Engineering Discourse

After reading Writing about Writing by Elizabeth Wardle, I think one of the most important aspects of the readings was Wenger’s theories about identity within the workplace. Wenger proposes three models: engagement, imagination and alignment. Engagement is the idea of having a common experience and meaningful relationships in the workplace. Imagination is the idea that within the larger structure of the workplace you can create your own work while still contributing to the group. Finally, Alignment is the incorporation of both engagement and imagination to be successful and create an individual identity in a workplace.

I thought this passage was important because in my opinion it is a very accurate description of the socialization going on in the workplace. Wardle’s writing relates to the idea of discourse communities because she points out the ways we learn the language in the workplace. For me discourse is acquired through socialization and I think that is the point she is trying to make. This article suggests to me that learning to write in my profession will be largely dictated in the workplace. It suggests that although you learn important things in your educational training, much of what you need to know to be successful in the workplace will be learned in the workplace.

The Johnson, Clark, and Burton article is writing from a students perspective. It is a conversation about students learning how to write in different disciplines so as to help each other. The Windsor article is approached differently as a factual account of how engineers write. She talks about how engineering is typically regarded as a very tangible field and how there is usually difficulty within the community to put observations into words. However they are both talking about how discourse is acquired within the engineering discipline.