Week 13 – Mon. Nov. 22nd

  • Read “Popular Culture Is Killing Writing” by Bronwyn T. Williams. Answer the following questions on OpenLab.  
    • What did you think of this text? Explain!  Be honest! Did you find any parts interesting? Did you learn something new?
    • What is it mostly about? Write a 2-3 sentence summary. Be specific. Refer to the text itself. Use quotes even! 
    • What is the genre of the text? What is the tone?
    • Who do you think is the intended audience of the piece? Who is meant to read this text?
    • What do you think is the purpose of this text? Why do you think the author wrote it?
    • Some people argue that popular culture is killing writing, explain their argument.
    • The author disagrees with the argument that popular culture is killing writing. What proof does the author provide that in fact, popular culture is not only killing writing but helps student writing. Provide 1-2 examples.
    • Do you agree or disagree with the author’s argument? Explain! Maybe even use examples of your writing to support your argument. 
  • Think about WHAT you are going to include in your drafts. Begin your drafts. Start to PARAPHRASE, SUMMARIZE and QUOTE from your sources! 

11 Comments

  1. ngawangtenzin

    This text was boring at the beginning but it got more interesting at the middle and end. One of the quotes that I found interesting was “When young people engage with popular culture they are learning valuable rhetorical concepts and skills”. I think this quote is interesting because it shows that young people benefit from pop culture and they learn different skills.

    This text is about popular culture how is actually helping students become writers and students are able to quickly adapt to a new style of writing. For example, ” Student read pop culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not matters simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works”(Bronwyn T. Williams)this evidence shows you can do any type of genre you just have to put a lot of effort into it even if it’s simple.

    The genre of this text is a blog and the tone is informal and formal

    The intended audience of this piece is English teachers and students. Students are meant to read this text and to be more specific students who are majoring in literature might read this.

    The purpose of this text is to persuade people that populate culture is helping students become better writers. The author wrote this because she wants people to stop viewing popular culture writing as a bad way of writing things.

    Some people argue popular culture is killing writing because they think that it is messing with younger people writing abilities and it makes their writing weak. According to Adams Sherman Hill, of Harvard “student who read too many comics, watches too much television, or play too many digital games will produce naive, emotional writing that is riddled with errors”. Popular culture affects young people writing capabilities in a negative way causing them to fall back and causing them to become bad writers.

    The author gives any evidence to prove him point , for example, “students learn a tremendous amount of rhetoric and communication from their engagement with popular culture “(Bronwyn T. Williams) and another piece of evidence is ” the ease with which students can interest a form of popular culture has developed with practice which at some point included struggle, helps from others and accumulating knowledge, in other words, learning. ( Bronwyn T. Williams) Those are the proof that the author provides. ‘

    I agree with the author’s statement because I think you can use many different genres and there are different forms of writing, not just one way that would make student brain not wanting to learn new ideas.

  2. Saida Akbarova

    1) I really liked this text because it was showing us that popular culture is not always bad in how we learn to read and write. It is helping most students learn faster just in different ways from televisions, video games and more.
    2)This text is about disagreeing with people that said popular culture is killing writing because it actually is helping students. The author gives many ways in how students are learning reading and writing in different ways by popular culture. For example it states, “meaning we make of those activities usually increases our motivation to engage in such activities. We rarely take as much pleasure in work that is assigned to us as in projects that we engage in by choice.” Usually the activities we like doing on our own even if its video games it is motivating us do more of those activities because usually reading and writings are assigned to us, we start wanting to do something that is not dreaded and something we enjoy that we consider us as our breaktime.
    3)The genre of this text is a blog because it is very informational and is a discussion. The tone is informative because the author discusses important information on how popular culture is actually a good thing.
    4)The intended audience for this text is students and also people who think popular culture is harmful, that they think popular culture is killing writing.
    5)The purpose of this text is to show that popular culture is not bad as some say and that it is actually helping us.
    6)Some are arguing that popular culture is killing our writing because people rarely read now and write. Now we have everything easy, we have movies for entertainment and rarely read now which is weakening our writing and that we make more errors.
    7)He disagrees by telling us that people learn writing and reading in different ways on how they adapted as a child. Some might have played video games as a child and that is how they adapted, “On the other hand, there are popular culture forms, such as computer games, that take more explicit instruction and guidance to learn.” This explains how video games even need specific ways and instructions to learn how to play the game.
    8)I agree with the author because for my project topic it is about how plastic is harmful to the environment and ways we could start using eco friendly items to help out. This relates to popular culture because on social media like Instagram people make posts that catch peoples attention since they scroll through and see awareness posts and maybe ads that show eco friendly items that we could buy through the link.

  3. Christopher Lopez

    I thought the text was long and boring. The story made a lot of good points but took too long to make It. I found that when the author said “The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works” was interesting. That quote taught me that us students can learn how genres work by practicing.

    The text is mostly about popular culture and how it affects students. When the author said “The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works”, that statement made It clear that popular culture is helping students.

    The genre of the text is blog and the tone is formal.

    The intended audience is students. Students are meant to read this because the article is about literature.

    The purpose of the text is to let the readers know that popular culture is having a good effect on students. I think the author wrote this to let the readers know that popular culture is not negatively affecting writing.

    The argument that popular culture is killing reading because people think that It’s having students read less and also affects our writing skills in a bad way.The quote “student who read too many comics, watches too much television, or play too many digital games will produce naive, emotional writing that is riddled with errors” proves there point.

    One example that helps prove his point Is “The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works”. That quote told me that just because we don’t use a complex form of literature does not mean that we aren’t learning.

    I agree with the author, when I read something interesting I actually try to understand and it helps make me smarter because I actually want to do it. “On the other hand, there are popular culture forms, such as computer games, that take more explicit instruction and guidance to learn.”That quote is relatable because I Game a lot and I learned a lot of things from gaming that has made me a better student.

  4. Khalil Adams

    I actually agree with the author that pop culture is not the enemy of writings. Though I didn’t learn anything new, I did find it interesting that someone wanted to defend pop culture since it’s typically framed as an antagonistic thing.

    The author is arguing that pop culture is not the enemy to writers, despite them thinking otherwise.The author states “I’ve been researching the interplay of popular culture and student writing for close to twenty years—”, proving his experience with the topic that he’s defending as he elaborates on the help, importance that pop culture can provide to writing and to writers.

    The genre is Excerpt and the tone is formal.

    To try to change the minds of writers to see pop culture from his perspective.

    Pop Culture has made emotionally reliant, informal and morally compromising forms of writing the norm, which disvalues writing that doesn’t fit into those descriptions.

    The author argues that one, a vast majority of writers that make this claim aren’t familiar with pop culture themselves, meaning their making an assumption based on an outsider’s perspective, and two, pop culture actually helps to provide the basics of literary devices and storytelling to a casual audience.

    I agree that pop culture is actually integral to good writing, as pop culture tends to reflect our current times, and that writers should aim to use pop culture in their work in moderation to modernize their writings for modern audiences.

  5. Shariffe Mckennon

    I did not care about this reading at all, and it never got interesting for me. It was just a long paragraph of why culture is helping to shape language and writing skills.

    This is mostly about why and how popular culture is helping to improve our writing skills.”and when young people engage with popular culture they are learning valuable rhetorical concepts and skills.” perfectly shows the articles purpose

    The genre of This text is a blog and this piece has an informal tone.

    People who are familiar with popular culture are their key audience as this blog is reaching out to tell them how popular culture is helping with improving their writing skills.

    Their argument is that popular culture is too easy for people and it hurts them because they can’t read novels or longer works and understand them because they’re so used to the easy digestible stuff.

    “Even though research contradicts these anecdotal experiences,” explains that their arguments were proven to be wrong after research was performed on the matter.

    I would agree with the author as nowadays people are more on social sites like instagram and twitter and people post stuff everyday and are unknowingly improving their grammar because of our need to sound smart or have a well-written argument for an ongoing conversation.

  6. Travion Burke

    1) I agree with what the author was saying in the text. Personally the text was mid for me not too boring or not too interesting and not too long or not too short. I find it interesting that everyones argument about popular culture and academic culture have different point of views.

    2) The text is mostly about pop culture, the author is stating that pop culture isn’t the cause of poor writing it actually still requires skill in many aspects it just requires lots of practice in which the new generation has already practiced almost there whole life for example the text states “popular culture has not led to a generation of illit- erate people. What’s more, popular culture is not, in itself, the cause of poor writing and when young people engage with popular culture they are learning valuable rhetorical concepts and skills.” You still need skills and practice in order to understand pop culture

    3) The genre of the text is an opinion based writing because the author is giving his pint of view on pop culture. His tone is informative and pursuasive.

    4) The intended audience of this piece would be anyone who believes that pop culture is killing writing because he is going against what they believe in the text.

    5) The purpose of this text is to explain why pop culture is not to blame for poor writing it is actually a skill. once you learn pop culture it may not seem that hard but when you are constantly practicing using pop culture It is hard to forget or struggle with something that common to you.

    6)Some people may believe pop culture is killing writing because people are having too much fun with it and don’t encounter too much hard thinking when faced with pop culture. In pop culture you may not have to read a text that is 15 pages Long instead you may get a comic book thats cut down in length so some people may get too comfortable which destroys your ability to stay focused for a certain amount of time.

    *7) The authors state that most people making the argument that pop culture is killing wiring haven’t experienced pop culture for them selfs. The author also explains that students at one point have shown an example of pop culture which isn’t easy it once was a struggle for them at one point in their lives but they got the hang of it.

    8)  Yes i agree with the authors argument even when demonstrating pop culture you still have to be able to strategically think and comprehend whatever you are watching or reading. Things may seem shorter or cut down but it doesn’t stop the fact that you have to endure basic comprehension skills or more depending on the genre of pop culture you are facing. When I write about video games or even play some I still have to use my analyzing skills in some form or way.

  7. Tehmina Imanat

    This text was very interesting and eye-opening. It had shown a side that isn’t discussed much and therefore it was interesting to read about. One part I found interesting was when the author stated, “The reason students read popular culture with facility and enthusiasm, including complex and sophisticated forms, is not a matter of simplicity, it’s a matter of practice. Learning how to navigate any genre takes time and practice to figure out how it works” this was interesting because it explained how with practice the topic of the genre can be well understood and learned about.

    This text is mostly about popular culture and how it is helping students become better writers. The author is disagreeing with the stereotype which is that popular culture is killing writing. The author discusses the impact popular culture has on the way students read and write. In the text, it states, “Another myth about popular culture and writing is that people learn nothing from
    it. Students learn a tremendous amount about rhetoric and communication from their engagement
    with popular culture, most notably about rhetorical concepts such as genre, audience, and style.” This quote from the text proves the author’s claim about the importance of popular culture.

    The genre of this text is a blog and the tone of this text is formal and informative

    The intended audience of this text is students and adults that think popular culture has no impact and effect on the way they write and read. I think students are meant to read this so they can see a different perspective.

    I think the purpose of this text is to convince people that the main thing that is helping students become better writers is popular culture. The author wrote this text to break the stereotype of the negative side of popular culture.

    Some argue that popular culture is killing their writing and they think this because it may influence the writing in a bad way, and it may come out in a negative way to younger people. To support that argument it states, “Popular culture can be problematic in many ways. The representations of gender and race and violence can be deeply disturbing, as can cynical appeals to emotion—from advertisements to cable news talk shows.”

    One proof would be when the author states, “students learn a tremendous amount of rhetoric and communication from their engagement with popular culture” and he also states, “Students are adept at reading and writing popular culture because they practice it, learn it, control it. Given the same conditions and motivation, they can learn to do the same with other forms of writing.” These quotes prove that Popular culture is helping student writing.

    I agree with the author that popular culture helps student writing because arguing or expressing a topic that is relevant and valid for its time is very important for it to hold value.

  8. Xenia Berkowitz

    I thought this this text was convincing because it introduced the counterargument to his or her claim before stating the claim which showed that the claim came out of research done to refute the opposing viewpoint. Because the paragraphs are so dense it was a little hard to get through but ultimately I thought it was interesting because it made me feel better about my consumption of media and pop culture.
    It is mostly about how every genre is valid and requires some level of intelligence to understand. It refutes anti-pop culture and anti- social media arguments that say that modern day books, technology, etc do not require any critical thinking or concentration and make our generation less literate .
    The genre of the text is academic or opinion article and the tone is informed and persuasive.
    The intended audience is teens who consume pop culture and are told that it is not an appropriate platform to learn from as well as people who think the opposite of the author: that modern novels, technology and social media platforms have stunted the literacy of those who consume them.
    The purpose of this text is to show that a variety of genres are important because each teach different skills and that through technology, people are writing more because of the accessability of the internet and the freedom to publish online articles.
    People think that pop culture is killing writing because it weakens ones ability to concentrate. It diminishes individuality and people who consume novels, newspapers and comics will become naive and produce writing that is too informal and emotional.
    The proof the author provides in defense of popular culture is that literacy rates have gone up in the US since pop culture became widespread. Another piece of evidence is that in colleges students are writing more and are also writing with less errors and grammar discrepancies.
    I agree and disagree with the authors argument because in my personal experience I was much more focused on reading before I was exposed to online articles, popular culture and social media. However the reading I consumed before being exposed to the internet and technology was all novels which technically count as pop culture according to the article (“to read nothing but newspapers and second rate novels is surely a waste of time..”) Because of my consumption of television and social media my attention span has since decreased however I write better now so I am arguable more literate because of the existence of pop culture and technology.

  9. Abdul Ikhlaq

    1. The title “Popular Culture Is Killing Writing” caught my attention. I assumed the text was going to bash on how this generation uses too much slang and how it effects our tone and speech. That it shows in our writing and that we are weak literary. The text actually defended the pop culture and how the way we learn now is more beneficial than the old days.

    2. To summarize, the text compares the teachings of writing in the older days to the present. Us students in the 20th century find newspapers and going to the library plain boring and un – intriguing. It doesn’t attract us due to everything being digital and being taught word for word in a book. Television, games and social media is where we get most of our news. It’s also how we stay up to date with the worldly matters. In the text Williams states “While the culprits have changed over the years, from newspapers to movies to television in the 20th-century, to digital games and social media today”. This quote states how kids in the 20th century have shifted in the way we learn.

    3. The genre I feel this text falls under is informational essay. The tone i get from reading is formal.

    4. I feel the intended audience is to parents. Parents want the best education for their kids. Parents after reading this text can feel more confident in these new methods of teaching. Or called the “Popular Culture”.

    5. I believe the author published this article to defend and preach that their will always be different ways to learn. Each child is different in their own ways. The way we teach and pass on information won’t stay the same. Williams is persuading those who aren’t confident in the “Popular Culture” to trust how we are learning now because it is beneficial for us. “The ease with which students can interpret a form of popular culture has developed with practice”. This quote states how we grew up learning the popular culture, so that’s how we feel comfortable learning.

    6. People say popular culture is killing writing because of how it makes us lazy. They state that it will brain wash us especially at a young age because of how easily it is given. At some points it doesn’t educate fully. “student who read too many comics, watches too much television, or play too many digital games will produce naĂŻve, emotional writing that is riddled with error”. This quote shows their side in how the popular culture learning displays poorly in our writing.

    7. The author clearly states “students learn a tremendous amount of rhetoric and communication from their engagement with popular culture”. This quote states that the author finds popular culture to be positive in the way we take in rhetoric information. That the way we communicate with one and other is improved with confidence.

    8. Me being raised in this century with cartoons, video games, and social media around me. I take sides with the author with popular culture being beneficial. Back then students didn’t have the recourses we do now. Technology just improves day by day. Have to adjust moderately to how the world around us is changing.

  10. Darleny Morel

    I think the text was a good length, not too long as past texts we have read before. I think it’s cool to see the different kinds of points of view that there are too. The text is primarily about pop culture which is stated in the first paragraph. In the text the author states that pop culture isn’t the cause of poor writing and it requires lots of practice. The genre of the text is opinion based and the tone is informative because of the authors stand point. The intended audience is people against what he’s stating but also those in favor that pop culture isn’t messing with writing. The purpose of this text is to emphasize why pop culture is not to blame for poor writing it is a skill. Others may disagree saying this destroys your concentration and the ability to want to read.I agree with the author because pop culture has skills that you can later on use in writing but you are only using them in a different way or sense.

  11. Mahdi ahammad

    honestly, this text was a bit long and i lost my interest in reading this text by the 4th paragraph but i did learn about how pop culture is way better for our learning as opposed to the old times.
    this text is mostly about how culture is helping us learn better faster and as well as how we adapt better to a new style of writing
    the genre of the text is informational and the tone is formal
    the intended audience is anyone who thinks negatively about popular culture and anyone who wants to get information about it
    people say this because they think we become lazy but that isn’t the case
    “Students learn a tremendous amount of rhetoric and communication from their engagement with popular culture”
    i agree with the authors argument because without the engagement of popular culture we wouldn’t be who we are maybe because of the lack of recourses it was a problem back then but not us

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