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| How my mind was while reading Devitt. |
"Teaching Critical Genre Awareness" by Amy Devitt was my first academic read in a long time. The last time I had to read and analyze from what seemed to be a chapter of an academic book for teachers, was about three years ago.
While reading this, I lacked confidence in analyzing what Devitt was really saying. My brain felt like the picture to the left. Tripped out. I spend my time reading romantic novels. So bare with me as I try to decipher what Devitt means by genre and how important it is to be aware of it. I will also explore the different types of genres that occur in my everyday life.
Before diving into what Devitt had to say, I first researched a little bit about her. Amy Devitt is a professor at the University of Kansas and received her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. According to her website, she defines herself as a "writer, teacher, speaker and a scholar". She has published three books and it should not be to anyones surprise that her favorite topics include rhetorical genres and english grammar.
Devitt defines genres as "social and rhetorical actions; they develop their languages and forms out of rhetorical aims and contexts shared by groups of users" (342). In other words, my take on this was that genres are a way for writers to persuade readers through a common framework that readers can relate to. There are all different types of genres in writing that are not limited to the classic five paragraph essay we all learned to love and hate. Devitt wants teachers to explore the variety of genres out there and to not limit their students. Later on in this blog, I will discuss the different genres that occur in my everyday life.
Devitt also explores what she calls genre awareness. She argues that "a conscious attention to genres and their potential influences on people and the ability to consider acting differently within genres" is important (347). In this, she is trying to say that the ability to identify genres in various different contexts is an important skill to acquire. In doing so, it allows a person to notice the impact a genre has and how it could persuade what is being written. Devitt also explains that "without developing their genre awareness, people are more at the mercy of existing genres and existing power structures and dynamic"(347). The five paragraph essay is a perfect example of a genre we have all been at one point or another at the "mercy" of. I am sure most of you, just like me, before this class thought that the five paragraph essay was the end all be all. To our relief, there is so much more than that. Without realizing it, our everyday lives have writing genres too.
In my life, I would consider texting, emailing, writing food orders at my job, and even this blog as a genre. Texting is a genre mostly everyone in the 21st century has experienced. Texting can consist of a combination of full sentences, abbreviations, pictures, and one cannot forget emojis. Texting is an informal genre that I experience everyday. Writing food orders, is another informal genre I experience. As I mentioned before in my pervious blog post, I work at a Delight Of France bakery. There I write down food orders. As a worker, we all have certain abbreviations and terms we use to write down an order faster. Everyone who works there has a common understanding on what these abbreviations mean. For example, some of the abbreviations we use are, "CR b.fast (bac) and Mex Mocha XX (nae nae)". I am sure given thought you could figure them out but without being a worker there or even knowing the context of the menu it would be hard to understand. Oh and by the way, they mean croissant breakfast sandwich with bacon and a double shot Mexican mocha no whip cream. Whip or Nae Nae...get it?
For me, emailing is a more of a formal genre. I use email to mostly communicate with my professors. My emails look like a formal letter with complete sentences and sometimes attachments. I am sure not to use abbreviations when writing my emails. I want to have a professional presence when communicating with my professors.
Over all, despite my struggles with reading Devitt's insight on genres, I thought it was an interesting read. I am excited to explore the different kinds of genres we will be learning about in this class. I hope everyone had an amazing Labor Day weekend and will see you all in class Wednesday!
Xoxo,
Allison Starr
While reading this, I lacked confidence in analyzing what Devitt was really saying. My brain felt like the picture to the left. Tripped out. I spend my time reading romantic novels. So bare with me as I try to decipher what Devitt means by genre and how important it is to be aware of it. I will also explore the different types of genres that occur in my everyday life.
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| Amy Devitt |
Before diving into what Devitt had to say, I first researched a little bit about her. Amy Devitt is a professor at the University of Kansas and received her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. According to her website, she defines herself as a "writer, teacher, speaker and a scholar". She has published three books and it should not be to anyones surprise that her favorite topics include rhetorical genres and english grammar.
Devitt defines genres as "social and rhetorical actions; they develop their languages and forms out of rhetorical aims and contexts shared by groups of users" (342). In other words, my take on this was that genres are a way for writers to persuade readers through a common framework that readers can relate to. There are all different types of genres in writing that are not limited to the classic five paragraph essay we all learned to love and hate. Devitt wants teachers to explore the variety of genres out there and to not limit their students. Later on in this blog, I will discuss the different genres that occur in my everyday life.
Devitt also explores what she calls genre awareness. She argues that "a conscious attention to genres and their potential influences on people and the ability to consider acting differently within genres" is important (347). In this, she is trying to say that the ability to identify genres in various different contexts is an important skill to acquire. In doing so, it allows a person to notice the impact a genre has and how it could persuade what is being written. Devitt also explains that "without developing their genre awareness, people are more at the mercy of existing genres and existing power structures and dynamic"(347). The five paragraph essay is a perfect example of a genre we have all been at one point or another at the "mercy" of. I am sure most of you, just like me, before this class thought that the five paragraph essay was the end all be all. To our relief, there is so much more than that. Without realizing it, our everyday lives have writing genres too.
In my life, I would consider texting, emailing, writing food orders at my job, and even this blog as a genre. Texting is a genre mostly everyone in the 21st century has experienced. Texting can consist of a combination of full sentences, abbreviations, pictures, and one cannot forget emojis. Texting is an informal genre that I experience everyday. Writing food orders, is another informal genre I experience. As I mentioned before in my pervious blog post, I work at a Delight Of France bakery. There I write down food orders. As a worker, we all have certain abbreviations and terms we use to write down an order faster. Everyone who works there has a common understanding on what these abbreviations mean. For example, some of the abbreviations we use are, "CR b.fast (bac) and Mex Mocha XX (nae nae)". I am sure given thought you could figure them out but without being a worker there or even knowing the context of the menu it would be hard to understand. Oh and by the way, they mean croissant breakfast sandwich with bacon and a double shot Mexican mocha no whip cream. Whip or Nae Nae...get it? For me, emailing is a more of a formal genre. I use email to mostly communicate with my professors. My emails look like a formal letter with complete sentences and sometimes attachments. I am sure not to use abbreviations when writing my emails. I want to have a professional presence when communicating with my professors.
Over all, despite my struggles with reading Devitt's insight on genres, I thought it was an interesting read. I am excited to explore the different kinds of genres we will be learning about in this class. I hope everyone had an amazing Labor Day weekend and will see you all in class Wednesday!
Xoxo,
Allison Starr
Hey Allison! That picture "how my mind was while reading Devitt..." same girl... that was also my first academic reading in a long while... good times. That was a good idea to research Devitt prior to reading her genre publication... that would have probably been a lot easier. I have never thought bout texting as a genre, but now thinking about it, our generation makes texting a complete different genre over emailing, blogging, etc. definitely never thought about that. i enjoyed reading this!
ReplyDelete-Katie Gerstenberg
I also agree with you that the "context" she is talking about is the reader of the writing. We write different when we text, when we update Facebook and when we write essays. We get taught what is "right" and what is "wrong" that it just natural to us to write in different genres when it comes to different situations.
ReplyDelete-joshyo arredondo
Oh my gosh. Your first image is exactly how I felt when I read this article for the first time. I got my first 305 assignment a week before the semester started and had to put together a plan in just a few days. I skimmed the article, thought it would work, and put it in the course reader. I didn't start reading it until I assigned it. I felt so very bad that I had assigned something so dense--and then I found what mattered and I always assign it. Yeah
ReplyDeleteBtw, good commentary. EF