Innovating English Literacy Instruction: A Writing Center at a Chinese University

Abstract

This chapter showcases how the School of International Studies (SIS) Writing Center innovates English writing instruction at a Chinese university. Based on scholarship on multilingual tutors at writing centers and writing center practices across China, I analyzed three vignettes of a tutoring transcript and two anecdotes of discussion workshops. Two affordances of the SIS Writing Center are demonstrated: (1) peer tutoring in a shared language enables Chinese students to scaffold the learning of English writing through meaning negotiation; (2) post-tutorial discussion workshops create a contact zone where native English-speaking teachers and L2 tutors generate knowledge collaboratively. The knowledge-making process at the SIS Writing Center makes a case for innovating English literacy instruction in China by incorporating a writing center approach underpinned by collaboration and multilingualism.