Globalizing Writing Studies: The Case of US Technical Communication Textbooks

In an increasingly globalized world, writing courses, situated as they are in local institutional and rhetorical contexts, need to prepare writers for global writing situations. Taking introductory technical communication in the United States as a case study, this article describes how and to what extent global perspectives are incorporated into writing. Based on an analysis of eight textbooks and a closer analysis of four of them, we illustrate the representation of technical communication and communicators as well as multiculturalism and multilingualism in these textbooks and point out the limitations vis-a-vis the cultural and linguistic complexity of global technical communication in today's world. We conclude by considering implications for U.S. college composition as it continues to contribute to the international discourse of writing studies.