Chapter 1: What Are We Really Teaching? Revisiting Technical and Professional Communication�s Pedagogical Training

In technical and professional communication (TPC), a return to researching the service course provides an opportunity to reflect on current instructor training. I contrast the current approaches centered around genre theory with a theoretical orientation that came from this study: workplace phronesis taught through genre ecologies. Based on results from ten instructor interviews and a content analysis of their syllabi, assignment sheets, and feedback on students’ writing, this chapter contrasts instructors’ genrebased approaches to teaching the TPC service course with two experienced instructors’ use of practical wisdom derived from their own workplace practices. Implications include recommendations for connecting the service course with TPC’s content areas, revising the TPC instructor practicum, and encouraging instructors to comment on students’ writing through a content-centric, rather than a genre-centric, lens.