Writing center

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A writing center is an institution dedicated to promoting and using writing. Writing centers in colleges are usually devoted to academic writing. But there are also writing centers in schools and freely organized writing centers, such as B. The writing center 826 Valencia in San Francisco, initiated by the author Dave Eggers. The establishment of writing centers in the German-speaking area followed the example of the writing centers in the Anglo-Saxon, especially in the US-American context, which have a much longer tradition.

Writing centers are sometimes called differently at universities. B. writing laboratory, competence center writing etc., so that the term writing center can also be understood as a generic term. Trained learning guides work at writing centers to support writers in various teaching, learning and counseling formats. In German-speaking countries, like in the USA, these learning guides are often specially trained students, so-called peer tutors. Writing centers support and advise when writing themselves, in accompanying and supervising students who are writing qualification papers, and in developing concepts for using writing in teaching in such a way that students can further develop professionally in the broadest sense. Writing advice is a particularly common learning situation. Typically, writing consultations are 1: 1 conversations between the writer and trained writing consultant, which aim to improve the resulting texts as well as to further develop the writing skills of the writer in the long term. In contrast to editing, writing advice does not simply change the writers' texts through direct suggestions or interventions. Rather, the writing consultants ask open questions and reflect their understanding of the text. This helps the writer to recognize weaknesses in the text and to develop alternatives together with the writing advisor.

The institutional positioning of the writing centers at the universities is very different. Writing centers can be assigned to the Germanic or philosophical faculty, a university didactic institution, student advisory service, a department or a psychological counseling facility. Some universities do not have their own facilities for academic writing, but instead offer events for writing, which are often referred to as writing workshops. The first facility for academic writing at a German university is the Bielefeld Writing Laboratory, founded in 1993 at Bielefeld University .

The writing centers at German universities are becoming more and more numerous. In 1997 the writing center of the Ruhr University Bochum and the writing workshop of the University of Duisburg-Essen were founded. In 2001 the first writing center for teacher training was established at the PH Freiburg . In 2003 the writing center was founded at the University of Cologne . In 2006, 2007 and 2008 the International Writing Center at the University of Göttingen , the Writing Center at the European University Viadrina and the "Writing Competence Center" at the University of Paderborn were founded. Further writing centers are located at the University of Hildesheim and the TU Darmstadt . As part of the increased financial support for the quality of studies and teaching by the federal and state governments ("Teaching Quality Pact") since 2011, further universities are investing in the establishment of writing centers. The writing laboratory at Bielefeld University provides a list of the German-speaking writing centers.

In Germany, the Gefsus - Society for Writing Didactics and Writing Research - is particularly dedicated to the further development of writing centers and in 2018 published a position paper on the promotion of writing skills development at universities. The student writing consultants (peer tutors) organize themselves in a special interest group of the gefsus and organize, among other things, an annual writing peer tutor conference (SPTK) at different universities. A journal for writing advice and writing center work that appears twice a year is Das Journal der Schreibberatung.

At the European level, the European Writing Centers Association (EWCA) represents the interests of writing centers. The EWCA is a regional organization of the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) and holds conferences in various European countries every two years.

further reading

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lerner, Neal (2009): The idea of ​​a writing laboratory. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois Univ. Press
  2. ↑ Girgensohn, Katrin (2017): From innovation to institution. Institutionalization work at universities using the example of the management of writing centers. Bielefeld
  3. ↑ Grieshammer, Ella et al. (2012): future model writing advice. Instructions for accompanying writers during their studies. Baltmannsweiler.
  4. ↑ Ruhmann, Gabriela (2014): Learning to write scientifically at German universities - a small interim result after 20 years. In: Dagmar Knorr and Ursula Neumann (eds.): Multilingual teacher training students write. Münster [u. a.]: Waxmann, pp. 34-53.
  5. ↑ Knorr, Dagmar (ed.) (2016): Academic writing. Writing projects funded by the Teaching Quality Pact 1. Hamburg: University of Hamburg (Universitätskolleg-Schriften, 13)
  6. ↑ Society for Writing Didactics and Writing Research (gefsus) (2018): Position paper on writing competence in studies . Adopted on September 29, 2018 in Nuremberg.
  7. ↑ The SPTK 2019 took place in Dresden: https://tu-dresden.de/karriere/weiterbildung/zentrum-fuer-weiterbildung/schreibzentrum/sptk-2019 .