Many employers complain about the poor communication skills of many young people seeking employment; and many people in employment are handicapped by the poor quality of their written work. While bad spelling, ineffective punctuation and faults in grammar create barriers between the writer and the reader, good English makes the reader feel at ease.
The benefits of being a good writer at work are:
Managers need to be able to communicate in order to get ideas across. If they cannot, they will be unable to make their viewpoint heard and they will be unable to influence customers, suppliers and colleagues as desired
If you can write well, you will find that your views are given prominence over those of others. Effective communication, and that includes writing, is the key to career success and advancement
This book is for those who have difficulty in getting thoughts into words or their ideas across, as well as those who are satisfied with their writing but are ready to consider the possibility of improving it. It is all about the ways in which writing at work is important - helping the reader to observe, remember, think, plan, organise and communicate.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203165993

Bailey brings together a new edition of his successful book, Plain English Approach to Business Writing, with a fresh version of his text on business speaking. Bailey creates a complete and accessible handbook for the reference market and includes new information on writing with computers, computer graphics, layout and typography, as well as updated references and examples.

This anthology brings together voices from industry and academia in a call for elevating the status, identity, value, and influence of technical communicators. Editors Barbara Mirel and Rachel Spilka assert that technical communicators must depart from their traditional roles, moving instead in a more influential and expansive direction. To help readers explore the possibilities, contributions from innovative thinkers and leaders in technical communication propose ways to redefine the field's identity and purposes and to expand the parameters of its work.
The chapters included here all point toward new directions for greater growth and influence of the field. Contributors depart from traditional ideas and solutions and discuss new and in some cases radical points, provoking further thought and discussion. Its exploration of fresh territory uncovers new research topics and directions, and provides an examination of both internal, industry-academia relationships and external relationships between technical communicators and other professionals. In its entirety, this collection represents an inclusive vision for the future, targeting such wide-ranging issues as creating effective professional organizations, disseminating research to diverse audiences, transitioning to more influential job roles, exerting leadership in usability, and creating hybrid identities and collaborative programs between industry and academic to support them.
The diverse voices from industry and academia will inspire readers to think differently about the discipline's identity and direction, and to build on the ideas they find herein to effect change within their own spheres. As required reading for academics and professionals in technical communication, this collection is a critical step in reshaping and reinvigorating the technical communication field to ensure its survival and growth in the 21st century.

This special issue is a snapshot of current research in this area, showing many of the issues encountered, the methods employed, and the limitations faced. All four studies involve experimental or quasi-experimental studies but all are based on participants recruited from adult literacy programs. Together these studies illuminate many of the gray areas of adult basic processing, particularly for adults in basic skills programs. They present many of the complexities of studying how literacy adults: the high percentages with learning disabilities, the differences across native and non-native English speakers and within classes of the latter, the different processing abilities of adults and children matched for reading ability, the impacts of language and orthography on reading strategies, and the importance of measure speed, as well as accuracy in studying basic processing. As such, the present studies are an indication that scientific programs exist and are at work on key issues.

Despite the increasingly global implications of conversations about writing and learning, U.S. composition studies has devoted little attention to cross-national perspectives on student writing and its roles in wider cultural contexts. Caught up in our own concerns about how U.S. students make the transition as writers from secondary school to postsecondary education, we often overlook the fact that students around the world are undergoing the same evolution. How do the students in China, England, France, Germany, Kenya, or South Africa--the educational systems represented in this collection--write their way into the communities of their chosen disciplines? How, for instance, do students whose mother tongue is not the language of instruction cope with the demands of academic and discipline-specific writing? And in what ways is U.S. students' development as academic writers similar to or different from that of students in other countries?
With this collection, editors David Foster and David R. Russell broaden the discussion about the role of writing in various educational systems and cultures. Students' development as academic writers raises issues of student authorship and agency, as well as larger issues of educational access, institutional power relations, system goals, and students' roles in society. The contributors to this collection discuss selected writing purposes and forms characteristic of a specific national education system, describe students' agency as writers, and identify contextual factors--social, economic, linguistic, cultural--that shape institutional responses to writing development.
In discussions that bookend these studies of different educational structures, the editors compare U.S. postsecondary writing practices and pedagogies with those in other national systems, and suggest new perspectives for cross-national study of learning/writing issues important to all educational systems. Given the worldwide increase in students entering higher education and the endless need for effective writing across disciplines and nations, the insights offered here and the call for further studies are especially welcome and timely.

This book explores how writers from several different cultures learn to write in their academic settings, and how their writing practices interact with and contribute to their evolving identities as students and professionals in academic environments in higher education.
Embedded in a theoretical framework of situated practice, the naturalistic case studies and literacy autobiographies include portrayals of undergraduate students and teachers, master's level students, doctoral students, young bilingual faculty, and established scholars, all of whom are struggling to understand their roles in ambiguously defined communities of academic writers.
In addition to the notion of situated practice, the other powerful concept used as an interpretive framework is captured by the metaphor of "games"--a metaphor designed to emphasize that the practice of academic writing is shaped but not dictated by rules and conventions; that writing games consist of the practice of playing, not the rules themselves; and that writers have choices about whether and how to play.
Focusing on people rather than experiments, numbers, and abstractions, this interdisciplinary work draws on concepts and methods from narrative inquiry, qualitative anthropology and sociology, and case studies of academic literacy in the field of composition and rhetoric. The style of the book is accessible and reader friendly, eschewing highly technical insider language without dismissing complex issues. It has a multicultural focus in the sense that the people portrayed are from a number of different cultures within and outside North America. It is also a multivocal work: the author positions herself as both an insider and outsider and takes on the different voices of each; other voices that appear are those of her case study participants, and published authors and their case study participants. It is the author's hope that readers will find multiple ways to connect their own experiences with those of the writers the book portrays.

This volume's goal is to provide readers with up-to-date information on the research and theory of scientific text comprehension. It is widely acknowledged that the comprehension of science and technological artifacts is very difficult for both children and adults. The material is conceptually complex, there is very little background knowledge for most individuals, and the materials are often poorly written. Therefore, it is no surprise that students are turned off from learning science and technology. Given these challenges, it is important to design scientific text in a fashion that fits the cognitive constraints of the learner. The enterprise of textbook design needs to be effectively integrated with research in discourse processing, educational technology, and cognitive science. This book takes a major step in promoting such an integration.
This volume:
*provides an important integration of research and theory with theoretical, methodological, and educational applications;
*includes a number of chapters that cover how science text information affects mental representations and strategies;
*introduces important suggestions about how text design and new technologies can be thought of as pedagogical features; and
*establishes academic text taxonomies and a consensus of the criteria to organize inferences and other mental mechanisms.

This book addresses the linguistic challenges faced by diverse populations of students at the secondary and post-secondary levels as they engage in academic tasks requiring advanced levels of reading and writing. Learning to use language in ways that meet academic expectations is a challenge for students who have had little exposure and opportunity to use such language outside of school. Although much is known about emergent literacy in the early years of schooling, much less has been written about the development of advanced literacy as students move into secondary education and beyond. "Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: Meaning With Power: "
*brings together work on first and second language acquisition and emphasizes the importance of developing advanced literacy in the first language, such as Spanish for bilingual students, as well as English;
*spans a range of theoretical orientations and analytic approaches, drawing on work in systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, and sociocultural perspectives;
*addresses the content areas of science, history, and language arts;
*provides specific information about genres and grammatical features in these content areas; and
*presents suggestions for teacher education.
What unites the contributors to this volume is their shared commitment to a view of literacy that emphasizes both the social contexts and the linguistic challenges. The chapters collected in this volume contribute in important ways to research and pedagogy on advanced literacy development for the multilingual and multicultural students in today's classrooms. This book is particularly useful for researchers and students in language and education, applied linguistics, and others concerned with issues and challenges of advanced literacy development in first and second languages.

This book addresses the linguistic challenges faced by diverse populations of students at the secondary and post-secondary levels as they engage in academic tasks requiring advanced levels of reading and writing. Learning to use language in ways that meet academic expectations is a challenge for students who have had little exposure and opportunity to use such language outside of school. Although much is known about emergent literacy in the early years of schooling, much less has been written about the development of advanced literacy as students move into secondary education and beyond. "Developing Advanced Literacy in First and Second Languages: Meaning With Power: "
*brings together work on first and second language acquisition and emphasizes the importance of developing advanced literacy in the first language, such as Spanish for bilingual students, as well as English;
*spans a range of theoretical orientations and analytic approaches, drawing on work in systemic functional linguistics, genre theory, and sociocultural perspectives;
*addresses the content areas of science, history, and language arts;
*provides specific information about genres and grammatical features in these content areas; and
*presents suggestions for teacher education.
What unites the contributors to this volume is their shared commitment to a view of literacy that emphasizes both the social contexts and the linguistic challenges. The chapters collected in this volume contribute in important ways to research and pedagogy on advanced literacy development for the multilingual and multicultural students in today's classrooms. This book is particularly useful for researchers and students in language and education, applied linguistics, and others concerned with issues and challenges of advanced literacy development in first and second languages.

This comprehensive and detailed analysis of second language writers' text identifies explicitly and quantifiably where their text differs from that of native speakers of English. The book is based on the results of a large-scale study of university-level native-speaker and non-native-speaker essays written in response to six prompts. Specifically, the research investigates the frequencies of uses of 68 linguistic (syntactic and lexical) and rhetorical features in essays written by advanced non-native speakers compared with those in the essays of native speakers enrolled in first-year composition courses. The selection of features for inclusion in this analysis is based on their textual functions and meanings, as identified in earlier research on English language grammar and lexis. Such analysis is valuable because it can inform the teaching of grammar and lexis, as well as discourse, and serve as a basis for second language curriculum and course design; and provide valuable insight for second language pedagogical applications of the study's findings.

This comprehensive and detailed analysis of second language writers' text identifies explicitly and quantifiably where their text differs from that of native speakers of English. The book is based on the results of a large-scale study of university-level native-speaker and non-native-speaker essays written in response to six prompts. Specifically, the research investigates the frequencies of uses of 68 linguistic (syntactic and lexical) and rhetorical features in essays written by advanced non-native speakers compared with those in the essays of native speakers enrolled in first-year composition courses. The selection of features for inclusion in this analysis is based on their textual functions and meanings, as identified in earlier research on English language grammar and lexis. Such analysis is valuable because it can inform the teaching of grammar and lexis, as well as discourse, and serve as a basis for second language curriculum and course design; and provide valuable insight for second language pedagogical applications of the study's findings.

There are writing centers at almost every college and university in the United States, and there is an emerging body of professional discourse, research, and writing about them. The goal of this book is to open, formalize, and further the dialogue about research in and about writing centers. The original essays in this volume, all written by writing center researchers, directly address current concerns in several ways: they encourage studies, data collection, and publication by offering detailed, reflective accounts of research; they encourage a diversity of approaches by demonstrating a range of methodologies (e.g., ethnography, longitudinal case study; rhetorical analysis, teacher research) available to both veteran and novice writing center professionals; they advance an ongoing conversation about writing center research by explicitly addressing epistemological and ethical issues. The book aims to encourage and guide other researchers, while at the same time offering new knowledge that has resulted from the studies it analyzes.

"Describes the quantitative research process--framing analytical questions, developing a comprehensive outline, providing a roadmap for the reader, and accessing indispensable computer and program tools. Supplies end-of-chapter checklists, extensive examples, and biobliographies."

This book revisits second language (L2) writing teacher education by exploring the complex layers of L2 writing instruction in non-English dominant contexts (i.e. English as a foreign language contexts). It pushes the boundaries of teacher education by specifically examining the development of teacher literacy in writing in under-represented L2 writing contexts, and re-envisions L2 writing teacher education that is contextually and culturally situated, moving away from the uncritical embracement of Western-based writing pedagogies. It explores and expands on writing teacher education - how language teachers come to understand their own writing practices and instruction, and what their related experiences are in non-English dominant contexts across the globe. Chapter 4 is free to download as an open access publication. You can access it here: https://zenodo.org/record/7096127#.YymCsHbMLcs

"Community Writing: Researching Social Issues Through Composition" employs a series of assignments that guide students to research and write about issues confronting their individual communities. Students start by identifying a community to which they belong and focusing on problems in it, and then analyze possible solutions, construct arguments for them, decide which are likely to succeed, and consider how to initiate action.
This is a primary text for first-year composition courses, covering the basics of the writing process. The assignments are recursive. Short writing assignments in each chapter build up to longer papers. Each of the assignment questions is accompanied by a guide to thinking about and writing the assigned paper, followed by a short "Focus On" reading that provides a brief account of community activism, a media case study, or a notable success story. The longer papers are accompanied by in-class peer reading groups. Each successive peer reading attempts a higher level of conceptual critique. By working together throughout the semester, students create increasingly adept peer groups familiar with all stages of each other's research. The book is carefully structured, but there is plenty of "give" in it, allowing instructors to be flexible in adapting it to the needs of their students and courses.
"Community Writing: "
* is distinguished by pedagogy based on a collaborative, process-oriented, service learning approach that emphasizes media critique and field research on community issues chosen by individual students;
* answers real student questions, such as: Where do I find articles on my topic? What if evidence contradicts my hypothesis? How do I know if a source is biased?;
* is web-savvy--guides students into building their own Web sites, including a unique guide for critiquing the design and veracity of other people's websites; and
* is media-savvy--topics include media monopolies, spin control, dumbing down, misleading statistics, the Freedom of Information Act, "crackpot" authors, political rhetoric, and fallacious argumentation.

This Companion provides an introduction to the craft of prose. It considers the technical aspects of style that contribute to the art of prose, examining the constituent parts of prose through a widening lens, from the smallest details of punctuation and wording to style more broadly conceived. The book is concerned not only with prose fiction but with creative non-fiction, a growing area of interest for readers and aspiring writers. Written by internationally-renowned critics, novelists and biographers, the essays provide readers and writers with ways of understanding the workings of prose. They are exemplary of good critical practice, pleasurable reading for their own sake, and both informative and inspirational for practising writers. The Cambridge Companion to Prose will serve as a key resource for students of English literature and of creative writing.

This book guides writers in the preparation of scientific and technical texts for specific audiences. Although some corporations have internal style guides, this book offers guidance for those writers who lack such resources. It also includes all aspects of document creation from audience analysis to indexing. Further, it provides resources for helping writers to make the transition from paper to electronic documents.
A new aspect of this edition is the examination of software support for various writing and graphic tasks. This edition adds new perspectives on preparing texts for translation, on indexing and on electronic referencing techniques. At the same time, it retains much of what made the first edition so popular: in depth guidance on creating graphic elements and useful page designs, using specialised symbols and mathematics in technical and scientific texts.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203901606

Metro is a unique multi-genre creative writing text that provides exercises and prompts to help students move beyond terms and concepts to active writing. By using "guided writing," the authors help students through the creative processes in fiction, poetry, drama, and creative nonfiction. A mini-anthology with relevant exercises makes this sourcebook complete.

Meet Harry. Harry likes to play football, climb trees, and hang out with friends, but Harry doesn't like reading. That is until his teacher explains that Harry has dyslexia, which makes things like reading and writing particularly hard for him - and with help from his mum, teacher and an educational psychologist, Harry learns specific strategies for reading with dyslexia. This delightful picture book for children aged 5-11 includes tips for reading with dyslexia and lovable, supportive characters who show that it's ok to discuss dyslexia and to seek help when needed.

"On Second Language Writing" brings together internationally recognized scholars in a collection of original articles that, collectively, delineate and explore central issues with regard to theory, research, instruction, assessment, politics, articulation with other disciplines, and standards. In recent years, there has been a dramatic growth of interest in second-language writing and writing instruction in many parts of the world. Although an increasing number of researchers and teachers in both second-language studies and composition studies have come to identify themselves as specialists in second-language writing, research and teaching practices have been dispersed into several different disciplinary and institutional contexts because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field. This volume is the first to bring together prominent second-language writing specialists to systematically address basic issues in the field and to consider the state of the art at the end of the century (and the millennium).

"On Second Language Writing" brings together internationally recognized scholars in a collection of original articles that, collectively, delineate and explore central issues with regard to theory, research, instruction, assessment, politics, articulation with other disciplines, and standards. In recent years, there has been a dramatic growth of interest in second-language writing and writing instruction in many parts of the world. Although an increasing number of researchers and teachers in both second-language studies and composition studies have come to identify themselves as specialists in second-language writing, research and teaching practices have been dispersed into several different disciplinary and institutional contexts because of the interdisciplinary nature of the field. This volume is the first to bring together prominent second-language writing specialists to systematically address basic issues in the field and to consider the state of the art at the end of the century (and the millennium).

"The Story Performance Handbook" provides specific, detailed information to help adults develop basic skills in reading aloud, mediated storytelling, and storytelling. Organized sequentially, each chapter moves the reader from the easiest (reading aloud picture books) to the most difficult (creating your own stories for telling) storytelling experience, cumulatively building story performance skill in selecting, preparing, and delivering stories and poetry to audiences. This structure allows individuals to begin reading at various points depending on their prior experience with story performance.
The text includes several features that make learning to perform stories and poetry easy to understand and manage:
* Explicit, thorough advice avoids confusion, such as how to select, prepare, and deliver stories and poetry via reading aloud, mediated storytelling, and storytelling.
* The sequential chapter organization, progressing from easiest to most difficult, and Developmental and Culminating Activities at the end of each skill chapter, enable this text to be used either independently or in conjunction with courses or workshops in story performance.
* Unique among story performance texts, instruction is based not only on the author's own extensive experience but also on empirical research related to teaching adults to tell stories.
* Specific information is easily located throughout the text: Processes are presented in bold type, numbered sequentially and, at the end of specific chapters, skill building activities are provided. Figures (which provide additional detailed information) are boxed. Examples of processes are highlighted with background shading.

This distinctive monograph examines the dynamic rhetorical processes by which scientists shape, negotiate, and position their work within an interdisciplinary community. Author Ann M. Blakeslee studies the everyday rhetorical practices of a group of condensed matter theoretical physicists, and presents here the first substantial qualitative study of the planning and implementation of discursive practices by a group of scientists. This volume also represents one of the first studies to use situated cognition and learning theory to study how knowledge of a domain's discursive practices is acquired by newcomers.
Unlike previous studies of scientists' rhetorical practices, which have focused primarily on the finished or published texts, Blakeslee's involvement with the physicists as they engaged in the composing processes--from jotting down planning notes through publishing a scientific paper--suggests an alternative view of audience based on cooperative interaction between authors and their interlocutors. From this innovative perspective, functional knowledge of audiences comes only by entering into some community of practice, in which readers also become self-defining interlocutors and even participants in joint projects. Blakeslee's research follows the physicists' work into communal, interactive dynamics, looking at their overt attempts to get feedback from members of their audiences, what that feedback was, and how they responded to it.
This work addresses and extends a model for audience analysis that consists of two primary operations: getting to know and understand one's interlocutors, and determining how to reach and influence them. In doing so, it offers important insights into the dissemination of scientific information, and thus will be of great interest to scholars and students in the areas of rhetoric of science and technology, composition, rhetorical theory, and scientific writing.

Bringing a new dimension to the language learning classroom, the Classroom Presentation Tool CD-ROM for each level makes instruction clearer and learning simpler. The CD-ROMs feature interactive activities from the Student Book, audio and video clips, and Presentation Worksheets that help practice and reinforce the presentation skills taught in the book. These can be used with an interactive whiteboard or computer projector.