Category: Uncategorized
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Why the MENA Region?
As you explore the posts on this website, one question naturally emerges: Why focus on academic writing and writing centers in the MENA region? Writing centers and many of the concepts associated with academic writing, such as citation practices, genre conventions, and structured peer support, are relatively recent developments in many parts of the region.…
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The MENA Region
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is frequently described in terms of both its vast natural resources and its complex sociopolitical landscape. Perhaps most notably, the region is endowed with a large concentration of energy resources, estimated in 2013 to be “860 billion barrels, which are 52% of global proven oil reserves” (Khatib, 2013). This…
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Developing the MENA Writing Center Census: Language, Context, and Practice
One of the first challenges we encountered in developing the MENA Writing Center Census was deceptively simple: What is a tutor, and how do we name this role across languages? Writing center scholarship has long debated the terminology used to describe both tutors and the writers they work with, reflecting broader questions about authority, collaboration,…
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Arabic and the Role of Language in Developing the MENA Writing Center Census
Writing centers in the MENA region operate at the intersection of multiple languages, educational traditions, and cultural expectations, as we explore in many of our posts. While many writing centers draw on models developed in English-dominant contexts, their daily practices are shaped by linguistic realities that differ significantly from those of North American and European…