Author Description

Business and professional communication takes place in dynamic, ever-changing contexts. How can we best help students prepare to communicate in such a challenging environment? The traditional pedagogies of the twentieth century--in-class lectures, printed quizzes, and timed exams--have not kept up with new demands for student engagement. Business Communication: Rhetorical Situations supports more interactive and collaborative pedagogies to motivate students. How is this book different? Each chapter has two or three brief business case-like stories--which the authors call rhetorical situations--that challenge students to apply the business communication concepts they are learning to a specific set of circumstances. These narratives present problems to students that are drawn from real-life communication situations, and they invite students to think through a communication situation and take action. After each case, challenges and exercises provide more opportunities for students to analyze and reflect on business documents and practice the skills discussed in the case themselves. Throughout, rhetorical concepts such as audience, genre, and purpose are central, and collaboration and creativity are encouraged.