The Trans-Atlantic and Pacific Project

How can instructors of writing give their students experience in preparing texts for translation and localization and working with translators? Similarly, how can instructors of translation give their students experience at working with source texts and their authors, most of whom are subject matter experts but not experts in writing? The network of partners participating in the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project establishes links between students in different countries so that each learns from the other. In so doing, students become aware of the diversity of the world community in which their documents travel.

Launched in the 1999-2000 academic year, the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project (TAPP) has developed into a complex educational network of bilateral writing-translation projects, bilateral translation-editing projects (since 2001), and multilateral projects, including usability testing (since 2010).  Across more than two decades of operation, the TAPP network has over time connected classes in writing, usability testing, and/or translation at 49 universities in 21 countries across 5 continents. TAPP's main aim is to share insights into collaborative writing across borders and cultures, and, in the course of this work, to gain knowledge of others' cultural bases.

For more information about the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project, please contact Ashleigh Petts at pettsa@uhd.edu or Mary McCall at Mary.McCall@ndsu.edu.

Current Network of Participating Instructors and Institutions 

The TAPP at UHD

Prof. Ashleigh Petts (NDSU PhD 2020), assistant professor at the University of Houston—Downtown, has served as worldwide coordinator since August 2022. 

As of Autumn 2022, UHD instructors teaching the following courses have participated in TAPP’s international collaborative projects: ·

• TCOM 3302: Business and Technical Report Writing
• TCOM 3329: Environmental Writing 
• TCOM 3339: Digital Media Theory 
• TCOM 6318: Stylistics & Editing

Publications about the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project

(arranged in reverse chronological order)

Arnó Macià, Elisabet, Suvi Isohella, Mary McCall, Daniel Kenzie, and Bruce Maylath. "Designing Telecollaborative Projects for Professional Communication and User Experience." Journal of Universal Computer Science 27.5 (2021): 450-471. 

Verzella, Massimo, Elisabet Arnó Macià, and Bruce Maylath. "Engineers Taking a Stance on Technical Communication: Peer Review of Oral Presentations via the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 64 (2021): 66-83 

Filipović, Jelena, Greta Goetz, and Ana S. Jovanović, editors.Teaching and Learning to Co-Create. Palgrave/Macmillan, 2021.

      Part II: Trans-Atlantic and Pacific Project (TAPP): Community-based Knowledge Production

      Goetz, Greta, and Ashleigh Petts, “Assembling a Relational Self: A Generative Dialogue Between Practicing and Theorizing."

      Šuković, Tijana, and Jelena Milanović, “Academic Growth Through Collaborative Writing."

      Čučković, Milijana, and Tijana Kostić, “Changing Places: Conversion from the Perspective of a TAPP Course Participant to the Perspective of an Academic Researcher."

      Živanović, Jana, and Tatjana Ristić, “Personal Growth and Communication in Intercultural Collaboration."

      Jovanović, Ana S., and Greta Goetz, “Teleological Fictions: Making Up the Ends of a Networked Course."

Noronha Cunha Suzana, Graça Bigotte Chorão, Manuel Moreira Silva, and Sandra Ribeiro. “Cultural Awareness and Distance Communication: A Project-Based Intervention in Higher Education Environments." Developing Technology Mediation in Learning Environments, edited by Filomena Soares, Ana Paul Lopes, Ken, Brown, and Anne Uukkivi. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2020, pp. 117-128.

Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara. “Identity Dynamics in Student Contacts with Foreign Languages and Culture.” Society and Languages in the Third Millennium: Communication, Education, Translation, edited by E. W. Popova. Moscow: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, 2019, pp.153-177

Arnó-Macià, Elisabet, Sonia Vandepitte, Patricia Minacori, Maria Teresa Musacchio, Joleen Hanson, and Bruce Maylath. "A Multilingual Background for Telecollaboration: Practices and Policies in European Higher Education."European Journal of Language Policy 11.2 (2019): 235-225.

Mousten, Birthe, Sonia Vandepitte, Elisabet Arnó, and Bruce Maylath, editors. Multilingual Writing and Pedagogical Cooperation in Virtual Learning Environments. IGI Global, 2018.

      TAPP-related chapters:

      Ch.    1, Tommaso, Laura, and Massimo Verzella. “Fostering Audience Awareness and Iterative Collaboration for the Creation of Texts: An Online Trans-Cultural Writing Project between Theory and Practice."

      Ch.    2, Steinmann, Heather, and Ruslan T. Saduov. “Co-Writing and Cross-Cultural Networking: An Experiential Learning Case Study."

      Ch.    4, Minacori, Patricia. “Meta-Knowledge on the TAPP and ORLIMPA Projects: Students and Their Blogs."

      Ch.    5, Palumbo, Giuseppe, and Ann Hill Duin. “Making Sense of Virtual Collaboration Through Personal Learning Networks."

      Ch.   13, Tzoannopoulou, Marina, and Bruce Maylath. “Virtual Networks in English-for-Specific-Purposes Education: A Translation-Reviewing/Editing Model."

      Ch.   14, Isohella, Suvi. “Incorporating International Collaboration and Usability Evaluation Into a Technical Communication Course."

      Ch.   15, Laursen, Anne Lisa, and Birthe Mousten. “Code Glossing as a Strategy for Writing and Translation: Exploration Through English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Danish."

Verzella, Massimo. “Inviting the Stranger: Building Pedagogical practice on the Foundations of Cosmopolitan Thought." Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies 4.3 (2018): 693-713.

Verzella, Massimo. “Making Culture Relevant in Technical Translation with Dynamic Equivalence: The Case of Bilingual Instructions." Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization 10.1 (2017): 54-77.

Verzella, Massimo. “An Ethical Rationale for the Teaching of English as a Lingua Franca in Professional Communication Courses." Connexions: International Professional Communication Journal 5.2 (2017): 1-29.

Steinmann, Heather, Ruslan Saduov, Bruce Maylath. "Learning across borders: A teaching case connecting writing students internationally." Konin Language Studies 3 (2016): 271-287. 

Vandepitte, Sonia. “Collaboration in Translation Practices in Dutch-speaking Areas." Konin Language Studies 3 (2016): 289-304. 

Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, Barbara, and Heather A. Slomski. “Collaboration in Language Development between American and Polish University Students." Konin Language Studies 3 (2016): 305-329. 

Vandepitte, Sonia, Bruce Maylath, Birthe Mousten, Suvi Isohella, and Patricia Minacori. "Multilateral Collaboration between Technical Communicators and Translators: A Case Study of New Technologies and Processes." The Journal of Specialised Translation 26 (2016): 3-19. 

Lisaité, Donata, Sonia Vandepitte, Bruce Maylath, Birthe Mousten, Susana Valdez, Maria Castel-Branco, and Patricia Minacori. "Negotiating Meaning at a Distance: Peer Feedback in Electronic Learning Translation Environments." Translation and Meaning. Ed. Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Łukasz Bogucki. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2016. 99-113. Łódź Studies in Language, New Series, vol. 1.

Verzella, Massimo, and Andrew Mara. "Translocal Pragmatics: Operationalizing Postnational Heuristics to Locate Salient Cultural Overlap." Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization 7.1 (2015): 12-28.

Sorensen, Karen, Steven Hammer, and Bruce Maylath. "Synchronous and Asynchronous Online International Collaboration: The Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project." Connexions: International Professional Communication Journal 3.1 (2015): 153-177.

Vandepitte, Sonia, Birthe Mousten, Bruce Maylath, Suvi Isohella, Maria Teresa Musacchio, and Giuseppe Palumbo. "Translation Competence Research Data in Multilateral International and Interprofessional Collaborative Learning." Teaching Language Translation and Interpretation: Methods, Theories, and Trends. Ed. Ying Cui and Wei Zhao. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2015. 137-159

Mousten, Birthe, and Gunta Locele. "Knowledge Representation in Travelling Texts: From Mirroring to Missing the Point!" Journal of Organizational Knowledge Communication 1.1 (2014): 62-82.

Verzella, Massimo, and Laura Tommaso. "Learning to Write for an International Audience through Cross-cultural Collaboration and Text-negotiation." Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education 21 (2014): 310-321.

Hammer, Steven, and Bruce Maylath. "Real Time and Social Media in Trans-Atlantic Writing/Translation and Translation/Editing Projects." Emerging Pedagogies in the Networked Knowledge Society: Practices Integrating Social Media and Globalization.  Ed. Marohang Limbu and Binod Gurung. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2014. 144-161.

Maylath, Bruce, Tym King, and Elisabet Arnó Macià. "Linking Engineering Students in Spain and Technical Writing Students in the US as Coauthors: The Challenge and Outcomes of Subject-Matter Experts and Language Specialists Collaborating Internationally." Connexions: International Professional Communication Journal 1.2 (2013): 150-185.

Maylath, Bruce, Sonia Vandepitte, Patricia Minacori, Suvi Isohella, Birthe Mousten, and John Humbley. "Managing Complexity: A Technical Communication/Translation Case Study in Multilateral International Collaboration." Technical Communication Quarterly 22 (2013): 67-84.

Mousten, Birthe, John Humbley, Bruce Maylath, Sonia Vandepitte. "Communicating Pragmatics about Content and Culture in Virtually Mediated Educational Environments." Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments. Ed. Kirk St. Amant and Sigrid Kelsey. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2012. 312-327.

Mousten, Birthe, Bruce Maylath, Sonia Vandepitte, and John Humbley. "Learning Localization through Trans-Atlantic Collaboration: Bridging the Gap between Professions." IEEE-Transactions on Professional Communication 53 (2010): 401-411.

Mousten, Birthe, Bruce Maylath, and John Humbley. "Pragmatic Features in the Language of Cross-Cultural Virtual Teams: A Roundtable Discussion of Student-to-Student Discourse in International Collaborative Project." Reconceptualizing LSP. Online proceedings of the XVII European Language for Specific Purposes Symposium 2009. Ed. Carmen Heine and Jan Engberg. Århus, Denmark: 2010. Web.

Maylath, Bruce, Sonia Vandepitte, and Birthe Mousten. "Growing Grassroots Partnerships: Trans-Atlantic Collaboration between American Instructors and Students of Technical Writing and European Instructors and Students of Translation," Ch. 4 in Designing Globally Networked Learning Environments: Visionary Partnerships, Policies, and Pedagogies. Eds. Doreen Stärke-Meyerring and Melanie Wilson. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008. 52-66.

Mousten, Birthe, Sonia Vandepitte, and Bruce Maylath. "Intercultural Collaboration in the Trans-Atlantic Project: Pedagogical Theories and Practices in Teaching Procedural Instructions across Cultural Contexts," Ch. 9 in Designing Globally Networked Learning Environments: Visionary Partnerships, Policies, and Pedagogies. Eds. Doreen Stärke-Meyerring and Melanie Wilson. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008. 129-144.

Humbley, John, Bruce Maylath, Birthe Mousten, Sonia Vandepitte, and Lucy Veisblat "Learning Localization through Trans-Atlantic Collaboration." Proceedings of the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, 10-13 July 2005, U of Limerick, Ireland. Ed. George F. Hayhoe. New York: IEEE, 2005. 578-595.

For more information about the Trans-Atlantic & Pacific Project, please contact Ashleigh Petts at pettsa@uhd.edu or Mary McCall at Mary.McCall@ndsu.edu.

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