The Evolutionary Convergence of Technical Communication and Translation: An Integrative Literature Review of Scholarship From 2000 to 2022

Abstract

Background and key aims: As a result of economic, social, and technological changes, companies wishing to compete in the global economy see both technical communication and translation as integral to continued relevance. The purpose of our research is to identify the evolutionary convergence of technical communication and translation through an analysis of published academic studies. Method: We conducted an integrative literature review for the period extending from 2000 to 2022. We selected publications from online bibliographic databases and then followed a staged review process aimed at identifying relevant studies. We carried out an overall thematic analysis, complemented by an analysis of subgroups of sources. We also looked at the “initial drivers” behind studies. Then, we explored possibilities for using network visualizations to account for the interaction between papers and the associated relevance both disciplinarily and globally. Results and discussion: The themes of field convergence and localization are represented consistently throughout the two-decade period. The need for virtual team collaboration accelerated during the second decade, largely because of online collaborative projects between students of technical communication and students of translation. Surprisingly, technology was the focus of only a minority of papers. Exploratory use of visualization tools showed that there still is a lack of overlap in terms of scholarly attention across the US and Europe. Conclusions: Our study shows thematic convergence in scholarship in the two disciplines. Future similar studies might gain from using network visualizations to better illustrate the interaction between studies.