WR 220: Methods of Tutoring

Study Guide #1: Writing Center History & Theory

Study Guide Tip: Before reading each week's material, become familiar with the Study Guide terms below before you begin reading, so you can annotate as you read to make it easier to complete the Study Guide.

Why we do Study Guides:  As Clark explains, “If tutors are not acquainted with theories of writing and learning, they will simply be guessing about what is likely to be effective when they work with students in the writing center.  An important idea behind the book is that although writing centers address practical concerns, effective writing center tutoring is based on a firm theoretical foundation” (Clark 2).

Readings:

Clark, Chap. 1 "Writing and the Writing Center: History and Theory"

St. Martin's, Introduction to text, Part I, pp. 1-8, "The Tutoring Process"
St. Martin's, Lunsford, "Collaboration, Control, and the Idea of the Writing Center"

Please Note:  Not all Study Guides will be this long and complicated, I promise.  Clark packs a lot into this first chapter, and these concepts provide a critical foundation for the rest of the course. We need to begin by looking at Writing Center history and the paradigms and theories that inform tutor practice. Just do your best with it. I will clarify these concepts in my weekly lecture after you submit the Study Guide.

Instructions for all Study Guides: Copy and paste the form into your own word processing program and then type your responses.  Include the questions in the Study Guide you submit.

Type your name and the date at the top of the Study Guide before submitting. In answering the questions below, assume that your audience has not read the material and knows nothing about tutoring. As I tell my students in writing classes in order to urge them to be thorough, write for the "cluelesss reader" (not a politically correct concept, but effective nonetheless). Write in complete sentences in strong, clear, well-edited prose.

Clark

1)  Explain Piaget’s concept of “egocentric speech.”  Look at Alison's essay on p.22.  Give an example of this concept in her essay.

2)  Explain Linda Flower’s concepts of reader-based vs. writer-based prose.  Describe your own challenges in past writing experiences in moving from writer-based to reader-based prose.

3)  Explain Bruner's view of learning. What in your own learning experiences, best or worst, attest to the truth of this theory?

4)  Explain the concept of "attribution theory."  Now try to apply this theory to your own past learning experiences.  Describe and explain the connnection to this theory.

5)  Explain the concept of “Process Theory.”  What part of the process do you most struggle with?  What part of the process do you think Alison could use help in understanding a bit better?

6)  Explain the concept of “Reading Theory.”  Where in Alison's essay could you let her know that you as a reader need some clarification?  List some questions that, as a reader, you would ask Alison.

7)  Explain the concept of “Social Constructionism.”  If one considers that faculty are an important part of the social community in which students operate, what would you say are the expectations of faculty when reading student papers?

8)  Explain “Genre Theory.”  If Alison's essay is supposed to be the genre of "argumentative essay," which is also called a "position paper," in what ways is she not meeting the expectations of that genre?  If you are not sure, google "argumentative essay" and research what this genre of essay is in order to help you answer this question.

9)  If the main genres of writing are Poetry, Fiction, Drama, and the Essay (also called Creative Non-Fiction), then list the different kinds or sub-genres of essays you can think of besides the argumentative essay.

Lunsford

10)  Lunsford writes about 3 paradigms or metaphors for a Writing Center: Storehouse Center, Garret Center, and Burkean Parlor of Collaboration. A Writing Center that emerges from one or the other of these paradigms will promote very different kinds of tutor practice, so it is important to try to make out what these ideas mean.

a) Storehouse Center--Explain what Lunsford says is the focus of this kind of Center. Also, explain what you think a tutor would actually do if the Writing Center were driven my the Storehouse metaphor.

b) Garret Center--Explain what Lunsford says is the focus of this kind of Center. Also, explain what a tutor would do if driven by this concept.

c) Burkean Parlor of Collaboration--Now try to explain the focus of this kind of Center. What would a tutor do in this kind of Center? Try to connect this idea to "Social Constructionism" as Clark describes it. What makes this kind of Writing Center/Center different from those above?

Discussion Board #1 (Only online students complete Discussion Board. On Campus Students will have in-class face-to-face discussions.)