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Writing in English is an essential skill in the K-economy and the increasingly globalized world. Yet, students´ lack of writing competence remains a perennial problem, especially in the tertiary contexts of ESL/EFL. In the quest for an intervention, Writing Centers (WCs) originated from North America have proved effective due to the pedagogical approach of improving the writer not the writing, and the practice of non-directive and non-judgmental individualized one-on-one tutoring. This, then, motivated the present study to research into the applicability of the WC approach to ESL/EFL learners. The study conducts a series of thematic investigations, a case study and a survey on the writing needs and writing support in English at an Asian university. A comparison is also made among North American, European and Asian WCs. The investigations culminate the formulation of the WC approach and an action plan to implement it. The essence of the WC approach is in the application of WCs as writing pedagogy, learner support and immersive language learning environments. This book should make good reference for writing instructors, researchers and graduate students.

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Dr BH TAN is Assoc Professor of Applied Linguistics at University Putra Malaysia. Her research interests are CALL,CMC,ESP and assessment. Her recent publication includes two co-edited books published by Pearson Longman and Cambridge Scholars, a chapter by Peter Lang and several journal articles. She is Chief Editor of a MELTA journal from 2008.

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