1. Institutional efforts in teaching
academic writing in Spanish in Latin-
American universities:
What agendas have been envisioned
for higher education?
Elizabeth Narváez-Cardona
enarvaez@uao.edu.co
enarvaezcardona@education.ucsb.edu

2. Goal
Presenting tendencies of the
initiatives in teaching reading
and writing in Latin American
higher education as a way to
identify agendas envisioned
by the region

3. Organization
1. Brief overview of movements to educating
readers and writers in Latin-American region
2. What means educating writers in higher
education?
3. The project “Initiatives of reading and writing
in higher education, ILEES Latin America”
4. Tendencies emerging from an online survey
applied in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and
México
5. Agendas envisioned emerging from the
tendencies

4. Overview of movements to educating readers and writers in
Latin-American region

5. What means educating
writers in higher education?

7. The project “initiatives of reading and writing
in higher education, ILEES Latin America”
Goal: Developing a comprehensive, diverse, and
inclusive map of research and pedagogy
tendencies in teaching higher education writing in
Latin-American region.
1° stage: applying an online survey in Argentina,
Chile, Colombia, and Mexico relying on a
purposeful sample during summer 2012.
Participants: 20 scholars known by their
publication and leadership in disseminating
programmatic research and pedagogy projects:
Purposive sample

8. The project “initiatives of reading and writing in
higher education, ILEES Latin America”
The survey
1. Institutional information of the participants
2. Teaching initiatives known by the participants in
their universities and in other institutions up to 10
universities.
3. Authors, journals, books, and data bases used as
resources, as well as publication venues from Latin
America and Spain to publish their work. Titles of
publications, oral communications, and research
projects in the issue.
4. Other scholars who might be interested on
responding the survey: Snowball technique.

9. The project “initiatives of reading and writing in
higher education, ILEES Latin America”
2° stage: Extend and deepen the first round of
findings by surveying Brazil, Venezuela, and Puerto
Rico.
Interviewing academic leaders and program leaders
and faculty members of selected programs
Observing major network conferences in Latin
America, and analyzing the content publications from
the region.

11. Disciplinary affiliations of the
scholars leading the initiatives

12. The curriculum configurations of the
initiatives reported by the participants

13. The initial impulse led by Chairs of UNESCO reading
and writing in Latin America remains as a strong paradigm.
Theoretical frameworks (authors, books, and journals) of
progressive thinking advocating systematic endeavors after
freshman years, have impacted barely in the Latin-America
region.
- inter-institutional networks
- research teams
- research emphasis on academic writing in PhD programs
- Conferences
- senior and graduate students have been addressed as key
population
The initiatives might be hindered due to the need of
investments required to sustain such endeavors.
Emerging hypothesis

14. Influential authors

15. 1. Paula Carlino (Argentina)
Background: psycholinguistics, cognitive, and sociocultural
psychology
Publications on higher education writing: 2002
Initially dispersing the programmatic US, British, and Australia
scholarships
3. Daniel Cassany
(Spain)
Background: philology and
didactics.
Publication on higher
education: 1997-2003 and
after 2006
4. Monserrat Castelló
(Spain)
Background: sociocultural
psychology and didactics
Publication on higher
education writing: 2007
2. Charles Bazerman
(EEUU)
Background: Literature and
Rhetoric
Publications on higher
education writing: 1980

16. Revista Signos - Chile
1964
Literature and Sciences of
Language
2005
Linguistics, Psycholinguistics,
Textual and Discourse linguistics,
and Applied Linguistics.
Lectura y Vida – Argentina
1980 – 2010
Reading and writing across
schooling systems based on the
Latin-American experiences
International Reading
Association (IRA)
Revista Lenguaje - Colombia
1973
Linguistics and Sciences of
Language
Revista Magis - Colombia
2008
Education
Revista Mexicana
de investigación
educativa -
México
1995
Education
The Journal of Writing Research
Europe – EEUU
multiple scientific disciplines
(education, psychology,
anthropology, communication
studies…)
The WAC clearinghouse
– EEUU
2000
Academic writing (WAC)
Resources

18. 1. Strengthening continentally and internationally
networks and associations in the issue while we
develop regional disciplinary identity (south-
south and south-north)
2. Involving in larger discussions regarding higher
education expectations in Latin-America and
participating of networks at the issue.
3. Exploring and comparing what has made been
sustainable the initiatives regionally and
internationally to learn what has been pertinent and
possible be further implemented.
Given curriculum innovations…
• Material investments (time and funding) of the
stakeholders (leaders of the programs, directives,
students, and faculty members).
• Projects to negotiate and “get room” for different
expectations of the stakeholders: ideological
sustainability

19. 4. Understanding the specific features of
the curriculum reforms and higher
education systems in the region
(nationally and continentally) and its
differences in contrast to other soils
(north).
5. Building historical accounts regarding
when and why the importation of
theories have occurred (regionally and
internationally) and the identity of our
initiatives(south-south and south-north) .
6. Exploring the exchanging processes of
the initiatives within the Latin-American
region, and between the region and other
international soils and derived tensions
of publishing and disseminating in
Spanish or English.