Publication details
How is academic writing different from bullshit? And other crazy questions an American asks his students in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | I share a set of materials and activities for writers which I have been developing in response to some big institutional and cultural challenges. Over the last year, with the help of a few overworked and underpaid colleagues, I have taken baby steps toward establishing a Writing Lab at the Masaryk University Language Centre in Brno, Czech Republic. There are only a few writing centers in this country, but there is a glaring need for them. Almost all of our students are required to write and/or publish in English, but many of them have never taken a writing course in their native language, let alone in English. Even fewer have been given individual or peer feedback on their work, or been asked to consider their audience, or articulate the larger reasons they are writing. While we try to convince administrators that a Writing Lab is essential, I am also trying to empower students and transform their practice by redesigning my classroom-based writing courses (the work I actually get paid for) to incorporate more elements inspired by my experience as a writing center tutor and in creative writing workshops. I have developed a set of short essays, accompanied by writing activities, which prompt students to begin dialogues that can increase their self-awareness as writers. Each essay introduces a provocative word pair (some examples: "formal/informal"; "abstract (n.) / abstract (adj.)"; "academic writing / bullshit") and offers different ways to interpret the relationship between the two concepts. In the workshop, I show how I use these materials in the classroom, and how they might be adapted for use in a writing center. I hope this leads to a larger discussion about how to introduce Central European writers to English-language writing cultures. |