Xchanges is now in its 25th year! That is a really incredible fact for me to write, as I sit here reflecting on everything that has happened with this journal over the last quarter-century. That seems a huge span of years and during all of those years, I have been this journal’s Editor-in-Chief, a role that has been incredibly fulfilling and has allowed me to engage with hundreds of awe-inspiring works of undergraduate-student and graduate-student research writing and multimodal texts. As we set the stage for our next era, we have many big developments ahead, including a new journal website, multimodal histories of the journal, expanded social media presence, and staffing reinventions. We also have a full special issue coming up in the Fall of 2026 to celebrate our momentous birthday, co-edited by Sweta Baniya and Jason Tham. Keep your eyes peeled for all of these birthday celebrations.

But, in the meantime, we’re continuing to do what we’ve always done: publish incredible pieces of original research by emerging scholars at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The articles by these Writing Studies researchers are joined in this issue by a reflection piece by a faculty-level scholar, Consuelo Salas. In “Moving Away from Transcribing to Inventing,” Dr. Salas writes about the benefit of composing out of a presumed order and taking the time to write multiple drafts, allowing the writer to center the act of writing as a means of thinking. Her advice reminds us of the value of using writing to figure out what you want to say; this process of figuring-out “isn’t wasted time.” It is, in fact, a practice we need to mindfully build in time for.

This issue features the work of three graduate-student scholars: Jesutofunmi Adeyanju, Gideon Nyarko, and Shuvro Das. Adeyanju’s essay, “Investigating the Rhetorical Strategies in Tesla's Zero-Dollar Social Media Marketing,” explores the application of the Aristotelian appeals to social media marketing campaigns, such as Tesla’s “zero-dollar” online advertising content. By probing the “meaningful patterns” in this content, Adeyanju models careful rhetorical analysis in an ever-changing cross-media marketing landscape. In a similarly probing analysis, Gideon Nyarko studies the prominent anti-illegal-mining (known as galamsey in Ghana) campaign in Ghana, a campaign known as StopGalamseyNow. Nyarko explores how the “movement leverages multimodal strategies within networked rhetorical ecologies to mobilize civic participation and sustain online activism.” Galamsey “has become one of Ghana’s most urgent environmental and socio-economic crises” and Nyarko thoughtfully argues that the powerful fusions of rhetorical technique come together in this fight to stop galamsey. Shuvro Das also considers the effectiveness of community engagement around social issues, but, in this case, the context is the Technical Communication classroom. Das explains a pedagogical intervention that hinges upon “hands-on, community-centered collaborative work,” implemented via invitational rhetoric, which this author positions “as a vital, operationalizable framework for addressing endemic marginalization within technical communication classrooms and fostering more socially just, inclusive pedagogical spaces.” Taken together, these graduate-student scholarly outputs showcase rigorous research methodologies and an emulable craft of argumentation, helping to situate these works among others across our 25-year history that have not only brought forth novel research but have also served as model texts for the next generation of scholars who might wish to publish their own carefully wrought research in an online, open-access context like this one.

Our undergraduate scholar for this issue is Riya Mehta, a BA/MD student. In her article, “Health Inequity Exposé: The Rhetoric of Racism as a Public Health Crisis,” she explores “social justice-oriented healthcare rhetoric, designed to educate the public about healthcare practices,” through the particular case of an article by Tamara E. Holmes. Writing such as Holmes’s “strive[s] for equitable changes in healthcare policy” and “fram[es] racism as a systemic threat through language related to public health.” Mehta’s work constellates rhetorical inquiry with healthcare communication, pointing to the ways in which – as she writes – “rhetoric not only calls attention to inequity but also promotes meaningful action.”

All of this issue’s articles offer meaningful considerations of what constitutes rhetorical power and how this power is achieved or leveraged, whether for commercial gain (such as when it is used to reach consumers, by large corporations such as Tesla) or for anti-racist activism (through TPC pedagogy that is community-centered or in healthcare communication). Our issue’s writers examine a wide array of texts in this issue, be those texts, videos, social media posts, articles, or other visual-rhetorical outputs that circulate online. We hope our readers find inspiration that drives their own critical inquiry from reading these articles and engaging with the source materials they consider.

Thank you for visiting these pages, downloading the article PDFs, and sharing these Xchanges publications with your academic peers, your fellow students (if you are a student!), your students (if you are a teacher!), and any others who might be interested in the topics covered in this issue. All of you — our readers, our authors, our review board, and our editing team — have allowed Xchanges to grow and flourish over these 25 years — and we thank you so much for your support.

— Julianne Newmark, Ph.D.
Director of Technical & Professional Communication
Assistant Professor of English
The University of New Mexico

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Contents

Introduction

Literature Review

Methodology

Results

Discussion

Implications

Conclusion

References

About the Author

Introduction

In an era where most automotive companies invest heavily in paid advertising, Tesla has adopted a different approach, one that relies on zero-dollar marketing strategies rooted in digital platforms like YouTube and social media. Rather than using traditional ad spots or direct promotional campaigns, Tesla leverages content that is informational, emotionally engaging, and aligned with its brand identity. This unconventional method of digital promotion not only sets Tesla apart from other companies in the industry but also invites questions about the rhetorical strategies that underpin its success. The application of rhetorical analysis to digital media is well-established in communication and marketing research. Rhetoric offers a strategic framework for influencing how audiences think, feel, and act, making it particularly useful in analyzing marketing communication. Through rhetorical strategies, messages can generate interest where none exists and shift audience perspectives by appealing to logic, credibility, and emotion. Miles et al. (2018) state that rhetoric shares commonalities with marketing strategies. Tonks (2002) insists that rhetoric “as a framing device and as an instrument for managerial action is central to a full appreciation of marketing reality” (p. 803). Scholars such as Bowdon (2014) and Moore (2020) demonstrated how rhetorical frameworks can be used to evaluate modern communication practices. The rhetorical theory that language is an instrument for persuasion was proposed by Aristotle in the 4th century B.C. (Mshvenieradze, 2013). He argues that persuasive speech must comprise three elements: Logos, Ethos, and Pathos. For communication to be persuasive and effective, the message must be clear, genuine, and emotional (Aristotle, 2004).

Social media use in marketing has become universal in communications (Myrick et al., 2016). Moore (2020) argues that persuasive word choice is often overlooked in social media marketing, where visual elements such as photography and video typically dominate. However, this does not diminish the importance of language. As Eyrich et al. (2008) emphasize, organizations must understand how to strategically use social media to effectively engage their audiences, an approach that requires careful attention to both visual and linguistic elements. This includes the purposeful use of persuasive language. In this context, persuasive word choice refers to the strategic use of language to influence audience perception through Aristotle’s rhetorical appeals: logos (logic), ethos (credibility), and pathos (emotion). Language, as Vestergard and Schroder (1985) assert, plays a foundational role in communication and remains a critical component of modern advertising.

Recently, the automotive industry has encountered a shift in inventions towards electric vehicles, where various multifaceted approaches are employed in marketing, blending the conventional and unconventional styles of advertising in their products and brands. Tesla is widely recognized not only for its innovation in electric vehicle (EV) technology but also for its unconventional marketing strategies. Tesla presents a compelling case study due to its unique "zero-dollar" marketing approach. This approach allows the company not to invest in traditional paid advertisements such as TV commercials, print ads, or online banners. Instead, Tesla relies heavily on social media and word-of-mouth, referral program, viral content, and CEO Elon Musk’s personal online presence to build brand visibility (Cezim, 2023; Dudovskiy, 2021). For instance, product announcements such as the Cybertruck launch generated widespread attention on Twitter/X and YouTube without the use of paid promotions, while user-generated content and influencer reviews further amplify Tesla’s reach.

Hence, this study seeks to examine the use of rhetorical elements (logos, pathos, and ethos) in Tesla YouTube videos. The study offers a rhetorical analysis of how the company establishes credibility, taps into emotions, and employs logical reasoning to persuade its audience. Additionally, the application of Aristotle's rhetorical theory provides a robust framework for understanding the persuasive elements that contribute to effective communication. By exploring how Tesla utilizes ethos, pathos, and logos in its marketing efforts, this research aims to fill a gap in the literature regarding the intersection of rhetoric and digital marketing strategies. Finally, this study seeks to enhance our understanding of the role of persuasive communication in shaping consumer perceptions and driving brand loyalty.

Research Objectives

The objective of this study is to investigate the rhetorical elements of persuasiveness that are employed in Tesla's "zero-dollar" marketing strategy to promote their innovative electric vehicles.

Research Question

• What are the rhetorical elements used in Tesla automotive YouTube videos?
• How does Tesla employ logos, ethos, and pathos in their "zero-dollar" marketing strategy?

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Contents

Introduction: Framing Racism through Healthcare Rhetoric

Theoretical and Methodological Framework: Analyzing Healthcare Rhetoric

Analysis: Rhetorical Strategies in Holmes’s Healthcare Discourse

Conclusion: The Function of Healthcare Rhetoric

Works Cited

About the Author

Introduction: Framing Racism through Healthcare Rhetoric

Racism is increasingly recognized not only as a social injustice but also as a critical determinant of health outcomes in the United States (Ramsoondar). The ways in which racism is discussed in public discourse shape how policymakers, healthcare institutions, and the public understand its impact on health. In her 2020 article “Toward a Cure: Cities Declare Racism a Public Health Crisis,” Tamara E. Holmes reframes racism as a health imperative and builds a case for reconstructing healthcare systems to address racial disparities. Through her careful selection of language and purposeful tone, Holmes argues that systemic racism is not only a social injustice, but also a severe public health crisis that threatens the welfare of marginalized groups.

Rhetoric is often defined in the Aristotelian sense as the strategic use of language to persuade, inform, or motivate an audience (Rapp). There are various interpretations of rhetoric based on discourse, power structures, or cultural production (Yazdannik); however, this manuscript builds upon this classical framework as a foundation to examine the ways language functions in healthcare contexts. The primary aim of rhetoric in healthcare in most contexts is to shape how health issues are interpreted and how institutions respond to them. Yet, the definition of healthcare rhetoric has remained highly debated in the field. Scholars have used a variety of terms to describe it, including “healthcare rhetoric,” “medical rhetoric,” or more general “rhetorics of health and medicine,” with each of these emphasizing a slightly different focus, ranging from clinical interactions to broader public and cultural conversations (Heifferon and Brown; Melonçon). This extensive deliberation is a sign of an ongoing attempt to define the field’s boundaries and to expand its relevance to practitioners, policymakers, and patients.

In this analysis, healthcare rhetoric refers to the study of how language, policy discourse, and persuasive framing affect institutional practices and public perceptions of health issues. Researchers have demonstrated that public perception and institutional reactions can be influenced by how healthcare systems address problems like care access (Melino et al.). In a similar way, discussions of structural competency argue that social and political structures have a significant impact on health outcomes and that acknowledging these influences necessitates deliberate framing within healthcare discourse (Hansen and Metzl). These rhetorical decisions have an impact on whether systemic issues or individual behavior are blamed for health disparities. According to Holmes’s article, this rhetoric is influenced by the political and social environment, especially the increasing acknowledgement of racism as a public health issue.

Yes magazine is a nonprofit publisher that focuses on solutions journalism, aiming to address big social problems by highlighting structural and systemic change. The mission lines up with Holmes’s support for healthcare reform and her efforts to call out racial injustice. The magazine’s commitment to fairness and accountability connects with Holmes's writing style and the topics she covers. With nearly 20 years of experience as a journalist, Homes has written about issues like economic justice, personal finance, and equity. Her work shows a strong dedication to creating opportunities for underrepresented communities. She’s written many pieces that expose racial injustice, especially in healthcare, which add depth and credibility to her article.

Holmes’s article is an excellent example of social justice-oriented healthcare rhetoric, designed to educate the public about healthcare practices to create desire to strive for equitable changes in healthcare policy, to improve both morbidity and mortality (Stabile). In her writing, Holmes uses rhetorical strategies to make her message more powerful and relatable. She blends personal stories with historical facts to show how racism affects people’s health. She also uses statistics and policy examples to back up her points and push for change. Holmes’s use of language to convey urgency and empathy, her emphasis on systemic responsibility over individual blame, and her appeals for policy reform shape how readers understand racism’s impact on health. This analysis interprets Holmes’s article as a persuasive contribution to the ongoing discussion on health equity, building her argument within a broader societal and historical context.

Holmes’s article was published during a period of heightened national attention to racial injustice in the United States. In May 2020, the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer sparked widespread protests and conversations about systemic racism across the country (May). This gave rise to a larger racial justice movement that addressed systemic injustices in housing, healthcare, education, and law enforcement. As a reaction to the massive demonstrations that followed George Floyd's murder, a number of states and cities during this time formally declared racism to be a public health emergency. Press conferences in Milwaukee, Boston, and even the entire state of Michigan declared racism to be a public emergency (Mendez). American citizens themselves spearheaded this effort to demand change and promote community advocacy (American Public Health Association). Holmes places her argument within this social and political movement by framing racism as a systemic threat through language related to public health.

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Contents

Introduction

The Benefit of Writing “Out of Order”

Taking the Time to Write

Works Cited

About the Author

Introduction

When working with student writers, I try to communicate to them that it is really through the process of writing that we begin to know what it is that we want to say.

I am not the first person in the history of teaching writing to share this with students. Anne Lamont’s piece “Shitty First Drats” advocates that writers not worry about perfection at the drafting stage. She argues that what is most important is to get something written/typed onto the page.

Versions of this can be seen in free-writing and brainstorming activities where instructors attempt to facilitate a space where students get their ideas out, unencumbered by the need for their writing to be perfect and quieting the negative thoughts about the quality of their writing.

While these previous approaches are useful, I have found Jan Reiman’s (2016) work to be most helpful. In her piece, she writes about the “paradox”: the reality that writing isn’t just mere transcription of our inner thoughts onto the paper, but that through the act of writing that we come to know what we want to say. In short, writing isn’t a record of our thoughts, it is a way to clarify them for ourselves and therefore others.

This is a bit of a different approach to writing. Students are sometimes drilled into thinking that they should have a thesis before they begin to write, but I find this to be incredibly cruel and not at all reflective of the invention component of the writing process. Coming to the main points, what I have also called the little nuggets of our writing, is not something we may know of at the start of our writing. Instead, it is through the act of writing that we synergize ideas to uncover what are the main points and connections that we want to make.

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Contents

Introduction

The Social Issues Informative Guide Project: A Concrete Application of Invitational Rhetoric

Why Invitational Rhetoric for Technical Communication Pedagogy?

Core Principles of Invitational Technical Communication Pedagogy

Implications: How Invitational Rhetoric Addresses Systemic Exclusion in Technical Communication

Considerations, Challenges, and Honest Limitations

Conclusion

References

Appendix A: Social Issues Informative Guide Project Overview

About the Author

Introduction

This paper proposes invitational rhetoric (Foss & Griffin, 1995) as a vital and operationalizable pedagogical framework for addressing persistent marginalization in technical communication classrooms. Specifically, I argue that implementing invitational rhetoric offers concrete communication strategies that are grounded in feminist scholarship and recent social justice work in technical communication—for creating more inclusive, socially just learning environments where marginalized students can direct learning guided by their lived priorities and values. Rather than treating this framework as merely theoretical, I ground this argument in a practical, implementable project. I call it the Social Issues Informative Guide Project, which is designed to teach invitational principles through hands-on, community-centered collaborative work. In this multi-week collaborative assignment, student teams select a contemporary social issue, identify the discourse community most affected, conduct community outreach and listening, and co-create an informative guide tailored to that community’s own priorities and resources. The project has been piloted in undergraduate technical communication courses and serves as both the motivating example and the practical culmination of the theoretical argument developed throughout this paper.

This paper addresses a critical gap: while recent scholarship in technical communication has called for social justice-oriented pedagogy (Jones et al., 2016; Walton et al., 2019), few resources provide concrete, teachable models that practitioners can immediately implement in their classrooms.

Invitational rhetoric emerges from feminist scholarship as an ethical alternative to traditional persuasive rhetoric (Foss & Griffin, 1995). Whereas persuasion seeks to change others' attitudes and beliefs through argument, often in ways that privilege already dominant groups, invitational rhetoric aims to foster understanding across differences by "offering perspectives without imposing them on others" (Foss & Griffin, 1995, p. 15). At its core, invitational rhetoric rests on three central philosophical tenets articulated by Foss and Griffin: (1) equality—recognizing all participants as valuable contributors with expertise worth hearing; (2) immanent value—assuming each person possesses inherent worth deserving respect, regardless of social position or status; and (3) self-determination—honoring people's right to make choices about their own lives, identities, and intellectual contributions. Invitational rhetoric invites participation by creating external conditions that allow others to present their perspectives in their voices, and on their terms (Foss et al., 2004, p. 83)—conditions that explicitly challenge hierarchical structures where certain voices are authorized while others are marginalized or silenced.

Invitational rhetoric provides a necessary framework for developing inclusive pedagogies that counter the ongoing marginalization of certain groups in technical communication classrooms and knowledge production. As Haas (2012) argues, despite claims of neutrality and objectivity, technical communication has been complicit in "the exclusion of non-white, non-male, non-Western peoples from full participation" in knowledge-making (p. 278). This systemic exclusion privileges certain voices and perspectives while rendering others inferior, invisible, or in need of remediation. Agboka (2013) similarly critiques "the hegemonic practice of dismissing or devaluing the communicative styles of some groups" in technical communication pedagogy (p. 29)—a practice that reflects deeper assumptions about what counts as "proper" or "effective" technical communication. Yet technical communication is not frozen in this exclusionary practice. Over the past decade, scholars including Jones, Moore, and Walton (2016), Cañas (2019), Itchuaqiyaq & Matheson (2021), and others have initiated what Walton, Moore, and Jones (2019) term "the social justice turn" in technical communication—an explicit commitment to examining how technical communication pedagogy and practice can advance equity, access, and justice for historically marginalized communities. However, while this scholarship brilliantly identifies problems and advocates for change, few resources provide practitioners with concrete, step-by-step pedagogical models they can immediately implement. Invitational rhetoric fills this gap by offering not abstract principles but actionable practices.

An invitational pedagogical model fosters classroom conditions welcoming all students to share diverse experiences and approaches without fear of dismissal, critique, or the necessity to assimilate to dominant norms. Foss and Foss (1994) argue that invitational rhetoric constitutes an offering of perspective, not an argument or a lecture that listeners must accept. Rather than positioning the instructor as sole arbiter of knowledge, students' narratives, experiences, and ways of knowing are treated as equally valid "sources of insight and knowledge" compared to empirical research or theoretical abstractions (Foss & Foss, 1994, p. 39). This decentering of institutional authority creates potential space for marginalized voices to emerge and gain legitimacy. However, this is crucial to acknowledge that decentering authority alone does not guarantee inclusion. Rather, it requires intentional, conscious implementation by instructors aware of power dynamics and committed to justice work. Teachers must deliberately structure classroom conditions, communication practices, and assessment approaches to realize invitational principles.

Several communication scholars and pedagogues have articulated the potential of invitational rhetoric to transform classrooms into more egalitarian, inclusive spaces. Pineau (2002) argues invitational pedagogies enable "the flowering of multiple voices" and foreground "opportunities for connection between self and other" (p. 51)—opportunities that cultivate belonging and mutual recognition. Similarly, Rudick and Golsan (2012) present invitational rhetoric as an activist teaching stance designed to empower students traditionally marginalized by social institutions like education. Applied to technical communication, adopting an invitational approach helps teachers relinquish exclusive "expert" authority and instead foster horizontal learning environments where all students' contributions are valued as knowledge production. This shift from expert-driven to collaborative knowledge-making aligns with recent work in narrative inquiry (Frost, 2015; Kalodner-Martin, 2022; Vealey & Gerding, 2021) demonstrating that lived experience and embodied knowledge constitute valid epistemological resources.

Technical communication education stands at a critical juncture. As the demographics of our students and fields continue diversifying, and as our society grapples with entrenched inequities, our classrooms must evolve to embrace alternate ways of communicating, learning, and producing knowledge. An invitational approach provides concrete, teachable strategies toward this goal. This project investigates how applying invitational rhetoric to technical communication pedagogy can practically transform teaching and learning, ultimately empowering marginalized students to become agents of change in their disciplines and communities. By centering both theory and practice, this paper demonstrates that invitational rhetoric is not a distant ideal but a framework teachers can implement tomorrow.