“Invention and Identification Through Intertextual Appropriation of Academic Discourse”
by George Shamshayooadeh | Xchanges 9.1
Case Study
As a case in point, in “Intertextual Trips: Teaching the Essay in the Composition Class,” Nancy Kline illustrates the use of intertextual analysis by selecting essays for class discussion that have a clear dialogic relation with other texts and their authors. In particular, she explains how Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” could be used for close reading in the composition classroom since the letter was composed as a response to the eight white clergymen who had written to criticize King’s participation in Alabama’s peaceful protest against segregation. Thus, all the arguments in the letter that are deployed to persuade the skeptical clergymen are deployed to counter the clergymen’s stated or anticipated criticism, objections, and queries. Such a close, intertextual analysis that sheds light on how intertextual resources and connections are utilized and marshaled to attain certain rhetorical purposes would be instrumental to a pedagogical revamping of freshman composition classes since it goes far beyond the use of direct quotation and paraphrase.
In practice, a class activity in which students are assigned to identify and highlight intertextual relations individually or in groups and be prepared to discuss them in the light of the rhetorical aims of the text at hand would assist in deepening students’ comprehension of intertextual relations and how they could be deployed to achieve rhetorical purposes. In my classes, I initially ask students to identify and explicate these intertextual relations in groups of three or four and ask them to be prepared to explain their findings to the class. Such cooperative group work also boosts students’ confidence since they often feel more comfortable engaging in the forum of small groups and receiving affirmation of their ideas before addressing the entire class.
As noted, the key point here is to ensure that students comprehend how these intertextual relations are used to achieve the overall effect in purposeful writing; as such, the next pedagogical step would be to move from intertextual analysis to production. This could be achieved by adopting a thematic approach in the selection of articles, essays and readings in which each topic is approached from multiple perspectives with authors that often position their arguments against one another’s differing views. Furthermore, students would be assigned to write multi-sourced essays in which arguments and ideas are used and synthesized from multiple sources to achieve the writer’s rhetorical purpose.
In “The Rhetoric of Intertextuality,” Frank D’Angello indicates that “intertextuality can be a fresh source of invention not as lines of argument or modes of reasoning but as commonplace material in the sense of subject matter and striking ideas” (43). I would argue that the arguments encountered in texts are critical as well since they lead writers to their recognition of what they agree with or disagree with and alert them to any potential gaps that need to be addressed and enunciated. The exposure to opposing views on debatable topics would compel students into positionality (e.g. adopting positions) by taking stands on the debatable issues and topics. Furthermore, they become intertextually knowledgeable through exposure to different views and stances on the issues under consideration.
One way intertextuality could be enacted in the classroom is through the use of collaborative groups and research projects. Each group would select and identify a current, controversial and multifaceted topic or issue in the society and suggest a solution to it. As members of a group, students would share a common topic or theme and attempt to approach it from different angles. Subsequently, each group member would write a multi-drafted research paper on a current social problem or relevant issue. Students would determine their topics within their research groups and, although they would do research in groups and present their topic as groups, each student would write her/his own research paper.