This study assesses the influence of writing center tutorials on student writing and presents tutoring best practices. Writing center scholars have emphasized the need for evidence-based studies to understand how one-on-one tutorials influence student writing practices. After examining twenty tutorial recordings along with their pre-and post-intervention drafts in two state universities (ten in each university), the author traced the influence of writing center tutorials on students' post-session revisions and identified tutoring best practices. The findings show that all the twenty students included in the study followed up on the issues addressed in their tutorials, in some form or the other, in their post-session drafts. In terms of tutoring strategies, the findings revealed that although most of the tutors in the study could identify and speak about global concerns (i.e. development, structure, purpose, audience), many lacked specific strategies to address these concerns effectively. To address this concern, this study identifies tutoring best practices related to global concerns. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that the tutors faced challenges navigating the directive/non-directive continuum of tutoring. To address this concern, this study presents tutoring best practices to demonstrate how tutors can shift flexible between directive and non-directive strategies during a session. / Ph. D. / Writing center scholars have emphasized the need for evidence-based studies to develop a deeper understanding of how one-on-one writing center tutorials influence student writing practices. My aim in this study was to examine how writing center tutorials influence student writing and to identify tutoring best practices. To assess how writing center tutorials influence student writing practices, I asked this question: Do students carry over what is discussed in their writing center sessions into their post-session drafts? To assess tutoring best practices, I asked: What tutoring strategies influenced students to revise their drafts?
To examine these two questions, I recorded twenty writing center tutorials in two state universities (ten in each university) and collected the drafts that students brought to their tutorials (i.e. the pre-intervention drafts) as well as the drafts that students revised after their tutorials (i.e. the post-intervention drafts). By comparing the pre-and post-intervention drafts and listening to the tutorial recordings, I was able to determine not just what issues were discussed in each of the twenty tutorials, but also how much of this discussion was carried over by students in their post-intervention drafts. As a result, I was able to demonstrate how students make use of their writing center instruction after attending a writing center session. In other words, I was able to show what aspects of a session students’ carried over into their post-intervention draft. My analysis revealed that all the twenty students included in my study incorporated their tutors’ suggestions, in some form or the other, in their post-intervention drafts. Thus, I was able to show the various ways in which a writing center tutorial can influence student revisions.
I also used my data to identify tutoring best practices. For instance, my data revealed that although most of the tutors in the study could identify and speak about global concerns in a student’s paper (i.e. development, structure, purpose, audience), many lacked specific strategies to address these concerns effectively. To address this need, I examined the tutoring strategies used by the tutors in my study to address such global concerns and identified best practices related to such interventions. I also analyzed my data to examine how tutors use directive (i.e. providing direct instructions or suggestions) and nondirective (i.e. engaging students by soliciting their views) methods of tutoring. Although many writing center scholars and practitioners recommend using a flexible approach to alternate between these two methods depending on the nature of each session, tutors often find it challenging to do so in actual practice. Through my analysis, I identified best practices to demonstrate how tutors can adopt a flexible approach between directive and non-directive tutoring strategies. Such tutoring best practices can be a useful resource for tutor training programs and contribute to the overall development of writing center pedagogy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/82954 |
| Date | 30 April 2018 |
| Creators | Lama, Prabin Tshering |
| Contributors | English, George, Diana L., Heilker, Paul V., Powell, Katrina M., Dubinsky, James M. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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