What is plain language? (Part Three: Writer outcomes)
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What is plain language? (Part Three: Writer outcomes)

 In the first two posts defining what I mean by “plain language,” I have focused on two points of the rhetorical triangle: textual elements like style and organization (Part One) and reader outcomes like comprehension and usability (Part Two). Now it’s time to tackle the third, the writer’s purpose. This is arguably the aspect of rhetorical context that…

What is plain language? (Part Two: Audience outcomes)
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What is plain language? (Part Two: Audience outcomes)

In Part One of my attempt to explain how I understand plain language, I focused on the elements of a text that must be managed to create a plain language document. Anyone who has known me for long, however, could have predicted that I would talk about the rhetorical context of a high quality document in Part Two. …

How can you sell plain language to your manager?
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How can you sell plain language to your manager?

You’ve heard me talk about my interest in the obstacles to widespread adoption of plain language before.  Over the holidays, I read Joseph Kimble’s Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please. What a terrific compilation of resources for those of us interested in more successful workplace writing! Kimble is a law professor with a long history as…

What makes organizations (un)willing to deliver documents in plain language?
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What makes organizations (un)willing to deliver documents in plain language?

Last week I said I wanted to understand the obstacles to widespread adoption of plain language. This post will explore organizational willingness. I wrote earlier that I intend to study this topic in detail next fall. But, to make the best use of my time, I’d love to hear from those who have been involved in plain language…

If I could say a word about that . . .
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If I could say a word about that . . .

At PRI’s The World in Words, Learning to speak diplomatically is an interesting story about a training course at the United Nations called discourse strategies. It teaches speakers of other languages how to gain the speaker role in English in formal UN meetings. To become pro diplomats, these folks have to interrupt when others are…

Pros know plain language is only one strategy
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Pros know plain language is only one strategy

This week in my class, we begin discussing strategies and tactics for effective leadership communication. The TILL System builds on research in linguistic politeness, identifying four strategies as shown in the figure above. The strategies differ in the degree of clarity with which they deliver a message. Because efficiency is so highly valued in Western cultures…

Amateurs want algorithms, but pros use heuristics
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Amateurs want algorithms, but pros use heuristics

Yesterday, over at As a Linguist, Leonore Rodrigues pointed out an interesting writing challenge for international students studying in the US. What do you think the greatest obstacle is for non-native English speakers who must write academic essays at US colleges/universities? It is NOT use of idioms, vocabulary, or English grammar.  It relates to cultural genre differences in content development…

Pros use language to manage rapport
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Pros use language to manage rapport

My students have demonstrated they understand how to identify the rhetorical context of management messages at this point. (I hope to have a couple of guest posts based on their first exam in a few days.) Now we start analyzing the linguistic details of communication behavior. Last week, I introduced them to some concepts from linguistic pragmatics…

Pros plan message organization strategically
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Pros plan message organization strategically

This post follows up on a couple of earlier ones about a letter soliciting sponsorships for an outdoor sign at The First Tee of Tuscaloosa. Pros don’t settle for platitudes about audience described the principled way in which we analyzed our audience.  Pros plan message content strategically described how we developed the content for the first draft. This one describes…