National Writing Centres Consortium

The Association of Academic Writing Experts 'National Writing Centers Consortium' (NWCC), which is a state nonprofit organization, aims to provide professional networking and professional development opportunities to academic writing experts and writing center professionals.

The Association promotes academic writing theory and practices through open debates and discussions in the media, thus influencing public opinion and awareness of the new discipline – interdisciplinary academic writing – in the country. Through these functions, the Association raises the importance of universities as social institutions in Russia and make them more open.

Aims and objectives of the Association:

• to foster academic writing as a university discipline and as a higher education activity to promote academic writing by translingual writers across and beyond disciplinary audiences

• to achieve sustainable excellence in academic and scientific communication through dissemination of best practices and international standards in EAP/ ERPP teaching and tutoring pedagogy, through the development of academic literacy and research skills at the university level and beyond

• to initiate projects for sharing expertise in EAP/ERPP teaching/learning to help researchers, who are non-native speakers of English, get published in international peer-reviewed scholarly journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science

• to empower the nation’s decision makers with the professional knowledge required to make well-informed choices, particularly on the development of academic writing standards for the Russian higher education system

The Association seeks to build strategic partnership relations with other associations, research organizations, higher education institutions, and the media to drive positive changes in the educational institutions both in the EU and Russia.

The Association is a body of around 100 members. Its members are individuals (writing experts working in various Russian universities) as well as writing centers and such organizations as Belgorod State University and Educational company RELOD.

Events

V International Conference

On November 16-18 the National Writing Centres Consortium held its fifth international conference “TESOL Contexts: Global Practices of Teaching Academic Writing,” which gathered writing professionals from 8 countries. One of the conference's most highly debated topics was the emerging trends in generative AI tools and their influence on the field of academic writing education. Conference attendees engaged in discussions regarding the advantages of incorporating AI technologies in writing practices, as well as the potential challenges faced by writing professionals in adapting to these advancements.

The first day broadcasting
The second day broadcasting

IV International Conference

IV international conference "Academic Science Communication: Teaching Non-Native English Speaking Scholars in a Multidisciplinary, Multicultural Context" was held in Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from October 20-22, 2022. At the conference, experts discussed methodological approaches to teaching English and science communication to science majors and early-career researchers. A detailed description of the event is available here.

The first day broadcasting
The second day broadcasting
The third day broadcasting

III Academic Writing Online Conference Research Writing

III Academic Writing Online Conference "Research Writing: Teaching Approaches and Assessment Practices" took place on October 30, 2021. At the conference speakers as Karen Ottewell (University of Cambridge), Ron Martinez (University of Arkansas), and other experts and teachers in the EAP field shared their experience.

II Academic Writing Online Conference Research Writing

The NWCC Conference is a collaborative platform for academic writing specialists, researchers, and journal editors, where they can share best practices, exchange ideas and effective strategies for teaching/learning academic writing.