Pendleton 1

Kayla Pendleton

Prof. Miss

UWRT 1104-023

6 February 2017

Rhetorical Analysis

The piece I choose to analyze is my inquiry paper that I did in my Prospect for Success

class. My professor expected us to pick a topic that interested us and perform a more in depth

research on the issue. My group chose to research English Language Learners (ELL) and how

they are affected socially, academically, and what teachers can do to effectively teach them.

English Language Learners are those students who are learning the English language in addition

to his or her native language. The intentions of this paper are to become more familiar with an

inquiry paper format and learn an abundant amount of issues that we will face as teachers.

Teachers play a substantial role in English Language Learners academic discourse. In a

teachers perspective, I realized how different this kind of interaction is. Instead of being able to

understand each other through the same language, the teacher has to find different ways to

communicate. Communication is key in academic discourses and that is why this discourse faces

more obstacles than others. Even though many teachers struggle with communicating, they find

this discourse rewarding because of the different culture they get to be exposed to. Teachers

should learn to embrace this discourse despite barriers.

Personally, I believe that teachers are the most important part of an academic discourse,

so I chose to direct all my focus on what teachers can do more effectively to teach ELL students

while my partners focused on our other topics. I also chose to do this part of the paper because I

wanted to be able to benefit from this project and be able to apply this in my future career. For an
 Pendleton 2

example, through this project I will be able to learn how to beneficially communicate with ELL

students. Through my inquiry project research, I think that I was successful in finding a various

amounts of teaching techniques when it comes to teaching with ELL students. My purpose of

choosing this topic was to educate my class on what they can do when they become teachers as

well. I am very passionate about how future teachers and teachers who are presently teaching

should recognize the struggles that English Language Learner students go through in order to

help and have an effective classroom.

After writing the paper, we had to create a poster board and present to education

professors, people who are looking for future research questions, and to my peers. I intended all

of my writing to help educate those who do not understand completely what English Language

Learners go through. It is extremely important for people to understand the different world that

ELL students live in because they do vary tremendously. Most importantly, I intended for my

audience to gain information on what they can do to better themselves as teachers. I believe that I

was successful at capturing this information, so future teachers and present teachers can benefit

from my writing.

To get on a more personal and ethos level, I interviewed a teacher who has interacted

with English Language Students. Betsy McCray is a special education teacher at Ballantyne

Elementary School. With her experiences, she advised me to use many visuals and using an

enriching vocabulary helps the students tremulously. I believe that when I chose a teacher who

had experience it made my information more creditable and reliable. I think that it helps let my

audience trust in my information and allows them to automatically take the advice. The interview

helped me get personal, however I wished I used the interview to my advantage and considered
 Pendleton 3

asking what professional preparation she received to learn how to be an effective teacher when it

comes to teaching ELL students.

After talking to Mrs. McCray, I realized how much more work and time a teacher has to

put into ELL students. Most teachers who get ELL students in their classroom will think of all

the hardships and negatives when it comes to teaching, however I talked about the issue in a

more positive perspective. If teachers have respect and get to know their students cultures then

their relationships will be more personal and their teaching will have a stronger impact

(Pendleton, 2016). Instead of being pessimistic about the issue, I used strong word usage to

enforce the idea of how it is up to teacher to make their experiences with their students

impactful. I hoped that my audience felt the most tension at this part of my paper because I truly

believe that through the struggles of teaching English Language Students there is rewards and

positivity.

When it comes to rhetorical devices, I found that I used epizeuxis, the repetition of one

word for emphasis, without even recognizing. When it comes to strategies, pictures, pictures,

and more pictures! (Pendleton, 2016). Out of the whole interview with Betsy McCray, I felt

compelled to use this line in order to get my point across of how important visuals are when it

comes to effective teaching. As I writer, I hope to improve on getting creative with rhetorical

devices to make my writing more powerful and original. Instead of just stating facts and quotes, I

hope to learn how to use these devices more naturally.

As I reflected back onto my writing I see where I need to improve, but also my strengths.

I recognized how important it is to learn how to mushfake. Just like I mushfaked through my

inquiry project I had to mushfake my way through this rhetorical analysis. I found that as a writer

I am able to turn issues into positive content and I am able to strongly use ethos, but I hope to
 Pendleton 4

find strategies to use rhetorical devices. Most importantly, I realized how necessary it is to not

only analyze other authors work, but also my own. Becoming a strong writer not only takes time,

but discipline.
 Pendleton 5

Work Cited Page

Pendleton, Kayla. Investigating the Education of English Language Leaners: An Executive

Summary. Academic paper. University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Charlotte, NC.
Fall 2016. Print.