EXPLORING THE DIRECTORY OF ACADEMIC WRITING PROVISION: UK HIGHER EDUCATION

Writing and Writing Instruction in Different Academic Contexts

EXPLORING THE DIRECTORY OF ACADEMIC WRITING PROVISION: UK HIGHER EDUCATION

Lisa Ganobcsik­Williams

Coventry University, Coventry, England

At present it is not clear to what extent UK universities have set up formal channels for student writing development. This presentation will introduce the ‘Directory of Academic Writing Provision, UK Higher Education’ research project and open­access resource. The project aims to investigate how UK universities provide structures for teaching and supporting academic writing and the nature of such structures (e.g. centralised, programmatic, strategic or ad­hoc). Funded by the Royal Literary Fund and begun in 2014, the project is gathering data via a questionnaire distributed to senior managers responsible for teaching and learning and/or for the student experience at every UK university. The project’s goal, based on this research, is to set up an electronic database Directory featuring institutional profiles of academic writing provision. The Directory will enable UK universities to showcase the academic writing development provision they offer in support of the student experience and student learning. The Directory will also serve as a valuable resource for Writing Developers, academics and student support staff in universities who want to know more about the current practice in student writing development taking place in other institutions and to form networks promoting best practice for teaching and supporting writing. The presentation will outline the project’s findings and explore the significance of these provisions in terms of their institutional contexts. The presenter will then invite conference delegates to situate their own institution’s academic writing provision within the framework developed by the project.