1) Although the definition of “technical writing” is not the subject of this paper, we might do well to look into the subject briefly, noting Prof. Pearsall's definition and Prof. Britton's redefinition.
2) Technical writing (in English) in Japan is of different nature and thus exhibits characteristics different from those of technical writing in America or other English-speaking countries. In Japan, scientists and engineers write English as a learnt foreign language. Moreover, in many cases the original paper is written in Japanese and later translated into English by a scientist or an engineer himself, or by a translator.
3) Since the latest trends and methods of teaching in the U. S. technical writing might be helpful to Japanese teachers in this field in their efforts to improve instruction technique, the author wishes to introduce major points illustrated in :
a) Teaching Technical Writing by Prof. Pearsall.
b) Teaching of Technical Writing edited by Prof. Cunningham and Prof. Estrin.
Another interesting article is c) A Syllabus for a Course in Scientific and Technical Communication by Prof. Sawyer.
This illstrates a practical workshop-centered approach.
4) There are three major institutions in Japan where technical writing in English is taught.
(1) In-house training courses in governmental institutes and enterprises.
(2) Departments of English in universities.
(3) Departments (colleges) of engineering in universities.
(1) is the easiest course to be taught, since trainees are generally ex-science or engineering majors having an above average working command of English. In these courses, report organization and better scientific / technical expressions in English will be the major items in the curricula.
(2) The students generally have a good command of English knowledge. However, their knowledge of science and engineering is generally inadequate. Thus, in addition to the scientific / technical expressions, they must also study the theory and practice of Japanese-English translation. In this case the workshop method is most practical. The study of the philosophy of scienee and technology will also be a major aspect of this course.
(3) The students need, in general, further practice of English composition. They have sufficient knowledge of their major disciplines of science / engineering. But proper report organization in English has to be taught.
5) For all the students of these three major categories of institutions, major emphasis should be placed on the following two points :
) Teaching the art of clear writing.
2) Reading and understanding Japanese texts on scientific and technical subjects-necessity of Japanese-Japanese translation before Japanese-English translation.
6) Another notable trend in tech writing in Japan is the growth of correspondence courses on tech writing and teaching translation.
According to Prof. Stevenson of the University of Michigan, the closed-circuit television service in the College of Engineering (of the University) is now offering a tech writing course via TV to students in nine industrial corporations. This suggests new possibilities in methods of teaching tech writing in Japan.
View full abstract
