Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2023

Designing Interculturally: Adopting a Social Justice Research Framework for “Seeing Difference”

Therese I. Pennell

Abstract

This paper suggests adding a social justice framework to the questions that Kostelnick suggests to help students investigate culture in “Seeing Difference.” Using visual rhetoric to teach technical communication is beneficial for students; however, problematic representations of culture may unintentionally appear in visual design and are easy to overlook. Using a social justice framework that promotes a contextual study of culture should allow technical communication instructors to prepare students to investigate the social and political aspects of culture. This paper, therefore, revisits “Seeing Difference” and asks that technical communication instructors guide students to research sociopolitical aspects of culture and visuals to develop designs that are interculturally appropriate.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2023-01-01
DOI
10.1177/00472816221125191
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Topics
rhetorical criticism technical communication multimodality race and writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Kramer-Simpson (2025)
    Situating Social Justice Pedagogy: A Collective Case Study of TPC Instructors
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Deptula (2025)
    One Size Does Not Fit All: How Clinical Pain Assessment Scales and Tools Mask C…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Ghimire (2024)
    Understanding Transnational Technical Communication in Technical and Profession…
    Technical Communication Quarterly

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