Texas A&M University at Qatar opened its long-awaited Technical Communications Center this fall, a major step in efforts to enhance oral and written communication skills among engineering students at the Middle East campus.

The Technical Communications Center (TCC) is much like the University Writing Center in that it offers one-on-one help to students who are working on writing projects. But the center takes on a larger role as a language lab for students in Qatar, for most of whom English is a non-native language. Bolstered by staff trained as ESL specialists and by innovative software such as ClarityEnglish, the TCC serves as an academic hub that provides resources for every communications component of the curriculum, be it writing, speaking or basic English skills.

The center is directed by Cecelia Hawkins, senior lecturer in the Department of English and a 30-year veteran of teaching writing. Hawkins left her post as writing consultant at the George Bush School of Government & Public Service earlier this year and has been working since then to open the TCC.

 “My philosophy is informed by my observation of and experience with the UWC as it has grown and changed over the years since its beginning as a small room with a few computers and a few grad students in the English department,” Hawkins said. “We have much the same philosophy here: a desire to create a welcoming and low-risk environment where students can come to improve their writing.”

And they are coming—business has been booming for Hawkins and her staff this semester. Students at TAMUQ, driven in part by their desire to learn and in part by their professional aspirations, call on the TCC staff time and again for help with their writing. Consultations run the full academic gamut—English essays, research papers for history classes, reports for laboratory assignments and design projects for engineering courses. But students also stop in when they have a quick question, such as how to pronounce a word.

“The greatest challenge for all of us is to equip the TAMUQ students with the language tools they need to succeed as engineering students in an all-English curriculum,” Hawkins said, “and then to succeed as professional engineers where writing and oral communication will be critical.”

Hawkins describes her pedagogical strategy as “part teacher, part tutor” and said she employs a “blended approach” with students in which tutors are more directive with mechanical issues at the sentence level but are more non-directive in a macro sense, asking leading questions that provoke independent and critical thinking by the students. This is an essential consideration of writing center philosophy—how to give students the help they need such that they do not become dependent on tutors to solve all their problems. Hawkins embraces that challenge.

“The thrill comes from being part of this extraordinary—and I would even say unique—enterprise,” Hawkins said.

“The student population is small and the resources are great. It feels almost like a laboratory where we can identify challenges and then are blessed with the ability to do something to meet them.”

Hawkins also provides support to faculty teaching W courses and other writing at TAMUQ. Have a plan and purpose, she advises faculty. “Be incremental—that is, build skills over time,” she says. “Write clear prompts that model good format and writing, and develop and use a rubric.”

She also recommends that faculty consider some of the ways that writing center tutors help students learn on their own. “Don’t edit or re-write papers for students. Instead, help them to identify and then re-work their writing problems themselves. Showing them that you can write it better doesn’t necessarily help them become better writers.”

Teaching writing has its own challenges. But what about living and working in the Middle East? For Hawkins, the fascinations are endless. “The calls to prayer from our neighborhood mosque. The Qataris who glide through the hallways in their black abayas and white thobes. The sun sinking into the desert. The pastels of the houses.
Qatari drivers. The sweetness of the students.”

—Brady Creel