Outstanding Dissertation Award presented to SLALS professor

Natasha Artemeva, an assistant professor in SLALS, has devoted her career in applied language studies to helping engineers communicate. In recognition of her research contributions, Artemeva received the Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication at the National Council of Teachers of English Conference on College Composition and Communication, held Friday, March 23 in New York. The award was based on her PhD dissertation entitled “Becoming an Engineering Communicator: A Study of Novices’ Trajectories in Learning Genres of their Profession.”

Artemeva followed the budding careers of ten engineers [illustrated in case studies accumulated] over an eight-year period. As they moved from university students to seasoned professionals, their familiarity and ability to communicate within the profession was examined. Through her research, Artemeva discovered that a diverse range of experience predicates the development of professional communications skills. In addition to formal instruction, these include understanding audience expectations, having relevant cultural background, personal motivation, and developing self-awareness.

“The study suggests that communication instructors need to extend their pedagogies beyond teaching professional communication conventions and audience awareness and provide classroom contexts that would allow students to experience professional communication in a situated learning environment and develop the understanding of such communication as allowing for flexibility and educated intervention,” said Artemeva.

Artemeva became interested in the research subject when she was first employed at Carleton to design and teach an engineering communication course. Her work grew into a dissertation when she began the doctoral program at McGill University.

She has since authored a series of publications based on her research and collaborated with Aviva Freedman, former professor, SLALS, on a edited collection