Deadline for submission of proposals: January 10th, 2011

Contributions addressing writing developments which attempt to respond to the student experience will be welcome. The conference will be a place to reflect on practices that aim to enhance the learning experience of both undergraduate and postgraduate student writers across and within the disciplines (for example, Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in Disciplines initiatives). Such reflections may also extend to programmes which aim to enhance staff/academics’ writing development as a means of supporting student writing development.

We invite contributions that address any of the following topics related to the conference theme of The Role of the Student Experience in Shaping Academic Writing Development in Higher Education.

• Pedagogical practices that aim to enhance the student learning experience
  •  Teaching writing: pedagogy, curriculum design, development and innovation
  •  Student writing in transition
  •  Evaluation and monitoring of writing, including feedback and assessment
  •  Writing and technology
  •  Academic writing and research
  •  L2 writing development
•  The role of writing programs, writing centres, writing initiatives, or writing research projects in enhancing the student learning experience
  • Writing centres and writing tutoring/mentoring
  • Writing in the Disciplines/Writing Across the Curriculum
• Institutional strategic commitments/missions and writing development: the impact on the student experience
  • Institutional strategies for writing development
  • Recruitment and retention
  • Diversity and empowerment
  • The impact on the student experience on sustainability
  • Internationalisation of academic writing
• Professional academic writing development: supporting student writing
  • Academics developing as writers
  • Academics developing as teachers of writing
  • Subject specialists as teachers of writing in disciplines

Quality of Contributions

We welcome contributions that meet the following criteria

• Contributions should relate to practical problems or educational contexts and, at the same time, refer to the existing body of writing theory and research
• Contributors should bear in mind that participants from other parts of the world may not be familiar with your educational systems, national organisations, terminologies and abbreviations. Please be explicit with regard to all cultural assumptions your presentation may contain
• While English is the lingua franca of EATAW and of the conference, many EATAW members teach writing in their own language and many do not have native-speaker proficiency in English. We ask you to bear this in mind when preparing and giving your contribution

Types of Contributions

We look forward to receiving the following types of contributions:

Presentations: The standard length for presentations will be 30 minutes (20 minutes presentation plus 10 minutes for discussion). Presenters are expected to present in a vivid and comprehensible way and to make their contribution an appropriate basis for discussion with a culturally diverse, international audience.

Workshops: Participant-centred workshops should offer practical/experiential activities and discussion. Workshops will last 60 minutes. Workshops should not be seen as 'long presentations', but should actively involve the audience in writing activities, discussions and an exchange of experiences.

Roundtable discussions: Within 60 minutes, three or four contributors will discuss a common subject under the guidance of a chair person. To ensure a cohesive discussion, each discussant should send his/her main position statements (1–2 pages) to the person who will act as chair by June 15th, 2011. Round-table discussions should be jointly proposed in a single abstract form.

Symposia: Within 90 minutes, three or four contributors present related subjects and discuss them with the audience guided by a chair person (60 minutes presentation maximum, discussion time 20 minutes minimum). Authors wishing to submit papers as a symposium must complete a single abstract form, giving a brief outline of each of the presentations and how they link together. One person should be nominated as the main correspondent.

Other forms of contributions: If you would like to work on a subject in another way than the suggested contribution types above, please do not hesitate to contact the conference organisation team. We will support you to find an adequate setting for your special interest.

Conference Language

The conference language will be English. All conference correspondence, all official announcements prior to and during the conference, all keynote presentations, the EATAW meeting and other plenary events will be held in English. There will be no translation or interpreting service. Participants are expected to have sufficient competence in English to participate receptively in all conference events.

Presentations/Workshops/Round-table Discussions in French and German

Given that English is not the working language of many of EATAW’s members, we would like to invite contributions in French and German with the following provisos:

1. An abstract/proposal must be submitted in both English and the language of the presentation.
2. During the session, visuals such as PowerPoint should include subtitles or a summary in English.
3. If there are handouts, a handout in English should also be provided.
4. The person chairing the session should be prepared to propose solutions for multi-language situations. Although there will be no official interpreting service, bilinguals may offer ad-hoc interpreting to those who need language assistance.
5. The presenter may submit the final paper for publication in the proceedings in the language of the presentation, but an English abstract must be provided.

Abstracts

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.

Guiding questions for all proposed contributions:

What is the problem, need or knowledge gap that prompted this contribution? In what way is this a problem that other institutions/teachers in Europe may share?

Guiding questions for presentation abstracts:

• What solution did you find to address this need?
• What theoretical principles guided your choice of solution or your inquiry?
• How does your presentation relate to previous research and scholarship?
• If you conducted quantitative or qualitative research, what methodology did you use?
• What did you discover?
• How applicable may your findings be to other contexts? What is the value of your research for your potential audience? What implications, if any, does your work have for the evaluation of existing theory?

Guiding questions for workshop abstracts:

• What is the intended result of the workshop?
• What input (theoretical or other) from you, the workshop leader(s), will help participants to address the problem?
• How will the workshop participants work together to address this problem (e.g. which didactic methods will be used: brainstorming, group activities, role play, etc.)?

Guiding questions for jointly proposed round-table abstracts:

• What is the joint problem, need or knowledge gap that prompted this round-table?
• What are your individual attitudes towards this problem? Please outline your individual contribution along the guidelines for presentations.

Guiding questions for jointly proposed symposia abstracts:

• What is your joint problem, need or knowledge gap that prompted this symposium?
• What are your individual attitudes towards this problem? Please outline your individual contribution along the guidelines for presentations.

How to submit a proposal

Please submit your 250-word abstract electronically through the EATAW 2011 web-based abstract management system.  Click here to submit a proposal.

Submissions will be double-blind peer reviewed by the EATAW Board and Conference Committee. You will be notified of acceptance, non-acceptance, or a request for revision of your abstract by March 17th, 2011.

Important dates

Submission of proposal: January 10th, 2011
Notification of acceptance of proposal: March 17th, 2011
Deadline for conference registration for presenters: April 27th, 2011 
Early bird registration deadline: April 27th, 2011