Key Terms
Real audience
People you know personally or know of
Example
Adapting the same story for two different audiences — peers vs. grandparents — is cultural adjustment in action.
Anticipated audience
People you expect to engage with your communication but may not know personally
Examples
Spoken presentation, text message, social media post, research paper, email. Genre shapes what you can and cannot say, a
Reading rhetorically
Figuring out WHY and HOW a message works or fails to work in achieving its purpose.
Writing rhetorically
Being conscious of how you construct a message within a defined rhetorical situation.
Thinking rhetorically
Considering the possibilities of meaning as conveyed through language and image.
Critical reading
Analyzing distinctions, interpretations, and conclusions — not just following what the author says.
Critical writing
Making distinctions, developing interpretations, and drawing conclusions that hold up to scrutiny.
Critical thinking
Exercising reason and judgment when encountering or generating language.
Passive reading
Moving your eyes across the page without engaging. You can "finish" a page and retain nothing.
Words
Presented sequentially; you follow a thread; meaning builds in order.
Images
Information presented simultaneously; you can scan anywhere; general meaning may be immediate, but nuanced meaning takes
What it is
Deciding whether the text effectively accomplishes its purpose. Does it do what it claims to do?
Sentence starters
The most important aspect of this text is _____ because _____. [Author] fails to address _____, which makes me think abo