| This study examines the role of World Englishes in international technical communication education in the United States academy. As the technical communicator's primary tool, the English language plays an important but problematic role in software internationalization. This role has not been sufficiently examined in programs for the training of US native English-speaking students being prepared for international technical communication. The study is motivated by two factors:;First, US technical communication scholars have only recently begun to pay close attention to the problems of translating technical documents and manuals across boundaries of national culture and language. So far, the tendency has been to assume US ("American") culture and American Standard English as the norm and to identify typical problems that occur when non-native speakers of English translate product users' manuals and other documents for use by Americans.;Second, efforts at educating students neglect the study of how English is used globally, which deprives them of the opportunity to widen their worldviews and self-perceptions as speakers of English. All this has been happening in spite of claims that American students are all too often miserably unaware of linguistic diversity and the range of differences within the English language. Furthermore, they do not recognize that American English can be highly idiomatic and, therefore, potentially confusing in a wider international context. They are not provoked to question the taken-for-granted status of their variety of English and to interrogate how the language affects technical discourse.;Through a classroom-based qualitative research, the study explores the perceptions of 30 native US English-speaking students about the role of the English language in the production and dissemination of technical discourse to international audiences (the "other"). The findings reveal that the students experienced attitudinal changes when exposed to other varieties of English. The main conclusion of the study is that introducing the World Englishes paradigm into training programs could help students internationalize their learning experiences. |
