Proposals are ubiquitous documents with challenges beyond the writing task itself, such as project management, strategic development, and research. Reporting on proposal instruction research in other fields and the results of an interview study with proposal writers, this article argues for a shift in how proposals are taught and conceptualized.…

The release of genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys is part of a public health initiative to limit the spread of infectious disease. The local debate over this proposed action provides a current case study of a public, scientific controversy in which citizens and officials disagree about what is best for the community. The case…

In the field of intercultural business and technical communication, intercultural communication has been a regular topic in curriculum for decades; various teaching approaches exist for developing students' cultural awareness and helping them achieve a theoretical understanding about the concept of culture, cultural differences, and cultural…

Building on work by Dubinsky, Haskins, and Simmons and Grabill, this article explains how a technical communication instructor used Isocrates and informal usability testing to help guide a service-learning project involving the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 notebook. For the project, engineering students received feedback from peers and elementary…

This article, the second of a two-part series, features 13 "My Favorite Assignments" that were introduced at the Association for Business Communication's 82nd annual conference held in Dublin, Ireland, in 2017. The pedagogical innovations include assignments that teach students how to conduct primary research, present their findings,…

Effective writing happens when the values of a genre and the desires of a writer match. Studying the blog entry as a genre has strengthened the author's assumptions about the possibility of using blogs as examples of emplaced, agency-granting writing and as bridges to academic writing. Because blogs are a relatively new form of communication, the…

Discusses rhetorical theory and how it can be applied to technical writing. (HOD)

Describes the use of cases in technical writing and ancient exercises of impersonation and "suasoria." Discusses similarities between the two, and argues that the historical tradition both validates and broadens the uses of this modern methodology. (RS)

Examines some of the educational bases underlying the difficulties English as a second language pose for Japanese and other foreign students and how these affect instructional approaches for technical writing teachers. Discusses three factors to keep in mind when teaching foreign students: technical and semitechnical terms, grammar, and rhetoric.…

Selecting criteria for usage is done in basically the same way for both technical writing and other forms of composition. Similarly, the same rhetorical theory applies to the teaching of both, and proves especially helpful in the teaching of formal report-writing skills in required freshman composition courses. Focusing on the appropriate voice,…

Relates a teacher's experience in teaching technical writing to gifted tenth grade students. Applies this teaching experience to a discussion of the place of technically oriented writing in college writing courses. (RL)

Suggests strategies for applying Kenneth Burke's theories of rhetoric and dialectic to technical writing instruction. Shows how teachers can use Burke's dialectic heuristic, the Pentad, to analyze writing situations they present to students. Describes how writers can use Burke's concept of "identification" as a strategy for analyzing and…

In technical writing classes writing can come alive to students, because in such classes students are knowledgeable about their subjects and can simulate writing to real audiences in business and industry rather than only to teachers. Students practice writing within determined and specified formats and to a standard style in response to…