Tag: Rhetoric

This paper was originally presented at MLA in 1992.

This is the conclusion written and given in December of 1992.

After this paper was composed and submitted to MLA, I taught technical writing three more semesters.

Summer class aberration
The class I taught this summer had two papers in it which contradict two of the gender issues compiled from a review of past major paper assignments. One of the papers was from a male student who dealt with a female stereotypic topic: How Family Affects Work. Kenny explained his topic by saying, “Family areas such as marital satisfaction and child care responsibilities have an impact at work. Some effects that family can have on work include decreased productivity, increased pressure on supervisors, and a need for an expanded family policy. This report investigates these effects and what employees and organizations can do about them.”

Another student used personal anecdotes as a method of persuasion in his paper on job loss. Drew chose the topic because his father had been out of work for over a year. He quoted some research on psychological affects of job loss and wrote, “Many can hide the symptoms of dissatisfaction and low self-esteem. However, with my father, the signs are present if you look deep into his eyes.”

Explanation?
I do not have any explanation for why, in the summer of 1992, two students wrote papers which by-passed the gender differentiated approach to writing assignments.

I do not think that these two papers discount the significance of the issues I noted through examining approximately four hundred student papers. Rather, they offer a new avenue of questioning to pursue. Are they the start of a new generation of students who are not only able to be females using male strategies but also males using female strategies? If they are not, then their aberration from the norm is worth examining. What makes them different and how can we pass the differences on to other students?

Part 5

Part 4

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

This paper was originally presented at MLA in 1992.

This is the original conclusion, which was sent in with the original paper in January of 1992.

Summary
Six years and four hundred students have been enough to note some gender issues in my technical writing classroom. Female students write on gender-related topics; male students do not. Female students use personal anecdotes as persuasion; male students do not. Both female and male students use sexist language, despite education and punitive attempts to change their language usage at least for one course.

Implications
What are the implications of these facts? Our students reflect the world around them. As Deborah Tannen noted in You Just Don’t Understand, men and women have different styles of communicating.

When they must communicate with each other in groups, both change their styles but the women change more. Female students have to learn how to cope with a previously male-only business world.

Their papers on gender related issues are a way of seeking to learn how to adjust, I think. Female students use personal anecdotes as persuasion because these are seen as persuasive by women; however, not all female students employ it. Even those students who had personal reasons for choosing their topics did not always include this information in their papers.

Neither female nor male students are using inclusive language; it is uncomfortable and unaccepted. So the female students use language which excludes them from the very things they are attempting to gain entrance to by completing their university degrees.

The workplace, including the university, is still a male dominated environment to which women adapt either because of conscious choice or because it is easier to fit in than to be different.

This paper was originally presented at MLA in 1992.

Sexist language
A third gender issue that I have noticed in my students’ writing is their use of sexist language. Even though at the start of every semester I discuss with them the implications of using sexist language, cite research which shows its prejudicial effect, and discuss my policy of counting off for the use of sexist language in their writing, my students, both female and male, continue to use sexist language in their papers. And all of them use “he” as opposed to the possible implementation of exclusionary use of “she.” They continue to do this despite the fact that such usage negatively impacts their grades.

One student wrote on the productive employee, “he,” though the student writing the paper was female. Only her one page summary of the paper used inclusive language. I have found a few students who attempt to vary their use of “he” and “she” rather than use a “he/she” split or the plural pronoun. At least half of the students who have used this alternating of pronouns have used the “she” pronoun for subordinates and the “he” pronoun for managers. The other students either alternated pronouns every paragraph or every scenario.

Reasoning?
At first, when thinking about this topic of gender issues, I thought that the use of sexist language was connected to the fact that I presently teach at a small Christian university in the South.

In reviewing my student papers, however, I found that the students at a large public university in the Midwest also used sexist language.

I have not found a theory about why students would use sexist language, even when its employment is detrimental to them, but I would propose that either they are more comfortable with the sexist language than they are uncomfortable with the grade or the use of sexist language, when I have specifically prohibited it, is an attempt at a power play.

My present students have a stereotype about feminists as loud, aggressive, and rude. Perhaps this view influences their language usage. They want to fit in with their peers and find this more important than a paper grade. Sometimes I wonder if their language would change if their circles of influence frowned on exclusive language, but only sometimes. The rest of the time I try new techniques for presenting the material so that they will understand the importance of using inclusive language. So far I have not found a means of impressing them with the real world significance of their language.

To be continued…

This paper was originally presented at MLA in 1992.

Argumentation style differs
During the course of my teaching, I have noticed a difference in the argumentation styles my students have used in presenting their papers.

Personal argumentation
Only my female students have ever included examples of personal argumentation in their papers, even when the topic assigned was a business proposal for their own businesses.

For example, Joyce worked on the topic of superior-subordinate relationships in the workplace and included her personal code of ethics for dealing with these situations in her paper. She set this up appropriately and presented an interesting discussion of her personal philosophy and how she arrived at the conclusions she reached, mostly through her religious and career experiences.

Cindy presented a business plan for a cleaning service, work in which she gained experience helping in her mother’s business. One point Cindy made read, “A few years ago, I helped my mother clean houses when she started her own business. I also helped her set up appointments and buy supplies.”

Another student, David, created a business plan for setting up an accounting service. The person who provided most of the information through interviews for this paper was Mr. Hancock. David quoted his advice on starting a business and some pointers for making the business successful in the first year. Nowhere in the paper is it mentioned that Mr. Hancock is David’s father.

Overall the women seemed to use more personal supports for their line of argumentation than did the men. This usage fits in with current linguistic theory which says that men do not respect personal anecdotes as persuasion, but see them as intrusive and unnecessary (Roberts, Davies, and Jupp).

Work Cited

Roberts, Celia, Evelyn Davies, and Tom Jupp. Language and Discrimination. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1992.

To be continued…

This paper was presented at MLA in 1992.

The topics chosen by my students seem to be influenced or divided by gender.

Credibility
One semester I had students working for a real client on the possibility of setting up a wedding video service in the city in which the university was located. One of my students, a female, proposed looking into the amount of personal credibility a videographer needs when starting a business and the manner in which the credibility is established. None of the videographers she interviewed, all men, thought that credibility was an issue. None of them had ever been asked for references or questioned about their past experience.

This student was surprised by this finding, since in her work she had often had to justify her competency. She did not investigate whether the videographers received all their clients through personal referrals, a circumstance which would have provided credibility for them. Even if most of their clients were referrals the fact that the videographers did not expect them all to be is shown by the advertizing they did.

Superior-subordinate relationships
In teaching technical writing I have had many women deal with the question of superior-subordinate relationships, but no men. The two highest quality papers dealt with two different aspects of these relationships.

One dealt with the question of ability and equality. Joyce argued in her paper that though individuals have many different skills, our society rewards some subordinates with pay equal to or greater than their abilities, while others are paid less than their competence warrants. The jobs she discussed as examples are dominated by men in both the superior and subordinate positions, but her career as a secretary clearly influenced the recommendations she made at the end of her paper.

Another paper on the same topic focused on the role of the female subordinate in corporate America. Judy discussed inequities within the system, reasons for them, potential problems when they are removed–such as executives traveling together and the attitudes of their spouses to this long distance mixed group situation, and indications that these inequities are being slowly reduced.

Stereotypical coverage
Topics covered in the major papers have included sexual harassment, gender differences in leadership, and the problem of balancing a family and a full-time job. Yet my students seem to choose topics that fit the stereotypes, or cultural expectations, of their respective sexes.

Only my female students have written about superior-subordinate relationships. Perhaps this is because my female students are more aware of their position of subordinates as they enter the workplace. Perhaps it is because my male students feel challenged by the idea that they should be underlings (Tannen).

My student who wrote on personal credibility was amazed that the videographers did not consider the relevance of credibility. She had, probably because women tend to be more concerned about relationships that are developed in all spheres of their lives (Gilligan). Only my female students cover topics on gender-related issues. I suppose this is because they see the implications of it for their lives.

Works Cited
Gilligan, Carol. In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1982.

Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation. New York: Ballantine, 1990.

To be continued…

This paper was presented to MLA in 1992.

My experience
In teaching technical writing to approximately four hundred students over the past six years, I have noticed differences in my female and male students’ approaches to their long report assignment. The major paper for the class is a study of a problem or situation that the student thinks will be useful in their work experience, although sometimes their choice has to fit into an overarching scenario, such as setting up a new business.

How topics chosen
Topics are generated by the students with approval being contingent on the feasibility of the study for a semester long project and a ten to fifteen page final paper.

I have found that topics which are stereotypically female– superior-subordinate relationships, personal and professional credibility, family-career balances, and gender issues– are never chosen by my male students, though I have several papers on these topics each semester.

I have also found that my students’ methods of argumentation are slightly different. My female students often intersperse personal comments or relate the material to themselves within the text while my male students, despite their personal involvement with the subject, do not.

Even with these two differences, the language of the two groups was not as differentiated as I expected. Few of my students paid any attention to the directions to avoid sexist language; both female and male students used male inclusive language. In this paper I will present the topic, argumentation, and language differences and similarities that I have found in my classes’ writings and present theories to account for them.

To be continued…