Re-Engineering the North American Writing Center Model in East Asia

As writing centers spread internationally, the North American mode of operation as a largely non-directive peer-tutoring center primarily directed at undergraduate students will have to be adapted to local needs and cultures. I would like to describe one such unique accommodation: the Hanyang University English Writing Center in Seoul, Korea. The English Writing Center, which is part of the Hanyang Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), was first started as a result of a proposal I made in 2003. The center differs from North American writing centers, not only in practice but even in its purpose. This article explains how and why adapting to local needs resulted in a writing center design that is quite different from North American writing centers.University Writing Cente