Discovering Methods of Bettering our Writing Center: A Report on Visits to US University Writing Centers

Abstract

English writing centers in Japan are a somewhat new phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to gain a perspective of actual operations of writing centers abroad. We visited the English writing centers of three universities in California with well-established, large centers to get a perspective of the day-to-day operations and best practices on how to run a writing center. The universities that we visited include the Hume Center for Writing and Speaking at Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley Student Learning Center; and the University of California, Davis Student Academic Success Center.

The Future Role of Online Consultations Within Self-Access Learning

“…The students further elaborated on their opinions through the open-ended comments, showing that locational convenience was considered a great advantage of online consultations, which supports prior findings (Andersson & Nakahashi, 2016;Thompson, 2014). Another advantage was the ability to share screens and materials.…”

“…This belief was reaffirmed in a study on 28 SALCs in Japan and other countries, where the SALC administrators rated as essential the ability to 1) provide students access to learning opportunities independent of classroom work and 2) offer learning materials (Navarro, 2014). This draws similarities to the role of writing centers in the United States, where the focus is on guiding students in their writing process by providing overall feedback, teaching critical thinking, building confidence, and promoting writing as a fun and social (rather than individual) activity (Andersson & Nakahashi, 2016).…”

“…Notably, Thompson (2014) discussed their process of terminating all in-person consultations and moving their writing center entirely online, mainly citing attendance issues as their reason for doing so. Indeed, geographical convenience plays a significant factor in determining SALC attendance (Andersson & Nakahashi, 2016;Thompson, 2014), and offering online services can be a solution.…”

The Evolution of a SAL Desk: From Academic Writing to Language Support

“…For all the reasons mentioned above, we decided to overhaul the writing desk for the 2016 school year. Part of this process included visiting the writing centers of three U.S. universities to obtain a better understanding of managing a SAL desk (Andersson & Nakahashi 2016).…”