Research
Research is an integral component of the Centre for Writing and Communication. The Centre is working towards developing resources, integrating technology, and opening wide arrays of research questions in the field of writing and communication. CWC understands the importance of research as an essential companion to pedagogic practice and techniques of reading and writing. CWC caters to all disciplines in Ashoka for a wide range of topics, so developing resources and methodology that is relevant to a variety of students is a major part of our research endeavours. CWC in its research pursuits, hopes to bridge the gap between writing, critical thinking, and expression. We understand that writing is a dialogue between personal critical interest and a synthesis of knowledge already established. A diverse team at CWC, specialising in disciplines like Literature, Sociology, Linguistics, Art History and Gender Studies has allowed CWC to think of writing as a method of interdisciplinary thought. Our interest in enhancing accessibility of disciplinary and historical knowledge and to enable students to enter into a dialogue with them, has guided our methodology and pedagogical research.
Pariprekshya: Special issue on Writing Centres in India, Edited by Kanika Singh
Read HereThe journal of the National Institute of Educational Planning & Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi released a special issue focussing on Writing Centres in India. This issue (August 2024) was edited by Kanika Singh (Director, CWC) and particularly focuses on the work of Ashoka University’s writing centre. It is also the first time this theme has been discussed in the Hindi-language sphere.
This volume with its focus on Writing Centres in India is timely. As an institutional unit, writing centres are a recent phenomenon in India. Few had heard of a writing centre in the Indian context ten years earlier and now centres which specifically focus on addressing reading, writing and communication skills of their students are considered an integral part of a higher education institution in India. Now writing centres or labs are present in management schools and STEM institutions and law schools, besides their expected presence in institutions focusing on social science and humanities. The model for these centres is often taken from north American universities where writing centres are well established part of the higher education set up. The articles in this volume of Pariprekshya discuss the context, the growth and the need for writing centres in the Indian context. Together they specifically reflect on the situation in India classroom and the landscape of higher education and therefore provide both a micro- and macro-view of education. This issue curated by Kanika Singh makes a conscious attempt to include perspectives from the sciences and professional courses like design, along with social sciences/humanities.
Insights into Scientific Writing: Practices in India, by Ipsita Herlekar (formerly of Ashoka University & NCBS) provides an overview of research writing in the STEM fields and the differences between norms and expectations in research writing in the STEM in comparison to the social sciences and the humanities. Shemal Pandya’s (National Insitute of Design, Ahmedabad) essay, Writing in a Design School, is unconventional and quirky. It departs the norms and expectations of academic writing and in that demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of our conventions and also therefor the place of writing centres in such a scenario. Sonakshi Srivastava (CWC) and Vrinda Chopra’s (CWC) article, The Anatomy of Writing Pedagogy With/in a Writing Centre, offers a perspective of two teachers and colleagues who reflect upon pedagogical practices they encountered as students and then later they put into practice as teachers, while part of a writing centre. Kanika Singh’s article, Inclusion, Diversity and Writing: Centre for Writing & Communication at Ashoka University focuses on the evolution of the writing centre at Ashoka University and its interpretation of ‘writing’ and ‘communication’ in the university. It further discusses the CWC’s engagement with the idea of inclusion, and gives examples of the in-class and extra-curricular programmes developed by the centre. This special volume also includes a note on a research project titled Language, Pedagogy and Inclusion in Higher Education: A Case Study of Ashoka University, Sonepat. The project which ran from 2022-24 was funded by the Research and Academic Development Office, Ashoka University. It was collaboratively undertaken by Kanika Singh (CWC) and Shivani Nag (Assistant Professor, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi). The key question for this research was to examine the students negotiate use of English as a medium of instruction in Ashoka University with focus on role of language in teaching learning practices, language related challenges of students and also the role played by writing centres in recognising and addressing the challenges.
The special issue is available on the website of the journal.
Annual Conference 2025: "A Song Called Teaching"
The Centre for Writing and Communication hosted its Annual Conference “A Song Called Teaching” in Lecture Room 1 at the India International Centre Annexe on 10 & 11 April, 2025 from 9:30 AM onwards. The title of the Conference is borrowed from the book A Song Called Teaching: Ebbs & Flows of Experiential and Emphatic Pedagogies (2019, Delhi: Aakar Books), edited by Honey Oberoi Vahali. Prof. Padma Sarangapani, Chairperson of the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education, School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, delivered the keynote address.
To address questions of pedagogy, papers presented on the first day discussed how evaluations of the ‘good’ teacher and student are produced and recalibrated socially by analysing these qualities both in and beyond the classroom. This discussion lead towards inquiring about the importance of embedding feminist epistemologies and being a feminist killjoy in the classroom among other resulting insights. In looking at revising teacher education programs, the following papers explored the significance of developing culturally adaptive non-verbal communication strategies and include exploring areas of remediation in the curriculum as well as specific professional development and peer coaching mechanisms for teachers. This entailed looking at required interventions, which comprised exploring alternative education channels.
Presentations on the second day of the Conference focussed on how a teacher’s identity and positionality have an impact on their teaching approaches within the classroom. This dialogue investigated the affective and gendered emotional labour, care work as method and pedagogy as well as the relevance of a slow teaching praxis in academia. This scholarly engagement encompassed examining what it is to be a teacher in a time of ethnic conflict and the challenges faced when trying to break down the hierarchies of the classroom space. In the interest of inaugurating inclusive teaching practices, the closing discussions comprised mentoring and teaching through immersive, adaptive and reflective methods and the need for mentors to develop intercultural competence to be able to bridge varying academic and cultural contexts.
Download full programmeBook Announcement | "Inclusive Pedagogies: Teaching & Learning Practices in Higher Education in India" edited by Kanika Singh
Inclusive Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning Practices in Higher Education in India, emerges from the work of the Centre for Writing and Communication at Ashoka University, Sonepat. It addresses some of the most fundamental issues facing higher education in India, namely, of pedagogy and inclusion. The essays in this volume offer a range of perspectives ranging from an ideological vision for inclusive pedagogy, critically analysing policy and disciplinary discourses, to individual experiments in syllabi-making and classroom interaction. The contributors to this book are scholars trained in a variety of disciplines, sharing their experiences of engaging with the idea of ‘inclusion’ as teachers, scholars and administrators in young and emerging universities.
Contents
Introduction – Kanika Singh
The Impossibility of Dalit Studies – Ankit Kawade
Unequal Schooling and Challenges for Higher Education in India – Shivani Nag
Critical Thinking & Academic Writing in English: A Look at Ashoka University’s Academic Bridge Programme – Neerav Dwivedi & Jyotirmoy Talukdar
Inclusion, Diversity and Writing: Centre for Writing & Communication at Ashoka University – Kanika Singh
The Classroom as the ‘Field’: Consolidating Writing Pedagogy Through Ethnographic Documentation – Madhura Lohokare
Rethinking Higher Education Practice Within Academic Audit Regimes – Manasi Thapliyal Navani
The ‘Dangerous Ground’ for Democracy: Doing Interdisciplinary Social Sciences in the Public University – Debaditya Bhattacharya
Project Report | Language, Pedagogy, and Inclusion in Higher Education
This study examines the role of language in teaching-learning practices in Ashoka and provides recommendations on policy and pedagogy, to support inclusive education where inclusion goes beyond ensuring entry and is translated into academic participation. This is the first study of its kind within Ashoka which collects data of students and teachers across disciplines and levels on this theme. It helps identify patterns, challenges and common assumptions about the university’s academic experience. In the larger context of higher education in India, this is perhaps one of the first empirical studies on this theme. Further, research highlights the importance of writing centres in a university and the possibilities of their scope of work – to engage with questions of language, inclusion and academic work and their larger socio-political context. The project was led by Kanika Singh (Director, CWC) in collaboration with Shivani Nag (Ambedkar University Delhi). This work was funded by the Office of Research and Development, Ashoka University. The project report is available in English & Hindi.
Also read: Blog post on the project report by Yukti Arora.
Seminar 2024 | Language, Pedagogy, and Inclusion in Higher Education
In 2024, we hosted a seminar titled, “Language, Pedagogy, and Inclusion in Higher Education,” focused on the challenges posed by language proficiency and academic literacy that students face in various courses offered in higher education. The seminar interrogated questions of accessibility, inclusion, and underlying socio-cultural and political strands in discussions around language, particularly English.
The seminar was based on a project undertaken by CWC director, Kanika Singh, and Shivani Nag, an Assistant Professor, at B.R. Ambedkar University to study the language concerns expressed by students at Ashoka. The report was then discussed in depth by Prof. Rita Kothari, Ashoka University, Prof. Minati Panda, JNU, Prof. Amol Padwad, AUD and Prof. Peggy Mohan, who all offered their insights, comments, and suggestions. The project was assisted by two Research Assistants from Ashoka University, Anasuith Pradhivish and Ragalika V. who read a paper based on their experience of interviewing those who participated in the project. In the same session, Karan, a doctoral candidate from AUD also read his paper to underline issues of inclusion and exclusion vis-a-vis caste and the English Language.
Past Conferences
In 2024, the CWC’s annual conference brought together educators, scholars, students and activists working in the field of education. Our first conference in 2017-18, Reflections on Writing, critically examined the idea of writing in university spaces. The 2018-19 conference focused on Inclusive Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning Practices in Higher Education in India. CWC’s 2019-20 Conference ‘Challenges/Strategies in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Higher Education in India’ was postponed due to Covid-19 and is to be held online in April 2021. On 23rd-34th April 2021 CWC hosted its 3rd Annual Conference titled ‘Challenges/Strategies in Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Higher Education in India‘. This online event brought together scholars working in the fields of ELT and English Studies on a range of topics, including multilingulaism, language hierarchy, generalist versus subject specific tutoring, among others. Panels ‘Teaching Methods and Curriculum Building’ and ‘The Hetergenous Classroom: Strategies for Inclusion’ deserve special mention for initiating the task of data collection in the field of teaching writing in India. The conference closed on a high note with Prof. Giridhar Rao’s (Azim Premji University) keynote address Hooked on Books: The Power of Reading for Writing chaired by Prof. Prakash Padakannaya (Christ University, Bangalore). CWC’s conference titled “Writing ‘Data’: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” discussed the role of data in liberal, interdisciplinary education and research, now deepening in complexity with the digital turn. Papers presented at the conference were across disciplines, and engaged with varied aspects of writing methods and pedagogies as they work and interact with data.
