Muntian
A.A.
Dnepropetrovsk
National University of Railway Transport named after academitian V.A. Lazaryan,
Ukraine
Technical discourse
In
the past decades the term "discourse" has become extremely popular.
There are a great number of discourses such as legal discourse, economic
discourse, political discourse, technical discourse, etc.
Today
technical communication is an integral part of both professional and social
interaction. One of the specific features of technical communication is a clear
professional purpose, so it is of high importance that target audience of
technical communication (professionals, students of engineering faculties,
etc.) is familiar with key concepts and features of tech discourse.
Technical
discourse of any language, but primarily it is relevant for English technical
discourse has various names - English for Technology, Technical English and
other, however there is a more general term, which include not only purely
technical, but medical, economic discourse, etc., and that term is English for
Specific Purposes.
Any
type of communication is a collective process. Naturally, there are different
participants of the communicative act. The sender is the initiator of the
communication act. He or she bears a stimulus to send the message, either to
the other party or elsewhere. This person makes a choice regarding the
appropriate code, which can be either verbal or non-verbal and channels the
message appropriately.
The
given message is channeled to the receiver, whose task is to decode the message
and present some kind of feedback after perceiving and interpreting it.
When
applying this theory of human communication to the specific field of technical
communication, it appears to be incomplete. James Collier and David Toomey [2]
identify two reasons of this incompleteness:
a.
By focusing exclusively on the message, it
fails to outline the importance of the people involved in the communication
process. A good theory on technical communication should also be centered on
the actors of the communication roles, on their professional characteristics,
on the special features of their formation, on the context which facilitated
the communication act.
a.
This general communication scheme identifies
the transmission of the message as the only purpose of the communication act.
However, communication of a technical type (and not only) may have a multitude
of purposes, of which the transmission of information is only one: it may
alternatively be intended to propose, to argue, to persuade, to defend, to
coerce, to instruct etc.
From
this perspective, the necessary ingredients which must be considered for the
proficient production of accurate communication models are the following:
Audience:
the first factor which a good communicator in the technical field should consider
is who he/she is speaking / writing to. The receivers of the message may be
colleagues, co-workers, superiors, professors, subordinates, clients,
professional / academic community etc. The choice of the discursive features
and of the register marks will be highly dependent on the people to whom the
message is directed.
Relationship: closely
related to the first element, the relationship between the communication agents
are important in deciding the right discursive patterns. The choice of the
communication model and of its subsequent traits is influenced by the
relationship between the sender of the message and the audience. The marks of
the discourse must be carefully tailored to suit the already established
relationships.
Purpose: all
communication acts have one or several purposes attached to them. These
purposes dictate the choice of one or another model of communication, of
strategies and styles. Traditionally, there are three identified purposes of
communication acts:
-
persuasion: the intention of the
communicator is to convince the audience of the rightfulness of the principle /
ideas / concepts he/she presents;
-
instruction
(information), intended to transmit and enrich the audience's knowledge
with regard to specific aspects.
-
Entertainment,
intended to provide relaxation, amusement or leisure.
However,
these three purposes are too restrictive for the wide area of possibilities
that nowadays special forms of communication may embrace. William Keith [3]
suggests the following categorization of purposes:
Open
new possibilities of belief or value;
Propose
change in ideas or action;
Build
credibility for future persuasion;
Establish
credibility for current persuasion;
Create
doubts about opposing ideas/actions;
Refute
opposing ideas;
Create
an audience;
Build
community with audience;
Ratify
or reinforce community values or ideas;
Ask
for small changes in belief/action;
Ask
for moderate changes in belief/action.
Context,
or the setting for communication. Some of the most common aspects of context
include:
Interpersonal
context (one-to-one communication: instructions, commands, discussions in a
professional context)
Small
group (team communication)
Organizational
(memos, proposals, reports, other forms of formal correspondence)
Public
address (oral presentations, conferences, lectures etc)
Mass
communication (scientific articles, dissertations, etc).
Among
the most common marks of scientific language, one should note: the logical
organization of the text in headings and lists, using relatively shorter sentences,
the preponderant use of present tenses and the use of the active voice.
The
technical communication, in all of its forms (written, oral or other) is
essentially strategic. It is deeply rooted in a social context - the
professional environment -, the participants are actively involved in the
production of meaningful messages and the objectives are clearly expressed.
The
inclusion of the technical discourse in the domain of strategic communication
is based on its specific character which is deeply rooted in a social and
professional context. A text belongs to the technical sphere if it meets a set
of commonly acknowledged criteria. [1]
References
1.
Dana Rus. Technical communication as strategic
communication. characteristics of the English technical discourse.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
1.
James, H. Collier and David M. Toomey.
Scientific and Technical Communication in Context.
http://www.faculty.english.vt.edu/Collier/stc/. Accessed 1 October, 2013
1.
Keith, William. Science and Communication:
Beyond Form and Content.
http://www.faculty.english.vt.edu/Collier/stc/keith.htm Accessed 1 October,
2013.