2:3: Reader-Response Theory in the 21st Century
Up one levelFor decades, technical communication theorists have grappled with the problem that readers don't all approach writings from the same perspective. In the 1970s, Reader-Response theory came to visibility and importance within theory in our field. This issue grapples with how to extend Reader-Response methodologies into contemporary and emerging challenges.
- The Role of Social Construction in Technical Communication
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Alyssa Robinson
Clear communication can exist without social constructionist theory, but understanding how the social construction of meaning affects discourse and text comprehension gives writers another tool with which to enhance that communication. - Interpretation Within the Audience Analysis Theories and the Crusade for True Empiricism
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Melissa Wolfe
Individual characteristics such as attitudes, beliefs, previous knowledge, and experiences all play a part in how we process knowledge. It is relevant in composition processes as well. - Why Should People Care? Using Journalistic Techniques to Keep Readers Interested
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M. Bryant
Technical communication strives to convey information in ways to best help the reader, whether a jet-engine mechanic with manual in hand, a physicist reading a peer-reviewed article, or the new owner of the latest computer or coffeepot. Ideally, it presents information that people will read, understand, and find interesting. Technical communication could also draw from another field, journalism, which uses story structure and writing styles that readers everywhere are familiar with. And journalism is adept at adapting to an array of audiences.