The Readings That Matter

Two issues addressed in the current readings that I feel speak to my personal experience in the writing center (particularly as of today) is Carino's insight into the issue of peer tutoring versus teacher/authoritative tutoring and the notion of the writing center as a thing less important in the eyes of the students. Essentially, Carino asserts that with the onset of peer tutoring in the writing center followed a non-hierarchical, non-threatening environment. Because the students feel more closely associated in both age and academic value with peers, there is an overt benefit to enacting peer tutoring. Promoting such an environment allows students to open their minds, relax, and ingest more thoroughly the issues with their writing and the processes of writing. I feel very strongly that as a student, having one, such as myself or Ben or Matthew, as tutor helps them work in a hospitable environment. As well, the notion of a writing center as a thing less important was addressed in Carino's article. Because students are not graded on their writing center visits and are merely addressed in order to "better the writer" there can be an element of withdrawal that takes place. Carino states that students "sometimes come to the center expecting work to be done for them in exchange for the time they sacrifice," an attitude that not only fosters a divide between tutor and student, but can create an atmosphere of hostility if frustration persists (102). In a sense, it is our job as tutors to help the students recognize the need for personal development and the fact that they will be rewarded in the long run, via good grade, good job, etc., should they take their development seriously.

Prior to this reading, and as was iterated in my previous blogs, I am particularly intrigued by the necessity to acknowledge cultural differences, both within the tutor and student, when dealing with non-native English speakers. Arguing against assimilation, this only hindering the student's unique perspective as an "outside writer," the article asserts that we, as tutors, must foster a degree of individuality; we must help the student perceive his or her differences and push them in such a direction that helps them formulate the best possible mode of expression for their writing. It is quite easy to over-step cultural boundaries, to push the student into our own mode of expression as we are the native English speakers and feel that our mode of expression is the most fluid. This, however, is erroneous, and undermines the purpose of the writing center as a realm to better writers, not papers. I have stumbled upon this issue often in the writing center, particularly as of late which I guess is a bit odd. I am not sure if international students are simply in the process of the last step of composition, or rather that this is the time they feel most comfortable with their own grasp of English to ask for help. Regardless of the circumstances though, I am seeing international students more and more and becoming very conscious of the need to keep myself on the right side of the playing field. It is easy to takeover their papers and correct them, so I am extra careful to discuss their own issues with the English language before delving into the issue of the paper.

Furthermore, one of the most pertinent articles we have read, and one that we read at the beginning of the year and have continued to read in little blips throughout the rest of the articles, relays the ideal of an endlessly developing writing center. Writing center scholarship, though a new field when pitted against the backdrop of the study of literature, recognizes the need for an aspect of life. If the center were to become static, it would ultimately fail as a mode of education, for with the progression of technology and the slowly dissolving borders of the world the center has become an area of where one can experience an important sense of growth. The article(s) hinge upon the fact that a 21st century writing center, the center we operate in, is one that is more technologically oriented with the necessity for second language acquisition. This is certainly true, and an issue we have encountered in the center. I guess that is why we are learning to compose portfolios, and rightly so, though I must admit I still feel a bit lost sometimes in a place that must adapt, in a sense, before the times do.