Q&R 2

Question: Why is teaching students to read rhetorically as difficult as trying to teach students how to write rhetorically?
Unlike expert writers who have studied work within a rhetorical framework, student writers concentrate the most on the content and information that is presented to them. The expert writers on the other hand imagin an audience response, acknowledge context and setting in the work. The students concentrate on knowledge, content, and what the text is talking about, and do not take into account the effect that that writer had the intentions of placing upon a specific audience. Many students see reading and writing as just an informative exchange of knowledge and information. Trying to help students move beyond that point is the difficult task that teachers face. The difficult part is trying to change students mindsets about reading and writing; they need to learn how to think differently and understand where the writer is coming from.