Lexical issues in writing center tutorials with international and US-educated multilingual writers
Section snippets
L2 writers in the writing center
Writing centers, common on US college campuses (and increasingly in non-US contexts as well), are places where students can talk one-to-one with a tutor to improve their writing skills. Tutors may be peers (undergraduate or graduate students with strong writing skills) or professionally trained writing teachers. Writing center staff are usually familiar with first language (L1) composition theory and issues. Although there is much diversity in the policies and implementation of writing centers,
Research questions
Based on the gaps in existing research noted above, the following research questions guided this study:
- 1.
How often do the students and tutors attend to lexical issues relative to grammatical issues?
Are there any differences between tutorials with international and US-educated students?
- 2.
What lexical strengths and needs do the students exhibit during tutorials?
Are there any differences between tutorials with international and US-educated students?
- 3.
How do the tutors characterize linguistic aspects of
How often do the students and tutors attend to lexical issues relative to grammatical issues?7 Are there any differences between tutorials with international and US-educated students?
International student participants and their tutors addressed lexical issues much more frequently than US-educated participants (and their tutors). Further, lexical issues were addressed more frequently than other issues in sessions with international students. This is consistent with findings from other studies in which word choice emerged as an important focus of discussion in ESL writing conferences (Cogie, 2006, Cumming and So, 1996). More than 40% of the 55 feedback sequences in Shaolan's
Conclusion
Like all qualitative research, the present study aims not for generalizable experimental results, but rather to examine the experiences of particular people in particular contexts as they engage in authentic activities. The findings presented here cannot be said to be generalizable to other students or contexts. It is also important to keep in mind that the student participants diverged in a number of ways other than the factor I foreground here (country of high-school education). Perhaps most
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers, as well as the editors, who provided insightful feedback to help improve this article. I am also grateful to my BMCC colleague John Beaumont for his feedback. The work reported here was supported by grants from the International Writing Centers Association and New York University.
Sarah Nakamaru is an assistant professor of ESL at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Her current research interests are oral feedback, peer feedback with multilingual writers, and using Web 2.0 technology in the composition classroom.
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“What I Mean Is…”: The role of dialogic interactions in developing a statement of teaching philosophy
2020, Journal of Second Language WritingCitation Excerpt :Due to the increasing international student body at universities, much of the writing center scholarship has focused on interactions between tutors and L2 writers. Studies have examined, for instance, affective aspects of tutor-student interactions (Shvidko, 2018), vocabulary learning (Severino & Deifell, 2011), and lexical issues (Nakamaru, 2010). Study results highlight numerous benefits of social interactions, including aiding students’ development of ideas, understanding of rhetorical modes, and awareness of readership or audience (Ewert, 2009); attending to students’ individual needs (Weissberg, 2006); a clearer idea of students’ writing goals (Goldstein, 2004); and an opportunity for students to exercise agency (Tardy, 2006).
Comparing patterns of error in generation 1.5, L1, and L2 FYC writing
2017, Journal of Second Language WritingImplementing and evaluating a writing conference program for international L2 writers across language proficiency levels
2013, Journal of Second Language WritingCitation Excerpt :This can extend to information about audience awareness and rhetorical expectations of the target culture in the vein of contrastive rhetoric (Severino, 1993; Staben & Nordhaus, 2009), though tutors are admonished to be wary of appropriating L2 student texts by overly exerting knowledge of L1 culture or language on those texts (Severino, 2009). Tutors are also encouraged to address content and grammar issues simultaneously or in the opposite order since these sometimes complicate one another (Blau, Hall, & Sparks, 2002; Cogie, 2006; Taylor, 2007) and to also provide assistance with lexical problems in addition to content and grammar feedback (Nakamaru, 2010; Severino & Deifell, 2011). Furthermore, L2 tutees may prefer and need explicit and directive feedback (as opposed to indirect or Socratic approaches) in tutoring sessions for revision to be successful (Ferris, Pezone, Tade, & Tinti, 1997; Thonus, 1998; Williams, 2004; Williams & Severino, 2004).
"A table and two chairs": Starting a writing center in Łódź, Poland
2013, Journal of Second Language WritingCitation Excerpt :Additionally, authors have described issues related to operating a writing center in multiple languages (Johnston et al., 2008; Papay, 2002; Ronesi, 2009). Since much of the literature on writing centers originates in North America, only a limited amount of literature is available that discusses multilingual tutorial participants (but see, e.g., Bruce & Rafoth, 2009; Nakamaru, 2010; Williams & Severino, 2004), and few sources address cases in which tutorial participants share a common language other than English. We were happy to see such situations discussed in the literature since most but not all of our tutors speak Polish, the native language of the students who come to the writing center.
From proofreader to mediator: the roles negotiated by NNES tutors in EFL writing tutorials
2023, Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning
Sarah Nakamaru is an assistant professor of ESL at Borough of Manhattan Community College. Her current research interests are oral feedback, peer feedback with multilingual writers, and using Web 2.0 technology in the composition classroom.