Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2009

Squaring the Learning Circle: Cross-Classroom Collaborations and the Impact of Audience on Student Outcomes in Professional Writing

Mark Ward Clemson University

Abstract

Student compositions traditionally are written for the teacher. Yet instructors of professional communication genres have discovered that students' motivation may be enhanced when they write assignments for audiences of peers within the classroom or professionals outside the campus. Yet client-based projects require writing students who have never yet written for an external audience to make a leap beyond the classroom. To bridge the gap between writing for classroom peers and writing for professional clients, this article describes a third and intermediate choice of audience, namely, external peers in cross-classroom collaborations that occur via telecommunication. The author places this intermediate-audience strategy within the larger conversation about the impact of audience on student writing outcomes, applies the strategy to professional writing pedagogy, and reports the results of a small pilot study that provide some preliminary support for the strategy.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2009-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651908324381
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory writing pedagogy teacher development professional writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Hendrickson et al. (2025)
    Critical Incidents in the Expansive-by-Design Classroom
    Written Communication
  2. Baker (2019)
    Pain or Gain? How Business Communication Students Perceive the Outlining Process
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  3. Robles et al. (2019)
    Using Case-Method Pedagogy to Facilitate Audience Awareness
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. Mogull (2014)
    Integrating Online Informative Videos into Technical Communication Service Courses
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Ford et al. (2011)
    Emphasizing Research (Further) in Undergraduate Technical Communication Curricu…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. Ward (2010)
    The Banality of Rhetoric? (Part 2): Alternate Views of Technical Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Ward (2009)
    The Banality of Rhetoric? Assessing Steven Katz's “the Ethic of Expediency” aga…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 13 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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