Learning Center/

Writing Center

Writing Tutor Handbook

Prepared by Susan Whitelock
EOU OWL Coordinator

Revised Winter 2010

Updated Fall 2011 by Donna Evans

EOU Writing Center Director

ALWAYS REMEMBER OUR MOTTO:

Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day.

Teach him to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL BUSINESS

Listserv

Writing Tutorial Attendance Forms

Payroll

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

If You Cannot Make a Session

Checking the Board Daily

Setting Up Your Schedule

Student No-Shows

Where to Tutor

Blue Slips (Tutorial Report Forms)

Blue Slip Policy

Editing Policy

Student Behavior Policy

Writing Tutor Safety Policy

WRITING TUTORS: BEGINNING OF TERM CHECKLIST

Forms and Procedures

Transcripts

Writing Tutor Information/Payroll

Writing Tutor Specialized Experience Sheet

Review Best Practices Checklist and Bring Hacker

Writing Guides

AT A FIRST SESSION WITH A STUDENT

Writing Tutor Table Signs

Completing Forms

Purple Writing Tutor Roster

Green Half Sheets

Greeting Students

Best Practices

ESL Best Practices

Session Length

Closing a Session

RESOURCES FOR WRITING Tutors

Writing Guides

OWL

Computers

Disability Services

Other Guides

Writing Tutor "Best Practices Checklist"

Writing Tutor "ESL Best Practices Checklist"

LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER/WRITING CENTER STAFF

GENERAL BUSINESS

LISTSERV

On-Campus Writing Tutors can communicate with one another through the group mailing list: writing-tutor-group@eou.edu. Email devans@eou.edu and ask to be added to the Writing Tutor Group.

On-Line Writing Tutors can communicate with one another through the listserv: writing-tutor@eou.edu.

To send a message, post the message to the listserv in this way:

To: writing-tutor@eou.edu

All writing tutors on the list will receive your message. For example, if you need someone to cover your sessions, you can send a message to this listserv. If the message is regarding an issue that we all need to discuss, post a message to the listserv. The OWL Coordinator will use this listserv to communicate with writing tutors.

It is important that all Writing Tutors check their email daily!

WRITING TUTORIAL ATTENDANCE FORMS

30-Minute Session Tutoring Form:

For regular tutoring, use the Writing Tutorial Attendance form (Yellow). Each time you meet with a student, you must record information neatly and accurately. This form asks for date, clearly printed first and last name, course, instructor, time in, and time out. It is essential that you complete this form legibly and thoroughly for two important reasons: First, this is your payroll form. You are paid according to the information on this form. Second, the information helps us keep accurate statistics important for our funding, and for knowing whom we are serving, and whom we still need to reach.

Drop-In Tutoring Form:

For Drop-In tutoring, use the Writing Tutor Drop-In Roster form (Orange). Place the form across from you at your table so that students can sign up first-come, first-served. Every fifteen minutes look up and ask if there is anyone else waiting for a writing tutor (some students might not know the procedure, or are too shy to approach). Invite them to sign up on the form. Adjust the time you spend with students to the number waiting. If the Loso Drop-In Writing Tutor gets busy, he/she should refer students to the Drop-In Schedule on the Schedule Board to see if writing tutors are available at that same time in the Multicultural Center in Hoke, dorms, or Quinn Study Hall.

Blank forms are supplied in the left top box of the Writing Tutor mailboxes.

KEEP BOTH OF THESE FORMS IN YOUR BOX IN THE WRITING Center. (If you do not as yet have a box, keep your rosters in my box until you do.)

PAYROLL

The “Writing Tutorial Attendance” Form also serves as your payroll form. To work as a writing tutor, you must complete payroll paperwork in the Human Resources office (Inlow Hall). (If you already have worked on campus and have been paid, you are already in the system and need not complete new forms). Bring with you an acceptable ID such as driver’s license, state issued ID card, or student ID. You must have either a social security card or receipt from the Social Security Administration office stating you have ordered a new card. If you want to have your paycheck directly deposited in your account, you also need to take a voided check to the payroll office. If you have any questions, all Kathryn Shorts at 962-3281.

The payroll period includes the 15th of the month through the 14th of the following month. Paychecks are available at the end of each month. We will begin processing payroll as early as the 13th of each month. Students cannot work on campus more than 20 hours per week. Be sure to update the Payroll office (Inlow Hall 203, 962-3286) if there are any changes in your contact information.

If you are working in one of the satellites, be sure to turn in your rosters to Kathryn Shorts in the LC by the 13th of each month so that she can process payroll.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

IF YOU CANNOT MAKE A SESSION

While Writing Tutors do find student no-shows frustrating, it is critical that Writing Tutors are never no-shows. Writing Tutors are professionals, and showing up is essential. However, Writing Tutors do sometimes become ill or have something very important come up. It is your job to find a replacement.

If you know ahead of time that you cannot make a session, send a message through the listserv (writingtutors@eou.edu) asking for other Writing Tutors to take your sessions. DO NOT EMAIL ME to find your replacement. It is your responsibility. Contact the Director and Kathryn Shorts in the LC only if no one can cover for you (see LC Staff List for contact info). You cannot just put a post-it note that you will not be available. You must make an effort to find back-up and inform the LC staff whom you have found, or if you cannot find someone.

If others cannot cover for you, contact both the Writing Center Director and Kathryn Shorts in the LC. Also try to contact the student by email or phone (you should have contact information on your Purple Rosters or can have someone check the Student Information Card). You can reschedule or at the very least, and tell students about Drop-In times. In the email/voice mail message ask for a reply from the student to let you know the message has been received.

If you must cancel at the last minute, or receive no confirmation from the student that he/she has receive your message, contact Kathryn Shorts at 962-3281 to let the LC know you cannot make it, asking them to put a post-it note with your message by the student’s name on the board or to try to find a replacement who might be working in the LC.

Important!!! Also call and email the Writing Center Director (962-3465/devans@eou.edu). If I am free, I will cover for you, or try to find a replacement on the spot.

CHECKING THE BOARD DAILY!

It is important that tutors check the Schedule Board daily to see if students have signed up for sessions. You can drop by the Writing Center to check the board, or call the Student Desk at 962-3663 to have them check it for you. Some Writing Tutors who work late in the Center should check the evening before. Students are supposed to give tutors 24 hours notice.

SETTING UP YOUR SESSION SCHEDULE

At the beginning of each term, I will send out an email about when we will meet or have drop-in times in the LC to begin the term. At this time you will update your Writing Tutor Info Card, sign up for Drop-In, and add your name to the Writing Tutor Specializations sheet. See attached “Writing Tutor Beginning of Term Checklist.”

Writing Tutors should post their session times on the Schedule Board as soon as possible during the first week of each term. In the box, tape up your photo and your Writing Tutor Card. Writing Tutors decide themselves how much or how little they can work each term. There is no minimum or maximum (except that no student can work more than 20 hours a week on campus). However, I ask that you don’t burn yourself out by over-tutoring. Note: Fall is usually our busiest time, Spring our slowest, and Winter in between.

STUDENT NO-SHOWS

Student no-shows are part of tutoring. It is important that you do not take no-shows personally. Bring your own work to do while you wait. There can be many reasons that have nothing to do with you which make students miss sessions.

If a student with whom you have never worked does not show up to a first session, erase the student’s name.

If a student with whom you have worked does not show, you can decide to keep the name up and contact the student to remind him/her of the session.

15-Minute Rule

If a student doesn’t show, wait 15 minutes. Record the student as a no-show on your attendance sheet, but do record the 15 minutes for which you are paid for a no-show. If you arrive at the Writing Center to find a note from the student canceling your session, you still record 15 minutes for a no-show. Also, look around to see if there is another student who might need your help.

WHERE TO TUTOR

It is best for all involved to keep the place for tutoring limited to designated places, such as Loso, the MC, Quinn, or specific dorm drop-in session set up with the Director. This protects the Writing Tutors from having students ask to work with them in such places as Max Grill while they are trying to eat, or in their dorm rooms when they are trying to study. However, there may be other times when permission to tutor may be possible outside of these designated places. For example, if you are an athlete and spend a lot of time on the bus, you can ask the Director permission to tutor on the bus or in hotels. However, it is important to keep these sessions limited in time, usually a half-hour, so you do not fall into the trap of line-by-line editing. Take a roster with you to record your sessions.

BLUE SLIPS (Tutorial Report Forms)

Blue Slips (Tutorial Report Forms) are available at the main desk and at the Student Desk (Computer Lab Assistant) Desk. Ask for a few at a time so you do not need to ask every time. We do not make these forms readily accessible to students because we have had some problems in the past with students who take them to complete and sign themselves.

(See below for Blue Slip Policy and Editing Policy that are also posted in the Writing Center for students to read.)

BLUE SLIP POLICY

Students who work with tutors in the Writing Center can request a “Tutorial Report Form” or what we also call a “Blue Slip” which they can give to their professors to show that they have worked with a tutor.

The Blue Slips are meant to be a way to communicate with a professor about what a student and a Writing Tutor were able to cover in one session, with the understanding that since sessions are just thirty minutes long, not all areas of a paper will be covered.

Below are some guidelines to make the system run smoothly:

Students are in charge of asking Writing Tutors for blue slips. It is not the writing tutor’s responsibility to offer them.

Students must ask for a slip at the end of each session. Writing Tutors will not give out blue slips at the end of the term all at once if a student has forgotten to ask for them.

Writing Tutors can complete only one form per half-hour session, and no more than two for an hour-long session. A student cannot work with a tutor longer than one hour per session.

If students bring several papers to a session, they will not receive a blue slip for each paper, but rather one per half-hour session.

Students can receive blue slips at Drop-In Hours if a Writing Tutor has time to meet with a student for at least 15 minutes. This will depend upon the number of students in line for tutoring at any one drop-in session.

A Writing Tutor can refuse to give a blue slip to a student who is clearly at the session just for the slip and does not actively participate in a session.

EDITING POLICY

Often students bring drafts to the Writing Center with the expectation that Writing Tutors will provide an Editing Service. They believe that the Writing Tutors should find and fix all of the errors in students’ drafts.

It is important that students understand that The Writing Center is not an Editing Service or a Fix-It Shop. Editors cost $50 to $150 dollars an hour. Writing Tutors are students and peers, not experts. Also, Writing Tutors are only a small part—usually one-half hour per week—of a student’s writing process. Writing Tutors are trained to first attend to the Global issues of focus, organization, and development. In a session a Writing Tutor might attend to one or two areas that can be reasonably addressed in a half-hour session.

When Writing Tutors do focus on Local or Sentence-Level issues such as grammar, mechanics, and punctuation, they are trained to focus on error patterns and are not allowed to do sentence-by-sentence editing. It is against Writing Center rules for a Writing Tutors to function as editors. Professors expect that the work that students submit represents the students’ work and abilities, not their Writing Tutors’ work and abilities.

If Writing Tutors should ever have a problem with students regarding this policy, refer them to the Writing Center Director.

STUDENT BEHAVIOR POLICY

While most students who use our services in the LC are grateful and respectful, sometimes students can behave badly out of frustration. Writing Tutors never have to put up with bad student behavior. You may refuse to work with a student who is behaving badly. Let the Writing Center Director know immediately about the problem, or find another LC staff member to help you. Try to get the student’s name. If you should feel unsafe, call for the assistance of the Computer Lab Assistant or call Security at 962-3911.

STUDENT SAFTEY POLICY

Some Writing Tutors work as late as 10 pm and sometimes later. We encourage you to call Campus Security at 962-3911 to ask to be accompanied to your car or dorm. Safety should always come first. Do not ever hesitate to call Campus Security to ensure your safety. This is what the service is there for. I especially ask that women listen to their instincts and take the steps necessary to be safe.

WRITING TUTORS: BEGINNING OF TERM CHECKLIST

Week 1: Sign-up Week

Week 2: Tutoring Begins (If a returning student contacts you to begin tutoring Week 1, you are welcome to begin)

FORMS & PROCEDURES

Review the Forms and Procedures document.

WRITING TUTOR INFORMATION/PAYROLL CARD

Update your Writing Tutor information card in the index box that contains your contact information and hiring history. These cards will be available to update at Tutor Check-In time at the beginning of each term in the LC. Otherwise, you will find your card to update with the Director in LH 152. If your contact info changes, be sure to update your card and inform the Payroll Office in Human Services in Inlow Hall.

PHOTOS

Get a new photo taken if necessary (if I am not here, ask whomever is sitting at the main desk) and then tape it up with your white info card. Blanks are available on the Schedule Board ledge. Get your schedule up asap!

PAYROLL

If you are new, and do not as yet have forms filed in the Payroll office, go to Inlow to complete forms. If you are a continuing Writing Tutor, be sure your information in the Payroll office is up-to-date. See Payroll section.

WRITING TUTOR SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE SHEET

Add your name to any category that applies to you on the Tutor Specialized Experience sheet. This sheet is on the Schedule Board. Just write in any additions.

BEST PRACTICES CHECKLIST & HACKER

Review the Writing Tutor “Best Practice Checklist” and "ESL Best Practices Checklist as reminders of the fundamentals of effective tutoring. Bring your Hacker with you to sessions. If you forget your Hacker, there is a good copy available at the Computer Lab Assistant Student Desk for check out.

Writing Tutor "Best Practices Checklist"

Writing Tutor "ESL Best Practices Checklist"

WRITING GUIDES

Review the Writing Guides (white notebooks) and other guides available to you and the students you are tutoring. These guides are available on the bookshelf. If you have a no-show, use that 15 minutes to look through the Guides to become familiar with the tools available to Writing Tutors and students.

AT A FIRST SESSION WITH A NEW STUDENT

WRITING TUTOR TABLE SIGNS

Please place a Writing Tutor table sign in the middle of the table where you are working. There are signs for regular and for Drop-In Tutoring. If you are the drop-in Writing Tutor and are working with a student at a computer, leave a note at the Drop-In table for students to come find you. Watch the time and keep making sure other students are not waiting for you. Do not go do your own work at the computers if you are the Drop-In tutor.

PURPLE WRITING TUTOR ROSTER

Keep an updated roster of the students’ contact information with you in case you need to communicate with a student (you can use the purple roster form if you like, or keep the information in your planner). At the first session, record the student’s email and phone number. Keep this information with you. Also provide the student your contact information.

GREEN HALF SHEETS

At a first session, ask the student if he/she is familiar with how the Writing Tutor sessions work. On the bookshelf, you will find a green half sheet that briefly outlines how Writing Tutor sessions work, and which provides a place for the student to record your name and contact information. You can give one of these to a new student to take with him/her as a reminder of your session time and your contact information.

If a student is new to the Center, explain that if he/she wants to meet at the same time every week, he/she will keep his/her name on the Board. Explain that it is important that the student let you know if he/she cannot make a session. Explain the procedure as outlined on the green half sheet. Let the student know about Drop-In as well. It is helpful to have the student read the green sheet. This ensures that the student and the Writing Tutor have mutual expectations.

COMPLETE FORMS

Be sure to provide complete information (yellow for regular tutoring, orange for Drop-In) on the rosters (blank forms available above Writing Tutor mailboxes) and keep those rosters in the Center. Students are responsible for asking for Blue Slips. However, WR 115 students may need some reminding that they need to always ask for a Blue Slip.

GREETING STUDENTS

If you are scheduled to meet with a student, watch for that student (don’t bury yourself in a book). Some students are intimidated at first and might wander in and out before you see them.

When you are in the Learning Resource Center/Writing Center, whether you have a session scheduled or not, if you see any student wandering around looking lost, try to direct that student, either to a Writing Tutor or a staff member. In the Learning Resource Center/Writing Center, we are all on the same team, trying to help each other make this a professional, welcoming, and helpful place.

BEST PRACTICES (see attachment)

At the beginning of each term, review the Writing Tutor “Best Practices Checklist” that you will find in the “Writing Tutor Corner” on the Online Writing Lab (OWL) at http://www.eou.edu/writelab. This document is written in collaboration with writing tutors and we revise this checklist regularly as we learn and grow in our knowledge of effective practice. If you have any suggestions for changes or additions, please let the Writing Center Director know.

Here is a Writing Tutor “Best Practices” Nutshell (see attachment for complete checklist):

Establish Rapport
Praise Authentically
Work from Global to Local as general rule, with exceptions
Find a Focus for the Session, concentrating on a few aspects of the draft at a time
Ask Open-Ended Questions
Keep the student active
Teach the Student to Fish

WRITING TUTOR “ESL BEST PRACTICES” (see attachment)

If you are working with ESL students, you will also find on the OWL an “ESL Best Practices Checklist” written by Writing Tutors. Review this checklist as well, and feel free to make suggestions for improvement.

SESSION LENGTH

Sessions are regularly one-half hour long, and should not exceed one hour unless absolutely necessary. After one hour, both Writing Tutor and writer reach a saturation point. We don’t want to send the message that we are trying to cover everything. We should find a focus for a session, and then send the writer off to work on a revision, encouraging him/her to return with a revised draft.

CLOSING A SESSION

The end of a session is very important. Summarize what you have worked on together, and then note the areas that you might attend to in future sessions if there is time. Check with the student if he/she wants to keep his/her name on the Board. Make sure that you have exchanged contact information.

RESOURCES FOR WRITING Tutors

WRITING GUIDES

There are white Writing Guide Notebooks available on the bookshelf which provide a variety of handouts and tools that you and the students might find useful. Familiarize yourself with what is available in this notebook. A handout, mediated by a Writing Tutor, can be a very useful tool.

ONLINE WRITING LAB (OWL) @ http://www.eou.edu/writelab/

“Resources for Writers” on the OWL

Writing Tutors should familiarize themselves with the “Resources for Writers” available on the OWL. This link contains a variety of writing guides.

“Writing Tutor Corner” on the OWL

There are also resources available on the OWL:

OWL Training & for Review

Writing Tutor “Best Practices Checklist”

Writing Tutor “ESL Best Practice Checklist”

COMPUTERS

Some sessions might go better if you and the student work at a computer together. Never hesitate to use this resource. Encourage students to bring their flashdrives to sessions. If you are a Drop-In tutor, be sure to leave a note by the cone at your drop-in table informing students where to find you. Watch for students who may be looking for you.

DISABILITY SERVICES

Some students have documentation to allow them accommodations. Students can choose to tell Writing Tutors that they are working with Disability Services, but some students might not choose to do so. Never ask a student if he/she has a disability. If you have any questions about working with students with disabilities, contact Pat Arnson, Director of Disability Services, in the Learning Center/Writing Center, LH 234D.

OTHER GUIDES

On the Writing Center bookshelf you will also find other guides that you mind find helpful:

General

Working It Out: Troubleshooting Guide for Writers

The Readers Journal (Examples of many different kinds of writing)

Research

Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating, Citing

Research Writing Simplified

Business and Technical Writing

The Business Writer’s Handbook

Writing That Works

Effective Writing: A Handbook for Accountants

Technical Writing: A Practical Approach

ESL

A Writer’s Workbook: An Interactive Writing Text for ESL Students

Literature

Writing About Literature

Psychology

Writing for Psychology

Sociology

The Sociology Student Writer’s Manual

Writing Tutor “Best Practices Checklist”

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.

Teach him to fish and he eats for the rest of his life."

An effective Writing Tutor:

_____Establishes rapport with the writer

_____Asks what the writer would like to focus on. Negotiates an agenda or focus for the session, establishing priorities (What would you like to focus on for this session?) Does not give unfocused sentence by sentence "correct-as-you-go"feedback

_____Discusses and analyzes the assignment with the writer

_____Works from global to local, or macro to micro issues, unless there is a good reason not to do so, which the Writing Tutor discusses overtly with the writer (ex. due in one hour, second session with global covered, a reading shows the global in place, ESL need to work on sentence-level to negotiate meaning) Does not give unfocused"correct-as-you-go" sentence by sentence feedback

_____Keeps session student-led, making sure the writer owns the draft (ex. draft remains positioned in middle or closer to the writer and student works with a pencil in hand).

_____Observes body language for signs of student involvement and empowerment

_____Makes positive comments about the draft, emphasizing what is working, but without predicting a grade or absolute success, but avoids evaluation statements such as “this is a great paper, or this paper is will get a good grade.” Perhaps the professor has communicated other criteria you may not know about, and you are not the evaluator. Just praise specific aspects of a draft.

_____Discusses professor’s or peers’ comments on the draft (if there are any and if Writing Tutor can read them), avoiding criticism of the professor, focusing instead on interpreting the message

_____Asks open-ended questions

_____Names or labels the techniques or tools as the Writing Tutor models them (ex. WIRMI, gist, clustering, listing, double-entry notebook, etc.) so student is "learning to fish"

_____If Writing Tutor does make checkmarks on the draft, the Writing Tutor explains that these marks might serve to point out what is working well, as well as places where the Writing Tutor has a question, sees a place for more development, or notices an error pattern to discuss

_____Uses Hacker or other handbooks when appropriate to show a writer how to use a resource
_____Works at the computer when appropriate to revise draft or use OWL resources

_____Encourages writer to go to the professor when it is clear the student needs more information that the tutor cannot provide

_____Seeks assistance from other tutors or the Director when appropriate, remembering that alone we may not have all the answers, but as a team we do

In Closing:

_____Closes the session with a review of what was accomplished (negotiating what is written on the Blue Sheet when it is required), reminding the writer what tools they have acquired and what there is still left for the writer to work on

_____At the end of session, asks writer if he/she would like to meet at the same time each week

At first session:

_____Explains how the sessions work, using the Green Sheet.

_____Exchanges contact information with the writer. The Writing Tutors record student contact information on the Purple Rosters which tutors keep with them. The Writing Tutors give the student a Green Sheet on which they write their contact information for the student to keep.

_____Explains to writer how to change or cancel a session , by emailing the Writing Tutor, or if the cancellation is last minute, calling 962-3834.

Administration:

_____Keeps updated Purple Roster for student contact information (this goes with you)

_____Fully Completes Yellow or Orange (Drop-In) Attendance Form (this form stays in the Writing Center)

_____Holds all sessions in or near the Writing Center unless other options are discussed with the Director

_____Arranges for back-up when tutor cannot make a session by contacting the writingtutors@eou.edu listserv, and if last minute, calls the Learning Resource Center at 962-3834. See more complete “If You Cannot Make a Session” section in Policies and Procedures.

Professional Development:

_____Seeks writing assistance from other Writing Tutors, because if webelieve in what we do, Writing Tutors seek feedback from other Writing Tutors

_____Reviews this "Best Practices Checklist" frequently to improve technique

_____Attends Staff Meetings regularly and participates in workshops when offered

_____ Ignores all guidelines above when appropriate

ESL Best Practices Checklist

Note from the Writing Center Director—

The “ESL Best Practices Checklist” that is offered in the next pages was written by students in WR 421 Advanced Methods of Tutoring, Winter 2004. The students and I read many texts to advance our understanding of how best to tutor ESL/Multicultural Students (see Works Cited below). We also interviewed many EOU international students who gave us great insights into how best to meet their needs. Below is the legacy the class is leaving behind to help future writing tutors to more effectively work with ESL/Multitcultural students. The document includes stories from tutors’ personal experiences tutoring.

This checklist will be a work-in-progress, so if writing tutors have ideas and stories they would like to add, their contributions would be welcome.

Composed by WR 421 Advanced Methods of Tutoring Class, Winter 2004

Working with ESL students is a great opportunity to learn more about students from other cultures and about oneself as a tutor. However, tutoring students from another country can be intimidating, and there are certain factors to take into consideration before taking on such a task.

It is important to realize that there is no “better” or “best” method of writing when comparing one language and culture create what have been labeled “ESL problem areas.” Many times, ESL students enter school systems in America with a mostly grammar-based understanding of the English language. They are taught from workbooks and memorization. This type of learning leaves students suffering from a lack of contextual understanding and idiom. Therefore, when working with ESL students, it is sometimes necessary to take a step back and assess the amount of knowledge the students have about how to write an American academic essay before addressing global and local areas. Also, it is important to keep in mind that sessions with ESL students can take more time and effort, but ultimately, it is meaningful work, and working with such students creates well-rounded and experienced tutors.

Establish Rapport:

Ask student about ability and writing experience

Do not make assumptions about an ESL student’s writing ability and experience based on a single writing sample. Instead, ask the student specific questions about his/her writing experience in both English and his/her native language. Students you are working with might have been professional writers in their native language, but you will not know this unless you ask. During this portion of the tutoring session, work to engage your ESL students with positive feedback and questions that show you are interested in helping them succeed.

Be considerate of student’s needs

Each student has different expectations of tutors, and if you are unable to adapt to the students’ needs, it is ok to recommend them to someone who may be better able to fulfill their needs.

Work to inspire confidence

Help students feel comfortable enough with you as their tutor and help them feel proud of working with you and improving their writing abilities. Compliment them with specific and sincere praise, and show them what their strengths are.

Find expectations and student’s perception of the paper

ESL university students sometimes have a difficult time understanding their professors’ expectations for assignments. As a tutor, it is your job to act as a sort of translator between professors and students. To accomplish this role effectively, you must ask students specific questions about their assignment while also looking at their written assignment prompt. Listen to their perceptions of the assignment, and compare them to your own. Through this dialogue, attempt to clear up any misconceptions that the student might have.

Identify Cultural Differences:

Learn about students’ cultures, customs and traditions to connect with them

Try to learn about the culture of the student that you are
tutoring. What country is s/he from? What is polite? What are some traditions? In doing so, you will begin to understand the
world where they are coming from. Furthermore, this will enable a better,
friendlier session.

Ask open-ended questions

When inquiring about a student’s background, ask questions that will promote discussion and elaboration. This way you are not asking, “So you are from Japan?” and the student is not answering with “yes” or “no.”

Respect student’s need for privacy

Some cultures make students uncomfortable in a tutoring session which is as public as the sessions in the learning center. Be flexible with location. Move to a more private space if necessary. Also, negotiate reading aloud, perhaps taking turns or doing all of the reading aloud so the focus is not on speaking and pronunciation, but on the writing. Also, allow a student to use an alias on the board.

Make it up

For some cultures, it would be arrogant to talk about themselves, even
in essays. Silence is often seen as power, and the students are very
reserved. This creates a problem when they are asked to write about a personal experience. Instead, encourage students for whom this is the case to make experiences up. For a paper such as this, explain that they will not get in trouble for making it up. Asking them to describe a friend's experience and use it as their own is a good technique, and they will feel more comfortable about writing the paper.

Do not assume about ability

Many students were established writers and professionals in their countries before coming to study in the states.

Assigning Roles:

Talk about their expectations of the tutoring process

It is advisable to find out just what the student wants out of a session with a tutor. For instance, if you find that a student is expecting you to correct grammar only, you can briefly explain what is wrong with the global aspect (while still advising on how to correct any global concerns) and spend more time on the local problems of their paper so that they may feel more comfortable. However, be sure to not get too distracted in only answering what the student wants. Be sure to discuss all concerns of the paper with the student, explaining clearly what needs work and exploring strategies for making the essay more effective.

Balance interaction between tutor and student

Establish a balance between informing and listening, so there is an equal amount of participation between tutor and student. Encourage students to take an active role in the tutoring session, but do not push too hard.

Challenge students to a high standard

Challenge all of your students, and hold them all to the same high standard. By doing this, it will help students develop the right attitude and they will approach their work in a more effective manner. Remember what we learned in WR 220, PRAISE is the first thing you should do after reading the draft.

Negotiate reading aloud

Do not demand that a student read his or her draft aloud, if it is clear that s/he is not comfortable doing so. Share the reading or read for the student, while s/he follows along actively. Use low voices so the student does not feel exposed. Adjust your style to the situation.

Explain collaborative process

Many times, ESL students are not used to the idea of a collaborative process. It may help to explain that you are not an editor. Instead, stress the fact that you are simply a peer who can give feedback on how to better the paper. It may be helpful to get a feel for the student’s expectations of the session and make it clear that you will not correct every mistake, but will give guidance on how the student can correct his/her own mistakes. This is where you, as a tutor, let the student know that you are “teaching how to fish instead of actually giving them fish,” as Susan would say.

Identify Global Problems:

Avoid superficial feedback

The most common response from professors (and sometimes tutors) is that the student “needs improvement.” What does this phrase imply? It is very vague and is of no help to the student. It also conveys that the student is inept, which complements another problem you need to avoid with assuming. Do Not Assume Anything! Just like we ask for more detail with students writing, you need to be more specific in your responses to students.

Have students summarize their paper with an outline

If you, as a tutor, wish to help the student with overall structure and thesis without working paragraph by paragraph, have the student write out an outline of his/her paper and then reflect on it. If the student can successfully create an outline that fits the criteria needed for the assignment, ask them why they chose that structure and congratulate them. Only after this should you work on local problems. If a student can’t write an outline of his or her own paper, how are we, as peers (not tutors) supposed to be able to follow it clearly?

Do not assume authority over their text

The reading of texts is a social process. Our expectations and habits of reading are produced through social relations that the readings themselves reproduce. When tutors and teachers read, their interpretations and experiences of the text are determined by the social stance they take toward the student. In the role of teacher, they may assume authority over an ESL student and the text; by doing this, it allows teachers to appropriate the text, assume we know what it means or doesn’t mean, and what its languages should be. Tutors and teachers try to make the student’s paper fit their own template of good writing, and sometimes approach the papers by not looking for what is already there, but looking for things that aren’t there (creating their own meaning).

If needed, transcribe notes onto paper

If a student can easily describe everything they want to say in a paper

orally, but their paper itself is disjointed, confusing or vague, as a tutor you can take notes and write down what they say when they describe the paper and then help the student transform those ideas into the written paper.

Discuss expectations of academic essay and professor

This is a good opportunity for a tutor to ask a student how much s/he knows about the English academic essay. You can also tell students what you know about the professor and the class s/he is taking. This helps them feel comfortable with you and gives them a heads-up.

Identify Local Problems:

Become an informant if necessary

Some students make mistakes because they don’t know the information. If a student struggles with an idiom or an exception to a rule, it’s okay to become the informant and give the student the information they need to succeed with writing the paper.

Establish a plan for attending to errors

When it is time to attend to sentence-level error patterns, plan with the student how you will attend to the error. You may decide to, as you or the student reads, to mark an “x” in the general vicinity of the error, and have the student identify the error and correct it. You may decide to slow down at a word or phrase, or repeat a word or phrase to draw attention to a problem. Note that this technique works only when you are working on rule-bound errors. If the problem is with an idiom for which there is no rule, a tutor can point or repeat it until the cows come home, as the student will not have the information to fix the problem on their own. Here is where a tutor becomes and informant.

Do not correct all errors, but use examples

Remember we are not editors and you would be doing the student a disservice to correct all their errors for them. Not to mention that the errors may be so abundant it could be overwhelming for you to correct them. Instead, find the most common error in a specific draft and show them how to correct one or two examples. Then have the student practice correcting some of the errors. It is also encouraging for the student if you find a sentence where they used the proper form in their draft; then encourage them to create more sentences like that.

Be sensitive to errors and feelings of students

Though ESL students sometimes have many local errors within their papers, it is important that you do not identify these problem areas in a manner that could discourage students. Instead, you should emphasize the positive aspects of students’papers, then remind students of certain errors in the text. If an error pattern, such as article usage, is reoccurring, you can even approach the problem humorously. Remember that tutoring sessions have to be helpful, but they don’t have to be serious.

Do not assume authority!

Tutors and teachers should attempt to negotiate a meaning from the text, and enter a dialogue with the students about the text. When we alter our relationships to our students, and work as peer writers rather than authorites, we will also read their prose in a more egalitarian and helpful way.

Prepare For Next Session:

Encourage students to talk with professors during their office hours

Explain that it’s not only struggling students that seek their help, but also “A” students often seek assistance from their professors. Here at Eastern, it is a more casual atmosphere, so students should feel comfortable with approaching professors.

Be willing to go beyond the session to answer questions

In some situations, one tutoring session may not be enough. If another half- hour is needed, be willing to attend to the student’s needs. Sometimes it is helpful to go with a student to see a professor, as four ears are better than two. Also, be available to show them how to seek answers to their questions if you are not able to answer them.

Establish location (possibly outside lab)

Feel free to leave the Learning Center/Writing Lab. Some international students are embarrassed in by coming in to see a tutor, so
establish a place to meet outside of the Learning Center/Writing Lab. Perhaps you could go to the library or the tables down stairs in Loso Lobby.

Encourage students to make another appointment

Explain to students that the only way their writing will get better is if they keep practicing and keep getting additional help from tutors. Ask them when they would like to meet next, or maybe even more than once a week. Even if the student does not plan on needing a weekly meeting, it is helpful for them because tutors can help with brainstorming, outlines, and general assignments. Explain that tutors can help at all stages of the writing process.

Shop for tutors

Encourage students to seek help from different tutors, as we all have strengths in different areas. Let students know they don’t have to feel tied down to one tutor if they can find another tutor who is more suited to their needs.

Make a better writer, not a better paper

This is an extension of Susan’s “don’t give them fish, teach them how to fish” philosophy. We, as tutors, are not here to only make a better paper, no matter how much easier that seems. We must take into consideration that not all students are up for tutoring, and if we use our time wisely, we can feel a little bit better knowing that a student is writing his/her own paper without a peer, if we try our best to make a better writer and not just a better paper. It seems hard, but, in fact, it’s quite easy. Just do what we do best: tutor. And remember that it is the student we are tutoring, not the student’s paper.

End on a positive note

The most important part of a tutoring session is the ending. Make it a positive enough experience to make students want to come back again. Remind students of their progress, whether in terms of a particular draft, class, or term. Be sure to say something encouraging to them before they leave the session, and make it clear that you believe their next draft will be better.

Tutoring Experiences

Establishing Rapport, Being Flexible, and Considering Student’s Needs:

Establishing rapport with students is one of the most important, yet difficult jobs of a tutor. After working with many ESL students, I have witnessed the power of good rapport firsthand.

While working with one particular student, a Japanese woman majoring in Sociology/Spanish, I was able to form an extremely productive and enjoyable tutor/ student relationship because I worked to establish rapport during our sessions. Though this student was initially very quiet, and only wanted her tutors to act as editors, I insisted on her participation in the collaborative process. This student was frustrated with other tutors because they had over emphasized global errors, neglecting any local corrections. When she got back graded papers, with each local error marked, she felt that both her tutor and herself had failed.

I quickly realized this problem, and sought to create a different tutoring session atmosphere for this student. Rather than diving right into the paper like the student wanted me to, I would make a point to talk to the student about her classes and her life before I would begin going through the paper. However, because the student had very advanced language skills, I felt that it was appropriate to identify local errors and focus on these rather than going through the standard global to local process that I use with other students.

Because of my flexibility and willingness to listen to her complaints, our time together became valuable to her. As we worked together more, we became friends. By simply being open to this students’ concerns and expectations, I was able to establish a level of rapport that helped this student to feel comfortable enough to ask me specific questions about a class that we were both taking. Eventually, this student started sitting by me during class, and we became study partners. This relationship based on my initial commitment to establishing rapport, has become one that I am proud of as both a person and a tutor.

Identifying Cultural Differences:

When working with an Asian student for the first time, I immediately asked the student, who shall remain nameless, “What country are you from?” The student informed me that she came from Tokyo, Japan. This information was locked away and I continued by asking, “How are you adjusting to the school system here?” To this she replied “fine.” This fine was accompanied by a weak smile,which told me that things could be going better for her, but she wasn’t going to tell me that.

To get more out of her took more time and more questions, but eventually she told me that she was not used to speaking to teachers so openly because this was not done in her culture. So it was necessary for me to explain that we, as student and tutor, were on the same level and she could speak freely. Sessions with this student greatly improved because she was not afraid to communicate her problems to me.

Generally when I ask open-ended questions to get students really thinking about their topic or to extract personal information from them. For example, one student from Mexico was experiencing difficulty writing exactly what he wanted to say about a political issue. When I came to a particularly confusing section in his paper I asked him, “What exactly did you mean to say here?” I did not offer my opinion about what he meant, but let him speak while I took notes. After reading what he had said it was easier for him for formulate sentences that made his points more clear.

It is also important to realize that what is considered “good writing” in American academic culture may be different from what is considered “good writing” in other cultures. As you work with students, be curious about their writing histories and the ideas of writing in other cultures. I worked with a student from India who wrote long, informational papers but she kept getting low grades. I asked her what would be considered a good essay in her culture, and she said that the purpose of an essay is to show knowledge. I then explained that American college academic essays are expected to be thesis driven and focused. A light bulb went on over her head. No one had ever explained this to her.

Another time I was working with a Japanese student who was writing an essay in response to an argumentative essay assignment. As we read through her draft, it was clear that she was talking around her position, never quite stating it. I explained to her that in American academic essays, students were expected to state their position outright. As we spoke, it was clear that she was following her culture’s rules of politeness. It would be rude and insulting to readers to push a position on them, or to assume the readers could not deduce the writer’s position from the polite and indirect essay she had written. We ended up laughing about American’s love of directness and bluntness in contrast to her culture’s valuing of indirection and politeness. I was able to explain, then, the expectations of American college academic essays as different but not better than how essays are conceived in her culture.

Making Assumptions about ESL Writers:

Not all ESL writers need a lot of help with their writing. I once tutored a student from Burma, and when he came to see me, it was his first tutor session in the States. He was very nervous at first, but after talking with him for a few minutes, he relaxed and opened up a bit. In the long run he was very talkative. I asked him what his expectations were from tutors and his answer was interesting. He seemed to know his English well and had only minor problems with idioms, but his main concern was trying to decipher the assignment given to him by the professors. Getting him to collaborate wasn't a problem as he was more than willing to tell me his thoughts or to answer any questions I had for him. I used his willingness to talk in order to help him work through his own confusions. He was very willing to read his paper aloud, but when he had parts that confused him, he would ask me to read to help find the problem. After finding the problem, I would ask him what he thought sounded wrong. He was usually able to tell me what was wrong with it, and he would write down what he really meant. Ultimately, I feel like the job of the tutor is to have tutors help the students help themselves. Students that are diligent such as this Burmese student made tutoring not only a pleasure, but made it easy.

Identifying Global Problems:

At one point in time, most, if not all tutors, will experience something like this. While working with one student’s paper (after rapport and such jazz as that), I found it quite obvious that the paper wasn’t focusing on the topic. However, it was quite easy to go through the paper without concern for the local issues and to conclude that there were no problems. After asking about the assignment and then analyzing paragraph-by-paragraph, it was evident that the writer was more than off track. This just goes to show that no matter how well an ESL student can write, the problem many times lies within the structure and overall flow of the paper instead of the articles and identifiers. So, as a warning, be sure to check out the assignment. Sometimes ESL writers misinterpret the assignment and needs help unpacking the language of an assignment.

Identifying Local Problems:

In most cases, sentence level problems should only be discussed after all global issues have been taken care of; however, sometimes a single word choice error can be a global issue and should come up earlier. Take for example the English phrase "Last night I ate rice instead of bread." A Korean student might write that in one of two ways, depending on their familiarity with English: 1) "Yesterday evening in rice instead bread of ate" or 2)"Yesterday I ate the rice instead of the bread." The first sentence is confusing to the reader and could change the content of what the student says while the second only involves use of the word "the" and is a local issue that does not directly change the meaning of the sentence.

If the student expresses a need for grammatical correctness when you discuss their expectations, you can always spend the last part of the session to identify and model correcting some recurring sentence-level errors throughout the piece. This makes the student feel like they have accomplished something and gives them a defined direction to work on until the next session. However, sometimes tutors need to go from local to global with ESL students to gain students’ trust, and then tutors can attend to global concerns.

Preparing For Next Session, Being Creative, and Making Sure Nothing Has Been Lost In Translation:

To encourage an ESL student I had only just worked with to make another appointment, I asked the student. “Would you like to come at this same time next week to go over another draft or assignment?” The student said “No.” I was perplexed because the session had gone well and so, not wanting to dictate the student’s answer by offering a reason why I thought she said this, I simply asked “Why is that?” She replied that the time did not work for her. I had hoped this was the case and not that my tutoring had not been helpful, so I created a new time slot when I could meet with her weekly.

Also, I was working with this one international student about two days a week who needed a lot of help with her English. Although she did not have enough new assignments each meeting, we worked very diligently on each paper. When we were not working on a paper for class, I would have her write narrative or descriptive writing for fifteen minutes, and then we would go over mistakes. I would also give her error patterns to look for in her own writing, or in fellow students’ and friends’ writing. This helped her to start thinking about her errors in other contexts, not just for class. At the end of each session, we would discuss how the class was going and whether or not she had talked with the professor that week. I would always praise her for a job well done and then we would end with me attempting to learn some form of salutation in French. This was a good way for her to feel connected to me, and allowed her to teach me, instead of me always teaching her. There are many creative ways of ending and preparing for the next session. Be creative and have fun.

Works Cited

Blau, Susan and John Hall. Guilt-Free Tutoring: Rethinking How We Tutor Non-Native-English-Speaking Students. The Writing Center Journal: Winter Edition, 2003.

Clark, Irene. Writing in the Center: Teaching in a Writing Center Setting. 3rd Ed. Dubuque, Iowa: 1998

Fu, Danling. My Trouble is My English: Asian Students and the American Dream. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1995.

Fox, Helen. Listening to the World: Cultural Issues in Academic Writing. National Council of Teachers of English: 1994.

Rodby, Judith. Appropriating Literacy: Writing and Reading in English as a Second Language. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1992.

LEARNING CENTER/WRITING CENTER STAFF

Anna Maria Dill Learning Resource Center Director

LH 234C

Email: adill@eou.edu

Phone: 962-3774

Donna Evans Writing Center Director

LH 234A

Email: devans@eou.edu