TED Talks have these days become a valuable tool for online information dissemination in a wide range of areas of expertise. The use of TED Talks in a course of Technical English offers numerous advantages. TED teaches how to communicate by linking different modes (i.e. the visual, gestural, verbal, written and spatial) to technological production. Students can construct communication when they attentively observe and make meaning from this ensemble of modes which go beyond the verbal. TED Talks might also give rise to different tasks that entail some type of critical multimodal analysis, by which students can study the aptness of modes. They can explore why the speaker says something visually and not verbally, or which mode is best for which purpose. Yet, TED and its zeal for sharing and transmitting ideas to a wide audience should not be regarded as a means incompatible with more traditional models of information. As Jewitt highlights (2005), rather than asking what is best, the book or the screen”, it seems more reasonable to ask “what is best for what purpose”.

中文翻译：

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鼓励工程专业的学生表达他们的想法，值得分享

如今，TED演讲已成为广泛专业领域中在线信息传播的宝贵工具。在技​​术英语课程中使用TED演讲具有许多优势。TED教授如何通过将不同的模式（即视觉，手势，言语，书面和空间）与技术生产联系起来进行交流。当学生认真观察并从语言以外的各种模式中表达意义时，他们便可以构建交流。TED演讲可能还会引发不同的任务，这些任务需要某种类型的批判性多峰分析，通过这些分析，学生可以学习模式的适用性。他们可以探索说话者为什么在视觉上而不是在语言上说些什么，或者哪种模式最适合于此目的。然而，TED及其将思想分享和传播给广大受众的热情不应被视为与更传统的信息模型不兼容的手段。正如Jewitt（2005年）强调的那样，问“什么才是最好的目的”似乎更合理，而不是问什么是最好的，书还是屏幕。