Farrell, Alison and Tighe-Mooney, Sharon (2015) Recall, Recognise, Re-Invent: The Value of Facilitating Writing Transfer in the Writing Centre Setting. Journal of Academic Writing, 5 (2). pp. 29-42. ISSN 2225-8973

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Abstract

The Writing Centre in Maynooth University, Ireland, is proud of its learner-centred approach (Biggs 1999, Lea et al. 2003). In the Centre we begin where students are, by asking them about their writing concerns. We also appreciate the need to recognise and build on their approaches to writing, their effective writing processes and their writing achievements. We see this under the broader heading of ‘writing transfer’. In this article, we outline our strategies to promote transfer and thinking about transfer with students before and after one-to-one appointments. In a small-scale research project we conducted, our research questions accentuated two potential principles of transfer, as noted in the Elon Statement on Writing Transfer, that ‘[s]uccessful writing transfer occurs when a writer can transform rhetorical knowledge and rhetorical awareness into performance … [when they] draw on previous knowledge and strategies … [and] … transform or repurpose that prior knowledge, if only slightly’, and that University programs can ‘teach for transfer’ (Perkins and Salomon 1988) through the use of enabling practices (Elon 2013: 4). Our work suggests that highlighting transfer in the writing centre context reinforces our learner-centred approach while also acknowledging the literacy archives with which our students present.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Recall; Recognise; Re-Invent; Value; Facilitating Writing Transfer; Writing Centre;
Academic Unit:	Centre for Teaching and Learning
Item ID:	6655
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.18552/joaw.v5i2.186
Depositing User:	Sharon Tighe-Mooney
Date Deposited:	14 Dec 2015 10:01
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Academic Writing
Publisher:	European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing (EATAW)
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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