Orality in the disciplines: A study of oral practices in mechanical engineering

Communication across the curriculum programs provide instructional support for teaching oral practices in noncommunication classrooms. These programs frequently design instruction to help students develop oral proficiencies while pursuing their major. There is a tendency in these programs, though, to be rather elitist in communication instruction. The pattern has often been to "export" communication principles with little if any substantive exploration as to the potential relevance of those principles within the target discipline. In short, there is little exploration as to the rhetorical and social functions of orality in other disciplines.; This study examines one such discipline, mechanical engineering, and the oral practices in their classroom contexts. Through a qualitative, ethnographic framework, I explore meanings assigned to communication and one oral genre, the design review presentation. I use standard content and discourse analytic tools to describe how this discipline assigns meaning to, teaches, and performs this oral genre. I conclude that this oral genre was a site that highlighted critical disciplinary tensions.; Through an examination of the oral practices in these classrooms (including interdisciplinary complexities between me and the mechanical engineering disciplinary members), I explore "context" in a multidimensional way. I ultimately argue for a disciplinary communication pedagogy that teaches communication with a sensitivity to the critical oral contexts of the target discipline.