Defi nition

Some might say that the rhetorical situation, an expression coined by Lloyd Bitzer, is the most important concept in writing.

According to Bitzer, all writing occurs within a rhetorical situation, and every rhe-torical situation has three components.

First, a rhetorical situation includes what he calls an “exigence,” or occasion for writing. More specifi cally, such an occasion carries with it both a sense of urgency and a promise that through writing, a composer can make a change to that situation.

Second (and while it may seem obvi-ous), a rhetorical situation includes an audi-ence that can be infl uenced by or react to the writing.

Rhetorical Situation

Third, a rhetorical situation by defi ni-tion has constraints, and they come in two forms. An author may bring certain con-straints to the writing, for example certain beliefs that infl uence how the author under-stands a given issue. Likewise, there are con-straints associated with the situation itself, for instance the frame of mind of the audi-ence or the environment in which they hear or read a text. Both of these constraints are part of the rhetorical situation because they can infl uence audience response and the po-tential of the writer to make change.

Importance in the Field

Although scholars disagree on which comes fi rst—the writing or the rhetorical situation—they agree that effective writers use the con-cept of the rhetorical situation throughout their composing processes. They use it as a way to frame a writing task, for example. And they use it as they compose, to be sure that their writing keeps its intended focus.

In sum, the rhetorical situation is the situation in which we all write—be it a text message; a resume; or a research project and poster.

Resources

Enos, Richard Leo. “The History of Rhetoric.” Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Cur-riculum. Ed. Linda K. Shamoon, Rebecca Moore Howard, Sandra Jamieson, and Robert Schwegler. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2000. 81–86. Print.

Lowe, Kelly. “Against the Writing Major.” Com-position Studies 35.1 (2007): 97–98. Print.

Lunsford, Andrea A. “The Future of Writing Programs—and WPAs.” Plenary Address. Conference of the Council of WPA. Grand Hyatt, Denver. 10 July 2008. Address.

Subject

Composer Audience

Context

Text, Genre, Medium

College Composition and Communication

CCC

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Multimodality

Definition

Significance

Resources

Multimodality refers to the various re-sources—among them, images, sounds, document design, and graphics—that au-thors tap to create meaning in all kinds of texts. Writers from earliest times drew on multiple modalities when writing, whether they were composers using color and design on cave walls; medieval scribes using layout and iconography on manuscripts; writers of manuals using tables and charts to share information; authors of presentation slides using video to provide dynamic evidence; or web designers using layout and font size and style to assist readers with navigation. Multimodality thus doesn’t refer specifically to creating texts with digital technologies, but many scholars say that digital tech-nologies can make multimodality both more visible and easier to employ. In a first-year composition class, students can expect to compose texts requiring multimodality, ranging from print texts with “minimal”

Multimodality reminds us of the rich-ness of all texts, and of the many ways we create meaning. Interestingly, small chil-dren—mixing drawing, colors, letters, and layout—seem to compose multimodally al-most “naturally.” It may be that engaging in the same kind of “multimodal play” would benefit many composers: it’s often through such “play” that we see alternative ways of seeing and of making meaning.

Anderson, Daniel, et al. “Integrating Multimodality into Composition Curricula: Survey Methodology and Results from a CCCC Research Grant.” Com-position Studies 34.2 (2006): 59–84. Web.

Faigley, Lester. “Material Literacy and Visual Design.” Rhetorical Bodies: Toward a Material Rhetoric. Ed. Jack Selzer and Sharon Crowley. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1999. 171–201. Web.

Kress, Gunther. Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print.

Lauer, Claire. “Contending with Terms: ‘Multimodal’ and ‘Multimedia’ in the Academic and Public Spheres.” Computers and Composition 26 (2009): 225–39. Web.

Lutkewitte, Claire. Multimodal Composition: A Criti-cal Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s P, 2013. Print.

National Council of Teachers of English. “Position Statement on Multimodal Literacies.” NCTE. Nov. 2005. Web. <http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/multimodalliteracies>.

multimodality—words, layout, and font size and style—to blogs with a fuller multimodal representation—including images, photos, banners, words, and podcasts.

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