linguistic difference

Beyond Audience Analysis: Three Stages of User Experience Research for Technical Writers

Joanna Schreiber Volume 6 Chapter Description UX research is central to technical writing work. The three phases of user experience (UX) research—background, primary, and usability testing—presented in this chapter are intended to help you see research as both a fundamental and ongoing part of technical writing. This chapter provides a foundation for building your knowledge […]

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Exploring Ideology in Written Language: A Translingual Approach

Alex Way Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description There are power dynamics at play in spoken and written language. Language is wielded by people and institutions to exert power over others or to maintain the power they already possess. But power dynamics in language are not always obvious. For instance, one manifestation of power dynamics

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Literacy Autobiography

Anita Chaudhuri & Subrata Bhowmik Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description Writing a personal narrative assignment is commonplace in first year composition classrooms and the proposed assignment presents it as a literacy autobiography (LA) which can, according to Canagarajah, focus on individual learning journeys and underline “in-between identities and discourses” (p. 13). The transnational identities

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Non-standardized Grammar Assignment

Cheyenne Franklin Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description “… dont nobody’s language, dialect, or style make them ‘vulnerable to prejudice.’ It’s ATTITUDES” (Young 110). Vershawn Ashanti Young, along with Asao Inoue, Geneva Smitherman, and more recently April Baker-Bell, have long fought against oppressive language standards in education. It is not enough, they have jointly argued,

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Read the Room! Navigating Social Contexts and Written Texts

Sarah Seeley, Kelly Xu, & Matthew Chenn Melzer Volume 4 Chapter Description This chapter is a collaboration between a professor (Sarah Seeley) and two former students (Kelly Xu and Matthew Chen). We begin with a discussion of a key concept: the discourse community. In doing so, we illustrate why it is necessary to examine the

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Beyond Language Difference in Writing: Investigating Complex and Equitable Language Practices

Cristina Sánchez-Martín Volume 4 Chapter Description The goal of this essay is to inquire about the role of language difference in the learning of writing, especially in academic settings where normative and exclusionary views of language and writing dominate. The essay begins with the description of a recipe, a genre that includes explicit examples of

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Workin’ Languages: Who We Are Matters in Our Writing

Sara P. Alvarez, Amy J. Wan, & Eunjeong Lee Volume 4 Chapter Description The steady increase of movements of people around the world has transformed the face, potential, and expectations of the US writing classroom. These intersecting shifts have also contributed to critical discussions about how writing educators should integrate students’ linguistic diversity and ways

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