Sharon Gannon
Kenneth Burke and Professional Communication
“When the language is reduced to terms of motion, we are left without the necessary vocabulary to confront the dominant terminology of the scene. A powerful counter statement could bring a balance to the discourse instead, the castrated agent,” in this case the student, is reduced to calling us the “scary office” or “they’re mean”. When we are forced to interpret our world through the vocabulary/symbols we see, our movements are constrained and constricted by it. (Anderson, Prelli 80)
What question or problem did you examine, and why?
UMass Dartmouth is my third institution, so while the campus is different, some things remain the same, like getting students to read and respond to communications. My question was simple – How do we get students to respond to our communications? I’ve learned that most students think we are scary, mean and “the giver of bad news”. The challenge becomes changing their perception and creating a space where they feel empowered and have agency in their own life.
By applying Kenneth Burke’s pentad to one of our communications, I developed a heuristic that showed by emphasizing the scene over the agent we essentially castrate the agent’s power, restricting them to going through the motions versus taking deliberate action.
What excited you most about your research?
I was inspired by the relevance of Burke’s theory to our current landscape. Never before have we seen how the ambiguous nature of words creates anxiety. Governor Cuomo started a press conference by saying just that, “Words matter”. “Shelter in place” incites panic but “stay at home” creates comfort.
And while we say we want transparency what we really want is certainty. I found an inspiring quote from a financial aid blogger, Matt Read. He says, “I’m increasingly convinced that when some folks say they want transparency, what they actually mean is that they want certainty. The difference matters when the truth is ambiguous or unknowable……Truth is like water. Still water is transparent. Running water isn’t. Right now, we’re in the rapids; the water itself may be transparent, but it’s rushing so fast that it’s hard to see what’s next.”
How does this research reinforce or change your work as a professional?
Currently, our communications are created from our own perspective. Now, I realize the importance of message construction. In addition, the pentad offers us the opportunity to critically consider our own motivations and reveal perspectives or solutions we did not even realize were possible. I think this is the most exciting discovery of all, the fact that there are opportunities and solutions just waiting to be discovered.