An Exploratory Study of Engineering Students’ Misconceptions about Technical Communication
- Conference
- Location
-
Tampa, Florida
- Publication Date
-
June 15, 2019
- Start Date
-
June 15, 2019
- End Date
-
June 19, 2019
- Conference Session
-
Liberal Education/Engineering & Society Division Technical Session 9
- Tagged Division
-
Liberal Education/Engineering & Society
- Page Count
-
21
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--32061
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/32061
- Download Count
-
972
Paper Authors
Cheryl Q. Li University of New Haven
Cheryl Qing Li joined University of New Haven in the fall of 2011, where she is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Cheryl earned her first Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from National University of Singapore in 1997. She served as Assistant Professor and subsequently Associate Professor in Mechatronics Engineering at University of Adelaide, Australia, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, respectively. In 2006, she resigned from her faculty job and came to Connecticut for family reunion. Throughout her academic career in Australia and Singapore, she had developed a very strong interest in learning psychology and educational measurement. She then opted for a second Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, specialized in Psychometrics at University of Connecticut. She earned her second Ph.D. in 2010.
Judy Randi University of New Haven
Judy Randi, Ed.D. is Professor of Education at the University of New Haven where she is currently teaching in the Tagliatela College of Engineering and coordinating a college-wide initiative, the Project to Integrate Technical Communication Habits (PITCH).
Jenna Pack Sheffield University of New Haven
Jenna Sheffield holds a PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona. Sheffield is currently an Assistant Professor of English at the University of New Haven where she also directs the Writing Across the Curriculum program. Her research in composition pedagogy and theory and writing program administration has appeared in publications such as Computers and Composition International, Computers and Composition
Online, Kairos, and College English. Sheffield was also part of the CCCC Research Initiative grant-funded project, “The University of Arizona Longitudinal Study of Student Writers,” in which she served as Research Assistant during the initial phases of the study. As part of the study, she conducted interviews with research subjects about their writing practices in and outside of the classroom.
Abstract
An Exploratory Study of Engineering Students’ Misconceptions about Technical Communication
This paper reports results of a mixed methods study that examined engineering students’ acquisition of technical communication skills over time. In particular, this exploratory study aimed to identify persistent errors, lingering misconceptions, and challenges engineering students faced when they attempted to apply their knowledge and skills in new contexts. The 12 participants were drawn from engineering courses in which students were required to compose technical memoranda in response to requests for information from supervisors or clients. This integrated approach addresses content and communication in the same course. The study included a longitudinal analysis of four technical memoranda written across two courses and qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with students who wrote these memoranda. The study documented students’ improvement in technical communication over time, from one course to another. The study also found correlations between content knowledge and communication skills. Analysis of qualitative data showed that students bring with them prior knowledge about writing from high school and college courses that may support or interfere with the acquisition of technical writing skills. Insufficient or inaccurate prior knowledge including lack of experience with reporting data or using visual communication tools as well as the literal interpretation of models accounted for persistent errors. Taking “short cuts” was a common theme that led students to ignore effective writing practices, such as planning or revising. The most common misconception students held was the notion that engineering students are “good at math” but “poor at writing.” These results suggest that the acquisition of technical writing skills might be hindered by students’ own self-concepts. Instructors can promote students’ self-efficacy as writers by guiding them to understand that strong writing skills can be acquired with practice
Li, C. Q., & Randi, J., & Sheffield, J. P. (2019, June), An Exploratory Study of Engineering Students’ Misconceptions about Technical Communication Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32061
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2019 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015