Technical Communication Quarterly Mar 1995

A semiotic perspective on the technical and professional writing assignment

Kay Westmoreland Division of Undergraduate Education

Abstract

One of the reasons students in technical and professional writing classes are often unable to make judgments about the ethical worth of a piece of writing is that they lack an understanding of how connotative meanings are constructed. Socially oriented semiotic theories offer models of how language works symbolically in this way. A productive means of introducing these is to have students evaluate advertisements as forms of technical and professional writing. This study uses central ideas from Roland Barthes's essays on connotative semiotics as a rationale for directing writers to develop the critical reflex to analyze and then make judgments about the values implied by connotative systems.

Journal
Technical Communication Quarterly
Published
1995-03-01
DOI
10.1080/10572259509364593
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Faber (2002)
    Professional Identities
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. SMITH (1997)
    Intertextual Connections to “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (4)

  1. Sims (1993)
    Linking ethics and language in the technical communication classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Journet (1993)
    Biological explanation, political ideology, and “blurred genres”;: A Bakhtinian…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Blyler (1992)
    Narration and knowledge in direct solicitations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. WITTE (1992)
    Context, Text, Intertext
    Written Communication
Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓
  1. _____ (1987)
    10.5840/ajs19875216
    The American Journal of Semiotics  ↗
  2. _____ (1987)
    10.5840/ajs19875215
    The American Journal of Semiotics  ↗
  3. 10.2307/378062
     ↗
  4. 10.2307/375964
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network →

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