Navigating the 'eddies': Cross-cultural teaching and learning experiences in a technical and professional writing class

Shuwen Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Teaching Technical and Professional Writing can be complicated by the dynamics in the classroom. When it comes to imagining an audience, establishing an ethos, adopting a particular tone, analyzing a specific rhetorical situation, and writing on a cross-disciplinary topic, students find themselves struggling to cope with some 'eddies'-linguistic, cultural, and disciplinary differences. Teachers working in cross-cultural classrooms also confront challenges from unfamiliar teaching contexts. Drawing on existing technical communication pedagogy theories and recent proposals for preparing effective technical communicators in today's diverse and fluid global contexts, this paper reports a Chinese Ph.D. student's first-time cross-cultural teaching experiences in a Technical and Professional Writing class and reflections on students' learning experiences. Aiming at adding real-life scenarios for teachers in similar teaching situations to discuss, this paper provides narrative descriptions of how the teacher and the students navigated multimodal artifacts, cultural expectations, and collegial relations and disciplinary expectations. This paper suggests a user-centered approach for teaching in cross-cultural contexts and the importance of developing empathy with students.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2014 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, IPCC 2014
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781479937493
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 23 2015
Event2014 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, IPCC 2014 - Pittsburgh, United States
Duration: Oct 13 2014Oct 15 2014

Publication series

NameIEEE International Professional Communication Conference
Volume2015-January
ISSN (Print)2158-091X
ISSN (Electronic)2158-1002

Conference

Conference2014 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, IPCC 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPittsburgh
Period10/13/1410/15/14

Keywords

  • cross-cultural
  • Eddies
  • navigate
  • pedagogy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Engineering(all)

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