HomeTom Gally was a professor at the University of Tokyo's College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he helped to develop and manage academic English programs. He is now an emeritus professor as well as project professor in the university's Center for Global Education. His current outreach activities focus on university English education and the impact of machine translation and generative AI from the perspective of academic literacy.
The Writing Centers Association of Japan (WCAJ), in collaboration with Hiroshima University Writing Center, is pleased to announce the Fourteenth Symposium on Writing Centers in Asia to be held in person on February 15th, 2025. The theme this year is a question: ‘What Is a Writing Center?’
Attendance is free. We welcome proposal submissions for talks and/or posters, as well as general participation from all interested parties, whether or not they are currently associated with a Writing Center or a writing/English studies position. We especially encourage participation from faculty members and university administrators interested in establishing new writing centers at their respective institutions.
*Thanks to all of you, the symposium was a success. Thank you very much.
Date and Location
Date: Saturday February 15th, 2025
Time(tentative): 11:00-17:30 (Reception 18:00-)
Location: Higashi-Senda Innovative Research Center at Hiroshima University
Participation
All interested parties, whether or not they are currently associated with a Writing Center or a writing/English studies position. We especially encourage participation from faculty members and university administrators interested in establishing new writing centers at their respective institutions.
Attendance is free.
Language
English and Japanese
Program
The program can be downloaded here.
Plenary Speakers
Tom Gally
University of Tokyo (Emeritus)
Paul Wai-Ling Lai
Nagoya University
Dr. Paul Lai serves as the Director of the Nagoya University Writing Center (Mei-Writing). Since joining Nagoya University in 2010, he has focused his research on promoting the practicality and indispensability of logical thinking education in academic writing. In 2024, he was honored with the Tokai National Higher Education and Research System Education Good Practices Chancellor's Award for his innovative educational methods.
Call for Proposals
What is a writing center? We hope that this deceptively simple question inspires opportunities for presenters to:
- Identify, celebrate, and query recent writing center innovations, such as via case studies
- Reflect on the process of launching, nurturing, and promoting writing centers throughout Asia
- Propose theoretical and practical accounts of the contemporary writing center against the changing landscape of higher education (e.g. following the pandemic, adapting to the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence)
- Synthesize the day-to-day functions alongside the overarching philosophies of writing centers
- Share insights from diverse perspectives, including researchers, tutors, administrators, students, and other professionals
- Hypothesize what a writing center can be in 2025 and beyond
The Program Committee invites proposals for oral and poster presentations. The presentations can be research- and/or practice-based, and in English and Japanese. Presenters will have 20 minutes for their talk plus brief additional time to answer questions. Presenters are welcome to use presentation software such as PowerPoint, although they will need to bring their own computers and adapters.
In the spirit of the writing center, if any applicants feel that they would benefit from discussing their ideas prior to submitting an abstract, please feel free to contact us at wcajapan@gmail.com.
Submission Guidelines
- Language of proposals and presentations: either English or Japanese
- Abstracts for oral and poster presentations: 200 to 300 words in English or 500 to 800 characters in Japanese
- Summary to be used for the symposium program: 100 words in English or 250 characters in Japanese
- Please include a title for your paper as well as your name, affiliation (if applicable), and email address
- (Please also pre-register through this link if you are participating as general audience and not presenting)
Application Form
Please apply using the application form below.
Call For Proposals
Deadline for Submissions: Friday January 10 17, 2025 by 17:00 (Japan Standard Time) *Closed
Notification: by Friday January 24, 2025
Registration
If you are interested in coming to the symposium (either as a presenter or as general audience), please register at your earliest convenience.
*Closed.
【Contact】
E-mail: wcajapan*gmail.com (Please change * to @)
