‘Embodied writing support’: The importance of the body in engaging students with writing

Scholars from a wide range of disciplines – from linguistics, neuroscience and science to education, Sports and Leisure and telecommunications – have argued for the centrality of the body to effective learning environments. My contention in this article is that embracing the body is also crucial for creating empowering environments to support writing in UK Higher Education (HE). Drawing mainly on feminist theories of the body, I discuss how I have attempted to do this in my own work in academic literacy support with a specific consideration on the creation of supportive spaces for writing. The intention here is to theorize ways in which the body might relate to writing and to stimulate creative ideas about how this burgeoning field of ‘embodied writing support’ can be further developed.