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, International Relations, Linguistics, 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.
Annual Conference 2025: "A Song Called Teaching"
OPEN TO ALL | NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED
The Centre for Writing and Communication will be hosting 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, will deliver the keynote address.
To address questions of pedagogy, papers presented on the first day will discuss 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 will 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 will explore 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 will entail looking at required interventions, which will comprise exploring alternative education channels.
Presentations on the second day of the Conference will focus on how a teacher’s identity and positionality have an impact on their teaching approaches within the classroom. This dialogue will investigate 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 will encompass 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 will comprise 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.
