conference announcement

[Jacqueline van Kruiningen]

Conference announcement

Teaching Academic Writing across Europe

First Conference of EATAW:
The European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing in
co-operation with EWCA: The European Writing Center Association

18-20 June 2001, Groningen, the Netherlands

An opportunity to exchange experiences and expertise in the
various teaching and  writing cultures at European universities

We invite:
- teachers and researchers in composition
- writing program administrators
- writing centre staff
- students

Our aims:
- to exchange experiences and ‘best practice’ examples from
teaching and tutoring methods and strategies, as well as of
theoretical and organizational frameworks;

- to provide a venue for eachers and researchers to interact and
bringing participants up-to-date on developments in the fields of
composition teaching and writing center tutoring in Europe;

- to connect people and institutions from all European countries in
order to unite forces and efforts;

-to establish a formal supporting network of teachers, consultants,
 and Writing Center staff on a European level (EATAW and
EWCA).

Keynote speakers:
Professor Mike Sharples (University of Birmingham, UK):  Authors
of the Future. (“We need not be slaves to the machine. We can
choose between viewing the computer as a threat to writing or as
the begetter of a new interactive literacy.”)

Professor Olga Dysthe (University of Bergen, Norway): The mutual
challenge of writing research and the teaching of writing  (“Learning
 to write and writing to learn is the essence of academic
apprenticeship.”)

Professor John C. Bean (Seattle University, Seattle (WA) US),
plenary workshop: From Novice to Expert. Accelerating Student
Growth as Academic Writers (“To teach academic writing is to
teach students how to argue in a discipline – that is, to teach
students how a discipline conducts inquiry and makes meaningful
knowledge.”)

Preliminary programme
- 40 presentations
- 15 workshops
- 5 interactive sessions

Themes:
- ‘best practice’ examples of general and discipline-specific writing
courses - writing center and writing program practices - writing  cultures
and intercultural aspects of (teaching) academic writing -  on-line
teaching of writing and computer-assisted writing instruction

- program establishment (models, politics, strategies, faculty
development) - writing tutoring and counseling practice - academic
genres and subgenres, writing conventions, academic language
and plagiarism - creative writing

Further:
- a plenary session 'Writing Centers and Institution Wide Models
for The Teaching of Academic Writing: Preconditions, Cultural
Implications and Successes', and a plenary session 'Challenges for
  Academic Writing Education in Europe: a Political Perspective'.

Conference language: English.

Further details on the conference program and registration:
http://www.let.rug.nl/projects/asv/extern/index.htm.

E-mail:eataw.conference at let.rug.nl.

EATAW board:
Lennart Bjork (university of Göteborg), Peter Stray Jorgensen
(university  of Copenhagen), Jacqueline van Kruiningen (university
of Groningen), Otto Kruse (university of Erfurt), Lotte Rienecker
(university of Copenhagen), Gabriela Ruhmann (university of
Bochum).

Chair EWCA: Anna Challenger (American College of Thessalonik.
Greece)

Organising committee:
Jacqueline van Kruiningen, Henrike Padmos, Femke Kramer, Alice
 Pomstra, Johanna Jager, Janneke Stuulen (Rijksuniversiteit
Groningen/university of Groningen, Netherlands), Anna Challenger
(American College of Thessaloniki, Greece), Mary Skondras
(University of La Verne - Athens, Greece).