The Symposium on the Teaching of Writing in Lebanon is an annual event that aims to bring together teachers of English writing in Higher Education in the different Lebanese universities. With the re-orientation of the teaching of writing and composition studies from an import-export model of internalization to more of an equal exchange model, it becomes vital to understand how the teaching of English writing works in multi-lingual contexts such as Lebanon.
The Symposium Core Committee at AUB, which is mainly constituted of faculty members of the Communication Skills Program, Department of English, was formed in 2012 with the vision to create platforms for teachers of writing in Lebanon, where they can be in conversation with each other to understand the specifics of their teaching context. The First Symposium event was held at AUB in Fall 2013 with the goal of creating a collaborative community and starting a conversation about the teaching of English writing in Lebanon. To continue this conversation and to promote inter-institutional collaboration, the AUB Symposium Committee has worked each year with colleagues from a different university and held the Symposium on a different campus:
- Spring 2020 Seventh Annual Symposium planned at the American University of Beirut (AUB)
- Postponed due to Covid pandemic
- Spring 2019 Sixth Annual Symposium in Rafic Hariri University (RHU), Meshref
- Spring 2018 Fifth Annual Symposium in Holy Spirit University of Kaslik USEK), Kaslik
- Spring 2017 Fourth Annual Symposium in Lebanese American University (LAU), Beirut
- Spring 2016 Third Annual Symposium in Balamand University (BU), Balamand
- Fall 2014 Second Annual Symposium in Notre Dame University (NDU), Louize
Since its inception this annual inter-institutional gathering has served as a venue for teachers of writing from different universities as well as high school exit classes to share knowledge and experience, to discuss best practices, and to identify relevant questions about the teaching of English writing in Lebanon. It aims at developing into a community of practice or even a collaborative research community on the teaching of writing in Lebanon.
Symposium Core Committee at AUB: Malaki Khoury (Committee Chair), Dorota Fleszar (member), Zane Sinno (member), Rima Shadid (member), Emma Moghabghab (member).