top of page

Terminology

academic writer.jpg

Rhetorical Situation

Modes of Communication

Multimodal here simply means using multiple modes of communication. Lisa Ede, in The Academic Writer: A Brief Rhetoric, suggests five modes of communication:

​

  • "Linguistic: the use of words--written or spoken

  • Visual: the use of images of all kinds--both static and moving

  • Aural: the use of sound, from tone of voice to musical compositions

  • Spatial: the use of design elements, white space, website navigation, and so on

  • Gestural: movement of all kinds, from a speaker's facial expression and gestures (whether seen in person or in a photo or film) to a complex dance performance" (Ede 319)

​

When I discuss each of the multimodal formats, I’ll talk about which modes of communication it uses and how you can use those modes to effectively make an argument.

I will also discuss how rhetorical situation might affect these formats or, more importantly, your choice to use them. Ede breaks rhetorical situation into four elements:

​

  1. Writer

  2. Reader

  3. Text

  4. Medium

​

The writer, in this case, would be you. The reader would be the audience you intend to experience your piece. Your text is what you want to say, and what you want to talk about (film, in this case). The medium is how your audience will access your argument (e.g., on a computer, in a classroom, on a page, etc.). Each of these factors will affect not only what you say and how you say it but what multimodal format you use, so I’ll be pointing out ways your rhetorical situation might affect each format.

bottom of page