Multimodality in the Technical Communication Classroom: Viewing Classical Rhetoric Through a 21st Century Lens

The authors provide a robust framework for using rhetorical foundations to teach multimodality in technical communication, describing a pedagogical approach wherein students consider the rhetorical canons—invention, arrangement, style, delivery, and memory—when developing texts beyond print. Students learn to assess their own work, reflecting on how each canon contributed to the rhetorical effectiveness of their multimodal projects. The authors argue for using the canons as a rhetorical foundation for helping students understand technical communication in the digital age.

[1]  Laura J Gurak.  Technology, Community, and Technical Communication on the Internet , 1996 .

[2]  Jody Shipka,et al.  Toward a Composition Made Whole , 2011 .

[3]  James E. Porter,et al.  Recovering Delivery for Digital Rhetoric , 2009 .

[5]  G. Hull,et al.  Locating the Semiotic Power of Multimodality , 2005 .

[6]  Jennifer Sheppard,et al.  The Rhetorical Work of Multimedia Production Practices: It's More than Just Technical Skill , 2009 .

[7]  Edward M. White,et al.  The Scoring of Writing Portfolios: Phase 2 , 2005 .

[8]  R. Mayer,et al.  Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning , 2003 .

[9]  Asher Koriat,et al.  Metacognition and consciousness. , 2007 .

[10]  L. Bickmore,et al.  "Who Will Be the Inventors? Why Not Us?" Multimodal Compositions in the Two-Year College Classroom. , 2010 .

[11]  E. Smith.  Intertextual Connections to “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing” , 1997 .

[12]  L. Reder,et al.  Metacognition does not imply awareness: Strategy choice is governed by implicit learning and memory , 1996 .

[13]  Stewart Whittemore,et al.  Metadata and Memory: Lessons from the Canon of Memoria for the Design of Content Management Systems , 2007 .

[14]  Sonja K. Foss.  Theory of Visual Rhetoric , 2004 .

[15]  Cheryl E. Ball.  Assessing Scholarly Multimedia: A Rhetorical Genre Studies Approach , 2012 .

[16]  Georgios Kouroupetroglou,et al.  Multimodal Accessibility of Documents , 2008 .

[17]  Joy Higgs,et al.  Creative spaces for qualitative researching: Living research , 2011 .

[18]  Sam Dragga,et al.  Editing: The Design of Rhetoric , 1989 .

[19]  Jim Ridolfo.  Rhetorical Delivery as Strategy: Rebuilding the Fifth Canon from Practitioner Stories , 2012 .

[20]  Stuart A. Selber,et al.  Multiliteracies for a Digital Age , 2004 .

[21]  Matt Barton,et al.  Process, Product, and Potential: The Archaeological Assessment of Collaborative, Wiki-Based Student Projects in the Technical Communication Classroom , 2012 .

[22]  B. Huot.  Toward a New Discourse of Assessment for the College Writing Classroom. , 2002 .

[23]  K. Yancey.  Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key , 2004 .

[24]  Jim Dubinsky,et al.  Service-Learning as a Path to Virtue: The Ideal Orator in Professional Communication , 2002 .

[25]  Jan Fook,et al.  Developing critical reflection as a research method , 2011 .

[26]  E. Brumberger.  Making the Strange Familiar , 2007 .

[27]  R. Mayer.  Applying the science of learning to medical education , 2010, Medical education.

[28]  Jody Shipka,et al.  A Multimodal Task-Based Framework for Composing. , 2005 .

[29]  Kelli Cargile Cook.  Layered Literacies: A Theoretical Frame for Technical Communication Pedagogy , 2002 .

[30]  Jim Ridolfo and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss.  Composing for Recomposition: Rhetorical Velocity and Delivery , 2009 .

[31]  Claire Lauer,et al.  Examining the Effect of Reflective Assessment on the Quality of Visual Design Assignments in the Technical Writing Classroom , 2013 .

[32]  Robert R. Johnson,et al.  User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts , 1998 .

[33]  C. Lauer.  Contending with Terms: “Multimodal” and “Multimedia” in the Academic and Public Spheres , 2009 .

[34]  John Frederick Reynolds,et al.  Classical rhetoric and the teaching of technical writing , 1992 .

[35]  W. Lutz.  Making Freshman English a Happening. , 1971 .