IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Jun 2019

Using Case-Method Pedagogy to Facilitate Audience Awareness

Vincent D. Robles University of North Texas ; Matthew J. Baker

Abstract

Introduction: Technical and professional communication (TPC) instructors value audience awareness, using peer- and client-based projects to facilitate it. We explore how students' audience awareness is facilitated by the case method, which presents students with a professional communication task within a workplace scenario. Situating the case: Case-method research suggests including a detailed audience and situation, multiple genres, and multimedia. Few studies have explored how case materials facilitate students' audience awareness. About the case: A 12-week case that was consistent with case-method research asked students to respond to an engineering firm's internal problem with a proposal and report. How the case was studied: Students from two sections of a genre-based course completed reflections about their audience awareness after the proposal and report. We qualitatively analyzed 51 reflections. Results/discussion: Students stated they could understand the facts about their primary audience but couldn't identify secondary and tertiary audiences. Students stated they could identify audience needs, but they disagreed about the amount of detail to understand those needs. Also, students stated they could respond to the audience using appropriate evidence and writing style. Conclusions: When using the case method, instructors should know that students may need varying levels of detail to interpret their audience's needs. Also, including data and conflicting needs gives students opportunities to make strategic decisions about content.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2019-06-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2019.2893464
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory writing pedagogy professional writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Gubala et al. (2025)
    Bringing the Technical and Professional Communication Service Course Back
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Markey (2025)
    Presenting and Making Relevant: Analyzing Teaching Assistant Perceptions of Wri…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Rea et al. (2024)
    Cultivating Empathic Engineering Design through UX Pedagogy: Challenges and Insights
    Communication Design Quarterly
  4. Melonçon et al. (2024)
    Back to the Basics: Uncovering the Rhetoric Student Learning Outcome
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  5. Sonnenberg et al. (2024)
    Implementing a Continuous Improvement Model for Assignment Evaluation at the Te…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. Tomlinson (2023)
    Feature on Teaching: Bringing an Entrepreneurial Lens to the Business Communica…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Baker et al. (2023)
    Qualitative Oral-Presentation Feedback: Comparisons from Business Professionals…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

References (56) · 27 in this index

  1. mostert (0)
    Undergraduate case method teaching: Pedagogical assumptions vs. the real world
    Proc Annu Meeting Assoc Teacher Educators
  2. Breuch (2001)
    The Overruled Dust Mite: Preparing Technical Cormmunication Students to Interac…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Kramer-Simpson et al. (2015)
    Learning Beyond the Classroom and Textbook: Client Projects’ Role in Helping St…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Wojahn et al. (2001)
    Blurring Boundaries between Technical Communication and Engineering: Challenges…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. 10.1177/1080569904265321
     ↗
Show all 56 →
  1. Blakeslee (2001)
    Bridging the Workplace and the Academy: Teaching Professional Genres through Cl…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. McEachern (2001)
    Problems in Service Learning and Technical/Professional Writing: Incorporating …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. 10.1080/07294360.2010.527930
     ↗
  4. Matthews et al. (1999)
    Integrating service learning and technical communication: Benefits and challenges
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Taylor (2006)
    Assessment in Client-Based Technical Writing Classes: Evolution of Teacher and …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Ward (2009)
    Squaring the Learning Circle: Cross-Classroom Collaborations and the Impact of …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  7. Paretti (2006)
    Audience Awareness: Leveraging Problem-Based Learning to Teach Workplace Commun…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  8. Balzotti et al. (2016)
    Client-Based Pedagogy Meets Workplace Simulation: Developing Social Processes i…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  9. blakeslee (2010)
    Addressing audience in a digital age
    Digital Literacy for Technical Communication 21st Century Theory and Practice
  10. Albers (2003)
    Multidimensional Audience Analysis for Dynamic Information
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  11. 10.1145/2207676.2208572
     ↗
  12. meloncon (2017)
    Embodied personas in a mobile world
    Tech Commun
  13. Friess (2010)
    Designing From Data: Rhetorical Appeals in Support of Design Decisions
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. rainey (2005)
    Do curricula correspond to managerial expectations? Core competencies for technical commu…
    Tech Commun
  15. Friess (2015)
    Personas in Heuristic Evaluation: An Exploratory Study
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  16. 10.1177/1080569907312878
     ↗
  17. gaddis (0)
    A comparison of collaborative learning and audience awareness in two computer-mediated wr…
    Proc Nat Conv Assoc Educ Commun Technol
  18. Wolfe (2015)
    Teaching Students to Focus on the Data in Data Visualization
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  19. Colombini et al. (2017)
    Integrating Quantitative Literacy into Technical Writing Instruction
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. Veltsos (2017)
    Gamification in the Business Communication Course
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  21. dragga (1989)
    Editing the Design of Rhetoric
  22. saldana (2009)
    The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers
  23. johnson-sheehan (2015)
    Technical Communication Today
  24. johnson-sheehan (2008)
    Writing Proposals
  25. Spilka (1990)
    Orality and Literacy in the Workplace: Process- and Text-Based Strategies for M…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  26. 10.1177/108056999806100102
     ↗
  27. merseth (1990)
    Case study and teacher education
    Teacher Education Quarterly
  28. Thondhlana et al. (2013)
    Cracking the Case: A Task-Based Investigation of a Group Case-Study Project at …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  29. Ford (2004)
    Knowledge Transfer Across Disciplines: Tracking RhetoricalStrategies From a Tec…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  30. ROZUMALSKI et al. (1995)
    Effects of Case and Traditional Writing Assignments on Writing Products and Processes
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  31. 10.2307/358093
     ↗
  32. turns (2004)
    Characterizing audience for informational web site design
    Tech Commun
  33. warren (1993)
    Three approaches to reader analysis
    Tech Commun
  34. Still et al. (2010)
    The Blank-Page Technique: Reinvigorating Paper Prototyping in Usability Testing
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  35. hackos (1998)
    User and Task Analysis for Interface Design
  36. Hovde (2000)
    Tactics for Building Images of Audience in Organizational Contexts: An Ethnogra…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  37. dobrin (1989)
    Writing and Technique
  38. Lam et al. (2016)
    Flipping the Audience Script: An Activity That Integrates Research and Audience…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  39. Johnson-Eilola (1996)
    Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  40. ross (2013)
    Deep audience analysis: A proposed method for analyzing audiences for environment-related…
    Tech Commun
  41. mathes (1991)
    Designing Technical Reports Writing for Audiences in Organizations
  42. Freed et al. (1989)
    The Nature, Classification, and Generic Structure of Proposals
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  43. schriver (1997)
    Dynamics in Document Design
  44. saunders (1998)
    From case to virtual case: A journey in experiential learning
    Electronic Communication Across the Curriculum
  45. 10.1177/002194368802500204
     ↗
  46. GALE (1993)
    Teaching Professional Writing Rhetorically: The Unified Case Method
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  47. 10.1075/pbns.188.07rus
     ↗
  48. barnes (1994)
    Teaching and the Case Method Text Cases and Readings
  49. FREEDMAN et al. (1994)
    Wearing Suits to Class: Simulating Genres and Simulations as Genre
    Written Communication
  50. 10.1177/108056999906200104
     ↗
  51. 10.1177/1052562906291306
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Journal of Response to Writing Apr 2026
    Composing in Relation: Rethinking Multimodal Feedback as Rhetorical Design ↗
    Laflen, Angela
    rhetorical criticism composition theory genre theory first-year composition writing pedagogy professional writing qualitative research multimodality editorial matter
  2. Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments Jan 2026
    A Murder Most Technical: Gamification, AI, and Rhetorical Genre Studies in the Technical Writing Classroom ↗
    Justin Cook
    genre theory writing pedagogy service learning teacher development argument collaborative writing technical communication professional writing
  3. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  4. Written Communication Jul 2025
    Women Scientists’ Digitally Mediated Activity, Genres and Digital Tools: A Cross-sectional Survey Across the Disciplines ↗
    Carmen Pérez-Llantada; Oana Maria Carciu; Rosana Villares
    rhetorical criticism genre theory writing pedagogy collaborative writing professional writing scientific writing
  5. Written Communication Apr 2025
    Effects of Online Professional Development on First-Grade Writing Instruction: Coaching plus Manual Improves Teachers’ Implementation, Confidence, and Students’ Writing Quality ↗
    Zoi A. Traga Philippakos; Louis Rocconi; Ashley Voggt
    genre theory writing pedagogy professional writing affect and writing