Course Offering: A
AP English Language and Composition
Class Description: AP Language & Composition is rooted in challenging, rigorous nonfiction, though
some fiction may appear in both assignments and in student choice readings. We focus on four common
modes of writing: expository, argumentative, evaluative, and narrative. Students read, write, and analyze in
all of these modes. They will be expected to identify, critique, and synthesize writing in these modes and to
fit together consideration of mode, purpose, audience, and evidence appropriately in their writing and in
analysis of readings. Students are expected to develop a subtle grasp of the tools of language most essential
to both reading and writing: tone, syntax, diction; they will also practice and demonstrate understanding of
classical rhetorical devices and standard rhetorical forms such as satire, immersion reportage, and the
epistolary essay. We focus on a range of rhetorical systems and concepts, including traditional rhetorical
devices in writing and oratory, Aristotelian concepts of logic and persuasion, Toulmin’s architecture for
argument, logical fallacies of argument, evidence and citation in research according to academic guidelines
such as the MLA, and the modern application of these ideas in our culture, writing, and media. We will
consider everything from the ancient Greek strategies for persuasion in political discourse to personal
essays by a variety of authors, political cartoons and the visual imagery of various public service
announcements, advertisements, pop culture elements, media, and fine art.
Topics/Units of Study
Argument & Logic
Writing: Thesis and
argument
Reading: Lloyd Bitzer “The
Rhetorical Situation,”
Everything’s an Argument;
student-selected work of
nonfiction
Speaking: Impromptu
debates, sharing argument
analysis
Viewing: Selected
documentaries
Technique & Style
Writing: Practice with
various techniques,
application in both informal
and formal writing
Reading: George Orwell
“Politics and the English
Language”, Sam Leith
“Other Men’s Flowers”
Speaking: Sharing style
analysis via presentation,
reading aloud in different
styles for performance
Learning Targets: Upon completion of this unit students will be able to:
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Identify and articulate the different components of an argument
(claim, reason, warrant, backing, grounds)
Trace an author’s argument as it develops through an essay, article,
film, and/or book length piece.
Compose and identify logically sound arguments
Identify logical fallacies; employ them when appropriate
Muster plentiful and appropriate evidence to a writing cause, and
document that evidence properly;
Evaluate good writing and explain specifically why it is good
Identify and employ in their own writing the same specifics
Identify and articulate the author’s use of language techniques for a
given purpose and audience (diction levels, appeals, devices)
Evaluate the effectiveness of rhetorical strategies
Employ rhetorical strategies in their own argumentative writing
Match their tools of language to the occasion and purpose of their
work;
9-9-14
Course Offering: A
Rhetorical Modes
Writing: Personal essay,
definition essay, persuasive
essay and corresponding
techniques.
Reading: Various essays
from our collection, 50
Essays (including essays by
Joan Didion, Bernard
Cooper, James Baldwin,
David Sedaris, Gloria
Anzaldua, Amy Tan, Eric
Liu, etc.)
Spoken Arguments
Writing: Audience, subject,
occasion, suitable technique
Reading: Martin Luther
King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”,
David Foster Wallace “This
is Water”, Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address and
Second Inaugural
Speaking: Inflection, tone,
presence
Visual Arguments
Reading: Everything’s and
Argument, “Extended
Language” and others
Viewing: Thank You For
Smoking (or other suitable
film)
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Identify the rhetorical mode of a given passage
Identify key traits of that mode as appearing in the passage
Write effectively in a variety of modes; judge which mode of
writing is most appropriate to their task before they begin writing
Match their tools of language to the occasion and purpose of their
work
Undertake revisions to alter a work’s purpose, audience, mode, or
style substantially
Demonstrate understanding of context by discussing the rhetorical
situation of a speech and how that shapes the speaker’s decisions
about language
Identify key techniques favored in spoken arguments over written
arguments and explain the effect they have.
Effectively employ conventions of the speech genre and adjust
language to suit subject, audience, and occasion.
Comfortably identify components of a visual argument
(composition, foreground and background, use of color)
Identify the traits of an effective visual argument and explain how
it is effective; effectively employ these techniques in their own
visual argument (project using Animoto or other
software/technology)
9-9-14