PB3A: The Game Plan

For my WP3, the article I selected is “Textual Silences” by Huckin. The article looks at the rhetorical power of “silence.” In other words, it analyzes the different ways that information is purposefully omitted from something, and why the author/speaker chose to do so. It looks at the ways in which certain information is conscientiously left out, and what that accomplishes. For example, a “topical silence” is one where “some topic relevant to a larger issue is omitted from discussion.” A topical silence is something like the Congo genocide, in which over five million were killed, and even more sexually abused, yet it is never mentioned in U.S. news. Usually, the information omitted “surreptitiously disadvantages” the audience. The article discusses five other types of silences in addition to topical silences, including conventional, discreet, lexical, implicational, and presuppositional silences. All are different types of omissions that serve different purposes.

When I transform “Textual Silences” for a younger audience, I think I will do it in the form of a fun lesson/reading for children in elementary school. One of the first moves I plan to make with this piece is using colorful fonts for each different type of silence. I think it will make the paper more visually attractive, and interesting for a younger audience. Colored fonts are very playful. I will use a cool font as well for the same reasons. I will also separate the silences into their own different sections, so the writing “chunks” are not too large and it is easier for the children to move from one type of silence to the next. Younger audiences appeal more to writing that does not seem overwhelming or too complicated. I will also use very fun, informal language, as elementary school teachers are usually very playful with the children. I will also try to explain the silences in terms of examples that younger audiences will understand. I know that textual silences are not an easy concept to understand, so I must make sure I use very basic, clear language. Nothing can be too complex. I will also include some practice questions at the end of the paper, as teachers usually check children's understanding of a topic after the lesson.

For my transformation over to the older audience, I think I will use the genre of a blog post. Blog posts have a lot of freedom in their writing, and don’t follow any specific kind of format. When explaining the different types of silences, I plan to separate them using bullet points. I think that is a pretty common convention of blog posts, and is a quick, easy way to separate them. In addition, I will bold and underline the name of the textual silence in each bullet point, so that the different sections are easy to spot. This is a key convention of blog posts because people will skim a blog post before they read it, so headers that stand out help people scan the post and decide if they want to read it. It also helps people find the information they’re looking for quickly. I will also be using subjective language, and things like asides, because blog posts are usually personal. For example, I could put some side notes in parentheses, and include some humor in the blog post. I will take on a very casual, fun tone, as that is normal for a blog post. I will use a lot of my own voice, and develop my own style, as blogs are about sharing your own views on things. In addition, I will use a nice color contrast between the font color and background to make the writing look more appealing, but I will make sure it isn’t too busy so it doesn’t distract the reader from the actual post. I will also try to include some images, which blog posts tend to include. It adds some variation to the post and keeps it visually interesting.