Running Head: GENRE ANALYSIS

Genre Analysis
Danielle Ortiz
University of Texas at El Paso
Professor Salome
English 1312: Research and Critical Writing

Genre Analysis

GENRE ANALYSIS

In the United States, all states permit homeschooling each with its own statutes concerning
regulation. Homeschooling has become more popular over the years and has gained the attention
of the education boards, child development specialist, and the government. Within this discourse
there has been an argument going on for many years, and that is that homeschooling deprives
children of the ability to have social skills. Homeschool parents have disagreed with this
argument strongly throughout the years defending it with extra circular activities, such as
attending guitar or piano classes, involving the child in sports, spelling bees, or organizing a field
trips with other homeschoolers. They argue that their children have more social skills than even
some of the public school students that attend classes daily and interact with other kids. In
specific, there are two genres that are used to argue within this discourse in support of
homeschooling. Samantha Lebedas Homeschooling: Depriving Children of Social
Development defends and supports with statistics homeschooling, and a video by Crunchy Emily
supports homeschooling by stating practiced facts that show homeschoolers can get the
socializing they need. Using these two genres that argue homeschooling, is what will be
discussed throughout this paper.
Audience and Purpose
Samantha Lebedas, Homeschooling: Depriving Children of Social Development is an
article dedicated to speaking to this discourse between educators, child development specialist,
and social scientist. The genre is used to argue Lebedas opinion of homeschooling supported by
her own experience involved in homeschooling and using statistics. This genre is trying to show
the audience the facts that support her argument to show them that the issue the discourse
believes is at hand, is not as big an issue as they argue. The audience knows that homeschooling
has grown and with that has come more concerns of socialization for homeschool children.

GENRE ANALYSIS

Most the of time the audience spends on this genre is a few minutes to read through each
paragraph. There is no specific vocabulary used in this genre, although the vocabulary is more
formal and directed to educated people.
The second genre is a video by Crunchy Emily called, Homeschooling, The Socialization
Issue. In this video the intended audience is to anyone who is interested in homeschooling and is
concerned with socialization issue. The purpose of this video is to discuss the issue in full, and
give the audience reasons to support why homeschoolers do not lack social skills. The audience
assumes, due to word of mouth, that there seems to be an issue with homeschool kids and
socialization and they are interested in knowing what the homeschool community has to say
about the issue. In this video there is no specialized vocabulary. The vocabulary is an
appropriate causal one for the audience and they only spend four minutes and twenty-four
seconds watching the video. Both genres analyzed in this paper are similar in that they both
argue the same argument. The differences are their targeted audiences. Each genre is addressing
a different discourse, one being parents, and the other being education boards. In the end both
genres are arguing the same argument.
Rhetorical Issues
Both of these genres exhibit rhetorical appeals in different ways according to the genre.
Ethos
In the first genre, the article tries to establish credibility by showing that the author has kids
and homeschools them. This shows that she understands the homeschool side of the argument
and in turn is giving her credibility to argue on that behalf. The discourse has to give her that
voice to speak into their community because it is a valid use of ethos for her argument. In the
second genre, the speaker in the video does not directly attempt to establish credibility, however,

GENRE ANALYSIS

there are many other videos that she makes which is assumed that she has either been
homeschooled or has homeschooled her own children. She speaks as one who knows first hand
what it is to homeschool. The discourse may need to assume that she knows what she is saying
but her evidence helps support her argument.
Pathos
The articles piece shows an appeal to emotions by implicating the emotion that comes
from childrens education and their socializing. The main emotion being exhibited in this genre
is a heart for kids and the type of educating they are receiving from being homeschooled along
with the social issues they think come from being homeschooled. For example, the article opens
up with a comment that was said to author, Arent you concerned about his (our sons)
socialization with other kids? (Lebeda, 2007, p. 99), this opening paragraph immediately shows
its use of pathos by demonstrating an emotion of concern for the childs socialization with other
kids if they were to homeschool him. In the second genre, the video tries to evoke a sense of
security while explaining to the discourse that they can be secure in knowing that their children
can still get the socializing they need while being homeschooled. For example, Crunchy Emily
says, there are museums, petting zoos, and other co-ops where other homeschoolers meet to
have classes together (2013) this is where she establishes that security that she wants her
audience to grasp. Both genres have an effective use of pathos in their arguments.
Logos
In the first genre, the author appeals to the audience with evidence and statistics used
throughout the entire article. The main appeal in logos comes from the sources and studies done
that the author uses in this article to back up her argument. An example of this is when Lebeda
(2007), says, Many educators and child development specialist, and social scientist claim that

GENRE ANALYSIS

homeschooling deprives the child of the ability to develop socialization skills. (p. 101). She
then offers a source that proves her statement true giving her an effective use of ethos as she
offers this source to back up her statement. The type of evidence the author chose to use for her
article is appropriate because it aligns logically with her argument and supports her article
enough to have a valid and strong voice within the discourse. In the second genre, the appeal to
logos relies on describing the different types of ways to get children involved in extra
curriculum activities. This serves as evidence in this video to support what the author is saying
when she says that there are ways for homeschoolers to get the socializing they need. Similar to
first example, Crunchy Emily also states that, homeschool parents within their neighborhoods
often form communities to make playdates or organize field trips 2013). This type of appeal in
logos serves well in the authors argument because it is giving the audience real evidence that
will help them trust the authors argument.
Structure and Delivery
In the first genre, the article begins by introducing the argument within the discourse that
homeschool children do not get the socializing they need. It then makes its way to its argument
by using the statistics to back up the argument and then ends with a closing point. The way this
article was organized worked well for the audience because it helps them see the overall
argument before beginning its own argument. The second genre was not as specific in how it
was organized. Being that it was a video there was more time to jump around from one thing to
another. For example, there were a few times where Crunch Emily says something and
immediately that triggers something else and she begins to discuss that, eventually making her
way back to her point. The video also had more freedom to speak longer than the article without
boring the audience since there was a live presence. It also had more freedom to speak because

GENRE ANALYSIS

the discourse was different then the articles discourse and it was directed more towards parents
than educators. The main similarity that both genres share, is that they both argue the same
argument each giving their own reasoning and evidence to support their article.
Conclusions/Syntheses
Overall, both genres communicate their arguments well. The first genre focused more on
defending homeschoolers and giving statistics that show they do not lack social skills. The
second genre concentrated more on giving evidence to avoid the socialization issue to parents
who are considering homeschooling. The second genre was an easier interpretation for the
audience but the first had a stronger argument due to the statistics it used. Each genre
successfully delivered their arguments with an effective use of ethos, pathos, and logos to
support their arguments.

References
Lebeda, S. (2007). Homeschooling: Depriving children of social development?. Journal of
Contemporary Legal Issues, 16(1), 99-104. http://0search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=26090357&site=ehostlive&scope=site


Crunchy Emily Video Blog #4 [Video File]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/u-oh2l68Y4I

GENRE ANALYSIS