Situations, multimodality, and meaning making

CONCEPT 2: Writing Speaks to Situations through Recognizable Forms

In Concept 2 of Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies Adler-Kassner and Wardle introduce how writers can recognize the rhetorical situation that surrounds them and respond with text that matches the particular situation. When people navigate social situations in person, there are distinct and easily recognizable signals that Bazerman describes as “recognizable form associated with those situations and social groups” (35). The challenge though for writers is that these signals are not as easily recognized and translated in the written word. There is a consensus in FYC (and all composition) that the rhetorical situation is always in play, shaping our thoughts into ideas and then into composed texts; the gravity of the rhetorical situation is understood. What is less understood is how writers can interpret the rhetorical situation when there are “fewer material clues with which to locate ourselves spontaneously” (36). Writers must rely on their intuition much more than speakers.

Real-time, interpersonal communication provides sirens to the participants that tell them precisely the kind of situations they find themselves in. These cues are not immediately available to writers (or readers) when they compose. Though these rhetorical signposts are there for the writer to discover, the discovery process is more time intensive. Often in my career and as a graduate student, I must pause to think about the situation that connects to the written product I am creating. As a marketing and public relations manager, I wrote a press release announcing a monthly board meeting in a much different style than a ticketed special event. The board meeting is a routine, monthly, non-revenue event. A special event that has a revenue goal has an entirely different audience and situation. It demands a light, creative, fun, and energetic style, complete with quotes and pictures. The board meeting release is brief, to the point, with no lean into creative writing.

In All Writing is Multimodal Ball and Charlton give us a good primer on what multimodal means and how it can be used in the classroom. The New London Group classifies five ways that meaning is made: linguistic, aural, visual, gestural, and spatial (1996). Some people mistake that achieving multimodality is only done through software programs like PowerPoint, InDesign, Photoshop, Excel, among others. I appreciate that Ball and Charlton highlight that traditional artwork and scrapbooks, in all of their non-digital glory, are also multimodal (43). Though in FYC, it is much simpler to use university-provided software than have students paint, draw or scrapbook. There are numerous options for exploring multimodality in the classroom, but it is helpful to review FYC strategies that have worked. I suggest reading Melanie Gagich’s An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing, which is a chapter in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 3, a peer-reviewed open textbook series aimed at classroom instruction. Gagich provides actual strategies for incorporating multimodality in FYC; strategies that have been successfully used in the classroom.

Andrea Lunsford suggests that all writing is performative, that it can result in creating change or make some specific action occur (44). She highlights the Declaration of Independence as an example of performative writing. That’s an obvious example that needs no examination as to why it’s performative. While I understand her premise, there are forms of writing that are not performative such as poetry and songwriting. That is not to say that songwriting or poetry never changes minds or prompts new actions. There are many poems and songs that have affected the civil rights and labor movements; folk singer Woody Guthrie immediately comes to mind. However, there are many song lyrics (see Phish, Colonel Bruce Hampton, and Widespread Panic) that have no effect on me because I do not understand the meaning behind the lyrics, and am not sure if there even is a meaning. Certainly, there is no call to action or attempt to make something happen through much of their songwriting. I am taking a broad view of writing here. I imagine that Lunsford is framing her Writing is Performative contribution around academic writing, both composition and advanced English studies.

Works Cited

Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth Wardle. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Utah State University Press, 2015.

Gagich, Melanie. "An introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, edited by Dana Driscoll, Parlor Press, 2020, pp. 65-85.