Lexi Conklin

12/5/14
English 110

Reflective Argument: Student Learning Outcomes

The overall progress I have made in this English 110 course reflects specific concepts
that I have improved on and others that I still need practice understanding and analyzing.
Targeting specific genres and transforming them into new genres within each of the sequences
has given me a new perspective of how the same information can be altered into a completely
different notion. Writing, concepts, research, and genre are particularly flexible in developing a
project that can be modified to fit any scenario. Student learning outcomes aim to improve the
formal understanding of each genre through specific techniques that include the rhetorical
situation, the research, the writing process, grammar and usage, and the reflection. These
outcomes are broken down in steps through the sequences of approaching, producing, and
finalizing the prompt. It helps students like myself to focus and engage on the concepts of each
assessment, while giving us awareness of the level of work that is expected. Each of the learning
outcomes are guidelines discreetly designed to meet the overall goal of the course of addressing
numerous rhetorical situations. These strategies have only been beneficial to my writing and
understanding of uncertain concepts through class discussions, revisions, and exercises that are
specific to the assignment. I believe these outcomes have given my writing more structure and
substance with a clear level of organization, which will be very useful for me in the future.

SLO A: Rhetorical Situation and Genre

This learning outcome builds the foundation for analyzing and constructing a rhetorical
situation around a centered argument, while considering the prompt, the approachable angle, the
purpose, the audience, and the framework of the context. This is the brainstorming process where

ideas and concepts come together to have an efficient approach to the assignment. Writing
socially to convince or persuade the directed audience on a particular subject also takes
considerable strategies, including researching and making claims with supported evidence.
Proper preparation is key to completing a well-organized genre or rhetorical situation. I, as a
student, have utilized this outcome to its entirety mainly through sequence 2 when writing a
report (SWA 2) and a review (MWA) with a UNM resource. These two genres were composed
of the same information but altered to fit a different angle and perspective within the rhetorical
situation. The report provided factual information, while the review was an opinion-based
argument. Taking one genre and producing a completely new one helped me understand how the
context can be transformed to fit the appropriate rhetorical situation. This has progressed my
skills to think broader and prospectively about genres given that their information and purpose
can be twisted. I have learned how to alter my thoughts proactively from one genre to the next,
while improving on collecting the proper evidence and research needed to generate information
from one genre to the other. Ideas and claims can get mixed-up in the process of jumping back
and forth between the two situations as seen slightly in my report and in my review.
Improvements I will make in future assignments will be to organize the concepts of a particular
genre and only draw specific useful information needed to create a new genre. This student
learning outcome has given me a good understanding of how to structure and compose rhetorical
situations that has been practiced and repeated in every assignment this semester.

SLO B: Rhetorical Situation and Genre

This learning strategy is specifically directed towards the roles of discourse communities
and how levels of social interactions within each group can form common values, interests,

cultures, and personal identities. This social nature falls under the category of describing a
rhetorical situation at the local, national, and international levels, which gives students like
myself a stronger insight of how discourse communities can come together and influence others.
In sequence 1 of this course, I analyzed different genres regarding the subject of my own
discourse community that I belong to. My first task was to compose a personal description of my
discourse community on a local or minor level (SWA 1), then create a usage guide to help direct
UNM students to understand the value system of the group on a national level (SWA 2), and
finally publishing an interactive website encouraging people to join the discourse community on
a widespread international level (MWA). Each assignment progressed into the next utilizing all
aspects of the learning outcome by creating stages that influenced one another. My improvement
of recognizing and producing different genres within the same subject has been built through
step by step assessments to help me better understand each rhetorical situation. Although I still
need to work on grasping my readers attention on different public levels, I can recognize the
progress I have made over the course of the semester through improving my directed approach or
angle to a specific audience. This learning outcome helped me express how I personally fit into
society and how social interactions define various discourse communities on different public
levels.

SLO C: Writing as a Process

This student learning outcome approaches every stage of the writing process including
planning through preparations, composing a rhetorical situation, revising among the feedback,
and reflecting on the finalized product. Each procedure feeds into the next to ensure that the final
composition is accurate and strong throughout various genres. These techniques are essential and

used in analyzing every rhetorical situation, so improvement could only benefit my writing and
organization skills. In the previous sequence (3), the focus was to write a rhetorical analysis on
the persuasion concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos analyzing them within different rhetorical
scenarios. One specific assignment (SWA 2), utilized the resource of a documentary describing
the life of a famous childrens book author and illustrator addressing each of the rhetorical
concepts. Collecting the important information for the prewriting stages was the most
challenging part of the writing process as it was a forty-minute video that needed to be rewatched
and analyzed closely to capture the key elements. I utilized my pre-planning notes and formed it
into a well-constructed composition, which was a struggle to assess as I had to organize the
information and my thoughts appropriately. Then the genre went through the revision and
collaboration stage that targeted constructive criticism, which helped me understand and correct
my mistakes that overall improved my level of writing. This outcome has been taught numerous
times throughout my academic years, so it has become clear what is expected of my writing
skills. To better enrich my writing, I have learned not to ponder on unnecessary topics and get
right to the point of the theme or purpose. Knowing what I need to improve on in the writing
process has helped me compose stronger more compelling arguments to achieve the objective of
this learning outcome.

SLO F: Reflection
This learning approach evaluates the total progress that has been made over the course of
the semester through a self-reflection. The main objective of this English course was to learn
how to compose various genres using multiple resources and applying that information to form a
completely new context within a different genre. Each assessment that was assigned challenged

my creativity and my perception of how genres are created, addressed, shared, and reflected
upon. In my most recent assignment in sequence 3 (MWA), the class was given a specific
rhetorical scenario that included constructing a cover letter for a potential job in the commercial
advertising industry and creating a summary with a reflection of a proposed holiday commercial
idea. This assignment reflected a real-life situation where a job opening was on the line, so it was
critical that I would consider everything I have learned about rhetorical situations and apply that
to this scenario to better advance potential job offerings in the near future. Understanding and
generating specific information into the correct genre or assignment is extremely essential in any
academic or job institution. This course has provided me with all the resources and help I need to
improve my skills on adjusting and creating different rhetorical situations in everyday life and in
the workplace. Throughout the semester I have evaluated my progress in small concentrated
reflections on specific assignments and activities, but now my self-evaluation has developed into
a much larger concept that I have learned will only be beneficial to my mistakes and my
improvements. This learning outcome has given me the opportunity to challenge and reflect on
my previous advancements in this course as I have come to realize that everyone learns and
grows from their failures.
Every student learning outcome I have engaged in has given me a step by step
understanding of how to analyze, compose, and reflect on an assigned genre among various
resources. I have improved my writing skills and the fundamentals I need to advance my English
comprehension within the concept of rhetorical situations. This course has given me the
opportunity to expand my knowledge and apply what I have learned to future situations where
communication and technology is necessary.