The right course in report writing improves trainees' writing quickly. With good assignments at its heart, it provides trainees repeated opportunities to write successfully, bringing their own language resources into conscious awareness. Not an academic subject, writing is a form of behavior. Five criteria for effective writing assignments are…

Describes how creating "mythical machines" can develop students' technical writing skills. Describes how students work in groups to produce documents for various purposes related to their machine. (MM)

Technical communication teachers need to recognize the increasing diversity of their classroom populations and become more flexible in planning curricula without "watering down" students' expectations to leave the courses more skilled than they were upon entering. Teachers should discuss with students some of their writing barriers and the…

The English department of a technical college has developed a writing program that uses real audiences and real situations to better prepare students for the communication requirements of their professions. The exercises for each class are focused on the course content. In an advanced technical communication course, senior design, the students are…

A discussion of the teaching of languages for special purposes (LSP) argues for giving greater attention to the learner's actual language needs. It suggests that conventional English for special purposes (ESP) is inadequate for the unique linguistic context of Papua New Guinea, and that further research be undertaken into implications of such an…

This manual is designed to provide practical assistance to teachers in Contemporary Issues in Science programs. The manual, divided into five sections, includes activities designed to help students develop skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, research, and critical thinking. Provided in section 1 (source selection) is a teaching unit…