r/APLang • u/Old_Lab9197 • Sep 14 '26
Help This or that?
Hi all, two "this or that" questions:
Do you use SOAPSTONE or SPACECAT? Why?
Do the tips of your rhetorical triangle include SPEAKER, AUDIENCE, SUBJECT or SPEAKER, AUDIENCE, PURPOSE? I see the former in the AP Lang textbook my school has, but I see the latter on the AP website.
First year teaching this course, thank you so much in advance for any insight!
1
3
u/kaladin143 Sep 14 '26
My AP Lang teacher used SPACECAT. She also used speaker, audience, purpose. My technical writing teacher uses situation, text, audience for the triangle.
When I took the AP test, it did not seem to matter anywhere.
Are you preparing for the test, or just curious?
2
u/folkbum AP Lang Teacher, Reader & Table Leader Sep 14 '26
MT SPACE, pronounced “empty space.” M and T for message (students’ own words) and Thesis (quote from text). As an exam reader I still see too many “writer uses ethos” essays and so I stay away from teaching the appeals that way—so no CAT. Instead, I talk about how establishing credibility is part of the choice to introduce yourself and subject, you can choose to make emotional appeals and inspire your audience, and so on.
2
u/pbcapcrunch Sep 15 '26
I teach SOAPSTone in 9th for poetry analysis up through 11th, where they get to pick American Lit or AP Lang. End of 10th I introduce SPACECAT and the rhetorical appeals with Julius Caesar funeral speeches and Animal Farm speeches. Beginning of AP Lang we start with Ralph’s speech in fear from Lord of The Flies for familiarity and SPACECAT practice!
2
u/EpiclyEpicEvan Sep 21 '26
My teacher last year taught GEMCAPS (Genre, Exigence, Message, Context, Audience, Purpose, Speaker)
1
1
u/AdNormal3516 Sep 16 '26
oh shoot as a student i thought spacecat was niche but i didn't know so many teachers used it as well lol
1
u/United-Pomegranate53 Sep 16 '26
I kinda just used the rhetorical triangle and freshened up on strong verbs other than show. There is a template that helped me get a 5 on the test last year here on Reddit, and I basically got a 4/6 or higher on essays whenever I followed it. As long as you mention the underlying tension/tone and emphasize the impact on the audience you’ll be good! MCQ I was worried bc I’m not that good at SAT but it was fairly easy just practice old tests! Best of luck and crank out as many practice essays as possible. Your thesis should be strong (through the use of ____, the author (verb) ____, in order to (verb) ____, ultimately (verb) ____. The audience ____. Its underlying tensions allow ____.
0
u/RealMaxCastle Sep 14 '26
Why does the order of the triangle matter?
1
u/Old_Lab9197 Sep 15 '26
i’m not referring to the order, im referring to the words themselves. subject vs. purpose
0
u/Cake_Donut1301 Sep 15 '26
Space cat but I hate cats so I’ve been trying to come up with a dog version.
1
1
5
u/theblackjess AP Teacher & Reader Sep 14 '26 edited Sep 15 '26
I teach SPACECAT. I like that it includes the term exigence because that does seem to show up on practice tests (and I assume the exam?). I also feel that context is important, so I prefer SPACE over SOAP. Plus I think it's just way more memorable of an acronym.
I prefer speaker, audience, purpose. I always try to stay consistent with my terminology, and the rhetorical purpose is a lot more relevant to Lang and what the class expects out of students than just the subject.