Culture and Rhetorical Expectations: A Perspective for Technical Communicators
In this article, I discuss how individuals who communicate about technical and scientific topics (i.e., technical communicators) can apply ideas from the theory of rhetoric to communicate more effectively with individuals from other cultures. In so doing, I present a question-based strategy technical communicators can use for planning how they will develop different communication products (e.g., written reports, instructions, websites, etc.) for audiences from cultures other than their own.
The writing consultant as cultural interpreter: Bridging cultural perspectives on the genre of the periodic engineering report
The periodic engineering report can become a source of conflict and frustration when North American engineers collaborate with colleagues abroad. To overcome such difficulties, technical companies may hire writing consultants, who then take on the additional role of cultural interpreters, helping the partners bridge differences in both the practice of engineering and the language and culture of each country. As such a writing consultant, I worked with a Canadian engineering company, its Russian contractors, and a Russian translator to analyze the sources of difficulties in their reports. The language of the reports was English, but differences in tone as well as reader expectations about organization, format, and appropriate content caused misunderstandings among the collaborators. Contrastive rhetorical analysis helped to identify problems in both the conception of the report as a document and the translation of particular text.
Evaluating Cultural Authenticity in Multicultural Picture Books: A Collaborative Analysis for Diversity Education
This study examines cultural authenticity reflected in multicultural picture books. Specifically, this study attempts to reframe issues surrounding the topic of cultural authenticity based on a systematic and empirical analysis of picture books that represent three different ethnic groups: African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans. A total of forty-five systematically selected picture books that represent fifteen books per ethnic group were selected and evaluated by multiple reviewers who were insiders of the culture. A coding scheme was developed to evaluate each book in terms of profile of major and minor characters, settings of the story, stereotypical features, and cultural authenticity. An in-depth evaluation of all selected books was added by a team of three reviewers in order to validate the results of the coded analysis. This study aims to shed light on library youth services and diversity education in a society with increasing ethnic diversity.