Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 10. Number 3 September 2019 Pp. 32 -42
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol10no3.3
The Writing Center’s Role in the Academic Life of an English Foreign Language Student
from an Instructor’s Perspective
Beth Bassima Bakkar
Faculty School of Literature, Humanities and Sciences
Lebanese University-Beirut
Abstract:
The English Writing Center (WC) has recently become a writing support service in selective Lebanese universities even though it has been a common practice in Western universities for the last twenty years. The article from a university instructor’s experience aims to bring forward the reasons the WC at Lebanese universities is slowly attracting students to its provided practices and how disciplinary instructors amongst other socio-cultural factors are contributing towards students misconceptions of the WC philosophy and services. The article first introduces the profile of the Lebanese university English as a foreign language (EFL) student to provide a background on their English language level of proficiency and expectations from the WC tutors and the misguided understanding of the WC philosophies and framework practices that are opposing students’ expectations from the WC; and continues to construct the need for the WC to re-evaluate its current writing pedagogy and process between tutor and student. The article concludes by discussing the negotiated roles WC tutors, disciplinary instructors and faculty management should take in order to transfer students’ misconception of the WC aims and objectives and to take responsibility for their writing.
Key Words: English foreign language, English language writing centre, English medium of instruction, English second language, Middle East and North Africa, writing centre, writing laboratory
Cite as: Bakkar, B. B. (2019). The Writing Center’s Role in the Academic Life of an English Foreign Language Student from an Instructor’s Perspective. Arab World English Journal, 10 (3)32-42.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol10no3.3