When Traditional Chinese Culture Meets a Technical ...

Applied ResearchA Technical Communication Program in a Chinese Universitytechnical communication class before, they definedtechnical communication in a narrow sense. For them, itwas about science and technology, and the writing itselfjust used many technical terms. One student stated thatshe had learned many such terms in a technical Englishclass she had taken the previous semester so that nowshe could confidently write about technology throughemploying these terms. Another student noted thattechnical writing was “done by scientists and techniciansfor other scientists and technicians, and unless you area scientist, you cannot understand it.” Although 53students thought that technical communication plays“an important role,” none elaborated on this role; only6 students commented on its role by claiming thattechnical communication could help the governmentdevelop a better and a harmonious society for thepeople. It is apparent from my survey that studentshad rarely thought about technical writing as havingrelevance to the workplace in a more general sense.However, as Table 1 shows, 53 students believedthat technical communication helped their own careers.For them, technical writing was addressed to theirteachers, job recruiters, or bosses in order to graduate,find employment, or be promoted. It seems that theythought technical communication served their personalinterests, but if we examine this question in conjunctionwith their answers to Question 4, we realize that theultimate audiences are their country and society. That is,in the short term, technical communication served theirpersonal interests because it could help them graduateand find a job, but in the long term, it helped themserve their country once they found a job. So of the140 students who defined “audience and purpose,” 44answered explicitly that the audience was their country,and the purpose was to serve their country; 41 believedit could help them graduate and find a job. Only 17thought it would help them get promoted, thus servingtheir personal interests.The fact that 44 students defined “audience” astheir country and society and the purpose to servetheir country and society strongly suggests that, forthese students, technical communication becomes anTable 2: Nine topics rank-ordered by graduate students (N = 127)Topic (Total Points) Average Rank Listed as Number 1in ImportanceListed as Number 9in ImportanceParagraph structure (657)(sstruxtureStructure5.17 7 ------ -----Sentence structure (582) 4.59 5 7 -----Audience analysis (441) 3.47 3 16 11Writing purpose (276) 2.17 1 61 9Correct spelling (701) 5.52 8 7 -----Correct diction (630) 4.96 6 8 -----Vocabulary (413) 3.25 2 16 -----Ethics in writing (569) 4.50 4 8 16Document design (991) 7.80 9 ----- 7842 Technical Communication l Volume 58, Number 1, February 2011