Dr. Driscoll Speaks About the Importance of a Writing Center
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Proposal for Establishing a Writing Center at Notre Dame University Bangladesh
Executive Summary
The English Department at Notre Dame University Bangladesh, under the direction and guidance of Sukanto Roy, seeks provision to open a Writing Centre to provide individualized writing support with the students of NDUB. Services of the proposed Writing Centre will commence with the start of the 2020-2021 Academic Year. Undoubtedly, this can be considered as a pioneering and visionary movement in the perspective of Bangladesh where no Writing Center has been established yet. The proposed Writing Centre at NDUB, in its provision of feedback that is essential to the writing process, will promote academic as well as workplace success by improving written communication.
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What is a Writing Center?
A Writing Center is a place where students can get assistance with their writings at any stage of their writing process. Though the idea of Writing Centers gained popularity in the 1970’s along with the Writing across the Curriculum movement as a response to a “literary crisis” in US universities, it is still unknown to some extent in Bangladesh. Writing centers provide the opportunity with the students of all disciplines to develop their writing skills. No matter whatever the major or skill level a student has, he or she can always benefit from working with the tutors of a Writing Center since writing is a social process. According to Driscoll (2016), a Writing Center:
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Provides direct support to English Language Learners during their time in EL courses and beyond
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Provides individualized learning support in ways that English language teachers are not able to do in a large classroom of students
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Encourages students to be engaged in their own learning and encourage positive qualities such as help-seeking, questioning, and engagement with their literacy practices
Though the main objective of a Writing Center is to assist the students improve their writing skills, it is not limited to that only. The services of a Writing Center can be multi-dimensional and multi-faceted depending on the context. For example, the Writing Center of University of Notre Dame, USA has “The Presenter Center” where the Writing Center consultants are available to help the students with their oral presentations. The Writing Center of Kent State University, USA conducts a “Conversation Hour” twice a week for International students to help them develop fluency in speaking English. According to Rafoth (2010) everyday, tens of thousands of students across the U.S. and around the world walk into (or go online for) their campus writing center, many for the first time.
The past 20 years have seen Writing Centers emerge worldwide in hundreds of English medium universities and colleges throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. In the MENA (Middle East- North Africa) region, Writing Centers have been successfully established in at least 25 tertiary institutions including United Arab Emirates University, Qatar University and University of Bahrain. These centers are collaborated by MENAWCA (Middle East- North Africa Writing Centers Alliance). Writing Centers and Writing Center directors worldwide are supported by IWCA (International Writing Centers Association) which convenes annually and produces a number of publications. In Asia, WCAJ (Writing Centers Association of Japan) is working to exchange ideas about the role of writing centers in nurturing and advancing the culture of academic writing in Japan as well as the use of writing to improve teaching and learning.
Why do we need a Writing Center?
Establishing a Writing Center at Notre Dame University Bangladesh is a crying need because students do not the opportunity to learn how to improve their writing skills in the classrooms due to the unusual large size of the classes. Therefore, a Writing Center is the only way to solve this problem. Students will be able to get effective feedback on their writings from the Writing Center. In Notre Dame University Bangladesh, students come from different backgrounds. Many of the students particularly who come from rural based institutions do not have the appropriate level of competency in writing. So, a Writing Center will be of a great help to them to improve their writing skills. Many students at Notre Dame University Bangladesh are not fluent in English. The proposed Writing Center will also be helpful for the students to improve their fluency in English by operating weekly conversation hour in English.
Goals and Objectives
The proposed Writing Centre has three major goals and specific objectives within each of the goals.
Goal 1: Support the Academic Needs of the NDUB Community
The Writing Center will support faculty efforts to promote effective writing to represent learning and thinking. It will also serve faculty in all disciplines through classroom workshops, presentations, and classroom-based group conferences. The Center will collaborate with faculty across the campus on the teaching and assessing of writing and support writing across the curriculum. The services of the Writing Center will directly support the mission of Notre Dame University Bangladesh to seek sincerely and achieve diligently true knowledge and wisdom for life and living,
Goal 2: Provide Individualized Feedback to NDUB Writers
Writing needs are highly individualized, and particularly in the teaching context of Notre Dame University Bangladesh because students rarely get the opportunity of one-to-one feedback on their writings. The purpose of an effective writing conference is to involve writers in developing and strengthening their work and to provide writers with access to a reader who can address their questions. The Writing Center approach favors one-to-one or small group conferences. Learning and critical thinking will be promoted by helping writers focus on issues of meaning and by involving them in reflection on their own work. Students at Notre Dame University Bangladesh do need this type of assistance since in the large classroom it is not possible for the teachers to provide individualized feedback with the students. However, the activities of the Writing Center will not be limited to only providing individualized feedback to NDUB writers; it will also extend assistance to the students to develop their speaking skill following the services of University of Notre Dame, USA and Kent State University, USA.
Goal 3: Student Responsibility for Success
Students will be encouraged to bring their writings at any stage of development and writing conferences are designed to support students throughout their writing processes. Students will decide how best to use a session in the Writing Center whether it be to discuss brainstorming techniques, project outlines, full or half drafts, ideas for assignments, the effectiveness of claims or thesis statements, grammar, organization or any other facet of the writing process. The main purpose of this proposed Writing Center will be to provide the students of NDUB with the opportunity to learn how to write appropriately.
Structure of the Writing Center
Selection of the Tutors
The Director of the proposed Writing Center will be in charge of the selection of the tutors for the center. Tutors will be selected through a systematic selection process. In the first year, only the graduate students will be eligible to apply for the position of a tutor. A minimum 3.00 GPA will be required, and special consideration will be given to the performance of perspective tutors in their English classes. Applicants will be interviewed by the Director of the Writing Center, and they will be asked to submit references that can be consulted before a position is offered to the student. The Director will select the tutors who will empathize with the students. In the first year, the proposed Writing Center will hire three graduate students as peer tutors.
Training of the Tutors
Tutor training sessions will be held during the first week of both the fall and spring semesters, which will necessitate the Writing Center being closed during that week. The tutors will also be required to attend one hour weekly training sessions throughout the semester. The Director of the Writing Center will be responsible for the development of tutor training materials. Ideally, a three credit course will be introduced into the curriculum that will allow students to learn about running writing workshops and tutoring English students. This class will serve the dual purpose of identifying and training staff for the proposed Writing Center as well as providing an elective course for Elementary Education majors specializing in English.
Length of Tutorials
The length of each tutoring session will be one hour but tutors will be encouraged to use 50 minutes of the time with the student and the additional 10 minutes to write session report and a little relax.
Number of Students to Be Served
In the first year, the proposed Writing Center will remain open for three days in a week: Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for three hours: 2 pm – 5 pm with three tutors available for those three hours. So, the center will be able to offer service to nine students every day and 27 students every week and 108 students per month. Therefore, each semester, the proposed Writing Center will be able to offer approximately 486 tutor hours. The center will not be open during exam week or any scheduled school breaks. It will also not be open during winter or summer sessions. Students will be strongly encouraged to schedule appointments, but if tutors are available, drop-in sessions will be an option for students. During peak times in the semester students may be limited to a maximum of two appointments per week.
Outreach and Education on the WC to the Campus Community
The proposed Writing Center will organize an inaugural ceremony with the distinguished personalities at Notre Dame University Bangladesh. Thus it will create a huge circulation among all the students of Notre dame University Bangladesh. Apart from this, a formal notice will be circulated regarding the service of the proposed Writing Center.
Offering Other Kinds of Resources and Services
The service of the proposed Writing Center will not be limited to only offering tutoring sessions for writers but also it will organize English conversation hour weekly basis which will be run by the volunteers who are fluent in English. Many students will be willing to render volunteer services for the weekly English conversation groups.
Assessment of the Overall Effectiveness of the Program
Assessment of the overall effectiveness of the proposed Writing Center will be started after the second year of its operation. Evaluation of the Writing Center will consist of formative and summative evaluative strategies. Formative evaluation will be conducted through informal interviews and an online feedback mechanism. Faculty of Notre Dame University Bangladesh will be asked to evaluate effect of Writing Center support on their students’ writing and students will be asked to evaluate services received and perceived effect. Summative evaluation will incorporate data gathered for formative evaluation as well as quantitative data including number of sessions, number of returning students, and student data. Each semester, a report will be composed to present the formative and summative findings.
Multi-year Plan for Growth
It can logically be expected that the proposed Writing Center at Notre Dame University Bangladesh will have increasing popularity and progressive success. Therefore, expansion of the service at the center will be the demand of the time naturally. In accordance with the idea of Farrell (as cited in Childers, 2006, p. 68), a three-year strategic plan is attached in the Appendix.
Course Release for Director
Since the Director of the proposed Writing Center will have to remain busy in performing many important duties and responsibilities associated with it, he/she should be given adequate course release. The director will be a full time instructor from the department of English of Notre Dame University Bangladesh. The director will be responsible to report to the Dean regarding the activities and progress of the proposed Writing Center. He/she will be also responsible to provide support to faculty teaching writing intensive courses, facilitate writing skills seminars, train student tutors, maintain ongoing center records etc. The director is expected to devote 12 hours weekly to the duties of the writing center. Compensation for the writing center director is a three credit course load reduction each semester with an accompanying drop of two hours from the required ten weekly office hours for fulltime faculty.
Payment of Tutors
Tutors in the writing center will be paid reasonable remuneration so that good students get attracted to getting the positions of the tutors at the proposed Writing Center. The rate will be BDT 160.00 (USD 2.00) per hour. The tutors will be paid bi-weekly. However, if any tutor wants to get the payment in the form of tuition fee waiver, he/she will be given the payment in that way.
Required Physical Space
The proposed Writing Center will require physical space to set up the tutoring places for three tutors, Director’s Office, and students’ waiting room etc. It should be located at a suitable place which will be convenient for all the students of Notre Dame University Bangladesh. Considering the importance of the center, it should be allotted a space in the new library.
Required Materials
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Three tables each of which can accommodate a student and a tutor with sufficient space to work on a paper.
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Three computers with internet access to allow tutors to monitor online appointment scheduling and to allow students access to research resources
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A phone extension and phone
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A filing cabinet
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A desk or fourth work table where tutors can work on record keeping or other writing center tasks without clearing the area prior to each tutoring session
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Some type of cubical divider wall or other divider to absorb sound and reduce distractions when there are three concurrent tutoring sessions
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A page in the Moodle system where writing center resources can be posted
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Keys to the writing center for tutors
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BDT 16,000.00 (USD 200.00) for copying resources and materials for the writing center
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Shelves to keep writing center resources and reference books
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A software program to assist in tracking use of the center and maintaining student records
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A computer printer
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A signboard
Conclusion
Given the following:
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Students at Notre Dame University Bangladesh do not get individualized feedback due to the large class size
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Almost all the students at NDUB need some sort of assistance to improve their writing skills
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Competency in writing can be a strong help to students’ academic and professional success in Bangladesh
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A formal provision of ongoing writing support does not currently exist at Notre Dame University Bangladesh
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Research clearly indicates the efficacy of Writing Centers around the world
A Writing Centre at Notre Dame University Bangladesh is a viable and necessary initiative the university should wholly endorse and support to aid the students in the ongoing challenges they face with writing in English.
References
Childers, P. B. (2006). Designing a strategic plan for a writing center. In C. Murphy, & S. L. Byron (Eds.), The writing center director's resource book (pp. 53-70). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Driscoll, D. L. (2016). Ideals and Realities in Students’ Literacy Development: Writing Center/ELT Collaborations to Support Learning Transfer. 38. Indiana, Pennsylvania, USA: IUP.
Rafoth, B. (2010). Why visit your campus writing center? In C. Lowe, & P. Zemliansky (Eds.), Writing spaces: Readings on writing (Vol. 1, pp. 146-155).
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