Thomas Orr

Genre in the field of computer science and computer engineering

Based on a study of nearly 200 international faculty in the field of computer science and computer engineering, roughly 90 written genres in the computing discipline are identified and organized according to five central aims in the profession: generation, procuration, dissemination, evaluation, and regulation. The importance of writing in the field is discussed, and recommendations for further research follow to encourage greater breadth and depth in the identification and study of generic corpora characteristic of specific professional communities. Benefits of such research assist students preparing to enter a profession, working professionals wishing to improve their writing in a profession, and writing specialists who offer training or editorial services for a profession.

A Framework for Collaborative Learning in Dynamic Group Environments.

In this article, we propose a framework for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) employing dynamic groups, where at different stages students work independently, interact with each other in pairs, and conduct joint work in larger groups with varying numbers of participants. A Dynamic Group Environment for Collaborative Learning (DGE/CL) supports students in making informed and intelligent choices about how, when, and with whom to collaborate. This is a face-to-face collaborative environment, where all students are in the same room, can move freely around and interact with each other while using digitally enhanced printed materials with direct point-and-click functionality. Flexible and efficient support for dynamic group management is ensured through the adopted Cluster Pattern Interface (CLUSPI) technology, which, while preserving the original touch-and-feel of printed educational materials, supports additional affordances and allows employment of new, nontraditional paper-based interactions.

Oral presentations in international contexts: published advice, actual practice, problematic issues

In this paper, we describe the initial research and results of a project designed to investigate the literature and practice of oral presentations in international contexts, where the language of delivery is English and the presenters or members of the audience include nonnative speakers. Advice from books and journal articles on oral presentations, published in English or Japanese, was gathered and compared, and then contrasted with observations made on actual presentations by computer science faculty. The research revealed where similarities and differences exist among the publications, as well as where similarities and differences exist when compared to actual practice. General guidelines for making successful oral presentations were generated, along with a list of problematic issues, which require further investigation.

Assessment in Professional Communication

The assessment of engineering products and services is central to the work of engineering, but the evaluation of human communication and its development in engineering and other technical professions has not yet received enough attention in IEEE research and publications. This special section begins to remedy this situation by calling for more research in the assessment of professional communication skills and training programs as well as in the development of better assessment tools and procedures. It features four new articles on the topic in the hope that these will inspire even more research related to the assessment of human communication in scientific and technical professions.

Survey of workplace english needs among computer science graduates

This paper reports the results of a November 2008 survey sent to 899 Japanese college graduates of computer science and computer engineering courses regarding their use of English in the workplace since graduating from the university. The results, based on a 17.4 % response rate, indicate that the most frequent English-language tasks for computer specialists in the professional workplace in Japan are the reading of manuals and instructions (for installation, etc.), and the writing of email, faxes, and business letters. English-language speaking and listening tasks are reported by respondents to be not as common in the workplace as English-language writing and reading tasks. Findings suggest that academic institutions training engineers in non-English-language environments should avoid an institutional bias toward English for research purposes by balancing curricula between future professional and workplace needs of the majority of graduates and the needs of faculty for trained graduate students within the academy.

Enhancing Paper Documents with Direct Access to Multimedia for More Intelligent Support of Reading

This paper presents a brief overview of recent technologies that connect multimedia to paper and then identifies features and functionalities desirable for the support of reading. An innovative cluster pattern interface (CLUSPIreg) is described, along with its potential for addressing the specific needs of readers of paper documents. We argue that by identifying and properly addressing the specific information needs of readers of paper documents based on reader requirements found in research literature, advanced levels of support can be accomplished with innovative technological achievements, which can provide a more intelligent way to improve a readers engagement with paper text

Signaling Transitions in Oral Presentations: Language and Strategies

One of the key elements of a successful presentation is the smooth and clear linking of ideas in and between slides. To achieve this, a presenter needs to know the appropriate language and effective strategies for signaling transitions. With the aim of providing better guidance on signaling transitions in presentations, in this study we will first review the advice given in popular self-help guides aimed at native and nonnative speakers of English. Next, we will compare this advice with the actual language and strategies used by experienced presenters at international conferences through an analysis of presentation transcripts and video footage. Finally, we will discuss some of the implications of this research for instructors of scientific and technical presentation courses.

Q&A: Published Advice vs. Real-World Difficulties

In order to assess how real-world problems in the Q&A segments of international conference presentations are being addressed in English and Japanese self-help guides, the advice given in fifteen English and seven Japanese books were compared with actual difficulties identified in nine transcribed conference presentations. Results show that the English self-help guides virtually ignore the language difficulties encountered by non-native speakers. The Japanese self-help guides, on the other hand, almost completely ignore strategies for a successful Q&A session, instead focusing on set phrases and sentences that appear to have limited value in real-world settings. Recommendations for more appropriate instructions are then provided

Introduction to the Special Issue: Insights From Corpus Linguistics for Professional Communication

This brief editorial describes the field of professional communication, comments on its evolution, and then explains how research and findings in corpus linguistics can aid in enriching the field of professional communication even further. Four articles and two tutorials, representative of studies and applications in corpus linguistics, are then presented in a brief preview.

Constructing a corpus of fundamental engineering English for nonnative speakers

The paper describes the research methodologies and results of a project designed to identify the most fundamental English of engineering for university students and working professionals who do not speak English natively and require special training in the English of engineering discourse. Jointly funded by a major Japanese publisher and a nonprofit organization (NPO) for language testing, this project employed a wide range of high- and low-tech data gathering and analysis techniques to identify crucial engineering English vocabulary and present it in a format most suitable for study by nonnative speakers. Initial research results have been incorporated into a new English language test of fundamental engineering English for the Japanese market and are also scheduled for publication in a textbook. Continuing research is underway on larger projects with other researchers for international markets.