The "Provoker"-- Writing Together

 In chapter 4 of Writing Together, Warnock introduces us to the "Provoker"-- "a rhetorically edgy, devil's advocate type voice..." (pg. 105) that was safe for the students to argue with "without worrying about offending classmates or dealing with the authority-laden quagmire of 'debating the teacher'". (pg. 107) Warnock states that the students are aware that he's playing a "rhetorical game" with them in which he posts on the discussion board under this persona in hopes to elicit strong and passionate arguments from his students towards the character of "Dr. Logoetho" that he created.

I'm not really sure I like this approach?  Warnock states that he hopes to provoke more authentic responses while using this alias, but I find the rhetorical game inauthentic in of itself.  While I can understand and empathize with students who worry about offending their classmates, I think we learn more social nuance and engage in more authentic communication when we directly interact, debate, respond, give feedback to, etc. each other then relying on some made-up persona.  While I think this is definitely an interesting way to mix up and rattle the discussion board, it's not a method that I would implement, especially not in an ESL classroom where this kind of approach could possibly create misunderstandings.

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