5th EATAW Conference, 2009

The Roles of Writing Development in Higher Education and Beyond

30 June - 2 July 2009
Coventry University, England

The European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW) is pleased to announce the Call for Proposals for its 5th biennial conference. EATAW is a scholarly organisation that seeks to bring together those involved or interested in the teaching, tutoring, research, administration and development of academic writing in higher education in Europe. EATAW membership is free and is open to individuals from all over the world.

The EATAW 2009 conference, focusing on ‘The Roles of Writing Development in Higher Education and Beyond’, will be hosted by the Centre for Academic Writing at Coventry University, England. ‘Writing development’ is an operative term in UK higher education that is used to describe the work carried out by teachers, tutors, and researchers of scholarly writing. As writing development takes root in universities and colleges across Europe, the roles that writing programs, writing centres, writing initiatives, and writing research projects play within institutions are broadening and growing more complex.

This conference aims to explore the potential of both large and small-scale writing development work within colleges and universities, and to consider ways in which writing development can impact beyond higher education, for example, in preparing students for writing in the professions and in writing developers’ outreach work in schools and communities. The ‘beyond’ of the conference theme also invites conference participants to reflect on the influence that theories, technologies, issues, and pedagogies from outside higher education are having on writing pedagogies and research, particularly in the European context. 

We invite teachers of academic writing, staff and administrators of writing centres and writing programs, academic writing researchers, administrators and politicians in the field of higher education from all over Europe to attend the conference. Participants from other parts of the world are equally welcome. The conference is open to anyone who has a professional interest in the roles of writing development in higher education and beyond.

The Centre for Academic Writing at Coventry University will host an all-day reception for delegates arriving on Monday 29 June 2009.

Deadline for submission of proposals:  31 January 2009