Editor’s note: Please join us in congratulating on the grand opening of the new writing center at the University of Dhaka! In this writing center spotlight, our new colleagues inquire about writing center administration questions and share their plans to serve a linguistically and culturally diverse community of writers. Please leave comments to encourage and welcome them to our blog community.
Thank you so much for sharing, Prokriti, Sadia, and Dr. McHarg!
There are two major challenges at Dhaka University in Bangladesh. The first is class size; classes are typically very large, with up to 60 students or more in one classroom. Class sizes continue to get bigger – sometimes, students even sit in crowded classrooms, trying to catch the lecture from a distance. The second challenge is the approach to learning – namely, it is assessment-based. Students sit for midterm and final examinations, but beyond that there is little time or attention paid to learning the process approach to writing. The Writing Corner was established keeping these challenges in mind.
The University of Dhaka English Writing Corner officially opened on the 30th of October, 2023 and is located in a newly renovated computer lab on the 3rd Floor of the Arts Building, University of Dhaka. Both the computer lab and the Writing Corner are supported by the Centre for English Teaching and Research (CETR). The Corner, which was named such so as not to be confused with CETR, was established by Dr. Molly McHarg, an English Language Specialist from the U.S. Department of State. The concept was cultivated by the faculty members in the Department of English, University of Dhaka, in order to support students of the department with their writing skills and English language proficiency. Peer tutors and advisers of the English Writing Corner work hard to build a friendly and inclusive atmosphere for the students.
The English Writing Corner is also unique in its context, as Bangladesh operates with linguistic and cultural diversity. Bangla is the state language and is spoken by the majority of the people. English is used primarily for formal communication and educational purposes. All students study English from a young age, but the quality and type of education varies considerably, particularly in the rural areas. Consequently, there is a wide range of English proficiency amongst students entering the university. Despite years of English studies, students continue to struggle with writing in English throughout their undergraduate and postgraduate years. Faculty members have long since understood this and struggled with how to best assist the students.
Therefore, one of the unique practices at our Writing Corner is its focus on multilingualism. The center recognizes that language and culture are intimately connected and that students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds shape their writing styles. Therefore, the tutors employ a plurilingual approach towards tutoring, where the tutees can communicate with the peer tutors in both English as well as Bengali, their native language. This contributes to acknowledging and valuing the linguistic diversity of the students. We hope this approach will be instrumental in creating an inclusive and welcoming place where students feel comfortable sharing their writing and cultural experiences.
We think, as one of the first English Writing Centers founded in Bangladesh, the University of Dhaka English Writing Corner will be instrumental in ensuring that students receive the support they need to excel in their academic and professional writing. We hope to be a national and regional leader for other tertiary institutions, many of which grapple with the same challenges and constraints.
For now, the Corner provides one-to-one consultations to help students enrolled in the English department (BA and MA English students) to develop their writing skills; however, we aim to expand and provide services to the rest of the university in the near future.
The Writing Corner is currently in Phase 1. For now, the Corner provides one-to-one consultations to help students enrolled in the English department (BA and MA English students) to develop their writing skills; however, we aim to expand and provide services to the rest of the university in the near future. The peer tutors consist of thirteen existing students of the English department who have been carefully interviewed, selected, and trained by Dr. McHarg. After the initial training was complete, these tutors were recognized in a sash and certificate ceremony at the University, where top officials, including the university Vice Chancellor, attended to offer short remarks and recognize the tutors.
The tutors work closely with students to identify their strengths and areas for improvement to provide support accordingly. To date, almost all sessions have been walk-in appointments, and each visit is 30 minutes. Although most assessments are based on the midterm and final exams, there are some written tasks such as business proposals, synthesis essays, and more. This is what most students come to the Writing Corner to work on. Most students bring a printed or handwritten draft of their writing, as technology is relatively limited and scarce. In the future, we hope to provide services to the rest of the community, both for specific class assignments and also for general improvement in English writing. We also plan to create foster a greater sense of community through more workshops, poetry readings, short story competitions, and the like.
There are some practices and logistics that we are still grappling with, and we hope to glean insights from other writing centers. For example, what is the best way to develop and maintain a scheduling system with limited technology? We currently use a paper-based model, but this can be quite cumbersome when tutor schedules change, and it also adds an extra step for students to make an additional trip to the Writing Corner – or run the risk of no peer tutor being available for a walk-in consultation. We are also interested in exploring options for online writing consultations at a later phase.
In conclusion, the University of Dhaka English Writing Corner is a unique and innovative writing center that serves as a model of a student-centered and plurilingual approach to writing pedagogy and practice. Our Corner is new – and although we have a basic framework for writing center pedagogy and practices, we hope to develop and hone new best practices that will be most appropriate and effective in our local Bangladeshi context.
Stay tuned for more!
AUTHORS:
Dr. Molly McHarg
Dr. Molly is an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of State. She is passionate about English language teaching and writing centers. You can learn more about her here: http://mollymcharg.weebly.com/ For questions about the English Writing Corner, email Dr. Molly at mollypmcharg@gmail.com
Prokriti Das Srishti
Prokriti is a first year MA student studying Applied Linguistics and ELT at the Department of English, University of Dhaka. Her academic interests include English as a Global Language, Second Language Acquisition and creative writing.
Sadia Sarker Aony
Sadia is a 4th year student studying BA at the Department of English, University of Dhaka. Her area of interest includes teaching English as a second language and working on the creative field.
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