ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the stories which academic teachers had to tell about parts of their practice around student writing which were more satisfying, effective and enjoyable for them and, it would seem, for students. It argues that generic experiments and aspirations show evidence of a collective desire for 'hospitable spaces' for work with student writing as part of disciplinary activity. The chapter proposes the concept of hospitality and provides a useful metaphor for thinking about what to aim for in practice around student writing in higher education. Higher education researchers such as Boud and Molloy and Nicol have explored the qualities of dialogic assessment feedback, emphasising feedback as a dynamic process rather than as 'message' to be 'delivered' to student writers. David Carless points out that it may be middle or senior managers who are most in need of assessment-related professional development.
