Reading Kastely’s “From Formalism to Inquiry” and Kroll’s “Arguing Differently,” I wonder why we continue to call an argument essay an argument essay. What if we simple call it an analytical essay, or a research essay, or a critical essay? The word “argue” suggests that the writer has to refute oppositions and Allen & Bacon Guide especially prescribes counterarguments an inseparable part of the arguing process. But Kastely convincingly points out that argument can be an ineffectual act because it is commonly used as “a means for dominating or silencing an other”(230). In that sense, it seems counter-productive to ask students to write an argument essay and then tell them they should argue differently, as Kroll suggests.
In last Thursday’s class, Rachel explained the difference between a research paper and an argument essay. From what I gathered, a research paper can be used to achieve various goals including argumentation. The three different approaches (conciliatory, integrative, and deliberative) provided by Kroll in a lot of ways are aimed at expanding the narrow scope of what an argument essay can do. So maybe it would be less confusing for the students if we ask them to decide on their own what their goal for a paper is before proceeding to write it. In that case, it might be preferable to call an assignment a research paper than an argument essay.
Another interesting thing about Kroll’s article is that he is hesitant to prescribe any formula to students. “I was eager to avoid labels that suggested an emphasis on forms,” he says, because he worries that the students would “focus on producing texts with a set of defining features” (42). I feel similarly toward formula, but how do we teach students to write academic papers without telling them “a set of defining features?” Despite what Kroll says about formalism, he goes ahead telling the students how to write the opening, middle and closing sections of their paper. Even we all agree that form should be deemphasized, it seems quite unavoidable to teach it.
I think it’s interesting that you think we should let students decide on their own what their goals are. Since our students come from various disciplines, argument may serve different functions for them. Those functions can sometimes inflect the way we imagine what argument is.
ReplyDeleteI agree; it seems like we (and the authors of these articles) want to de-emphasize form, yet we can't escape from teaching it and using it in evaluating student work. I'm not exactly sure how to do this, but I wonder if the best way to walk this line is to not only teach students the form, but also teach them when to deviate from it/implement other strategies or forms to strengthen their writing...Something to think about, anyway. :)
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