Challenges and Rewards of Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Technical Writing Course: A Case Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana L. Cárdenas
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Course

The Assessment of Technical Writing: A Case Study

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Elliot ◽  
Margaret Kilduff ◽  
Robert Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Writing Assessment ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Base Line ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Writing Course

This article describes the design and evaluation of a formal writing assessment program within a technical writing course. Our purpose in this base-line study was to evaluate student writing at the conclusion of the course. In implementing this evaluation, we addressed fundamental issues of sound assessment: reliability and validity. Our program may encourage others seeking to assess educational outcomes in technical writing courses.

Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Basic Technical Writing Course: A Survey of Our Current Practices and Methods

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Matveeva
Keyword(s):  
Intercultural Communication ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Curriculum ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Writing Instructors ◽  
Goals And Objectives ◽  
Current Practices

This research article reports the results of an online survey distributed among technical writing instructors in 2006. The survey aimed to examine how we teach intercultural communication in basic technical writing courses: our current practices and methods. The article discusses three major challenges that instructors may face when teaching about intercultural communication. These challenges concern teacher preparation, time and proposed goals and objectives, and teaching materials and methods. This article provides some suggestions for addressing the challenges and enriching a technical writing curriculum.

The Rhetorical Case: Its Roman Precedent and the Current Debate

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mendelson
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Early Case ◽  
New Phase

Because of the recent emphasis on rhetorical context in business and technical writing (BTW) instruction, the problem-solving case has become a staple in BTW classrooms. However, a number of critics have voiced concerns about the use of the rhetorical case. These concerns recall an ancient debate among Roman rhetoricians over an early case-study method called declamation. For contemporary theorists, the debate over case study revolves around its value as a stimulant to problem-solving skills, its ability to imitate the realistic circumstances of professional BTW, and its emphasis on persona and audience along with its deemphasis of the teacher. A full spectrum of arguments on these and other issues in the case-study debate indicates that the discipline is entering a new phase in its deliberations over the role of problem-solving and pragmatics in the BTW classroom.

Through a Different Looking-Glass: Technical Writing to Train the Imagination

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Rutter
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Work Situation ◽  
Communication Situations ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Looking Glass

A technical writing course can simulate the work situation and develop in students the uniquely human faculty of imagination. Whole-group effort is needed to sustain the fiction that the course is a job. Special presentation by the instructor of traditional assignments is essential. Such a course prepares students for demands made on the job. More importantly, the course, by emphasizing the act of imagining, enables students to progress from fitting facts into given formats to designing reports for specific communication situations. Because of this emphasis on imagination, the course is a humanities offering as well as a technical complement.

Using Computer Printouts to Teach Analysis and Graphics

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Tebeaux
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Computer Data ◽  
Writing Course ◽  
Effective Use

Effective use of graphics and skills in analyzing information are two topics that need to be covered in depth in the basic technical writing course. Many kinds of computer printouts can be understood by students from various disciplines. From these printouts, problems, like the ones described here, can be developed to teach graphics skills and analysis concomitantly. Using computer printouts to teach these two important topics has four specific advantages: 1. students become familiar with reading and interpreting computer printouts and learn to separate essential from nonessential data in defining a problem; 2. they learn to write analytic or information reports using computer data only; 3. they gain practice in determining what kind of graphic is best for a specific kind of information; and 4. they gain practice in correlating verbal discussion with visual presentation.

Integrating Professional Ethics into the Technical Writing Course

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean G. Hall ◽  
Bonnie A. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Technical Problem ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Fault Trees ◽  
Writing Course

As communication teachers attempting to bridge the gap between school and industry, we need to give students a true understanding of what it means to be a professional. We may be spending too much time trying to get them to write and speak like professionals without also imbuing them with sufficient understanding of their responsibilities to behave as professionals. Students need to be practiced in the communication and decision-making situations they will encounter in their workplaces. These decisions involve ethical reasoning as well as technical problem solving. Teaching students to appreciate the consequences of their recommendations, through the use of fault-trees and cost/benefit analyses in realistic simulations, effectively bridges the gap between the classroom and boardroom. A sample situation is explained and analyzed for its use in any technical communications class.

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