Functional Communication Quality
Functional Communication Quality

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-11-22

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9004484523

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In this volume researchers from American and European universities and institutes present their recent research on 'Functional Communication Quality'. Functional refers to the purposes of the communication process. The relations between these purposes and the best way to describe them, are some of the topics discussed. Communication refers to a complex interactive process. Relevant variables include the speech act of the participants, features of the message, chosen channel, moment, duration, frequency, environment. The participants in this process are individuals and groups as well as organizations and parts of organizations. Quality can be described from several points of view: a technical point of view with efficiency as its goal, an operative point of view which aims for effectiveness or an aesthetic point of view. This volume shows that a multi-perspective approach to Functional Communication Quality (FCQ) is the only way to obtain a better insight into this area of communication studies. The papers are grouped in four different chapters, each dealing with a different perspective on the theme: • FCQ in an organizational context; • FCQ and research methods; • FCQ and text analysis; • FCQ and electronic tools. The book also contains an overview of organizational communication research in France and Spain. This volume will be of interest to a broad audience of researchers and students in the field of organizational communication studies and the field of writing studies, communication consultants and communication managers, professional writers and software engineers.

Quality of technical documentation
Quality of technical documentation

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-11-22

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 9004484515

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User manuals, reference guides, project documentation, equipment specifications and other technical documents are increasingly subjected to high quality standards. However, it is not clear whether research efforts are keeping pace with this increasing importance of documentation quality. This volume includes studies from researchers as well as practitioners, exemplifying three approaches towards document quality: • Product-orientation, with an eye for usability in various manifestations such as tutorials, concept definitions, tools for users of documentation to find information, methods of eliciting user feedback, and cultural differences; • Process-orientation, in which the quality of technical documentation is regarded as an outgrowth of a process involving sub-steps such as storyboarding, pre-testing and use of automation tools in writing and producing documents; • Professional orientation, in which attention is focused on those who create technical documentation. The volume will be of interest to a broad audience of writers, managers and trainers with technical and non-technical backgrounds, such as: quality managers; communication managers; technical communicators; trainers in computer usage; teachers, researchers and students of (technical) communication.

Metaphors in medical texts
Metaphors in medical texts

Author: Geraldine W. van Rijn-van Tongeren

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-11-15

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9004490264

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This book claims that metaphors must be seen as indispensable cognitive and communicative instruments in medical science. Analysis of texts taken from recently published medical handbooks reveals what kind of metaphors are used to structure certain medical concepts and what the functions are of the metaphorical expressions in the texts. Special attention is drawn to the idea that scientific facts do not originate from passive observation of reality. Imaginative thinking and the use of metaphors are required to make the unknown accessible to us. Yet, although metaphors are often a sine qua non for the genesis of a scientific fact, they may also inhibit the development of alternative views. This is due to the fact that metaphors always highlight certain aspects of a phenomenon while other aspects remain obscured. Analysis of the metaphors used in medical texts may reveal exactly which aspects are highlighted and which remain hidden and may thus help to find alternative metaphors (and possibly therapies) when current metaphors are no longer adequate. This book should be of interest not only to linguists, translators and researchers working in the field of intercultural communication, but also to doctors and medical scientists, and those interested in the philosophy of science.

Discourse Analysis and Evaluation
Discourse Analysis and Evaluation

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2022-02-28

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9004484531

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Functional approaches to the study of language may not only be used to characterize discourse structures, but also to assess their communicative quality. In fact, discourse analysis and evaluation are conceptually related activities. In this volume the link between analysis and evaluation is explored in seven studies discussing a variety of discourse genres like package inserts, telephone openings, survey interviews, meetings, government brochures and direct mail letters. The analytical concepts used stem from different strands of research into language, including cognitive linguistics, pragmalinguistics, conversational analysis and persuasion research.

The Construction of Intercultural Discourse
The Construction of Intercultural Discourse

Author: Tom Koole

Publisher: Brill

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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This book breaks open the 'black box' of the workplace, where successful immigrants work together with their Dutch colleagues. In their intercultural team meetings the work itself consists of communication and the question is how that work is done. The teams consist of Dutch, Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese educational experts whose job it is to advise schools and teachers on the form and content of language teaching. Their meetings are structured according to institutional patterns, such as 'interactive planning' and 'reporting', and according to intercultural discourse structures. For instance, Dutch team members identify their immigrant colleagues as 'immigrant specialists' and are themselves identified as 'institutional specialists'. Further, the intercultural pattern 'thematizing and unthematizing racism' provides the team members with communicative methods to deal with the societal contradictions that exist between different cultural groups, in the Netherlands as well as elsewhere. These intercultural discourse structures concur with the institutional patterns so that, for instance, they affect the outcomes of planning discussions. Most studies on intercultural communication focus on misunderstandings and miscommunications. This book demonstrates that also communication without miscommunication can be shown to be intercultural.

Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions
Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions

Author: David F. Beer

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2003-07-04

Total Pages: 538

ISBN-13: 9780471444732

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An updated edition of the classic guide to technical communication Consider that 20 to 50 percent of a technology professional's time is spent communicating with others. Whether writing a memo, preparing a set of procedures, or making an oral presentation, effective communication is vital to your professional success. This anthology delivers concrete advice from the foremost experts on how to communicate more effectively in the workplace. The revised and expanded second edition of this popular book completely updates the original, providing authoritative guidance on communicating via modern technology in the contemporary work environment. Two new sections on global communication and the Internet address communicating effectively in the context of increased e-mail and web usage. As in the original, David Beer's Second Edition discusses a variety of approaches, such as: * Writing technical documents that are clear and effective * Giving oral presentations more confidently * Using graphics and other visual aids judiciously * Holding productive meetings * Becoming an effective listener The new edition also includes updated articles on working with others to get results and on giving directions that work. Each article is aimed specifically at the needs of engineers and others in the technology professions, and is written by a practicing engineer or a technical communicator. Technical engineers, IEEE society members, and technical writing teachers will find this updated edition of David Beer's classic Writing and Speaking in the Technology Professions an invaluable guide to successful communication.