downs call this belief a _______.
What is a misconception?
This term describes the ideas and beliefs people carry about what writing is and how it works.
What are conceptions?
This term is language used to persuade an audience.
What is Rhetoric
This “research-based” story explains that writing is not a universal skill but changes depending on context, audience, and purpose.
What is the situated or rhetorical model of writing?
This story emphasizes that writing is learned and practiced differently in various communities and disciplines.
What is the research-based story?
In research, this is the group whose perspectives, needs, and expectations shape how writing is done.
What is the audience?
According to Wardle and Downs what do they say reason to write is?
What is Exigence
Wardle and Downs argue that this activity is always social and rhetorical, not just a matter of following rules.
How do Wardle and Downs explain writing
According to this story, writing changes depending on the situation, the people involved, and the goals of the text.
What is the research-based story of writing?
A specific claim that can be tested and is based on a theory is a _______.
What is a hypothesis?
This phrase is a source of writing support
What is a Literacy Sponsor?
The phrase “with our thoughts, we make the world” captures the idea that writing both shapes and is shaped by human activity. Who said it?
Who is Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs?
Wardle and Downs argue that shifting from the traditional story to the research-based story requires students to develop this kind of awareness about writing situations.
What is rhetorical awareness?
Wardle and Downs define writing as both a social and _______ activity.
What is rhetorical?