Student-driven imitation in upper secondary school : Revealing traits of reflexive process and rhetorical agency in argumentative texts
Matthiesen, Christina LU
(2015)
10th IAMITE conference 2015
p.194-194
- Abstract
- In classical as well as modern rhetorical education there is a strong tradition of imitation as a means to becoming a rhetor, a rhetorical active citizen. Especially Quintilian is praised for his notion of imitation. He highlights critical reading within a broad variety of genres, including poetry and historical accounts, along with attunement to the individual talent and temper of the rhetor in spe. The goal is not for the student to mirror the traits of the texts, but to learn from rhetorical strategies bound to context. Nevertheless, attunement to the individual tends to be downplayed in the practice of text-based imitation throughout history. Intrigued by this, I have developed the concept student-driven imitation, which impels... (More)
- In classical as well as modern rhetorical education there is a strong tradition of imitation as a means to becoming a rhetor, a rhetorical active citizen. Especially Quintilian is praised for his notion of imitation. He highlights critical reading within a broad variety of genres, including poetry and historical accounts, along with attunement to the individual talent and temper of the rhetor in spe. The goal is not for the student to mirror the traits of the texts, but to learn from rhetorical strategies bound to context. Nevertheless, attunement to the individual tends to be downplayed in the practice of text-based imitation throughout history. Intrigued by this, I have developed the concept student-driven imitation, which impels Quintilian’s ideas into productive knowledge. Student-driven imitation is characterized by encouraging students to find texts themselves, that they are fascinated by as readers and willing to learn from as writers, as well as valuing process over mirroring, working across genres, and strengthening rhetorical agency. This does not only involve strengthening rhetorical skills, but also the ability to find or create rhetorical opportunities. Until now, student-driven imitation has been examined in two settings: in higher education within the field of rhetoric and outside the educational system in a shelter for young homeless people. But what is the potential of student-driven imitation in the framework of the curriculum of L1 education? This poster will reveal findings from comparative action-oriented case studies carried out in February 2015 in two classrooms in upper secondary schools. The study will focus on argumentative texts, and the data will consist of classroom observations, the students’ written assignments, including the students’ individual choice of text, and interviews with teachers. What kinds of argumentative texts will the students bring forth – in terms of subject matter, rhetorical situation, media, genre, types of writers, and strategies of argumentation? With what reason? And in what ways can the reflexive process of working with student-driven imitation be traced in the students’ own production of a new argumentative text? The poster will show numeric data as well as examples and quotes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5ed33fb0-a494-465f-a3a3-d79129307539
- author
- Matthiesen, Christina
LU
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to conference
- publication status
- published
- pages
- 1 pages
- conference name
- 10th IAMITE conference 2015
- conference location
- Odense, Denmark
- conference dates
- 2015-06-03 - 2015-06-05
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- 5ed33fb0-a494-465f-a3a3-d79129307539
- alternative location
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VSgjf8tI08tBmy1jjf4wfrlxt7H7vpdb/edit?tab=t.0
- date added to LUP
- 2025-08-08 15:52:52
- date last changed
- 2025-09-15 10:58:03
@misc{5ed33fb0-a494-465f-a3a3-d79129307539,
abstract = {{In classical as well as modern rhetorical education there is a strong tradition of imitation as a means to becoming a rhetor, a rhetorical active citizen. Especially Quintilian is praised for his notion of imitation. He highlights critical reading within a broad variety of genres, including poetry and historical accounts, along with attunement to the individual talent and temper of the rhetor in spe. The goal is not for the student to mirror the traits of the texts, but to learn from rhetorical strategies bound to context. Nevertheless, attunement to the individual tends to be downplayed in the practice of text-based imitation throughout history. Intrigued by this, I have developed the concept student-driven imitation, which impels Quintilian’s ideas into productive knowledge. Student-driven imitation is characterized by encouraging students to find texts themselves, that they are fascinated by as readers and willing to learn from as writers, as well as valuing process over mirroring, working across genres, and strengthening rhetorical agency. This does not only involve strengthening rhetorical skills, but also the ability to find or create rhetorical opportunities. Until now, student-driven imitation has been examined in two settings: in higher education within the field of rhetoric and outside the educational system in a shelter for young homeless people. But what is the potential of student-driven imitation in the framework of the curriculum of L1 education? This poster will reveal findings from comparative action-oriented case studies carried out in February 2015 in two classrooms in upper secondary schools. The study will focus on argumentative texts, and the data will consist of classroom observations, the students’ written assignments, including the students’ individual choice of text, and interviews with teachers. What kinds of argumentative texts will the students bring forth – in terms of subject matter, rhetorical situation, media, genre, types of writers, and strategies of argumentation? With what reason? And in what ways can the reflexive process of working with student-driven imitation be traced in the students’ own production of a new argumentative text? The poster will show numeric data as well as examples and quotes.}},
author = {{Matthiesen, Christina}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{194--194}},
title = {{Student-driven imitation in upper secondary school : Revealing traits of reflexive process and rhetorical agency in argumentative texts}},
url = {{https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VSgjf8tI08tBmy1jjf4wfrlxt7H7vpdb/edit?tab=t.0}},
year = {{2015}},
}