'Teach Writing As A Process Not Product'

Article Synthesis The article by Janet Atkins, “Reading and Writing with Purpose: In and Out of School,” talks about how teachers should teach with a student’s purpose and passion in mind. Donald Murray’s article, “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product,” discusses his view that teachers should teach writing as a process, not a product. Both articles touch on how to teach English, though the message they convey is different. Both articles share several common rhetorical concepts, but differ others, they have a common audience and purpose, while their message is different. Atkin’s article is tailored heavily towards teachers of English. Atkins consistently uses language and examples that are deliberately chosen to have the best impact possible on teachers. In her article, she states “we need to be active, engaged readers and writers ourselves” (Atkins 13). Her word choice shows that she intended the article to be read by teachers, talking about how “we” as teachers …show more content…
In the first sentence of the article, Murray states “Most of us are trained as English teachers by studying a product” (Murray 3). From the first sentence, it is clear what audience he wrote this for. He assumes that the audience is teachers, that is who he is writing to. This is evident throughout the article; he talks about how the person reading the article can improve their teaching. He continually talks to the audience as if they were teachers. For example, in the 3rd page, he writes “How do you motivate your student to pass through this process?” (5). Murray talks directly to the audience, about how they can improve their teaching. By having a clear audience, and talking directly to his audience, he is able to better convey his message. Murray can talk directly to teachers, telling them how best they can improve their teaching methods, something that would be more difficult if he had a wider