Esmeralda Huerta

November 11, 2016 1

Personal Experience Assignment:

Negativity on Immunization Vaccination on Newborn babies

As a new parent it is a struggle to know what is best for my child; one would think that
making a decision such as vaccination would be easy since it is to protect our children. However,
I was convinced that vaccinations can cause more harm than good. I choose to write about my
personal rhetorical situation experience on how I feel about vaccinating my new born baby? My
question is, should I vaccinate my newborn baby at such a young age? Is it right or wrong for me
to not vaccinate my new born son on a specific time schedule because the state Texas wants us to
be up to date with all shots? I assumed that its the right thing to do to give my newborn up to
date vaccinations so he will be protected from all the dangerous diseases that are out there in the
world. Before my baby was born I talked with my mother about vaccinations and she used
rhetorical method to change my mind on vaccinating my new born baby at an early age. She
recommend me to spread out the vaccination throughout his first year of life and how it is
dangerous to my baby health to give multiple shots because it may can cause autism, other forms
of language delays and learning disabilities. According to Maglione, M. A., Das, L., Raaen, L.,
Smith, A., Chari, R., Newberry, S., Gidengil, C. (2014) stated, In addition, although multiple
large studies have confirmed the lack of association between measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) and
autism, parental worries about the safety of vaccines persist (p. 326). I understood my mothers
perspective on vaccinations and theres controversy surrounding the use of vaccines that it can
cause autism and language delays. There are also serious side effects with vaccinations; it can
affect the new born babys health with fever and febrile seizures. Newborn babies are in the
beginning of their development and still getting immune to the new world but giving them all the
recommended vaccines on a tight schedule can baby can greatly harm their health and
intelligence.

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November 11, 2016 2

I know that immunization vaccines research has shown that vaccines have reduced many
infections from vaccine preventable diseases. The methodological definition of a vaccine is a
substance used to stimulate the making of antibodies and provide immunity against many
diseases, organized from the connective cause of a disease, its products, and treated to act as an
antigen without inducing the disease. Yet many parents like me still question their safety because
of the abundant information they received from online resources or family members that tell
them they arent safe. The immunization schedules are designed to protect the most vulnerable
patients from diseases, yet I still worry. I educated myself by researching about the United States
and Texas vaccines and read that they protect children from many diseases and its natural to
want to understand the potential risks of vaccination. The immunization vaccines benefit,
according to some sources is that it may prevents disease and it is hailed as one of the greatest
public health triumphs of our century also it is the important to keep children staying healthy.
Since this is my first baby, hes just turned three months old and no doubt about it, I think
a new born baby getting so many vaccines can overwhelm my childs immune system. Hes just
a brand new baby still developing and by putting all the new and old vaccines will overwhelm
his immune system. My mother used rhetorical method on my decision about vaccinations by
suggesting spacing out the vaccines and not following what the CDC (The Centers for Disease
Control) recommends on scheduling these shots. I educated myself by reading many scholarly
journals, websites, blogs, and so on that new born up to two years old children can receive up to
23 shots that there are as many as six shots at a single doctor visit. At my 2 months checkup, the
doctor wanted to give my new born baby boy nine vaccines, they were Hepatitis B1, Rotavirus,
Diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTAP), Haemophilus influenza type b4,
Pneumococcal, Inactivated poliovirus, and Meningococcal. According to the article of Rowhani-

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November 11, 2016 3

Rahbar, A., Fireman, B., Lewis, E., Nordin, J., Naleway, A., Jacobsen, S. J., Klein, N. P. (2013)
stated, In addition, immunologic responses following immunization with measles-containing
vaccines have been shown to be positively correlated with the rate of fever and measles-like
rashes among children 12 to 23 months of age. It is conceivable that 16- to 23-month-old
children are capable of mounting a more rigorous immunologic response to the measles
component of these vaccines than 12- to 15-month-old children, resulting in their being
susceptible to an even greater increased risk of febrile seizures 7 to 10 days following
immunization. I told the nurse that Im not giving my baby all those shots and she looked at me
as though I was crazy. In my mind, I thought that is too many vaccines all at once in a brand new
baby. The nurse had to tell the doctor that Im was not going to vaccinate my baby yet and that
we want to space it out. I had to sign the Refusal to vaccinate form stating that I declined to
vaccinate my baby. My mother had discussed with me about how she is concerned about how
vaccines might affect my babys developing immunity, intelligence, health and she asked me to
consider refusing to vaccine my baby at his early age. Also, I learned a lot from my mother
perspective because she helped my sister with her children who had their vaccines spaced out.
My sister daughter is 2 years old; shes only had 2 vaccines and turned out fine with her
development and intelligence. But, my sister vaccinated her son whos 9 years with many
vaccines between newborn to one year. He has delay speech and learning disabilities but Im not
sure if it was caused by the vaccines, but I suspect it was a factor.
I learned about the vaccination issue from different types of forums such as other
peoples personal stories, blogs, articles, and websites. I read that there were mothers who
vaccinated their children that then became autistic, developed epilepsy, learning disabilities, and
language delays and even died after receiving one. I couldnt believe what I was reading and

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getting scared giving my baby the vaccines. I researched more into vaccines that how doctors get
paid a percentage to vaccinate our children and that the medical community is intentionally
poisoning everyone for every reason that include population control, money, and forces doctors
to scare parents into vaccinating their children. There are shocking stories about the
immunization vaccines ingredient lists containing toxins and mercury that can affect the baby
immune system. I understand that by skipping or delaying vaccinations, it puts my baby at risk
for potentially life threatening diseases but when hes older, we will start vaccinating him but
right now he is too young. During my research on this topic, I also came across concerns about a
link between a combination vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella that is called the MMR
vaccine that cause developmental disorder autism that tends to emerge around the time that the
vaccine is given roughly around one year old. I explored deeper into the vaccine, and
theoretically the cause is centered on the safety of thimerosal, a compound that prevents the
vaccine from being contaminated by bacteria and comprises a form of mercury called
ethylmercury. This substance, Mercury in large quantities is known to be harmful to a childs
development (Coleman, 2003). I believe with my further exploring on vaccination on the
internet, reflects the rhetorical features of pro-vaccine and vaccine skeptical websites, blogs, and
so on that made me decide about spacing out the vaccinations for my son.
While vaccination are recommended on a time schedule for children, the rhetoric about
vaccine controversy would is all over the internet. Parents are horrified when they read about
vaccines online and many feel the right thing to do is space out the shots. I know my baby will
get his vaccination but very slowly as he grows stronger. I think vaccination is a powerful tool
that prevents disease and sickness in our children but there are consequences to those

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vaccinations. As a new mother Im glad my mother used the rhetoric method on my decision
about vaccines.

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November 11, 2016 6

Reference

Coleman, E. (2003). Ethylmercury in vaccines. Pediatrics, 111(4 Pt 1), 922-923.

doi:10.1542/peds.111.4.922-a
Maglione, M. A., Das, L., Raaen, L., Smith, A., Chari, R., Newberry, S., . . . Gidengil, C. (2014).
Safety of vaccines used for routine immunization of U.S. children: A systematic review.
Pediatrics, 134(2), 325-337. doi:10.1542/peds.2014-1079
Rowhani-Rahbar, A., Fireman, B., Lewis, E., Nordin, J., Naleway, A., Jacobsen, S. J., . . . Klein,
N. P. (2013). Effect of age on the risk of fever and seizures following immunization with
measles-containing vaccines in children. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(12), 1111.

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The learning log

1. How would you define rhetoric to a high school student who is going to take this
class next semester?
If I was teaching to a high school classroom I will descriptively emphasize the
term rhetoric by showing a PowerPoint presentation on the step-by-step strategies and
how this rhetoric term has a purpose in our writing process. Ill start presenting the term
with a definition, according to Ferris, D., & Hedgcock, J. (2014) who emphasized,
Aristotle viewed rhetoric, an oral practice, as a complement to logic, and politics,
proposing three kinds of appeal to the listener: logos (an argument, plea, or idea), pathos
(appeal to the hearers sentiments or sympathies), and ethos (the credibility, character, or
ideals of the author) (p. 59). Ill explain to the student, why rhetoric is important and
what is rhetorics purpose? The rhetorics purpose is use of language in speech and in
writing that the speaker or the writer is deliberately using language in different situations.
Ill emphasize the rhetorical situations in our daily lives that we use everywhere.
Rhetorical situations that they might come across at home, school, home, work, and play.
Ill ask my students, How do these types of rhetoric situations differ? How would they
consider their choice of words in each rhetoric situation? Ill discuss more in depth, the
rhetorical situation and that it is the framework of a rhetorical event that contains of a
matter, an audience, and a set of limitations. Ill highlight the rhetorical situations that
include the nature of the audience, the exigency that makes the writer go into the
conversation, the writers purpose and goals, and the context of the issue or problem.
These elements this will help a student to write out their rhetorical situation paper on any
form of genre.

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November 11, 2016 8

2. How did you go about writing your reflection? (You can talk about it in steps,
phases, parts, etc.)
I used the rhetorical situations five elements that include the purpose - why am I
writing? Audience- who is reading my paper? Stance- what is my tone of my paper? I
have to think about what genre to use in my writing. What kind of writing am I using for
this assignment? I am using a digital Word document to create my paper. First, I need to
consider my purpose, why am I writing about Immunization vaccines and how they are
bad to give to a new baby. I expressed my feelings about how I felt about the vaccines
and the problems they can cause. I want to inform and engage my viewers with my
rhetorical situations with vaccines. The audience can be for anyone who wants to read
about immunizations and understand my perspective how I felt about it. This is also for
parents who are concerned and afraid about the effects of vaccines and the possible
consequences in receiving vaccines. While I was brainstorming about my paper, I thought
about the audience that is going to read my paper. Does my audience know about this
particular topic? The audience can view my perspective about the negativity in vaccines
but they dont have to agree or disagree with me. This reflections paper is my personal
matter and how I see immunization vaccines as bad to give to a new born baby while they
are still developing is my conclusion. I had to think about what genre I should use in my
writing. I choose to write in an essay form to write my rhetoric situation and I followed
the five step writing process such as process, pre-writing, writing, revising, proofreading
and submission. The tone I used in my paper was serious because of my concern about
the immunization vaccines. This is about the safety on my newborn babys health and I
want my viewers to understand my perspective on the effect of the vaccines.
3. What do you like about your reflection? Why is this a strong reflection?

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November 11, 2016 9

I enjoyed writing my reflection on my rhetorical situation. Before I did not know

what rhetorical situation means or what it does but after reading and understanding the
meaning behind this term everything came together. This is the key to writing our papers
and knowing the rhetoric strategies such as ethos, logos, and pathos. Also, to know the
style I use, helps my strategy to write my paper using such things as the diction, syntax,
details, imagery, tone, and so on. I understand that we all use rhetorical situation in our
everyday lives such as work, school, home, and anywhere we might be. I learned more
about genre, that it is the type of literature that is characterized by a specific form,
content, and style such as poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction, research article,
literature reviews, book reviews, and so on. All of these genres have specific features and
meanings that differentiate them from one another. According to Ferris, D., & Hedgcock,
J. (2014) descriptively stated, Because we embrace a genre-oriented approach to writing
instruction, it will be helpful to consider the diverse ways in which genre has been
defined in order to enrich our understanding of this highly productive conceptual and
pedagogical toola deceptively simple view of genre, describing it as a staged goaloriented social process. (p. 1)a definition that has generated strategies designed to
guide students to write the genres of schooling (p.110). I want my reflection paper to
highlight the negativity in immunization vaccines and how newborn babies are still
developing their immune system and how they might be harmed. My reflection paper is
strong about the vaccinations issue because they are medical products that are designed to
protect from disease, cause side effects, and even death. This is a serious reflection on my
rhetorical situation, being concerned about my babys health and the vaccination
dilemma. These vaccinations can cause serious side effects that cause seizure or life

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November 11, 2016 10

threatening allergic reaction. I dont expect my viewers to agree with my perspective on

the negativity on immunization but I hope it will give them something to think about.
4. What do you dislike about your reflection that you wish you could do differently if
you had more time?
I wish I can go deeper into my reflection paper about immunization vaccination
and go in detail and history of each vaccine. I could break it down and discuss how each
vaccine has their side effects and find results on how many children are affected by these
vaccines. Since, this is a short reflection paper where I was just emphasizing my
rhetorical opinion on vaccinations.
5. If you had to write another reflection, what strategies would you use again? What
would you do differently?
I would use the rhetoric situation strategies again because thats how I organized
and brainstormed for my paper. I think using the rhetoric strategies helped me to
complete this paper with guidance. I used the five step writing process too and that
helped me to complete my paper. What I would do differently is to add more results to
my paper to help support the evidence about the vaccinations.

Reference
Ferris, D., & Hedgcock, J. (2014). Teaching L2 composition: Purpose, process, and practice
(Third ed.). New York: Routledge.

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November 11, 2016 11

Genre Analysis and Comparison Grid

Features
Genre
Location
Topical focus

Layout

1.
Picture book
Children book
Hansies bear hurts himself
and his dad has a remedy
and says to him, There,
there, Hansie Bear. Youll
be better soon.
The book has short
sentences on each page
with illustration along with

Samples
2.
Magazine feature story
Magazine
The High-Intensity outdoor cardio
workout. Burns fat all summer. Its for
women who want to lose weight and get
healthy
The magazine has a 2 column texts
along with pictures of a lady riding a
bike. The next pages shows different

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Length
Rhetorical
arrangement

November 11, 2016 12

it. This book has exquisitely
colorful and detailed water
color illustrations. The
watercolor illustrations
filled up the pages and has
a neutral color palette. It
brings a calming and
soothing feeling when
looking at the illustrations.
The short sentences
structure are at the top
centered on the pages.

types of workouts that are illustrated by

images. The layout is square, the
meaning is to guide women to get into
fitness and a healthy life style. The
layout provides a casual and easy read.
It has bold titles, sub titles, allow
readers to identify the different types of
workout. Images are provided for each
workout that is described. It shows an
image of women with a perfect body,
clear skin, and nice hair featured in the
article. There are subtitles flowing
throughout the article stating the
different types of exercises that women
should do to create that perfect shape
body the women always wanted.

31 pages
In the childrens book,
There, There, Hansie is
an adventurous bear cub
who likes to attempt
abnormal activities. These
activities include walk like
a duck, digging a ditch,
playing on the swing, bump
on a branch, and so on. The
baby cub continues to hurt
himself in many different
ways when playing and so
the father would always
come find him to comfort
him with a hug and say,
There, there, it wont be
sore for long, youll see.
And there, there, Hansie,
Ill give it a rub and youll
be fine. One of the most
remarkable themes in this
book is compassion. The
story shows a valuable
lesson, as children should
not fear and hinder their

6 pages
The Fitness Magazine uses pathos,
logos, and ethos to get the viewers
attention and to draw them to a healthy
lifestyle. The visual, content and the
image compositions represent fitness, it
targets ideas that appeals to young
women. The revealing images in the
article captures the attention of many
women who wants to get into shape and
good health by eating the right foods.
There are fitness phrases scattered
neatly among the article to draw
attention to women who wants to lose
weight. For instance the article states,
Do one of the High-Intensity Outdoor
Cardio Workouts five to six days a
week to four days per week if you are
also doing the Sexy, Lean Body
Workout described in this issue of
FitnessRx for Women. The beauty of
this exercise program is its flexibility.
This article appeals to a young adult
audience but especially women who
wants to be in shape and eat healthy.
The article has a visual appeal that is

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Participants
Functions

Style and register

Grammatical
features

November 11, 2016 13

natural curiosity in nature.
The characters were all
animals making this a
relatable book for families
of all cultural backgrounds.

described as a vibrant vibe, bright colors

so it can stand out in the magazine.

Hansie Bear, father bear,

duck, and mama bear
This encourages children to
go outside and be
adventurous rather than
staying inside the house.
This book features the
father bear offering comfort
as opposed to mommy.
Style: short sentence length,
grammar, vowels,
consonants, tone,
phonemes, phrases, clauses,
discourse; Register:
Simplistic English
language, prescribed
grammar such as
pronouncing words ending
in- ing for instance from
book, sting, swing, trying,
falling, and bumping.
Formal words: such as
dad
Informal words: for
instance from the book,
Mum rather than saying
mom. The book is
informal in content.
Masculine, feminine, noun
phrase, verb phrase, and the
clause. Calm and loving
mood.

Angela Marcello
This encourages women to lose weight,
be healthy, exercise, eating healthy, and
different types of workouts. This teaches
women to be fit and read the theoretical
research of being healthy.

Style: Written document, long

sentences, long text paragraphs,
grammar, vowels, consonants, tone,
phonemes, phrases, clauses, and
discourse.
Register: Simplistic to intermediate
English language, prescribed grammar
such as pronouncing words ending ining for instance from the article in the
magazine, walking, swimming,
jogging, riding, and running. This
magazine article is formal content.

Feminine, noun phrase, verb phrase,

verbal complex, or the clause. Energetic
and motivational mood.

Genre Samples I analyzed

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(Continue from Magazine article)

Analysis on the Sample Genre Comparison Grid

I analyzed two chosen samples for this activity, I used the children book There, There,
Hansie Bear. Youll be Better Soon by McBratney, (2013) and the magazine The HighIntensity Outdoor Cardio Workout by Fahey, (2007). I used the Application Activity 4.4 Genre

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Analysis Task questions to guide me in doing my genre analysis. I used the Genre Analysis and
Comparison Grid to do my comparison on both of my samples. I chose these samples and I
completed a column in the Genre Analysis and Comparison Grid in Sample 1 and 2, then I
compared and contrasted the chosen sample genres. The grid features contains the genre,
location, topical focus, layout, length, rhetorical arrangement, participants, functions, style and
register, and grammatical features that helped me to look for the specific things in my sample
genres. The picture children book length is 31 pages in comparison to the magazine feature story,
which ranges 6 pages in length.
While I was analyzing the content of two chosen genres, a childrens picture book, and a
magazine, the Genre Analysis and Comparison grid helped me to analyze their differences and
contrast between them. The audience and purpose for each genre in McBratney, (2013) and
Fahey, (2007) is to entice young children readers. Its a childrens picture book whereas the
magazine feature story discourses the modes that are used, such as narration with illustrations.
In the picture book however the magazine feature story has descriptions with illustrations for
each exercise. In the McBratney, (2013) book, it gives an insight of the father bear as being a
responsible role model for his baby Hansie bear and showing love and affection to his cub.
Whenever Hansie gets hurt his father is there to comfort him. In the Fahey, (2007) magazine
feature story, it gives an insight of a role model, a young lady and how she got into shape and
good health by giving brief descriptive tips on each different type of exercises she used.
Basically the purpose of the information that is presented in each genre is to entertain and
persuade the audience by enticing young adult women who want to get into shape to follow these
exercise guidelines and thinking they will achieve this goal if they do follow these guidelines and
tips. I am certain that in the book of McBratney, (2013) the story is expressly presented in the for

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November 11, 2016 16

young readers to see the role model of a father bear that comforts his baby cub whenever he gets
hurt during his outside activities. The father says this praise repetitively throughout the book
McBratney, (2013), There, there, Hansie Bear. Youll be better soon. The magazine of Fahey,
(2007) is dynamically, persuasively and energetically for women who want to read these type of
stories to help them be motivated to exercise and get healthy before the summer.
The layout of McBratneys, (2013) book is made of short sentences on each page with
oversized illustration along with the writing. It is exquisitely colorful with detailed water color
illustrations. The illustrations are fill up all of the pages and it has a neutral color palette. It
brings a calming and soothing mood when looking at the illustrations. The short sentence
structure are top centered on the pages. Although, the layout in the magazine of Fahey, (2007)
presented two column texts along with pictures of a young adult girl riding a bike, swimming,
and so on. The next pages shows the different types of workouts that are illustrated by images
along with descriptive tips and briefly on the young womans experiences doing these exercises.
She describes how and where you should do these type of exercise at? The layout has a square
boxed look, the meaning is to guide women to get into a healthy life style. The layout provides a
casual and easy to read format. It has bold titles, allowing readers to identify the different types
of workouts. Images are provided for each workout that is described. It shows an image of a
women with a perfect body, clear skin, and nice hair in this article. There are subtitles flowing
throughout the article stating the different types of exercises that women should do to create that
perfect shape body women always wanted.
The rhetorical arrangement of each genre in McBratneys, (2013) picture book is an
adventurous bear cub who likes to attempt abnormal outdoor activities. These activities include
walk like duck, digging a ditch, playing on the swing, bump on a branch, and so then the cub

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November 11, 2016 17

gets hurt. The baby cub continues to hurt himself in many different ways when playing and the
father always comes to comfort him with a hug and to say in McBratney, (2013), There, there, it
wont be sore for long, youll see. And there, there, Hansie, Ill give it a rub and youll be
fine. One of the most remarkable themes in this book is compassion and it shows a valuable
lesson, as children should not fear or hinder their natural curiosity in nature. The characters were
all animals making this a relatable book families of all cultural backgrounds. However, the
Fahey, (2007) fitness magazine uses pathos, logos, and ethos to get the viewers attention and to
draw them to a healthy lifestyle. The visual content and the image compositions represent fitness
that targets ideas that appeals to young women. The revealing images in the article captures the
attention of many women who want to get into shape and good health by eating the right foods
and exercising. There are fitness phrases scattered neatly among the article to draw attention to
women who wants to lose weight. For instance the article of Fahey, (2007) states, Do one of the
High-Intensity Outdoor Cardio Workouts five to six days a week or four days per week if you
are also doing the Sexy, Lean Body Workout described in this issue of FitnessRx for Women.
The beauty of this exercise program is its flexibility (p. 82). This article appeals to a young
adult audience but especially women who wants to be in shape and eat healthy. The article has a
visual appeal that is described in a vibrant vibe, bright colors, a lot of blue hue colors so it can
stand out in the magazine. The blue hue colors they used in the photographs gives an feeling that
is energetic, relaxing, and happy moods that appeals to women, and that if they should follow
the advice on exercise they will look like this model in the photographs are in good shape and
appear healthy.
The linguistic features such as style and register in each genre in McBratneys, (2013)
book style has short sentence length, grammar, vowels, consonants, tone, phonemes, phrases,

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November 11, 2016 18

clauses, and discourse throughout the context of the book. The register of the content is
simplistic English language, prescribed grammar such as pronouncing words ending in- ing for
instance from the book, sting, swing, trying, falling, and bumping. The formal words presented
such as dad and the style has informal words, for instance from the book McBratney, (2013)
reads, Mum rather than saying mom. The book is informal in content. However, in the
magazine Fahey, (2007) the style is in a written document, long sentences, long text paragraphs,
grammar, vowels, consonants, tone, phonemes, phrases, clauses, and discourse throughout the
context. The register is presented in a simplistic to intermediate English language, prescribed
grammar such as pronouncing words ending in- ing for instance from the article in the magazine,
walking, swimming, jogging, riding, and running. This magazine article has formal content for
young adult female readers who want to get healthy and exercise to have a perfect body before
summer. The grammatical features in McBratneys, (2013) book presented as masculine,
feminine and the context is presented with noun phrase, verb phrase, and clause. It has a calming
and loving mood to the story because the father comforts the baby cub. However, Faheys,
(2007) magazine is presented as feminine and the context presented with noun phrase, verb
phrase, verbal complex, and clause. The article has an energetic and motivational mood because
of how the pictures are presented by a lady positioned at each work out such as bicycling,
swimming, running, and so on.
Learning about genre analysis that gave me an insight of different types of texts considers
the structure and content of messages that place them in a specific genre that attracts certain
audiences to each genre. These genres includes such things such as blogs, academic assignments,
brochures, classified advertisement, diary, lesson plan, magazine feature story, picture book, and
so on, the list is massive. I certainly learned how to contrast the two genres with the Genre

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November 11, 2016 19

Analysis and Comparison Grid on page 139 in the Ferris & Hedgcock (2015) text book and I was
able to identify the specific information on both texts. I learned to go deeper with messages that
are represented in both genre text, structure and content. Both genres were unique and the
content presented what kind of messages and audiences the author wants to entice.

Upper-intermediate L2 Writers Handout

Upper-Intermediate L2 writers Genre Handout
Definition:
According to Ferris & Hedgcock, (2014), genre means different things to different
scholars, through experts widely agree that the construct refers to recurring or
characteristic textual (oral or written) responses to the requirements of the social

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November 11, 2016 20

contexta staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers engage as

members of our culture. Staged activities might include making a dental appointment,
buying vegetables, telling a story, writing an essay, applying for a job, writing a letter to
the editor, and inviting someone to dinner, and so on (pp. 111-112).
Example of Genre:
The Upper-intermediate L2 students usually are asked to write and choose different
forms of texts. It depends on their subject, these genre could be on essays, case-studies,
laboratory reports, book reviews, posters, reflective diaries, research proposals,
magazines, research abstracts, literature review, music lyrics, and YouTube music videos
and so on. These different types of genres can be constructed from a small range of
different text forms.
Emphasizing Genre analysis:

A genre embraces a set of communicative events and the members of which share
some traditional communicative purposes. For instance, ideals of a genre show various
patterns of similarity in terms such as structure, style, content and intended audience.

Genre is a social action and a speech event that has communicative goals that are

shared by the members of a specific discourse community.

In applied linguistic of four approaches to genre: The functional-system

approach, the English for Specific Purpose approach, The New Rhetoric approach, and
the Brazilian didactic approach. For more informative detail of these approaches go to
Ferris & Hedgcock, (2014) on page 110 from the textbook.
Genre Rhetorical Analysis meaning
A genre rhetorical analysis is to demonstrate to the students understanding of how the
particular genre communicates its messages and meanings. The writing is a rhetorical
analysis and a development of simply finding the language to communicate this
knowledge.
Rhetorical Analysis process in writing to Think About

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November 11, 2016 21

Ethos: Student clarify the character and background of the authors perspective
and how that influences the texts effectiveness. How does the writing develop
ethos?

Pathos: Students define the emotional appeals in the text and how they influence
the texts in complete effectiveness. What ways does this imply pathos?

Logos: Student describe the logical appeals in the text and how they affect the

texts overall efficiency.

Examples of Academic and Nonacademic Genres and Subgenres (Ferris & Hedgcock p.
143)
1. Adventure magazine story
2. Blog
3. Social Media such as (Facebook, Twitter. Etc.)
4. Business article
5. Classroom discussion
6. Contract
7. Diary
8. Local news report
9. Magazine feature story
10. Recipe
Activity Comparing Digital Social Media Genres: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Text
Messaging (Extra Activity Handout)
The Objective of the Exercise: This genre activity provides students with a chance to
advance and apply genre context to a digital genre to see how they are similar to and
different from each and equivalent genres. To compare the digital genres of the Tweet
update, the Facebook status, Instagram status, and text messaging, students are able to
see how digital writing responds to diverse the purpose and audience.
Description: During this assignment, students are to compare their own and others in
tweeter, Facebook status and so on and complete a series of writing and discussion tasks
to look at the genres that shape their own and others writing in digital media.
Duration Time: 30 to 45 minutes a day, and a week duration to complete the assignment.
Procedure: Students will collect a certain number of Facebook status, tweets, Instagram
status, and text messages on either their own or from others on their friend list. Students
will bring in their laptops to class to work on this assignment but they can work on it as
homework as well. Students will collect the texts by taking a snap shot of their screen

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into a photograph or photograph the text. Then, the students will have to take a moment
to write about how they use these social media writings. Next, the students will follow a
prompt with the following questions: Do they Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, and text
message? When and with what digital technology devices did they use? Do your friends
or you use them for similar purposes? Do you or friends use social media for different
purposes? If so, what different situations? Who do you or your friends plan to reach
when they write a Tweet, Facebook status, Instagram, and text message? How do you
and your friends decide whether to write a Tweet, Facebook status, Instagram status,
and text message? Lastly, write about how these genres are both similar to and
distinguish from each other. With the following questions analyze the genres: what kind
of text does each site allow you to do? What doesnt it let you to do on these social media
sites? What limitations does it put on you while using these sites? How does each genre
let you connect texts with each other? How do they incorporate images? Then write up
500 to 1,000 word essay to analyze the genres and their experiences using these types of
social media. Include these questions in the essay, are there generalization that can be
drawn about the way we use these specific digital genres?
My teaching philosophy on the foundation of genre text
If I have my own classroom teaching Second Language Writing (SLW) students, I want
them to fully understand about genres, how they work and how it has become a significant goal
to many SLW writers? Genres are in our everyday lives in writing and we use this at school,
home, work, and so on. As a novice teacher, I believe teaching writing about writing to my SLW
students will be challenging to imagine explaining the key concepts like rhetoric and discourse
community without explaining genre pedagogical philosophies. I want my future students to
learn about the genre, genre analysis, and genre rhetoric experiences.
In my own classroom, I will teach and spend a lot of time on genre but Ill have produced
my own definitions and examples for students to work with during their learning. First, Ill give
my students a Lesson Plan on Genre Rhetorical Analysis that provides my consecutive outline

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November 11, 2016 23

for presenting the materials, providing important information, enhance the students learning, and
leading students in a complete structured activities. I want to have sequential steps of our
classroom events, it is a concrete and possibly vibrant tool for gathering student needs as
operationalized in course objective (Ferris & Hedgcock, (2014), p. 173). Second, Ill have a
PowerPoint highlighting about the Genre concepts and the theoretical philosophers beliefs. I
would have my students gain the knowledge about the background of the genre and how genre is
connected to cyclical rhetorical situations, Ill take out examples from the textbook Reading
Rhetorically Plus My Writing Lab, that I will provide the students with. Ill prepare two
different types of PowerPoints emphasizing the background of genre and rhetorical analysis and
how these two share the same features and rhetorical purposes. In my teaching presentation Ill
explain that there are many different types of genre such as Oral and written format: Public
speaking, podcast, radio show, program, class lectures, and interviews, next, typography: book,
textbooks, magazines, newspapers, diaries, websites, essays, policy, laws, editorials, and
transcribed interviews, and lastly, iconography: video, media, webcast, posters, cartoons,
photography, instructional sets, and comics. Ill will elaborate on genre history, philosophical
beliefs, and so on. Then on my rhetorical analysis PowerPoint Ill be highlighting important
concepts on analyzing different type of genre. In the presentation Ill be teaching how genre and
rhetorical analysis situations are connected and Ill emphasize the outline of these features that
questions whos the writer, what is the purpose, whos the audience, what is the topic, and what
is the context of the rhetorical analysis paper. Finally, I give my students the scholarly journal
handouts to expand their learning about the genre. Here are some of the articles Ill hand out to
my classroom: Academic Writing, Genres and Philosophy, which highlights the essentials of
genre of philosophy that emphasis on their pedagogical forms to emphasize the materiality and

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November 11, 2016 24

historically of genre, text, and writing. How Rhetorical Theories of Genre Address Common
Core Writing Standards is a review of the Common Core that encourages teachers to
accommodate students writing to rhetorical concern of audience, purpose, task, and corrective
thinking. Able to address these concerns, teachers take a rhetorical approach to teach the
different types of genres. This article emphasizes to writers of the views of genres that are used
to build and act in particular situations.
After I presented and emphasized about genres, Ill have a class discussion that I can ask
students to engage in a few reflections about their own experiences on the type of genres they
used throughout their lives. Then Ill hand out an index card asking the students to write down
what is the one thing they learned about genre? That will be the ticket out to the door turning in
the card. Then Ill handout the assignment I created, Activity Comparing Digital Social Media
Genres: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Text Messaging (Extra Activity Handout), they will
have a 500 to 1,000 word essay to analyze to compare and contrast the different types of social
media genres. Ill use the Rubric for the rhetorical analysis to guide me when I grade the
students papers. I think having the students do a social media genre is of great value in looking
at their own social media accounts and analyzing the content, structure, rhetorical arrangement,
layout, and so on. Almost everyone uses social media and are familiar with it because they can
access to it on their phones, IPad, and any devices they want. I think it is a great assignment
handout for students to get to see what kind of audiences social media draws to and what
messages are presenting from these social Medias.

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References
Collin, R. (2013;2014;). How rhetorical theories of genre address common core writing
standards. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 57(3), 215-222.
doi:10.1002/JAAL.221
Fahey, T. (2007, August 4). Take the heat: The high-intensity outdoor cardio workout. FitnessRx,
6, 80-85.
Ferris, D., & Hedgcock, J. (2014). Teaching L2 composition: Purpose, process, and practice
(Third ed.). New York: Routledge.
McBratney, S. (2013). There, There. Deepdene Avenue: Templar.

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Peters, M. A. (2008). Academic writing, genres and philosophy. Educational Philosophy and
Theory, 40(7), 819-831. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2008.00511.x