| In recent years, the role, nature, and function of technical communication, that is, writing and public speaking in the workplace, has gained increasing attention among educators, researchers, and other professionals. However, research in this field is not yet extensive. This study undertakes to develop a base for future investigations of the role and nature of communication instruction in the workplace and its relationship to the concept of discourse communities. To this end, a survey questionnaire was developed and used to poll the opinions, beliefs, and practices of 129 aerospace engineers, technical writers, and affiliated training staff, who held jobs in private industry, academia, government and a research organization. The survey questions primarily addressed three major issues that recur in current literature in this area: What is technical communication instruction? What should technical communication programs be like? What should be included in technical communication courses? Findings indicated that groups of individuals involved in technical communication can, indeed, be defined in terms of discourse communities, most strongly based on place of employment, each with individual characteristics and needs.;Generally, findings indicated that members of the aerospace field learn about technical communication in informal settings, but feel that such instruction is best provided through classroom instruction by writing experts in classes taught at the workplace. Furthermore, findings showed that ideal instructional programs reflect the individual character of each institution with respect to language use, thus emphasizing the importance of technical communication instruction in the workplace. Finally, findings tentatively suggest that areas most directly related to increasing a reader's ability to comprehend text (such as organization, clarity, readability, audience analysis, and the like) may represent the most important skills to master, both on the job and in technical communication courses. However, additional research will be needed to demonstrate that similar trends also occur in other populations that deal with technical communication. |
