FROM TRAINING TO PRACTICE: THE WRITING CENTER AS A SETTING FOR LEARNING TO TUTOR DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Krista H. Stonerock, B.A., M.A ***** The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by: Dr. George Newell, Adviser __________________________ Dr. Maia Pank-Mertz Adviser College of Education Dr. Anna Soter ABSTRACT Although tutorial programs have become key components of college freshmen writing programs, few studies have considered how students learn to tutor their peers. This study is a qualitative examination of a first-year writing tutorial program situated within a college writing center with a mission to ensure student retention in the college. In the tutorials, peer tutors consulted biweekly with basic writers throughout their first year of college. The peer tutors were trained in a three-week tutor training program designed to introduce them to both writing center theory and tutoring strategies which are aligned with the writing center mission and goals. Case study methods were used to consider the transfer of teaching tools from tutor training to the tutors’ practices in the writing conferences. Through an activity-theory analysis of tutor training sessions, audio-taped and transcribed conferences, field notes, observation-based interviews, and other data, the two tutors’ decision-making was interpreted as a function of their participation in tool- mediated action—both conceptual and practical—in a range of settings. The research employed ethnographic methods to follow the peer tutors through a three-week training program and a fifteen-week semester of tutoring. The study identified the principal settings—both educational and personal—which shaped tutors’ developing roles and practices; explored the way tutors negotiate tensions which arise as they attempt to ii appropriate the teaching tools presented in tutor training; and considered the contextual factors (e.g., outside settings, personal goals, prior experiences) which may shape the tutors’ appropriation of the teaching tools. The results describe how the various activity settings affected how the tutors developed their own approaches to tutoring in the writing center as they negotiated the competing motives and emerging tensions at work in conference activity over a semester. In acknowledging these powerful tensions, the study suggests the need for critical and continual reflective practice on the part of both tutor trainers and peer tutors. The study also documents how various settings, including the tutors’ personal and academic backgrounds, mediate what they appropriate from tutor training and, in turn, the extent to which training mediates their ability and willingness to support basic writers. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I could never have completed this project without the support, encouragement, and guidance of my committee members, colleagues, friends, and family. First, I wish to thank my adviser, Dr. George Newell, for being with me from the beginning as I envisioned this project and providing me the courage and motivation to see it through to completion. You somehow managed to challenge me, redirect me, motivate me, and inspire me at the exact moments when I needed it most. You gave me hours of your time when you didn’t have those hours to give. I could not have asked for a better adviser. I also wish to thank Dr. Maia Pank-Mertz and Dr. Anna Soter, who also served on my dissertation committee. Thank you for inspiring me in many graduate courses and for offering your fresh perspectives and critical responses to my research. I cannot go without expressing my appreciation for your willingness to help me complete this project during an incredibly busy quarter. Your sacrifice does not go unnoticed. Special thanks to those friends who have reminded me to take time to laugh and stay balanced during the last few years. To my colleagues, I thank you for reminding me that I could do this while carrying a full teaching load, and especially to my dear friends, Dr. David Case and Dr. Steve McGuire, thank you for those Thursday morning coffee breaks and talks across the faculty hallway; they kept me going more than you know. To “group”—Beth, Erica, Kitty, Sarah, Shawna, Lori—thank you for your faith and the iv laughter you’ve brought to my life. And to the “wearers of the crown”—Denise, Lauren, Mark, Paige, Todd—thank you for making these years of graduate study ones I’ll fondly remember. Finally, thanks to my family. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for being there those last few weeks to help me through many trials, from being with the girls when I couldn’t, to calming me and bringing me coffee when I accidentally deleted half of my last chapter. To my beautiful daughters, Maia and Sophie, thank you for giving me a reason every night to put away my writing, and to Travis, my husband, thank you for making this dream possible. v VITA March 19, 1969…………………………….. Born - Circleville, OH 1992…………………………………………B.A., English and Art (Secondary Education Concentration), Mount Vernon Nazarene University 1993…………………………………………Instructor, English and Education, Circleville Bible College 1995…………………………………………M.A., English Education, The Ohio State University 1996-2000…..……………………………… Assistant Professor, English and Education, Circleville Bible College 2001-present………………………………... Associate Professor, English and Education, Circleville Bible College FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………...ii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………..iv Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………. vi List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………..ix Chapters: 1. The Problem of Peer Tutoring ……………………………..……………………… 1 1.1 The Usefulness of Peer Tutor-Student Conferences…………………………... 4 1.2 Why Conference about Writing?........................................................................ 4 1.3 The Promise of Peer Tutoring…………………………………………………. 6 1.4 The Need for Tutor Training…………………………………………............... 8 1.5 The Problem of “Good Intentions” in Preparing Peer Writing Tutors………... 10 1.6 Writing Centers and Writing Tutorials as Activity Settings…………............... 13 1.7 Research Foci and Questions……….…………………………………………. 18 1.8 Overview of Subsequent Chapters…………………………………………….. 19 2. Review of Related Literature………………………………………………………. 21 2.1 The Status of Writing Centers and Tutorial Programs in Colleges & Universities……………………………………………………………………. 21 2.2 The Role of Collaborative Conferences in Serving the Needs of Basic Writers…………………………………………………………........................ 25 2.3 Debates Surrounding Tutor Roles……………………………………………. 29 2.4 Contextual Factors on the Conference Activity……………………….. ………37 2.5 The Transfer of Teacher Training to Classroom Practice……………............... 40 3. Research Context and Methodology……………………………………………….. 44 3.1 Research Context……………………………………………………………… 45 3.2 Participants……………………………………………………………………. 49 3.3 Methods……………………………………………………………………….. 55 4. The Educational Settings which Shape Tutors’ Development of Their Roles and Practices……………………………………………………………………………. 79 4.1 SBC……………………………………………………………………………. 80 vii 4.2 Institution-wide Efforts Toward Student Retention…………………… ……... 86 4.3 Institution-wide Emphasis on Written Communication………………………. 91 4.4 The First-year Writing Program………………………………………………. 93 4.5 The Writing Center……………………………………………………………. 96 4.6 The Writing Center Course……………………………………………………. 99 4.7 Tutor Training…………………………………………………………………. 103 5. Tutors’ Initial Conceptions of Tutoring Practice…………………………............... 110 5.1 Tutor Portraits…………………………………………………………………. 112 5.2 Prior Experiences and Initial Conceptions: The Beginning of Meaning-Making……………………………………………………………….119 6. Tutors’ Learning and Development Over Time……………………………………. 134 6.1 Tutors’ Patterns of Appropriation……………………………………............... 135 6.2 Tutors’ Types of Appropriation……………………………………………….. 140 6.3 Tensions Impeding the Appropriation of Teaching Tools…………………….. 142 6.4 Derrick: A Case of a Reflective Tutor………………………………............... 143 6.5 Calvin: A Case of a Less Successful Tutor……………………………………. 174 6.6 The Need for Reflection: A Cross-Tutor Analysis…………………………… 196 6.7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….. 201 7. General Discussion and Implications……………………………………………….203 7.1 Implications for Institutional Goals for Support………………………………. 209 7.2 Implications for Training……………………………………………………… 211 7.3 Implicatons for Tutors…………………………………………………………. 215 7.4 Implications for Research……………………………………………............... 217 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….. 220 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………. 228 APPENDIX A – Beginning-of-Term Student Questionnaire……………………… 228 APPENDIX B – Beginning-of-Term Tutor Questionnaire………………............... 230 APPENDIX C – Researcher Observation Log…………………………………….. 233 APPENDIX D – Writing Center Log……………………………………………… 234 APPENDIX E – End-of-Term Tutor Questionnaire….………..…………..………. 235 APPENDIX F – Levels of Data Analysis………………………………………….. 238 APPENDIX G – Sample Page of Coded Transcript……………………….............. 239 APPENDIX H – List of Codes…………………………………………………….. 240 APPENDIX I – Final Coding Chart………………………………………………. 241 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 3.1 Summary of Data Sources and Analyses………………………………………… 62-63 3.2 Relationship between the Conceptual and Practical Tools Presented to Tutor………………………………………………………......65-66 3.3 Coding Chart for Conference