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Although writing centers based on the US model are now widespread at German universities, they are still in the process of being established and institutionalized. This article (Roles and Possibilities of Influence of Writing Centers at German Universities. First Results of a Germany-wide Survey) explores the question of what role writing centers currently play at German universities after the expiry of the Quality Pact for Teaching, which facilitated their rise, and how they are institutionally positioned as actors. The article presents the initial results of a survey conducted in spring 2023 among writing centers at German universities, in which 77 of 146 existing centers participated. Data is presented on the institutional placement of the centers, the range of services offered, target groups, advice provided to university management, research activities, participation in internal decisions, and staffing. The aim of this article is to provide an empirically based stocktaking of the status of writing centers in Germany.

Recently writing centers are expanding to Asian higher education contexts. However, there is a scarcity of research from writing centers in Asian settings and from non-native English speaker (NNES) tutor perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to enrich understandings of the challenges and expectations perceived by NNES tutors during tutoring writing sessions with intermediate level Japanese EFL (English as Foreign Language) students. A qualitative approach was employed utilizing two data collection methods: 16 interviews with writing tutors, and two quasi-focus groups. Thematic analysis of the data revealed five major categories for challenges perceived by NNES tutors: miscommunication, student silence, mismatched expectations, interpretation of teacher feedback and error correction. It is argued that these are the main challenges that EFL writing tutors face and hence indicate the necessity to train tutors how to deal with them. The implications for creating Asian writing centers and tutor training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the effectiveness of classroom-based student writing tutors with discipline-specific backgrounds as adjunct collaborators in supporting non-native English-speaking writing teachers in the disciplines. In this qualitative study, the participants' perceptions of this collaborative instructional model were evaluated through a thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with the participating students, in-class writing tutors, and writing instructors from two disciplinespecific writing courses. The findings highlighted the perceived benefits of this collaborative teaching with discipline-specific tutors and their involvement as the "pedagogical bridge" to overcome language teachers' insufficiency of disciplinary content knowledge. The findings also pointed to pedagogical challenges concerning writing variations within the same discipline and students' need for linguistic knowledge rather than discipline-specific content knowledge. Based on these findings, this study concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications for the effective training of discipline-based tutor collaboration and the future implementation of discipline-based writing curricula across disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the creation of bilingual spaces, focusing on writing centers as facilitators of academic dialogue regarding academic writing and culture. The writing centers of Pontifical Javeriana University and Florida International University jointly explore how these centers can serve as bridges to promote effective communication and cultural exchange in educational environments where different languages coexist. The analysis addresses the significance of these spaces in fostering linguistic diversity and the impact on academic development. Este artículo reflexiona sobre la creación de espacios bilingües, centrándose en los Centros de Escritura como facilitadores del diálogo académico en torno a la escritura académica y la cultura. Los Centros de Escritura de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana y de la Universidad Internacional de Florida exploran conjuntamente cómo estos centros pueden servir de puentes para promover la comunicación efectiva y el intercambio cultural en entornos educativos donde coexisten diferentes lenguas. El análisis aborda la importancia de estos espacios en el fomento de la diversidad lingüística y su impacto en el desarrollo académico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Writing center scholars have long debated whether writers are best served by "generalist" tutors trained in writing center pedagogy or "specialist" tutors with insider knowledge about a course's content or discipline-specific discourse conventions. A potential compromise that has emerged is training tutors in the purposes and features of specific genres. The writing center literature showcases many different approaches to genre training. However, little empirical research, if any, has explored how tutors' genre knowledge affects session outcomes. The present study used a mixed-methods approach to compare session outcomes for students who worked with generalist and genre-trained tutors. We analyzed pre-consultation and revised literature review drafts to determine whether students who worked with tutors trained in the genre of literature reviews improved their drafts more or revised their drafts differently than students who worked with generalist tutors. Additionally, we performed a qualitative analysis of student reflections about their writing processes to explore how tutor training impacts students' impressions of their consultations. Findings indicated that students who worked with genre-trained tutors revised their drafts more substantively than did students who worked with generalist tutors. Moreover, students who worked with genre-trained tutors left with notably better and richer impressions of their consultations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this exploratory study, we took as our point of departure Lori Salem's (2016) call to investigate the factors that affect students' decisions to visit the writing center. Rather than exploring student decision-making through a sociological lens, as Salem does, we drew on insights from social psychology to understand students' motivations. We explored two self-theories drawn from social psychology that are associated with students' academic achievement and with students' help-seeking: (1) implicit beliefs about intelligence or "mindsets"; and (2) sense of belonging. Using questions from previously validated scales, we measured first-year students' mindsets and sense of belonging and tested the relationships between these self-theories and students' visits to the writing center. We found correlations between students' mindsets and their willingness to seek support, but the relationships differed between minoritized students and comparison students. Although the numbers are modest, we noted a difference in the relationship between sense of belonging and writing center visits for minoritized students. Our study suggests areas for future research, which has the potential to change the way that writing centers conduct outreach to students and has possible implications both for our marketing efforts and tutor training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial for writing center professionals who discuss community to ask ourselves what we mean by the term as applied to writing centers. In this keynote, I explore various notions of community that are influenced by writing center growth, expansion, and complexity, especially in relation to Iowa's writing center. After relating a personal story about our new tutors' traditional notion of community and an account of our own center's expansion and growing complexity over the decades, which challenges their traditional notion, I discuss other obstacles to community, bringing in the critiques of writing center scholars. Finally, I synthesize what I consider to be the most important bases on which to build writing center community today, focusing on the special I-Thou relationships writing center tutors form with students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the concept of transformative listening by García (2017) that views listening as a form of decolonial work that must take place in writing centers, the article examines colonial thinking and contingency as toxic preexisting conditions of writing center ecology that hinder our ability to listen to marginalized multilingual voices. Recognizing the commonality between multilingualism and contingency, both as ignored marginalized intersecting identities in the hierarchy of the racialized and corporatized university system, the article describes the complexity of engaging contingent workers in decolonial work and listening. Further, it argues that contingency creates significant barriers to the type of antiracist and decolonial work that García calls for that cultivates transformative listening. The article proposes specific types of collaborative training and partnerships that writing centers should invest in to foster decolonial listening and work while addressing the material constraints faced by contingent faculty and staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University libraries are stereotyped as a quiet space for studying and reading in the stacks, but they can be a vibrant hub for learning and play, especially when they contain writing centers, tutoring programs, and other support structures for students. At our university, the writing center and student success office are housed in the main library location. Efforts are made by these offices to engage students, who regularly use the library to study, with their services. Due to the physical boundaries and location within the library, students seem to intentionally come to the physical location to utilize only one of the services, either the writing center, tutoring, or the library’s physical space and resources. We have tried to add playful elements to the liminal space between the library and the writing center’s boundaries by using a variety of attention-grabbing activities to encourage students to engage with both services and support their own well-being. While these activities generate some level of engagement, some work better than others because the activity encourages participation between students, writing center staff, and library staff. Creating elements of play with liminal space and within the library contributes to keeping the atmosphere of the library vibrant, social, and engaging.

Writing centers seek to expand their services beyond tutoring and develop evidence-based practices. Continuing and expanding the existing practices, the authors have adopted graduate writing groups (GWGs) to support graduate writers, especially those working on independent writing projects like a dissertation or article for publication. This article provides an effective model on how to develop and assess virtual graduate writing groups (VGWGs). This replicable, aggregable, and data- supported (RAD) research applied a mixed-methods design with pre- and postsurveys over the three semesters of running the VGWG. It found that the VGWG offered a full range of writing support that met graduate writers' needs for time-based, skill-based, draft-based, and emotion-based support. Specifically, the VGWG significantly improved students' approaches to writing in five key areas--goal setting, focusing on dissertation writing, generating plans for writing sessions, writing productivity, and writing progress. Therefore, this study contributes robust empirical validation of this model, suggesting that VGWG is an effective method to support graduate writers and expand writing center services. Also, the authors provide a useful model on how writing centers can effectively assess through pre- and post-surveys in a straightforward manner, an assessment model that has both internal and external benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I reflect on efforts to revise the instruction and evaluation of an undergraduate writing consultant education course. The revisions are motivated by the desire to adopt practices that reflect the writing center’s commitment to social justice for multilingual/translingual students and by a commitment to provide an effective, flexible, and brave environment for writing consultants to continue their professional development. I argue that grounding understanding of multilingual writers in concepts that explicitly explore linguistic diversity and standardized 1 English ideologies as threshold concepts is essential to reconceptualize writing center practices. I also argue for the necessity of adopting a flexible system for reflection, engagement, and evaluation to support writing consultants’ learning and practice. I share prompts used in the course and some of the responses they generated. The responses suggest that although combining threshold concepts with a portfolio system is successful in supporting inclusive practices, there remains a need to expand more inclusive practices across the university.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional approaches to education and forced educators to adopt and adapt technologies to allow institutions to remain open, offer courses and other services to enable students to continue their education. This rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world. In this paper we discuss the transition of a face-to-face university writing center to a synchronous online writing center that is hosted in the videoconferencing application Zoom. In doing this we explain the rationale that informed our thinking throughout the transition process and how sound pedagogical principles and a focus on the student experience guided our decision-making. Preliminary findings regarding how self-regulated learning was maintained and nurtured in the virtual writing center are presented and discussed.

This paper reveals the importance of overcoming writer’s block for university researchers as second language writers. The idea and materials for the paper come from the experience of the Center for Academic Writing “Impulse” at the University of Tyumen, Russia. The target audience of the Center is the university faculty and researchers who have a lack of time to immerse in the writing process, rather they mainly want to obtain an immediate tangible result. However, our research shows that they often get frustrated by their inability to complete their writing piece because they get stuck at different stages of the writing process. For example, some people find it difficult to finish their papers, or others fade away in the middle, but the main problem is to start writing. Thus, they face writer’s block which can be referred to moderate blockage. To overcome the block, we offer the researchers a variety of activities during courses and special projects. This paper describes two strategies: classroom intervention including mainly pre-writing activities, such as freewriting, looping, word association, aimed to overcome the fear of a white page, and individualized intervention based on the project entitled “Drop in & Reboot your Writing”. The project comprised 10-20 weekly individual meetings lasting for 30 minutes and aiming at dealing with a particular writing issue. The individual approach to each participant led to a better understanding of the causes of writer’s block and finding the cures. These strategies aim to develop researchers’ positive attitude to writing, to enable them to boost their awareness of the writing process in receiving the desired results, and build confidence as second language writers.

Acquisition of academic vocabulary is paramount to students’ success in academic life, as well as for the process of writing publishable papers in English so that research can be shared more broadly (NAGY; TOWNSEND 2012; PAQUOT, 2014). While in countries such as The U.S. and England the practice of offering Writing Centers for academic writing thrives, the initiative is still quite shy in Brazil (CONS 2020), though some Writing Centers around the country have recently started to operate. The aim of this paper is to report how the training activities of the Writing Center at University of Caxias do Sul – UCS Writing Center - use the Corpus Linguistics approach (BERBER-SARDINHA 2004) to enhance acquisition of academic vocabulary, therefore providing better academic writing skills to professors and students of the institution and the community it targets. The article contextualizes the Writing Center within the University and presents a series of activities which were designed based on research of Corpus Linguistics’ application to the teaching and learning of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The activities provide specific instances of how Corpus Linguistics resources can be an invaluable asset for the improvement of vocabulary in academic writing in English, being especially useful for researchers who wish to upgrade the quality of the language used in their international publications.

This article contributes to the ongoing discussion of student characteristics and usage/nonusage patterns in the writing center. Using a sample of 107 economics students from a selective, bilingual liberal arts program in Russia, the author finds statistically significant relationships among GPA, gender, English- language proficiency, and writing center usage. Namely, writing center usage predicts higher GPA and closes two achievement gaps related to gender and English proficiency. These findings complicate the picture presented by Lori Salem (2016), whose research showed gender, low SAT score, and being an English language learner to be strong predictors of writing center usage and produced a lively discussion about whether traditional writing center methods could be failing the students most likely to use the service. The present study suggests that while users may have less systemic social privilege, they also tend to be stronger students. As such, interventions should take care not only to address the needs of the students who actually visit but explore barriers to writing center access for nonvisiting students who are at the highest risk of dropping out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Writing centers (WC) as a writing consultation would help students complete their scientific writing and improve their non-technical skills. This study aimed to determine the effect of WC on students' teamwork abilities. Data Collection Methods. This research is a cross-sectional descriptive and explorative study. The quantitative method measured students' teamwork utilizing the Teamwork Skills Questionnaire at three points of collection. The qualitative method collected data from in-depth interviews. Both types of data came from peer-consultants (PC) and users of WC services. Data Analysis. Quantitative data analysis used the repeated measure of one-way ANOVA, and qualitative data analysis used the content analysis. Results and Discussion. We found that the p-value is 0.857 for the PC and 0.044 for the user from the data analysis. Results showed a significant increase in the user's teamwork ability. Although the quantitative results of the PC were not significant, from the qualitative analysis, PCs explained that the WC could train teamwork indirectly through communication skills, adaptation, leadership, and collaboration. Conclusion. The teamwork skills that students have before and after the WC program was categorized as high. WC had a subtle influence on the teamwork ability of the PC and its users. We suggest that the university elaborate the WC as one of the students' services.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development and assessment of learning support environments for academic writing that utilize ICT, such as e-learning and online tutoring, in Japanese higher education. First, the authors introduce the design of an e-learning writing program for the Japanese language and assess whether the program is an effective learning support tool for undergraduates. Second, the authors analyze and assess online tutoring support for academic writing and clarify the merits and disadvantages of online and offline tutoring at writing centers, then suggest instructional strategies by analyzing the writing tutoring process. Design/methodology/approach - The authors adopted e-learning goals to assess its effectiveness. The authors asked the participants questions they could answer from five-point scales, conducted a paired t-test, and included a free description-type questionnaire. Then, to assess online tutoring, the 12 students took pre- and post-test questionnaires, after which the authors conducted a Wilcoxon signed rank test. In addition, the authors carried out a Kruskal–Wallis rank sum test in order to confirm differences in satisfaction level and the effectiveness of face-to-face tutoring and online tutoring. Findings - By analyzing the pre- and post-test results, the t-test confirmed that the students found the e-learning system to be effective for nurturing academic literacy. This means the system is appropriate as a support tool for nurturing academic writing, especially writing knowledge and rules, and university must provide a comprehensive learning support environment including e-learning. Next, the authors found no statistically significant difference between face-to-face and online tutoring, although some problems with the writing process remained. So online tutoring has opportunity to promote autonomous learning. The research results make it clear that because of writing centers’ potential and their effectiveness in utilizing ICT tools. Originality/value - Research findings about academic writing are to improve the tutoring process and writing strategies, such as the use of ICT for academic writing support like e-learning, online tutoring, do not exist. To provide learning opportunity to learners and promote autonomous learning, e-learning and online tutoring are important. For the reasons noted above, it is necessary to provide an alternative writing support environment to students in Japan. Therefore, the authors report on and assess the development of learning support environments for e-learning programs and online tutoring for academic writing at the undergraduate level in Japan.

Copyright of International Journal of Foreign Languages / Revista Internacional de Lenguas Extranjeras is the property of Universitat Rovira I Virgili and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Handwriting is a complex activity including motor planning and visuomotor integration and referring to some brain areas identified as “writing centers.” Although temporal features of handwriting are as important as spatial ones, to our knowledge, there is no evidence of the description of specific brain areas associated with handwriting tempo. People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) show handwriting impairments that are mainly referred to as the temporal features of the task. The aim of this work was to assess differences in the brain activation pattern elicited by handwriting between PwMS and healthy controls (HC), with the final goal of identifying possible areas specific for handwriting tempo. Subjects were asked to write a sentence at their spontaneous speed. PwMS differed only in temporal handwriting features from HC and showed reduced activation with a subset of the clusters observed in HC. Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed between handwriting temporal parameters and the activity in the brain areas resulting from the contrast analysis, HC > PwMS. We found that the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) negatively correlated with the duration of the sentence, indicating that the higher the right IPL activity, the faster the handwriting performance. We propose that the right IPL might be considered a “writing tempo center.”

Dr. Travis Webster's monograph reports on qualitative research conducted into the working lives of 20 LGBTQIA-identifying writing center directors. From those interviews, Webster identifies three features of LGBTQIA writing center administrative labor: the unique capital with which their identities equip them, the activist labor that their identities call them to perform, and tensions between their labor and identities. He calls on writing center professionals and higher education administrators to become accomplices in the struggle against workplace injustices, moving beyond allyship that is all too often based in kind words rather than sustained action. The insights available in this book are valuable to anyone in higher education administration as they work to build more inclusive and welcoming spaces for LGBTQIA- identifying writing center professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handwriting is a complex activity including motor planning and visuomotor integration and referring to some brain areas identified as "writing centers." Although temporal features of handwriting are as important as spatial ones, to our knowledge, there is no evidence of the description of specific brain areas associated with handwriting tempo. People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) show handwriting impairments that are mainly referred to as the temporal features of the task. The aim of this work was to assess differences in the brain activation pattern elicited by handwriting between PwMS and healthy controls (HC), with the final goal of identifying possible areas specific for handwriting tempo. Subjects were asked to write a sentence at their spontaneous speed. PwMS differed only in temporal handwriting features from HC and showed reduced activation with a subset of the clusters observed in HC. Spearman's correlation analysis was performed between handwriting temporal parameters and the activity in the brain areas resulting from the contrast analysis, HC > PwMS. We found that the right inferior parietal lobule (IPL) negatively correlated with the duration of the sentence, indicating that the higher the right IPL activity, the faster the handwriting performance. We propose that the right IPL might be considered a "writing tempo center." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-secondary writing centers have struggled to produce substantial, credible, and sustainable evidence of their impact in the educational environment. The objective of this study was to develop a college-level writing self-efficacy scale that can be used across repeated sessions in a writing center, as self-efficacy has been identified as an important construct underlying successful writing and cognitive development. A 20-item instrument (PSWSES) was developed to evaluate writerly self-efficacy. 505 university students participated in the study. Results indicate that the PSWSES has high internal consistency and reliability across items and construct validity, which was supported through a correlation between tutor perceptions of client writerly self-efficacy and client self-ratings. Factor analysis revealed three factors: local and global writing process knowledge, physical reaction, and time/effort. Additionally, across repeated sessions, the clients' PSWSES scores appropriately showed an increase in overall writerly self-efficacy. Ultimately, this study offers a new paradigm for conceptualizing the daily work in which writing centers engage, and the PSWSES offers writing centers a meaningful quantitative program assessment avenue by (1) redirecting focus from actual competence indicators to perceived competence development and (2) allowing for replication, causality, and sustainability for program improvement. Key Words: Self-efficacy, Writing, Cognition, Perceived Competence Development, Writing Center, Assessment, Student Learning, Post Secondary

Many college students struggle with technical difficulties when enrolled in an online or hybrid class. Sometimes students do not even have a choice about online options, such as in the COVID-19 era, when the shift to remote instruction has happened and could happen at any time. Students need support for success in the online environment, yet many support models focus on the immediate problem rather than deeper root causes for the problem or misunderstanding. Traditional support models may use a ticket-based system that strives to quickly resolve the issue at hand. While the ticket-based system has some merit, there is a need for additional support via a technology coaching approach, which was influenced by writing center philosophies. This type of approach can focus on teaching students proper netiquette, appropriate techniques, and basic computer skills, which will enable them to succeed not just in a single online course but also in an online program or an eventual work environment. The article concludes with a discussion of collaboration and the importance of slow thinking, a concept inspired by the Slow Food movement which actively encourages problem solving and reflection.

There is an ever-increasing demand for students to produce academic texts throughout the course of study. The new student coming straight from upper secondary education has little or no experience writing academic texts. To help these students, we started Writing night. Writing Night is an evening event where students at NTNU Dragvoll get help writing academic texts and information literacy. The event is a collaboration between NTNU University Library, the Dragvoll library and NTNU's Institute for Language and Literature (ISL). Writing Night takes place on the library premises one evening during the semester. Writing Night is arranged to let the students choose how they want to spend the evening. They can sit and write on their own, get help from learning assistants from ISL, who walk around or go to workshops. The workshops we offer give students knowledge of various aspects of academic writing. During the first years of Writing Night, the library conducted workshops in literature search and reference management. This was later changed to one-to-one guidance stations. This change came after student feedback. Student feedback indicates that they have gained more knowledge about academic writing and the event helped them to move on in their writing process. This has given them the confidence and sense of accomplishment they can use when working with academic texts.

This study aimed to apply a diagnostic instrument that allowed determining the degree of academic literacy achieved by students in relation to their level of studies (undergraduate or graduate). That is, students' knowledge, abilities, skills, beliefs and / or prejudices regarding the writing process were analyzed. The methodology describes the process of elaborating a diagnostic instrument for the evaluation of students' writing skills who visit the Writing Center of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo with the purpose of getting help on their written products. The results obtained were analyzed from a qualitative perspective, with a correlation between the main characteristics that the students consider are important in the task of writing. The results found that students work (i) to develop those areas that allow a text to be coherent, (ii) to have a good command of spelling; and (iii) to learn how to start writing. The diagnostic test made it possible to establish the parameters which define the characteristics that users must meet in the writing process to consider that they develop this activity well, and that they have reached a level of sufficiency in academic literacy that allows them to get by in the university environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional approaches to education and forced educators to adopt and adapt technologies to allow institutions to remain open, offer courses and other services to enable students to continue their education. This rapid shift to online teaching and learning has shone a light on the need for institutions to support students in working out how to maintain autonomy through meaningful interaction in the online world. In this paper we discuss the transition of a face-to-face university writing center to a synchronous online writing center that is hosted in the videoconferencing application Zoom. In doing this we explain the rationale that informed our thinking throughout the transition process and how sound pedagogical principles and a focus on the student experience guided our decision-making. Preliminary findings regarding how self-regulated learning was maintained and nurtured in the virtual writing center are presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects the experience of the work organization that is aimed at development of academic communication skills at Samara University. The authors highlighted and described the necessary pedagogic conditions that were applied by creation of Samara Academic Consultancy Center based on Modern Languages and Professional Communication department, Samara University. The authors paid special attention to the mission of the center, its objectives, and principles of work and activity of the organization. Moreover, the article shows the schedule of academic skills development for each university level (bachelors, masters, postgraduate students and teaching staff) that was developed by the tutors of Samara Academic Consultancy Center.

Newly established academic writing centers in leading Russian universities have to respond to both institutional and methodological challenges. At the core of these challenges is a lack of awareness among the Russian scholarly community of academic writing as a separate branch of scientific and methodological knowledge in addition to insufficient number of specialists, inadequate training and rare publications in this field. Founded in 2016, the Russian Writing Centers Consortium (WRCC) aims to provide networking and professional development opportunities to writing center professionals. The article highlights aims and objectives of the Consortium, describes first steps towards their implementation and the prospects for further development of the organization.

Copyright of Revista Virtual Universidad Católica del Norte is the property of Revista Virtual Universidad Catolica del Norte and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract. Russian universities are now involved into a severe competition for university rankings with a special focus on academics publishing in international journals. The directive demand from the government meets the understandable response in terms of quantification, which does not reflect the quality of published research, nor does it foster pursuit for such quality. Establishing writing centers in leading universities seems to help solve the problem on the qualitative basis. However, to implement the policy aimed at raising the quality of research papers, Russia needs more than local, optional institutions or even a volunteer association of writing centers, such as the newly established Russian Consortium. To be taken seriously by governmental bodies and the academic community, academic writing ought to be introduced as a discipline taught at all levels of education. The concept of an interuniversity writing center, based on the financial support from universities is considered to be the most appropriate decision at the initial stage of the development of academic writing, for it will unite Russian experts and enable them to work openly and independently for the whole nation, and not only for a particular institution.

Since 2016, the rapid spread of writing centers in Russian universities tends to become a trend. In a few months, their number increased from three to eleven, and the process might soon involve most federal and research universities. Most centers follow the US model of a writing center with its hand-off approach to tutoring. Experts from the USA also show increased interest in the process, providing help in consulting future directors. However attractive the adoption of a ready-to-use and efficient model may seem, it is limited by the social, cultural and academic differences between the USA and RF. These differences involve the interests of many agents, who may oppose innovation due to understandable reasons. If this becomes the case, establishing academic writing in the Russian system of education may fail with fewer opportunities to recover in the future. The paper presents the comparative analysis of the US model's efficiency in Russia and the USA based on the seven sets of parameters introduced by Russian economist Oleg Sukharev. The analysis is a part of research carried out by the author for the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Copyright of Íkala: Revista de Lenguaje y Cultura is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction: Faculty members have little time and usually lack expertise to provide writing feedback on lab reports. Sending students to a writing center, an existing resource on virtually all college campuses, could fill that gap. However, the majority of peer writing tutors are in nontechnical majors, and little research exists on training them to provide support for engineering students. Research question: Can peer writing tutors without technical backgrounds be trained to provide effective feedback to engineering students? About the case: Previously, sending students to the writing center was ineffective. The students did not see the value, and the tutors did not feel capable of providing feedback to them. To remedy this situation, an interdisciplinary training method was developed collaboratively by an engineering professor and the writing center director. Situating the case: Researchers have suggested that effective writing center help for engineering students is possible, and the authors have designed an interdisciplinary training method that has produced positive results. Supporting literature includes the use of generalist tutors, writing in the disciplines, genre theory, and knowledge transfer. Methods/approach: This was a three-year experiential project conducted in a junior-level engineering course. The assignment, a lab report, remained the same. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from students and tutors. Results/discussion: Tutor feedback and student satisfaction significantly improved. However, a few students who were satisfied overall still expressed interest in having their reports reviewed by a tutor with a technical background. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary tutor training can improve the feedback of peer writing tutors, providing support for faculty efforts to improve student writing. The method requires minimal faculty time and capitalizes on existing resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer tutoring was first introduced in the Western world, where education systems are quite different from the East. While peer tutoring has brought much success as an alternative to educational instruction in the West, it is still in the process of being introduced in the East. As Japanese universities begin to use peer tutoring, we must search for methods that fit the unique Japanese education system, in which social hierarchy plays an important role. This essay will share some preliminary observations on how cultural and systemic aspects of the Japanese education system may impact peer tutoring in Japanese universities. It will first explore multiple definitions on peer tutoring, before analyzing the Japanese education system and social hierarchies. Finally, the essay will provide a case study on a writing center in a Westernized prefectural university in Japan and discuss further research options.

While speeches and oral presentations are categorized as being oral communication, they also have a written component. Therefore, how can Writing Center tutors give effective feedback on such materials? By looking at the tutors' experiences at one Writing Center in Japan, this paper aims to explore how tutors give feedback on presentations, and what could be improved in dealing with such texts. By analyzing writers' 'Welcome Sheets', tutors' comments and notes, as well as a session transcript, we discovered that tutors are more focused on achieving structural, logical, content and grammar goals during the sessions. They tend not to give feedback on the presentation script, or the coherence and content of additional material such as slides, that we also consider relevant written matter. Hence, this paper suggests that while focusing on High Order Concerns (such as structure and content) must be the priority, tutors should also address issues related to timing, the usefulness of visual support and its integration with the presentation flow and script. For this reason, specific training for tutors on presentations is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes 19 writing centers in Colombia based on the information that appears on their web pages and publications that have been generated on the experiences of these spaces within the institutions where they are established. The methodology used was documentary research. To begin, an introduction on reading and writing is presented in Colombia; Then focuses on the description of writing centers in the university in the context of Colombia, however, it addresses a writing center in primary and secondary education, which was identified. In the end, the general perspective of the Writing Centers is presented in the Colombian context. In conclusion, it is stated that writing centers in Colombia are a recent strategy that has been considered in order to strengthen the academic writing processes in students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is the writing center: its users as well as its function within a given context. Four semesters of data were examined for the purpose of identifying trends in writing center usage and assessing how these have fulfilled the stated objectives of the center at the time it was founded. It was discovered that more than half of all users were either graduate students or members of faculty, suggesting a vital role for the center in assisting emerging and established scholars in bringing their work to publication. The data also revealed that the vast majority of writing center users came in search of assistance with editing, indicating that users regard the service as product-oriented.