Tutoring Writing

Talk about Writing: The Tutoring Strategies of Experienced Writing Center Tutors offers a book-length empirical study of the discourse between experienced tutors and student writers in satisfactory conferences. The study uses a research-driven, iteratively tested framework to help writing center directors, tutors, writing program administrators, rhetoric and composition researchers, first-year composition instructors, and others interested in talk about writing to systematically analyze tutors’ talk and to use that analysis to train new tutors. The book strives toward two main goals: to provide an analytical research and assessment tool—the coding scheme—that other researchers can use to understand writing center tutor talk and to provide a close, empirical analysis of experienced tutor talk that can facilitate tutor training. The study details tutors’ use of three categories of tutoring strategies—instruction, cognitive scaffolding, and motivational scaffolding—at macro- and microlevels and results in practical recommendations for improving tutor training.

In addition to providing a thorough review of theory and research of the principles and practices of tutoring, Tutoring Writing offers a rich toolbox of tutoring tips.

Student Writing Tutors in Their Own Words collects personal narratives from writing tutors around the world, providing tutors, faculty, and writing center professionals with a diverse and experience-based understanding of the writing support process. Filling a major gap in the research on writing center theory, first-year writing pedagogy, and higher education academic support resources, this book provides narrative evidence of students' own experiences with learning assistance discourse communities. It features a variety of voices that address how academic support resources such as writing centers have served as the nucleus for students' (i.e., both tutors and their clients) sense of community and self, ultimately providing a space for freedom of discourse and expression. It includes narratives from writing tutors supporting students in unconventional spaces such as prisons, tutors offering support in war-torn countries, and students in international centers facing challenges of distance learning, access, and language barriers. The essays in this collection reveal pedagogical takeaways and insights about both student and tutor collaborative experiences in writing center spaces. These essays are a valuable resource for student writing tutors and anyone involved with them, including composition instructors and scholars, writing center professionals, and any faculty or administrators involved with academic support programs.

With more activities and exercises than ever before, this fifth edition of The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors provides a concise and practical introduction to tutoring. Its nine chapters provide principles and strategies for working with diverse writers and assignments in a variety of contexts: college or high school, online or face-to-face, in the writing center and beyond. Visit the companion Web site for The Bedford Handbook, Eighth Edition (hackerhandbooks.com/bedhandbook) to find additional tools for tutors and writers including handouts on common writing, grammar, and punctuation problems; documentation help; links to tutoring resources; and an annotated bibliography.

Tutoring Second Language Writers, a complete update of Bruce and Rafoth’s 2009 ESL Writers, is a guide for writing center tutors that addresses the growing need for tutors who are better prepared to work with the increasingly international population of students seeking guidance at the writing center. Drawing upon philosopher John Dewey’s belief in reflective thinking as a way to help build new knowledge, the book is divided into four parts. Part 1: Actions and Identities is about creating a proactive stance toward language difference, thinking critically about labels, and the mixed feelings students may have about learning English. Part 2: Research Opportunities demonstrates writing center research projects and illustrates methods tutors can use to investigate their questions about writing center work. Part 3: Words and Passages offers four personal stories of inquiry and discovery, and Part 4: Academic Expectations describes some of the challenges tutors face when they try to help writers meet readers’ specific expectations. Advancing the conversations tutors have with one another and their directors about tutoring second language writers and writing, Tutoring Second Language Writers engages readers with current ideas and issues that highlight the excitement and challenge of working with those who speak English as a second or additional language. Contributors include Jocelyn Amevuvor, Rebecca Day Babcock, Valerie M. Balester, Shanti Bruce, Frankie Condon, Michelle Cox, Jennifer Craig, Kevin Dvorak, Paula Gillespie, Glenn Hutchinson, Pei-Hsun Emma Liu, Bobbi Olson, Pimyupa W. Praphan, Ben Rafoth, Jose L. Reyes Medina, Guiboke Seong, and Elizabeth (Adelay) Witherite.

Master the essentials of peer tutoring with WHAT THE WRITING TUTOR NEEDS TO KNOW! With study questions, questions for research projects, and exercises at the end of each chapter, this English text prepares you for the challenges you will face in the tutoring environment. Coverage of sample student papers, teacher expectations, excerpts from peer tutors' research projects, and tutoring good student writers provides you with information you need to help your students succeed.

Providing a wealth of simple, research-based strategies for teaching reading and writing, this book is designed for each chapter to be accessible to teachers, tutors, parents, and paraprofessionals. Teaching Reading and Writing demonstrates that effective literacy instruction does not have to be complicated or expensive. Each chapter provides easy-to use techniques and with Internet search terms. This guide presents teaching methods that can be implemented without having to acquire additional books, packages, or other instructional devices. All you need is paper, pencil, books, teacher creativity and imagination, and a desire to help students.