Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2018

“Bridging the Gap between Food Pantries and the Kitchen Table”: Teaching Embodied Literacy in the Technical Communication Classroom

Kathryn Yankura Swacha Christopher Newport University

Abstract

Drawing from literature on communication as a physical, material experience, this article expands Cargile Cook’s “layered literacies” (2002) pedagogical framework to include a seventh literacy—embodied literacy. The article uses a classroom case study in which students coproduced a cookbook with low-income, elderly, disabled users, to demonstrate how students can become more responsible and effective technical communicators by recognizing users’ divergent embodied experiences. The article includes suggestions for concrete classroom practices that encourage such embodied literacy.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2018-07-03
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2018.1476589
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Topics
writing pedagogy teacher development technical communication qualitative research literacy studies body and rhetoric
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (12)

  1. Anabire (2025)
    Using Social Media as a User-Centered Design Tool: Types of User Feedback Usefu…
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  3. Pennell et al. (2024)
    Survival and Distinctiveness: The Impulses Shaping the Communication Practices …
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  4. Dubisar (2024)
    “Dainty, Sparkling, Delicious”: Jell-O Constructions of White Femininity
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  5. DeTora (2023)
    Deciphering Nested Literacies: A Case Study of Allosaurus Fragilis at the Smith…
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  2. Wang et al. (2022)
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  3. Allen (2022)
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  4. Grant (2022)
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  5. Swacha (2021)
    Living Visual-voice as a Community-based Social Justice Research Method in Tech…
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  6. Campbell (2021)
    Rhetorical Body Work: Professional Embodiment in Health Provider Education and …
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  7. Sánchez (2020)
    Examining Methectic Technical Communication in an Urban Planning Comic Book
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