Who Creates Meaning: The Situation or the Speaker?

This short essay explores the long‑standing debate between Lloyd Bitzer and Richard Vatz about where rhetorical meaning truly comes from—whether situations naturally carry significance or whether rhetors create that significance through their choices and framing. By comparing both theorists’ views and offering a real‑world example, the essay argues that rhetoric plays the more active role in shaping how events are understood.

    The debate between Lloyd Bitzer and Richard Vatz focuses on one main question: Does rhetoric come from situations, or do situations come from rhetoric? Bitzer believes that situations already contain meaning and urgency, and these qualities “invite” a rhetorical response. Vatz, on the other hand, argues that rhetors create meaning by choosing what details to talk about and how to present them. While both make good points, I believe that rhetoric creates the situation because rhetors are the ones who give events their meaning, emotional impact, and importance.

    Bitzer sees rhetoric as something that happens after a situation appears. In his view, an exigence, meaning a problem that needs to be addressed, exists first, and rhetoric comes second as a reaction to it. That means the situation controls what kind of response is appropriate. Bitzer writes, “rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through mediation of thought and action.” (Bitzer, p. 4) In other words, rhetoric matters, but only because the situation calls it into being and shapes what it must do.

    Vatz argues the opposite. He believes exigence does not exist on its own; rhetors create it through their choices about what to highlight and what to ignore. For Vatz, events don’t come with built‑in meaning. Meaning appears only when someone decides how to frame the event. As he puts it, “meaning is not discovered in situations, but created by rhetors.” (Vatz, p. 157) This means the rhetor plays an active role in shaping how people understand what is happening.

    My own example shows why Vatz’s view is more convincing. Imagine a university has a short Wi‑Fi outage that lasts fifteen minutes. One student leader sends a calm message saying it’s a minor issue. Another student posts dramatically online, claiming the outage proves the administration is incompetent and that students should “demand accountability.” Even though the event is the same, these two responses create completely different situations, one calm and one intense. The difference comes not from the outage but from the rhetoric used to describe it. The student who exaggerates the problem creates a crisis that didn’t exist before. This supports Vatz’s point that rhetors decide what becomes important.

    In the end, Bitzer helps us see how rhetorical responses are shaped by context, but Vatz shows how meaning is actually made. Rhetors don’t just respond to situations; they help create them. Events don’t tell us what they mean; people do. And because people’s interpretations come before significance, rhetoric creates the situation rather than simply responding to it.

Work Cited:  

Bitzer, L. F. (1968). The rhetorical situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 1(1), 1–14.

Vatz, R. E. (1973). The myth of the rhetorical situation. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 6(3), 154–161.

[Written for ENGL 2800 class UVU Spring 2026]
aB . All Rights Reserved . 2026

Teaching Philosophy

In my English class this semester, I am learning about the different careers I could follow with a degree in English. The first few weeks were spent learning more about being an English teacher in a Junior High or High School setting. I wrote an essay describing my teaching philosophy if I were to become an English teacher:

    I see my role as a teacher as a designer of growth, someone who builds sturdy scaffolds for students and then intentionally removes them so learners can stand on their own. Teaching, to me, is not about control or permanence but about preparation: creating structures that support students while they develop confidence, independence, and critical thinking skills. This view is shaped by scholars such as Jim Burke, Paulo Freire, and bell hooks, all of whom emphasize that effective teaching balances structure with freedom, authority with collaboration, and knowledge with humanity.

    One of the clearest examples of instructional scaffolding is Jim Burke’s discussion of school-friendly forms such as the five-paragraph essay. Burke argues that this structure can be a valuable tool for beginning writers because it helps them practice essential skills such as forming claims, supporting ideas with evidence, and organizing their thinking (Burke, 2013). I agree with Burke that these forms function like training wheels: they provide stability at the start, but they must not become cages that restrict authentic thinking or meaningful genre choice. As a teacher, I would use these structures intentionally and temporarily, always with the goal of helping students move beyond them. The structure is not the destination; it is a support that allows students to eventually write with flexibility, purpose, and confidence.

    My instructional planning would begin by assessing where each learner is and identifying their next doable step. In practice, this philosophy would shape both what and how I teach. I would begin by modeling the five-paragraph essay and explicitly teaching argumentative structures such as thesis statements, reasons, evidence, and counterclaims. As students become more comfortable, I would expand the curriculum to include public narratives, multimodal essays, peer review workshops, and other genres that invite creativity and real-world engagement. This gradual expansion honors the need for structure while making room for student choice and authentic expression. As students gain competence, I would gradually remove these supports so that responsibility shifts from teacher to student. This process acknowledges that learning is developmental and that independence is built through practice, feedback, and trust. Scaffolding, in my classroom, would always be temporary, designed to empower students rather than create dependency.

    At the same time, I believe education is never neutral. Influenced by Paulo Freire, I reject the “banking model” of education in which teachers deposit information into passive students (Freire, 1970). Instead, I aim for a problem-posing approach where students and teachers investigate real questions together, connect learning to lived experience, and engage in meaningful dialogue. In this model, the teacher is not the sole authority but a co-learner who guides inquiry while remaining open to students’ insights. bell hooks extends this idea through her concept of engaged pedagogy, which challenges teachers to build classrooms rooted in community, care, and shared purpose (hooks, 1994). I do not want my classroom to be a place where work is merely assigned and completed; I want it to be a space where students feel valued, heard, and responsible for one another’s learning. Modeling vulnerability, encouraging reflection, and fostering mutual accountability are essential parts of this process.

    Ultimately, I want students to leave my classroom more capable and more conscious. I want them to read complex texts and contexts, write with purpose for real audiences, listen carefully, revise thoughtfully, and offer feedback in good faith. I want them to recognize where they can improve and feel empowered to take the steps necessary to do so. To achieve this, I must know my content deeply and teach with intention, while also cultivating a classroom grounded in dignity, curiosity, and courage. The teacher I strive to be does not see school as a place where knowledge is deposited, but as a place where knowledge is created, questioned, and used for the common good.



Work Cited:

Burke, J. (2013). The English teacher’s companion: A completely new guide to classroom, curriculum, and the profession (4th ed.). Heinemann.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum.

Hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge.

[Written for ENGL 2800 class UVU Spring 2026]
aB . All Rights Reserved . 2026