Suggested Questions for Blog Post #9 (based on The Bedford Guide, chapter 8) How important do you think it is for writing center
staff to pursue writing center research? Why?
If you had more time and resources, what sorts of topics and/or research questions might you consider pursuing?
This week we'll also discuss the blog question from last week about academic vs. creative renderings of case studies of writers and tutors and hear Neala's resource report.
This week we'll also discuss the blog question from last week about academic vs. creative renderings of case studies of writers and tutors and hear Neala's resource report.
So far I have been intrigued by the multicultural dynamics in the writing center so I would definitely research some topics related to the challenges that come from that. I would, first of all, try to study the assumptions we make about other cultures as we interpret (or compose) the assignment sheets. Are instructors aware that they are making assumptions about their students' idea of what (good) writing is/should be? One thing is to figure out what those assumptions could be judging by the way the instructor has composed the assignment sheet. An instructor's expectations would implicitly contain that instructor's assumptions. If so, then perhaps the tutor must discuss these assumptions with the student so the latter has a better understanding of what the assignment actually requires. Then another question would be whether instructors should be made aware of the assumptions they make, especially about their international students, and whether to moderate their assignment requirements so as to make them equally demanding of all students or to leave the requirements the same but moderate the grading expectations from international students accordingly, etc. Another question would be how much to emphasize and clarify cultural differences to international students because some of them may not want to be aware of them and so may insist on being graded per their own cultural assumptions/standards. However, other international students may want to learn about cultural differences and assumptions so as to moderate their writing in accordance with the accepting culture (these are international students who plan to remain here after graduation and so would like to write as close as they can to domestic students). Perhaps for some students, writing is a part of the process of willful cultural assimilation but for others it would be a violation of their own cultural identity.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested in the multi-cultural aspect. I lived and studied in Britain and never even considered that the five paragraph essay wasn't required of me there. I tried asking a friend how he was taught writing, but it was too broad a question, and he didn't know how to answer it, but as soon as I have sometime and space I plan to learn how it's done there, and am curious about other cultural writing structures as well. If only everyone could describe them as articulately as the students did in the video we watched!
DeleteI do wonder about variation on assignment sheets. What do students find more helpful? Extreme precision or greater openness? I feel like I have seen both extremes between the two centers. Some assignments have are very minute in the description of the requirements, but offer little detail about grading criteria.
DeleteI would like to know whether students who schedule writing center appointments read tutor profiles and what, if any, factors influence their decision about who to see. I imagine availability is probably the deciding factor in many cases, but when students can choose, what qualities do they look for? What makes a student more likely to schedule again with the same tutor? The schedule for the writing center shows tutors who meet students at satellite locations. What other information might be useful to display? When they have the choice, do students try to find a tutor in a similar discipline?
ReplyDeleteI would also be interested in researching what the writing center can do to promote its services and create a campus culture of writing.
I would like to know more about what I can do as a tutor/instructor to promote not only information literacy skills but literacy skills in general. Some of my students struggle with college reading; they misunderstand tone/irony or lack necessary background and vocabulary. I suspect that some of my students who struggle to write clearly are reluctant, if not recalcitrant, readers. Is there any research about what type of reading habits are necessary for college writing? What sort of reading diet does a freshman rhetoric student need to succeed?
I'm primarily interested in pedagogy, essay writing, and research practices, honestly, both for myself and for my students. In any field it's important for faculty and staff to stay abreast of the current academic concerns and insights into that field in order to ensure that we're the best tutors we can be.
ReplyDeleteI think that research in writing centers is really important and valuable. It helps in adjusting how we teach so that the students get the most out of their time with us. However, we need to remember that students are extremely different from one another in endless ways including culture, high school background, learning type, interests etc. These differences make the research in writing centers quite narrow, what applies to one student will not apply to every student. This is fun! And small lessons we learn from different subgroups can be adjusted and applied to others in different ways. In addition, what students hope to get out of their writing center experience varies wildly as we learned last week with Libby making research and outcomes even less applicable in some cases.
ReplyDeleteI would like to research long lasting benefits students gained from writing center appointments in a longitudinal study. Compare it to students who never visited. Are students who came to the writing center more comfortable with writing? Did this translate into their careers somehow? Would the incidence of who identifies as a confident writer correlate with going to the writing center?
As I'm working on the final paper in here (my topic has evolved somewhat), I am getting more and more drawn to research articles about writing centers.
ReplyDeleteNeala, you said "I would like to know whether students who schedule writing center appointments read tutor profiles and what, if any, factors influence their decision about who to see."
This is really interesting to me, too. The other day, one of the appointment students told me that her friends recommended me. She was Chinese, and because I have such a large percentage of ESL students—mostly Chinese—it made me wonder if the friends were as well (I thought it would be sort of offensive and presumptuous to ask, though). But it made me wonder where and when students talk about WC experiences and what sort of decision-making goes into choosing tutors.
I also think this would be incredibly interesting, Krista:
"I would like to research long lasting benefits students gained from writing center appointments in a longitudinal study."
I'm curious to see the results of a study comparing the results of American Writing Centers on student academic success to those in other countries...
I think it's hugely important (as most here seem to agree). I feel like engaging with the writing center critical discourse helps to remind me that tutoring is far more complicated than I realize. Engaging with criticism also keeps us from getting lazy or sedentary--their will always be new research to consider. How do we incorporate the latest technology? How did that pedagogy strategy created twenty years ago play out for students?
ReplyDeleteAreas that are interesting to me...
- The transition between high school and college writing--this is my final paper topic. I'm really curious in how we think about bridging the gap here. High school students don't take their educations seriously--high school is a means to a collegiate end--and their writing reflects this. High school essays do not explore--they present the correct answers (in the teacher's eyes) to a question. High school writing teaches students how to engage with the world--not just how to do a history project--and I'd like to see it treated with the gravitas it warrants.
- What is the best way to start an essay? Start vague? Start with something specific? Problem/Solution? What is a hook anyway?
- Last, I'd love to think about how we can use big data/the Internet to revamp how we think about college writing. What are new ways we can analyze writing? What patterns do we notice in the most read and shared pieces on the Internet? Should we be teaching writing with share-ability and "going viral" in mind?