Conference Themes

Meaning of Empowerment in the Context of Writing Center Work (Opportunities/Limits): What does/can empowerment mean in the context of writing center work? What are the opportunities? What are the pitfalls/limits?

• Blazer, S., & Fallon, B. (2020). Changing Conditions for Multilingual Writers: Writing Centers Destabilizing Standard Language Ideology. Composition Forum 44. Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition.
• Grimm, N. M. (2009). New conceptual frameworks for writing center work. The Writing Center Journal, 29(2), 11-27.
• Lillis, T., Harrington, K., Lea, M., & Mitchell, S. (2016). Working with academic literacies: Case studies towards transformative practice. The WAC Clearinghouse/Parlor Press.
• Lockett, A. (2019). Why I call it the academic ghetto: A critical examination of race, place, and writing centers. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal.
• Shamoon, L. K., & Burns, D. H. (1995). A critique of pure tutoring. The Writing Center Journal, 15(2), 134-151.

Ways of Empowering Peers and Tutees: To what extent and in which respects do writing centers empower peers and those they tutor? 

• Girgensohn, K. (2012). Mutual growing: How student experience can shape writing centers. Journal of Academic Writing , 2 (1), 127-137.
• Greenfield, L. (2019). Radical Writing Center Praxis: A Paradigm for Ethical Political Engagement. Logan: Utah State University.
• Moore, L. M. (2013). Revising Trimbur's Dichotomy: Tutors and Client's Sharing Knowledge, Sharing Power. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal.
• Munje, P. N., Nanima, R. D., & Clarence, S. (2018). The role of questioning in writing tutorials: a critical approach to student-centered learning in peer tutorials in higher education. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 26(3), 336-353.
• O’Sullivan, Í., & Cleary, L. (2014). Peer-tutoring in Academic Writing: the Infectious Nature of Engagement. Journal of Academic Writing, 4(1), 52-65.

Writing Centers as Agents for Change within the Institution: How can writing centers act as change agents to establish more empowering literacy practices throughout the higher education institute?

• Bräuer, G. (2002). Drawing connections across education: The Freiburg writing center model. Language and learning across the disciplines, 5 (3), 61-80.
• Bräuer, G., & Girgensohn, K. (2012). Literacy development projects initiating institutional change. Writing programs worldwide: Profiles of academic writing in many places , 225-238.
• Corbett, S. J. (2015). Beyond dichotomy: Synergizing writing center and classroom pedagogies. WAC Clearinghouse.
• Essid, J., & McTague, B. (Eds.). (2019). Writing Centers at the Center of Change. Routledge.
• Halm, D. S. (2018). Writing Success and Self Efficacy: The Student Perspective.Journal of Education and Social Development, 2(1). 5-15.
• Holt, M. (2018). Collaborative learning as democratic practice: a history. Conference on College Composition and Communication, National Council of Teachers of English.
• Kells, M. H. (2016). Writing Across Communities and The Writing Center as Cultural Ecotone: Language Diversity, Civic Engagement, and Graduate Student Leadership. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal.

Empowering Non-traditional Students and Marginalized Groups: How can writing centers empower non-traditional groups such as students from socioeconomically marginalized communities, adult learners and students with home languages other than the dominant language? 

• Bawarshi, A., & Pelkowski, S. (1999). Postcolonialism and the Idea of a Writing Center. The Writing Center Journal, 19(2), 41-58.
• Blazer, S. (2015). Twenty-first century writing center staff education: Teaching and learning towards inclusive and productive everyday practice. The Writing Center Journal, 17-55.
• Daniels, S., Babcock, R. D., & Daniels, D. (2016). Writing centers and disability: Enabling writers through an inclusive philosophy. Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 13(1), 39-50
• Gustafsson, M., & Ganobcsik-Williams, L. (2016). Writing centres and the turn toward multilingual and multiliteracy writing tutoring. In The Routledge handbook of English for academic purposes (pp. 541-553). Routledge.
• Lee, K. (2019). Black in the Writing Center: Race, representation, and the post-racial lie. In J. Essid and B. McTague (Eds.) Writing Centers at the Center of Change (pp. 129-139). Routledge.
• Shapiro, S., Cox, M., Shuck, G., & Simnitt, E. (2016). Teaching for agency: From appreciating linguistic diversity to empowering student writers. Composition Studies, 44(1), 31.

Empowerment and the Activist Writing Center Movement: To what extent can the Activist WC Movement be a model for empowering writing center work?

• Carter, S., Adkins, T. and Dunbar-Odom, D. (2009). The Activist Writing Center. Retrieved from: http://cconlinejournal.org/NCOW/default.htm
• Denny, H. (2010). Queering the writing center. The Writing Center Journal, 30 (1), 95-124.
• Greenfield, L. (2019). Radical Writing Center Praxis: A Paradigm for Ethical Political Engagement. University Press of Colorado.
• LaFrance, M., & Wardle, E. (2019). Building a Twenty-First-Century Feminist Ethos: Three Dialogues for WPAs. Writing Program Administration, 42(2), 13-37.

Empowerment and Digitalization: What does empowerment mean with regard to the digital turn in WC work?

• Bancroft, J. (2016). Multiliteracy centers spanning the digital divide: Providing a full spectrum of support. Computers and Composition, 41, 46-55.
• Eyman, E. (2020). Moving in from the periphery: Exploring the disciplinary labyrinth. In Technology and English Studies (pp. 75-90). Routledge.
• Giaimo, G. N., Cheatle, J. J., Hastings, C. K., & Modey, C. (2018). It's All in the Notes: What Session Notes Can Tell Us About the Work of Writing Centers. Journal of Writing Analytics, 2, 225-256.
• Kourbani, V. (2020). Online Tutoring. From Writing Center to Virtual Education Hub. In J. Essid, B. McTague (Eds.) Writing Centers at the Center of Change. (pp. 60-82). Taylor & Francis.
• Kruse, O., & Rapp, C. (2019). Seamless Writing: How the Digitisation of Writing Transforms Thinking, Communication, and Student Learning. In C.-K. Looi, L.-H. Wong, C. Glahn, & S. Cai (Eds.), Seamless Learning: Perspectives, Challenges and Opportunities (pp. 191-208). Springer.
• Prince, S., Willard, R., Zamarripa, E., & Sharkey-Smith, M. (2018). Peripheral (Re) Visions: Moving Online Writing Centers from Margin to Center. WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, 42(5-6), 10-18.