October 2011Kick-off Meeting in Winterthur, Swirzerland

In Winthertur, the participants of the first meeting discussed their expectations as to the project implementation, shared their plans and indicated the potential problems that might arise. Each participating university made a presentation on the literacy situation in their country and highlighted culture-specific approaches to writing. Much attention has been paid to a methodological basis for the teaching of writing and consideration of such issues as writing instruction, writing creativity and writing process. The participants of the meeting learnt much new and interesting about each other and managed to establish friendly relations, important for a productive collaboration.

January 2012 – Meeting in Timisoara, Romania

The participants of the meeting in Timisoara had a wonderful opportunity to combine fruitful work within the project with enjoying the beauty of the ancient city. Two major topics were covered during meetings. First each team presented their writing course followed by a discussion aimed at helping improve the course. The comments of the invited guests, Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, the head of the Centre for Academic Writing, Coventry, and Dr Catalina Neculai were particularly valuable. Then the issues of holding a survey of academic literacy skills in each of the countries were discussed: the translation of surveys into correspondent languages, the questions which might be misunderstood due to the difference in academic contexts and the strategies of data collection. In addition, the participants were offered a presentation on the experience of establishing and managing a writing centre by Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams and a series of interaction workshops delivered by Dr. Otto Kruze on teaching intertextuality and citation practices. Brilliantly organized social component of the meeting favoured the development of friendly relations between the project participants and the invited guests.

April 2012 – Meeting in Coventry, UK

The Coventry meeting was devoted to connecting writing with critical thinking and disciplinary learning. The issues discussed included critical thinking, writing and research-oriented learning and writing in the disciplines. The meeting was hosted by the Center for Academic Writing (CAW) at Coventry University (http://wwwm.coventry.ac.uk/caw). At CAW the project participants had a chance to see how a writing centre works and discuss the issues of mutual interestwith CAW administration and staff: Dr. Lisa Ganobcsik-Williams, CAW Head; Dr Catalina Neculai, Dr Dimitar Angelov and Dr. Erik Borg, lecturers in academic writing; Penny Gilchrist and Sheila Medlock, administrative staff. Participants had an opportunity to visit tutoring sessions, learn about the online support for students and get acquainted with the principles of running a writing centre. Participants also visited the ‘Thinking Writing Centre’ (http://www.thinkingwriting.qmul.ac.uk) at Queen Mary, University of London, and learnt about the projects implemented by the Centre, such as organizing writing retreats, team-teaching with discipline teachers, and developing courses with a strong writing component. Finally, the LIDHUM team attended ‘Academic Writing Theory and Practice in an International Context’ Conference organized at CAW on April 27, 2012, and gave a joint presentation ‘Literacy Development at East European Universities – the LIDHUM Project’.

 

October 2012Meeting in Skopje, Macedonia

The Skopje meeting focused on two main issues: analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires, which were disseminated among students and faculty members of participating universities, and discussion of the proposals on setting up writing centers or units. During the first workshop day, the participants of the workshop were offered a special training on the application of SPSS software conducted by qualified professionals. On the two following days, the writing centre proposals were presented and thoroughly discussed. The participants of the workshop had an opportunity of communicationg with John Harbord, Director of the Center for Academic Writing, the Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), who was invited to Skopje as a guest speaker. John gave a thought-provoking lecture on “Teaching of writing in Central and Eastern Europe: Between national languages and English”. Tatyana Yakhontova from the Ukrainian team also made a presentation on current genre concepts and their practical application.

 

February 2013 – L’viv, Ukraine

Discussions during project meeting in L’viv centered around three major topics: Writing Centre conceptions, developing website of the project and teaching writing to doctoral students. While discussing the first topic, Romanian and Macedonian teams shared their views on the goals of their writing centres and contemplated on the possibilities of realizing them. The L’viv team reported on the activities of the Centre for English Academic Communication, which has been promoting academic writing since its foundation in 2006. The role of website is seen by the project participants as multifold: a means of sharing information about the project, but also, and more importantly, as sharing and promoting ideas of teaching academic writing in Eastern Europe and enhancing the formation of writing teachers community in the area. With this in mind, the participants discussed the sections of the website which might be of interest for the Eastern European audience. In line with the traditions of the project, a guest speaker, Lotte Rienecker (the director of Writing Centre in the University of Copenhagen, Denmark) held a lecture “Theses and research papers as a genre: implications for writing, supervision and assessment”. The lecture fitted in the frame of annual university conference, and thus attracted many teachers and doctoral students. The lecturer’s supporting her key points with the samples from thesis written by a Ukrainian student sparked the keen interest of the audience. 

29 March, 2013 – “Role of Writing in the Teaching of Humanities” conference, L’viv, Ukraine

The Center for English Academic Writing organized the Conference “Role of Writing in the Teaching of Humanities”. The Conference was one of the activities of the “Creating a Writing Community at the Ivan Franko National University of L’viv” project implemented within the LIDHUM institutional partnership.

The conference themes were as follows:

  • writing as a cognitive activity;
  • role of writing in the context of the Bologna process;
  • written academic genres;
  • criteria of writing assessment;
  • development of writing skills of University students in Ukrainian and foreign languages;
  • place and tasks of writing centers at universities.

The Conference provided a discussion forum for 37 enthusiasts of writing from the Faculties of Foreign Languages, Philology, History, Philosophy, and Culture and Arts, who exchanged their ideas as to the introduction and support of writing programs and courses in native and foreign languages at the University. The format of the Conference included plenary and panel presentations as well as a round-table discussion. The participants of the Conference put forward and supported the idea of broadening the scope and aims of the Center for English Academic Writing and of gradually transforming it into the University Center for Academic Communication.

June 2013 – Meeting in Budapest, Hungary

The regular meeting of the LIDHUM project participants was integrated into the 7th Conference of the European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing “Teaching Writing across Languages and Cultures”. The conference was held in the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. The meeting was organized so that the agenda correlated with the theme of the conference. Particular emphasis was laid on writing in academic curricula of Eastern European universities. The Director of the Centre, John Harbord, and staff representatives Robin Bellers, Réka Futász, Sanjay Kumar and Eszter Timár introduced them to the Writing Centre of the Central European University, its history, organization, management and functioning. Besides, the participants of the project attended the pre-conference workshop “Research methods for Academic Writing Teachers and Researchers” by Christiane Donahue, the writing specialist from Dartmouth College, USA and the presentation “English only? Exploring the Importance of Academic Writing Across Languages” by Paul Kei Matsuda from Arizona State University. Finally, they prepared several joint presentations, which were delivered to the conference attendants during the symposium “Writing in CEE” and discussed the perspectives of future joint publications enlightening the results of the work in the project.

October 2013 – Meeting in Winterthur, Switzerland

The final meeting of the LIDHUM project was held on October 10-12, 2013, in Winterthur, Switzerland. The participants of the project summarized the achieved results and discussed further activities and possible future collaboration. In particular, much attention has been paid to the development of the “Writing in Easter Europe” website which will provide information and resources for teachers and learners of various forms of writing in Eastern Europe. Also, the preparation of joint research papers that will present and analyze the results of the questionnaires on writing issues at participating universities was thoroughly discussed. In addition to serious work, the teams enjoyed trips to Lucerne and Bern which were accompanied by lively informal communication.