Hello,
Please consider submitting to the edited collection International Perspectives: Exploring European Writing Centers, sponsored by the Digital Edited Collections of WLN. If you have any questions or inquiries, please email the collection’s editors, Joseph Cheatle (jnefcyc) and Levin Arnsperger (levin.arnsperger). Or, you can email the editors of WLN’s Series Editors, Julia Bleakney (jbleakney), or Karen Johnson (kgjohnson).
International Perspectives: Exploring European Writing Centers
Introduction
The field of writing center studies is increasingly international. Pam Bromley et al. (2021) tracked the historical development of transatlantic writing centers in her work “An Introduction to Transatlantic Writing Center Resources.” As her work shows, there is a rich history of writing centers in Europe going back to at least 1979. Since then, there has been exponential growth of writing centers in Europe, with hundreds of writing centers now located across the continent. Today, there is at least one journal supporting European writing centers, the Journal für Schreibwissenschaft, as well as professional and networking opportunities provided by the European Writing Centers Association, including a conference and summer institute. As part of a growing movement to feature international voices in writing centers, this collection seeks to highlight European writing centers, adding another important voice to the conversation about international writing centers. We focus particularly on European writing centers because we want to encourage non-U.S. perspectives in writing center studies, highlight unique challenges and innovations, and spotlight how writing centers have adapted for a European context.
In their keynote address at the 2018 IWCA conference in Atlanta (and reprinted in Writing Center Journal in 2019), Hodges et al. highlight the importance of U.S. scholars, centers, and “writing pedagogy models” for writing centers in the Middle East and North Africa (Hodges et al., 2019). Many articles about centers in other parts of the world likewise mention the origins of writing centers in the U.S. As Pam Bromley (2023) notes, countries with the most writing centers “have strong ties to the US” and “all but Germany and Japan are English-speaking.” Essential tutoring techniques and philosophies have been adopted in Europe; Anja Voigt and Katrin Girgensohn (2015), for example, investigate peer tutoring in German writing centers, referring to it as a method “known from US writing centers.”
However, writing center studies scholars are well-advised to recognize the impact of regional and national political, academic, and societal developments on writing programs and centers outside the U.S. Hodges, Ronesi, and Zenger (2019) emphasize that practitioners in the Middle East and North Africa region should “take the contexts of MENA writing centers into account and […] rework writing center pedagogy to respond to our tutor and writer populations.” As Bradley Hughes and Jingtian Zhang (2025) suggest, “what are often seen as universal writing center narratives from the United States […] are not necessarily universal.” They argue that for writing centers to be successful in China, local contexts need to be taken into account and models should be used that are “developed within China.” Hughes and Zhang draw on, for instance, Bromley et al. (2021), who call for “reflective, intentional translation” in the spread of writing centers beyond the U.S., and Jing Zhang and Chang Liu (2023), who observe a process of “transculturation/glocalization” of the U.S. writing center concept in China.
Literature on international writing centers shows that this process of translation and transculturation is rarely straightforward, as institutional contexts differ greatly across the globe (and of course there are tremendous variations within the U.S. as well). In the Netherlands, writing centers are housed in institutions where English is the medium of instruction, even though instructors and students may or may not have “acquired the necessary language level previously” (Meijer and de Jong, 2021). In Russia, Ashley Squires (2022) points out that writing centers “predominantly serve faculty and graduate student researchers working toward publication in international, English-language journals.” And Gerd Bräuer (2002) talks about the suspicion towards writing centers – including claims of “cultural imperialism” he encountered when attempting to start a center in Germany.
Call for Proposals
For our collection focusing on European writing centers, we are seeking contributions that unearth the “transatlantic histories of writing centers” (Scott, 2021) and that reveal the processes of translation and transculturation mentioned earlier. But we are also looking forward to pieces that address collaborations and productive encounters within Europe and between Europe and other continents, besides North America. Collaborations and productive encounters can help generate deeper knowledge, can examine important comparisons and contrasts, and can encourage a more sophisticated understanding.
We would be excited to see texts (or multimodal compositions) that show a “deep familiarity with other systems and contexts” (Donahue, 2009), texts that reflect a meaningful personal and intellectual engagement and experience in a particular place. Because the Digital Edited Collection is digital, we request authors enrich their texts with graphics, video clips, and other multimodal features. These multimodal components seek to draw readers in more deeply by watching, listening, learning, and yes, reading, in interactive ways to engage in this unique form of scholarship. Our goal is to highlight the unique voices of European writing center practitioners.
Proposals
For this DEC, we seek 500-word proposals for book chapters, including your plan on integrating multimodal elements into your manuscript along with a description of how you will do so. Multimodal elements is a distinctive feature of DEC’s and while some texts will be more multimodal than others, the point is to engage readers with rich interactive texts. Please submit proposals here: https://survey.qualtrics.emory.edu/jfe/form/SV_8wcq3lQTYzRDRTE
Chapters
We welcome chapters that address the following topics (though we are open to topics that go beyond these topics):
Origin Stories – Was the creation of your center a noteworthy story? Is your writing center the first in your country? Do you have an interesting origin story? We welcome origin stories about the creation and establishment of writing centers. Origin stories are 4,000-6,000 words in length.
Challenges to Writing Centers in your Country/Europe – What are the challenges for writing centers in your country, or Europe, as writing centers face pressure from GenAI, the aftereffects of COVID, changing student demographics, and more? Please let us know in 4,000-6,000 words.
Engaging with AI – Does your center have a unique or novel approach to engaging with AI? Is AI challenging the ability of your writing center to function? Do you have AI policies in place? How do AI policies in the European Union and/or your country affect your center? Please let us know in 4,000-6,000 words.
Impacts – What has been the impact of regional and national political, academic, and societal developments on your writing center or on writing centers in a European context? Impacts articles are 4,000-6,000 words in length.
Pedagogical Approaches – Does your center have a unique pedagogical approach specific to your context as a European writing center? Does your pedagogical approach respond to specifical institutional, national, and European contexts? Pedagogical Approaches chapters are 4,000-6,000 words in length.
We also welcome chapters that utilize the following formats or genres:
Research – We encourage quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research studies on European writing centers. These works generally include a methods section and IRB information when necessary. Research articles are 4,000-6,000 words in length.
Translations – Is there a writing center article in another language that you want to translate into English? In addition to a translation, author(s) must provide a 1,500-2,000 word introduction to the article, including why this article merits translation, what is included in the article, and why others in the field should read it. Author(s) may also want to include a discussion on how the concepts in the article could be applied to other European contexts. Translations which are not your own may need permissions from either the original author, the publication, or both.
Multimodal Composition – The DEC supports multimodal works, and we encourage submission of multimodal works. These could be interactive, a tools demonstration, video components, or other visuals. While individual chapters must include multimodal components, chapters that are fully multimodal works are also encouraged.
Other – Is there something we have not mentioned that you are interested in writing? We solicit a broad variety of submissions and are committed to working with authors to find a way to bring your work in this collection. Please be creative in your thinking about subject matter, issues of language, politics, power, etc.
Schedule
· Proposals (300-500 words) due: October 1, 2025
· Invitation to submit chapters by November 31, 2025
· Full drafts of chapters due: April 1, 2026
· Feedback on drafts: August 1, 2026
Submissions
Please submit your Proposals at this link: https://survey.qualtrics.emory.edu/jfe/form/SV_8wcq3lQTYzRDRTE
Contact Information
For questions about this collection, please contact:
Dr. Joseph Cheatle
Oxford College | Emory University
Jnefcyc
Dr. Levin Arnsperger
Emory University
Larnspe
Julia Bleakney
WLN Series Editor
Jbleakney
Karen Johnson
WLN Series Editor
Kgjohnson
Works Cited
Bräuer, G. (2002). Drawing connections across education: The Freiburg Writing Center model. Language and Learning Across the Disciplines, 5(3), 61-80.
Bromley, P. (2023). Locating the international writing center community. Journal für Schreibwissenschaft, 25(1). https://elibrary.utb.de/doi/abs/10.3278/JOS2301W002
Bromley, P., Girgensohn, K., Northway, K., & Schonberg, E. (2021). An introduction to transatlantic writing center resources. Writing Center Journal, 38(3). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1891
Donahue, C. (2010). “Internationalization” and composition studies: Reorienting the discourse. College Composition and Communication, 61(2), 212–243.
Hodges, A., Ronesi, L., & Zenger, A. (2019). Learning from/in Middle East and North Africa writing centers: Negotiating access and diversity. Writing Center Journal, 37(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1876
Hughes, B., & Zhang, J. (2025). English writing centers in China: Opportunities, challenges, and paths forward. Writing Center Journal, 43(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1993
Meijer, A., & de Jong, J. (2021). Writing centres in the Netherlands: Nondirective pedagogies in a changing higher education landscape. Writing Center Journal, 38(3). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1892
Scott, A. (2021). Mapping a transatlantic discipline: The role of handbooks in discipline-building in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Writing Center Journal, 38(3). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1897
Squires, L. A. (2022). Decisions squared: A deeper look at student characteristics, performance, and writing center usage in a multilingual liberal arts program in Russia. Writing Center Journal, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1010
Voigt, A., & Girgensohn, K. (2015). Peer tutoring in academic writing with non-native writers in a German writing center: Results of an empirical study. Journal of Academic Writing, 5(1), 65-73. https://doi.org/10.18552/joaw.v5i1.152
Zhang, J., & Liu, C. (2023). An investigation into the missions and practices of global writing centers in the Chinese context: ERPP and EAP-EGP hybrid approaches. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 65(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2023.101290