Can I require my students to make an appointment with the WLS?

We appreciate it when faculty encourage their students to use the WLS! That said, WLS coaching services, workshops, and events are all voluntary. We promote self-directed learning and believe it is important for students to make the choice to use our services. For this reason and for capacity issues, we ask faculty not to require their students to make WLS appointments.

Can I give my students extra credit for visiting the WLS?

Previously we have asked faculty not to award extra credit to students in their courses for WLS appointments due to concerns about capacity and equity. But we understand that some faculty have a strong interest in helping their students develop learning strategies that align with the goals of the WLS. Therefore, in Fall 2025 we are piloting a new policy that will allow extra credit under the conditions listed below. We see the potential for this new policy to help the WLS promote independent learning—particularly, though not limited to, independent language learning.

Fall 2025 policy allows extra credit for WLS appointments under the following conditions:

• Student must have a specific goal for the WLS appointment that is relevant to the course in which they seek extra credit (but not part of an assignment they are already being graded on).
• Student must articulate their specific needs to the coach during the appointment. In other words, they can’t just
  • ask a writing coach to read and make suggestions on their paper
  • ask a language coach for vague “help improving” their language, or simply read a textbook lesson from a class during a WLS appointment
• Student should be expected to reflect on their learning and provide documentation of their learning (NOT just documentation of the appointment) to their professor.
• The ability to receive extra credit for WLS appointments is entirely the decision of the course instructor and not the WLS coach. Criteria are likely to vary depending on the particular course/instructor/assignment, and it is the student’s responsibility to clarify this with their professor.
• Please note that the WLS follows FERPA regulations and, as such, will not provide any information about WLS appointments to faculty. Brief appointment reports are completed by the coach and student at the end of every appointment and are emailed directly to students after every appointment; students may share these reports with whomever they choose to.
• If you would like feedback on your WLS extra credit assignment or help creating extra credit guidelines, please contact the WLS Associate Director at Kristin.hiller@dukekunshan.edu.cn.

Does the WLS have coaches with disciplinary backgrounds in all DKU majors?

WLS faculty and student coaches come from a wide range of disciplinary and writing backgrounds. Though our disciplinary backgrounds don’t cover all the DKU majors and graduate programs, there are many ways that we work with writers whose background don’t match our own. For instance, we help writers evaluate how well they have achieved their aims in their writing, develop genre and rhetorical awareness, identify gaps in logic or development of arguments, improve clarity and conciseness, and develop strategies to use in different stages of their writing. We are prepared to coach students from all three UG divisions as well as the graduate programs.

I sent my student to the WLS to help with their grammar, but the student still has grammar issues in their writing. Why didn’t the WLS help them?

It takes a lot of time to develop high levels of proficiency and sophisticated language use in a second language. WLS coaches help raise writers’ awareness of language issues (e.g., grammar, word choice, style) in their writing and introduce them to resources and strategies they can use to check and improve their use of English language. The help we provide can take a variety of forms, but it will never include proofreading or correcting an entire piece of writing for the writer. 

Can faculty and staff use the WLS?

Yes! We have many faculty and staff members who make appointments for language learning or writing. These faculty serve as great role models of self-directed learning for our students.

Can you tell me when my students have had WLS appointments?

Our policy is to maintain confidentiality for our WLS users, meaning that we don’t disclose who comes to us for coaching or what we discuss in individual coaching sessions. However, WLS users should receive a summary of their appointment via email, and they are free to share those reports with others at their discretion.