Technical Communication Quarterly Jul 2012

From the Workplace to Academia: Nontraditional Students and the Relevance of Workplace Experience in Technical Writing Pedagogy

Catherine Quick Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi

Abstract

In this study, I compared initial drafts of job application cover letters by nontraditional students in an introductory professional writing course with those by traditional students to determine if prior workplace experience improves rhetorical adaptability in students' writing. Although one might expect nontraditional students to display more rhetorical adaptability, this study reveals no difference. These results suggest that minor changes in pedagogy may help nontraditional students use their workplace experience to improve workplace-oriented writing in the classroom.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
2012-07-01
DOI
10.1080/10572252.2012.666639
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Topics
rhetorical criticism writing pedagogy technical communication professional writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Feuer (2020)
    Scaffolding Feedback Between Cowriters With Different Levels of English-Languag…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Kohn (2015)
    How Professional Writing Pedagogy and University–Workplace Partnerships Can Sha…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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