Communicating Performance: First-Year Writing Syllabi as Rhetorical Contact Zones

Syllabi are an integral part of any college experience and an understanding for how the genre functions on a rhetorical level is an under-researched area in the field of higher education. Using the tools of rhetorical analysis—looking at language and genre structures—I gathered a selection of 25 First-Year Writing syllabi within the Department of English at Virginia Tech to help address this concern of a lack of research. Using qualitative research methods—specifically those dealing with language and genre coding—I worked through my syllabi selection to ascertain how the genre functions rhetorically. Using Mary Louise Pratt's idea of the "contact zone" as well as Rhetorical Genre Theories and Actor-Network Theory, I argue that beginning with an understanding for how the genre of syllabi function rhetorically will also help us understand how the genre can be communicative, in the sense that it sends a message, as well as performative.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Department dc:contributor.department

English

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Sederstrom, Olivia Marie

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Carter-Tod, Sheila L.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Sano-Franchini, Jennifer
• Powell, Katrina M.

• First-Year Writing
• Syllabi
• Contact Zones
• Rhetorical Genre Theories
• Actor-Network Theory

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:20669

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/91189