Steering toward situational propensity/shi 势: A multicase study of planning and developing EFL writing centres in China

Abstract

Compared with the abundant scholarship on tutor-student interactions during writing centre tutorials, little research has investigated the planning and development of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing centres with consideration of specific sociopolitical contexts. From the perspective of academic language policy and planning (ALPP), this study compared the planning and the (failure of) sustainable development of three Chinese writing centres—two thriving ones and a closed one—through the lens of agency and by drawing on an indigenous Chinese notion of shi (势, situational propensity). With a shi-inflected agency framework, we analysed interview and document data from three groups of actors: writing centre directors, tutors, and tutees. Our findings uncovered intriguing insights into shi-inflected agency in planning and developing EFL writing centres: two operational strategies were identified for writing centre ALPP (noting and following shi, and creating shi), highlighting the importance of (1) aligning with macro-level shi and integrating it with meso- and micro-level shi, and (2) managing yin-yang alternations to transform constraints into affordances. Implications are duly provided for international writing centres and L2 writing support practitioners in EFL contexts across the globe.