The increasing availability of recording technologies makes it easier to include usability testing projects in business communication courses. Usability testing is a method of discovering whether people can navigate, read, and understand a print or electronic communication well enough to achieve a particular purpose in a reasonable time frame.…

The advantages of peer feedback in business writing classes are clear in that feedback comes from different perspectives and sometimes carries extra credibility coming from fellow students. However, students also hesitate to criticise their friends and prefer praising in a general way rather than suggesting improvements, which requires…

Describes a protocol study of 10 professional writers which examined the meaning and influence of purpose on writers in the workplace. Explores the interactions of various purpose considerations derived from situation, reader, and text. Suggests that professional writers have a range of meanings in mind when they think about purpose. (MM)

Six conference papers are presented in this volume. They include: "Living Civilization: a Theoretical Model for Using Task-Based Activities To Combine the Teaching of Language and Culture" (Sharon Gwinn Scinicariello); "Foreign Language Reading versus Understanding: Using Think-Aloud Protocols To Identify L2 Reading Problems"…