1. Haas opens her article with the following statement: “At the college level, to become literate is in many ways to learn the patterns of knowing about, and behaving toward, texts within a disciplinary field” (43). Explain what she means. In your response, be sure to quote at least one time from the first section of her article (before “Learning About Literate Activity in the Sciences”). Practice quotation sandwiches in this response.

As Haas opens up her article, she needs to give the readers the ideas that she will be discussing throughout her article. Her opening line tells us that she will be addressing the ways her subject interacts with texts. “Authors create texts  and readers read texts in a complex of social relationships” (Haas 44). This relationship needs to be considered in order to be literate at the college level.

2. What is the “‘myth’ of autonomous texts” that Haas discusses (45)? What is an autonomous text? Why does Haas call it a “myth”? Does this make sense to you? Do you have a question/concern about it? Again, quote from Haas in your response and use a quotation sandwich.

According to Haas autonomous texts are a danger because it makes students think that texts only concern themselves and that they are a fact that cannot be questioned. “the belief in autonomous texts views written academic texts as discrete, highly explicit, even ‘timeless’ entities functioning without contextual support” (Haas 45). Texts are, in my experience, always interconnected especially when you asses the academic writing. It makes sense that autonomous texts are myths because even in this article Haas refers to research done by other people.

3. How does Haas’ study of Eliza help us understand what might happen to college students’ understanding of texts as they progress in a major? Use at least one passage from the text to support your response – and put it in a quotation sandwich.

Eliza’s focus on her assigned readings and writing changed, she progressed from a fact based reading perspective to a rhetorical perspective that allowed for interconnections between texts she was currently reading and texts she had read throughout her academic career. “she had come to a greater awareness of the rhetorical, contingent nature of both the activities and discourses she participated in” (Haas 46).  Eliza was able to gain a better understanding of her assignments by connecting their ideas with other ideas that she had and that other authors had.

4. In “Rhetorical Reading,” Haas uses the term “rhetorical frame” (47-8). This concept is important enough to merit italics in the text. What is a rhetorical frame, at least in terms of rhetorical reading? Illustrate (support) your answer with both a quote and explanation.

A rhetorical frame gives readers the outside context they need to approach a text in a rhetorical way. “Elements of the rhetorical frame include participants, their relationships and motives, and several layers of context” (Haas 48). Hass continues to explain this idea by talking about how this is important. By digging into the author’s motives, backgrounds, and their relationships with other authors and texts you can create a better understanding of the work as a whole. It is important to know why Hass chose to include the citations that she does. Is it because she has worked with them before? Do those authors have similar backgrounds? It helps build a better understanding of the work.

5. There are a number of potential associations between Gee’s idea of Discourse and Haas’ idea of rhetorical reading. As an active reader, you are likely thinking of (or recognizing) some of these. Identify and develop at least one association. Be sure to quote both Gee and Haas. In addition, explain the association. Think of your response as a rough, provisional Barclay’s Formula format.

Both Gee and Haas talk about Discourse with the same general argument while addressing it in two different disciplines and perspectives. Gee believes that a Discourse is something that you acquire through social interaction and active learning. Discourse, to Gee, is the “saying (writing)-doing -being-valuing, believing combinations” (Gee 6). Gee argues that there is more to a Discourse than just the words you speak. Haas approaches Discourse through reading by saying that to be a literate college student, one must approach reading as if it is more than just the words on the page that matter. When discussing the effect of contextually rich discourses (rhetoric) on actual readers Haas says that theories focus on “the nature of social communicative acts and how individuals participate in and understand those acts” (Haas 47). Being aware of how the world works and why and then applying that information to the text they are working with, one will be more literate with the text.  Both Gee and Haas argue that you have to have context of the world around you and the things you are interacting with to have a full understanding of them.

 

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