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Full-Text Articles in Education
Composing A Curricular Circle: A Wac Program/Writing Center Embedded In Business, Abby Dubisar
Composing A Curricular Circle: A Wac Program/Writing Center Embedded In Business, Abby Dubisar
Abby Dubisar
This program profile describes how a writing center embedded within a major school of business negotiates its unique positionality. Tracing both the successes and shortcomings of a writing initiative tasked with improving the school’s quality of writing, the profile offers a number of insights on both WAC and writing center work, including how to enact curricular change, encourage faculty to incorporate writing into their classes, maintain programmatic continuity with frequent turnover of graduate student administrators, and consult effectively with undergraduate students. Several sites of analysis are addressed, as the initiative seeks to remain committed to its mission while encountering various …
Instruction, Cognitive Scaffolding, And Motivational Scaffolding In Writing Center Tutoring, Jo Mackiewicz, Isabelle Thompson
Instruction, Cognitive Scaffolding, And Motivational Scaffolding In Writing Center Tutoring, Jo Mackiewicz, Isabelle Thompson
Jo Mackiewicz
In this study, we quantitatively analyze the discourse of experienced writing center tutors in 10 highly satisfactory conferences. Specifically, we analyze tutors’ instruction, cognitive scaffolding, and motivational scaffolding, all tutoring strategies identified in prior research from other disciplines as educationally effective. We find that tutors used the instructional strategies of telling and suggesting, the cognitive scaffolding strategy of pumping, and the motivational scaffolding strategy of showing concern most frequently. We argue that the interdisciplinary analytical framework that we developed and describe in this article can facilitate further analysis of tutors’ talk and thus help move research beyond the local level …
Questioning In Writing Center Conferences, Jo Mackiewicz
Questioning In Writing Center Conferences, Jo Mackiewicz
Jo Mackiewicz
These researchers examine how questions function in a corpus of eleven writing center conferences conducted by experienced tutors. They analyze the 690 questions generated in these conferences: 81% (562) from tutors and 19% (128) from students. Using a coding scheme developed from prior research on questions in math, science, and other kinds of quantitative tutoring, they categorized tutors’ and students’ questions. The researchers found that questions in writing center conferences serve a number of instructional and conversational functions. Questions allow tutors and students to fill in their knowledge deficits and check each other’s understanding. They also allow tutors (and occasionally …