Tutoring Second Language Writers (24 page)
Read Tutoring Second Language Writers Online
Authors: Shanti Bruce
Here are suggestions:
• Get lots of feedback on your study as you go along. Make sure you have a mentor, but also ask naïve readers for their input. Sometimes people who know little about your topic can give you fresh insights.
• Try presenting your research at undergraduate- and graduate-student research forums and conferences. The National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing is also a great venue to present your research. Regional writing center conferences give tutors the opportunity to present closer to home, even if home is Europe, North Africa, or Asia. Look at the IWCA website (writingcenters.org) for information on these conferences.
• If you are ready to publish your research, consider submitting it to the
Writing Lab Newsletter
or the
Writing Center Journal
. There are also journals that cater specifically to undergraduate and graduate student researchers. For instance,
Xchanges
, based at New Mexico Tech, publishes research on rhetoric and composition, technical communication, and writing across the curriculum written by students of all levels, undergraduate to PhD.
Young Scholars in Writing Undergraduate Research in Writing and Rhetoric
is published by the University of Missouri Kansas City and features articles by undergraduates.
Southern Discourse
is a publication disseminated by the Southeastern Writing Centers Association and welcomes article submissions by undergraduates, graduate students, and professionals.
The Peer Review
is published by IWCA and promotes scholarship by graduate, undergraduate, and high school practitioners and their collaborators.
On a final note, one of the editors of this volume commented that not only can students “conduct research to learn and improve their writing centers, but it is also possible that they could propose those projects for classes in which they are required to conduct research, and of course, they can become the topics of master’s theses, dissertations, and eventually, articles and books.”
Here’s wishing that your project may have such an illustrious future!
1. Reflect on a recent instance of discomfort, confusion, or unease in one of your tutoring sessions. How can this feeling be turned into a research question? If all your tutoring sessions have been “smooth sailing,” talk to your fellow tutors about any negative or curious experiences they have had and brainstorm how these can be turned into research questions. Look back at Frankie Condon and Bobbi Olson’s chapter (27), in which they discuss “pedagogical failures” and how these can be turned
into moments “that both tutors and writers can learn from and out of which tutors might produce new tutoring scholarship.”
2. Conduct a mini research study, such as those mentioned by Glenn Hutchinson and Paula Gillespie (in this volume), in which you audio or video record a tutoring session (your own or someone else’s) and transcribe according to
Gilewicz and Thonus’s (2003)
“Close Vertical Transcription.” Analyze a short exchange based on conversational analysis or discourse analysis. Choose only one factor to look at, such as discourse markers, overlap/latching, or pronoun use. What patterns do you see and what do they say about the relationship of the participants in the discourse?
Babcock
,
Rebecca,
and
Terese
Thonus
.
2012
.
Researching the Writing Center: Towards an Evidence-Based Practice
.
New York
:
Peter Lang
.
Chapter 2 gives a full overview of different types of research and chapter 8 gives several sample research questions and study designs. Throughout the book we offer examples of research conducted in writing centers, broken down by topic.
Denzin
,
Norman K.
, and
Yvonne S.
Lincoln
.
2011
.
The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research
.
4th ed.
Los Angeles
:
SAGE
.
Although this book would be quite pricey to buy, most libraries have a recent copy in the reference section and may even have an older edition you can check out. Beginners will find chapter-length treatments of research methods and methodologies written by experts in the field.
Action Research: Transforming the Generation and Application of Knowledge.
2009
.
http://arj.sagepub.com/site/author_resources/Action_Research_manifesto.pdf
.
Babcock
,
Rebecca Day
.
2012
.
Tell Me How It Reads: Tutoring Deaf and Hearing Students in the Writing Center
.
Washington, DC
:
Gallaudet University Press
.
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,
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.
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. “
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.”
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, and
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Thonus
.
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. “
Close Vertical Transcription in Writing Center Training and Research
.”
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,
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,
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.
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. “
Researching Students: Lessons from a Writing Centre
.”
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,
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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,
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, and
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.
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. “
Learning More from the Students
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Nan
,
Frances
.
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. “
Bridging the Gap: Essential Issues to Address in Recurring Writing Center Appointments with Chinese ELL Students
.”
Writing Center Journal
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):
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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Got Guilt? Consultant Guilt in the Writing Center Community
.”
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,
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.
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,
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, and
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, and
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.
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,
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.
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. “What Makes a Writing Tutorial Successful: An Analysis of Linguistic Variables and Social Context.” PhD diss., Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.
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,
Terese
.
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. “
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.”
Text
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Thonus
,
Terese
.
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. “
Triangulating the Key Players: Tutors, Tutees, Instructors, and Collaboration in the Writing Center
.”
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):
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.
Thonus
,
Terese
.
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. “
Tutor and Student Assessments of Academic Writing Tutorials: What Is ‘Success’?
”
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):
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–
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.
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.”
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, and
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.
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.”
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.
Words and Passages
Like a road or bridge, language helps people and their ideas move through the world, but the path can be winding and uneven. Striving to understand how the words we speak and write create or block opportunities is one way to promote personal growth and social progress. The authors in this part offer personal stories of inquiry and discovery. The first chapter in this section asks, how do tutors experience matters of social justice in their tutoring sessions? To answer this question, the author asked tutors to create a concept map, rank order a list of topics, and then discuss these with her. The results of her inquiry illuminate some of the deeply interpersonal aspects of tutoring. Chapter 9 describes a problematic session that pitted the tutor against a faculty member. In this chapter, language and culture come together around the question, when a tutor learns something about student that the student’s professor ought to know, what is the tutor’s responsibility? In chapter 10, the author tells about one of the participants she met while gathering data for her dissertation research. This participant struggled to hold on to her voice in her writing, despite being part of a culture that urged her to lose it. In the last chapter of this section, the author writes about learning English—the discipline and perseverance it took him to achieve a level of proficiency that allowed him to become a writing center tutor. His story is especially revealing for monolingual speakers who may wonder why their L2 writers don’t learn the rules of writing faster.
