Translation for Social Justice and Inclusivity in Technical and Professional Communication: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

Despite growing interests in translating for global reach within technical and professional communication (TPC), no cohesive literature review accounts for this new growth. This article provides an integrative literature review of translation scholarship that emphasizes collaboration with multilingual, multicultural communities when designing global technical communication. Drawing on grounded theory and content analysis, the authors reviewed translation scholarship published in five major TPC journals between 1990 and May 2022. We argue that TPC researchers and practitioners need to adopt more justice-driven research frameworks to better understand the complexities of translation for culturally localized usability, especially in multilingual, multicultural global contexts.