Panel: Multilingual Writers

Panel: Multilingual Writers
Zoom Link: https://yorku.zoom.us/j/93237766316?pwd=d09rWnBPbWJpM2xKNUlvNGRoTGljQT09
Password: 603753

Meeting Recording:
https://yorku.zoom.us/rec/share/RxWV4kt9SdRT6Q5GIHhmIfa8Syc6WajGY2jerXweFI8brJ1wygfmil3VhEWxnS13.sp6tP-puuYRu_fP0

Moderator: Xiangying Huo, University of Toronto Scarborough

Storytelling and Empathy: Extrinsic Motivators for a Successful Mutual Interaction in Writing Center Consultations
Sohaib Alkamal (University of Denver)
Storytelling and empathy are essential strategies in any consultation but especially in the diverse and cosmopolitan writing center, where multilingual students and consultants are engaging with texts and language. These strategies enrich productive conversations by providing a diverse and environment within Writing Centers. The goal of this presentation is to demonstrate the role of multilingualism and diversity they play in Writing Centers by enriching translingual perspectives that help facilitate more effective interaction and provide more solutions for writers.

English Conversation Circles as a Mediator between the Demands of Course Instructors and Students as Writers
Jirina K. Poch (University of Waterloo, Writing Centre), Mary McPherson (University of Waterloo, Writing and Communication Centre), Jane Russwurm (University of Waterloo)
English as an Additional Language (EAL) post-secondary students are faced with unique stressors as newcomers to Canada and are often seeking a place to be able to practice their everyday English and connect to a community (Bergey et at. 2018; Zhu 2017). How do we create a safe space for EALs to balance the pressures of academic obligations and stressors of being new to Canada? The English Conversation Circle (ECC) program provides a safe space for EALs to practice their conversational English, gain access to campus resources and activities, and build a sense of community (Almusharraf & Bailey, 2021).

Access and Space: Agency in the Grammar of Students’ Research Writing
Katja Thieme (University of British Columbia)
Session slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XgiDYA2pp9n6uCWCSZ3U7uxMDG2grAcY/view?usp=sharing

Current analysis of academic English carries an ethos of making research writing accessible to students through explicit attention to language patterns and generic structures. At its best, such work combines ideological critique with explicit pedagogy. In this spirit, I investigate three pragmatic elements of research writing—positionality, citation, and evaluation—and how they aid students in cleaving space for their own questions and positions. These elements and my approach to teaching them are attentive to both the details of published scholarship as well as to students’ agency and intentionality in shaping their choice of words, claims, and arguments.

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