Guardiola 1

Jorge Guardiola

Dr. Nelson

English 1301-122

11 November 2022

Essay 3 Draft 1

“The importance of harnessing the educative potential of parents by encouraging

involvement in their children’s learning has gradually become an accepted practice.” (Williams

210). Students, teachers, and parents are ought to be in touch and Keith Williams really shows

his effectiveness research thorough his whole article. From the title “Mathematics problem-

solving homework as a conduit for parental involvement in learning. Evaluation of a pilot study”

the audience is brought on by the effect of putting “parents’ involvement” in there by making the

audience question about the several reasons how a parent can be involved and how effective it is.

Statements like these are what persuade the audience along with the use of ethos and logos, and

pathos therefore making this analysis effective.

First off, William uses ethos citing from the minister of education, David Blunkett “Four

years later the then minister for education, David Blunkett, ridiculed researchers for ‘churning

out findings that no-one with the slightest common sense could take seriously’” (Blunkett 212).

Gives the name of an expert in the topic of education to support the upcoming statements.

“According to Blunkett (1999), researchers had claimed that daily home work was (Williams

212) ‘bad for you’ (Blunkett 212). He saw the relationship as common sense: “time on task was

‘a key indicator of success’” (Williams 212). Writing the argument of the person that is being
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named and later on supporting it with what the expert stated making the argument more credible

to the audience.

Furthermore, the use of ethos is later on added to following paragraphs in the analysis.

The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), accountability for standards, the quasi-market in

schools and “the invocation of parents as moral and educational policemen”. The introduction of

an organization from the United Kingdom is shown and so cultural view, ideas, and environment

differ from the U.S still the U.S is mentioned to go along with the view of increased parental

involvement. This focus is not limited to England: in the USA, Kraft and Rogers claim that the

government has cited increased parental support as a “top priority” (Williams 210). Citing

research of Kraft and Rogers to support that not only is the involvement growing in England but

in the U.S too. There is an abundance of research on parental involvement (Hoover-Dempsey &

Sandler,2005) adding more to the U.S by citing that there is more information yet it fails to add

claims after the citation of Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler. Contrasting England to other countries

seen with the U.S follows with Australia. “Most recently, projects in the UK and Australia, both

called the Everyday Mathematics Project, sought to stimulate parents into recognising and acting

upon opportunities for mathematical talk in everyday life” (Jay, Rose, & Simmons, 2017;

Northcote & Marshall, 2016). Adding up other countries and contrasting them with England

persuades the audience into broader research.

In addition, we see the use of logos thorough the next section of the article in the form of

tables and models. Figure 1 being “The Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model of parental

involvement” (Hoover, et.al) shows the breakdown of the different levels that have been used to

integrate parents on schoolwork. Besides the levels the audience also sees the different categories

in each level raging from 3 to 4 categories with their respective sub-categories. Adding to the use
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of logos Williams also uses a table summing up the responses that were given by the parents and

they are displayed on table 2. “Common parental responses” (Williams 220) dictates the title for

the graph giving out up to 15 responses given by parents being some of them bold to show the

difference in them. “During these interactions knowledge, skills and understanding (KSU) of

mathematical problem-solving strategies and concepts were being developed as outlined below”

(Williams 220) the table is a demonstration for the audience to see how feedback was taken in

the form of (KSU). Followed with different details viewed throughout the questions, “During

mathematical talk KSU was transferred by parents that included: justification of choices; use of

skills; modelling of recording and calculation strategies; identification of key information;

adaptation of the task; and common errors and misconceptions.” (Williams 221).

Moreover, pathos comes around the final section of the article becoming close with

connections of the tables and following the arguments of logos in the model.

She could have brought it home and done it the way school had done it then I could do it

the way I would do it. Then you could bring the two together so that in a way she is

teaching me and I am teaching her. (P school D 221).

Williams by putting this sort of statements towards the end of the article shows how effective the

results were even though it shows it on the table and model the opinions of parents are better to

understand for the audience. Transitioning next to teachers with their feedback.

They got better at it . . . at first it was just very much just concerned with showing others

what they had done . . . but then it became very reflective . . . those who had done it

themselves [without parental involvement] were still very open to discussing different

ways of being able to do it and it opened their eyes. (T school B 222).

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Teacher’s feedback shows just not the feelings towards how the students are learning but how it

benefits the student to go out and engage in homework with their parents involved.

Finally, William’s article has effectiveness in using the several rhetoric appeals ethos,

pathos, and logos. Pathos Falling in the Feedback of the teachers and Parents showing their

mood and emotions towards the idea of being involved in students work. Logos being presented

to the audience in the form of a table and a model showing the different answers of parents in the

project and ethos illustrated in the form of citing those experts and organizations that Williams

did his research. Having put all these together in the form of an article shows the effectiveness of

the article and the analysis of his work.

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Works cited

Williams, K. (2018, November). Mathematics problem-solving homework as a conduit for

parental involvement in learning. Evaluation of a pilot study. EBSCO.

https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?

T=P&P=AN&K=149149532&S=R&D=a9h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNXb4kSeprA4zOX0OLCm

sEqeqLFSr6i4TbCWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGvtEi3q7FPuePfgeyx44Dt6fIA