patricia freitag ericsson phd
223 avery hall
washington state universityengl 534: theories and methods of teaching technical and professional writing
ffall 2009
catalog description
historical and theoretical bases for production of scientific discourse; training in its practical applications.course goals
introducing issues in technical and professional communication research and scholarship,
familiarizing students with models of inquiry in the field,
emphasizing the connections between theory and pedagogy in technical and professional communication,
designing course material for technical and professional communication classes.
required texts
Peeples, Tim. (2003). Professional writing and rhetoric: readings from the field. New York: Longman.
Latour, Bruno. (1996). Aramis or the love of technology. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Kostelnick, Charles, and Michael Hassett. (2003). Shaping Information: The rhetoric of visual conventions. Carbondale, IL: SIU Press.
Cynthia Selfe, Ed. Resources in Technical Communication: Outcomes and Approaches (2007) Baywood Publishing.
Gee, James Paul. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave MacMillian
(Optional) Ball, Cheryl, and Kristin Arola. (2005). ix visual exercises for tech comm (CD-ROM). Bedford/St. Martin's.
projects
Details for each of these projects are provided with the course schedule, if needed. All projects will be either presented in class or available for review in the course file.
1. Five short papers (approximately 3-4 pages)
One paper will be written on each required book. Topics for these paper will be selected from issues identified in Peeples, Latour, Kostelnick, Selfe, and Gee and be due within one week of completing that text. These papers may include other sources, but the primary focus of each paper will be a synthesis of the ideas/issues found in the text. Ideas for these papers may be generated through class discussions as well as your own reflections and experiences.
2. Journal review/analysis
This project will be completed in collaboration with one other person. The publications listed below will be considered, and the results of this project will be presented in class. More details on this project will be presented in Week 2 of class.
• Technical Communication
• IEEE Transactions on Prof. Comm.
• JBTC
• JTWC
• TCQ (formerly Technical Writing Teacher)
• BCQ (formerly The Bulletin)
• Management Communication Quarterly
3. Final project
The final project for this course is a multi-part, individual project that requires the review of a variety of course syllabi, the development of a syllabus, two sample assignments and an accompanying research-based argument for the validity of the theoretical/pedagogical approach used in the syllabus and assignments. This project may be paper- or web-based.
The final results of this project will be presented to the class and copies of the syllabi developed and the arguments supporting them will be available to all class members.evaluation
Five short papers A-F 40% (8% each)
Journal review A-F 15%
Final Project A-F 35%
Class participation A-F 10%
wsu accommodation policy
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course. Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to be unavailable. All accommodations must be approved through the Disability Resource Center (DRC) in Administration Annex 206, 335-1566.
academic honesty
All students are expected to act in accordance with the WSU policies on Academic Honesty found in the Student Handbook. These policies include falsification of information, fabrication of information, plagiarism, multiple submission, and various others. Information about these policies can be found online at the WSU Academic Dishonesty site. These policies will be discussed in class and students will be asked to acknowledge that discussion and a basic understanding of the policies.
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