Group items tagged

From ABSTRACT: "For teaching practices in the Writing Center, the findings raise questions about how writing center pedagogy can empower L2 writers on their language control when the writing consultants have the ultimate control in language and the L2 learners have the inherent uncertainty. While writing center work draws on the advantages of collaborative dialogues and effects better language control for ESL writers based on a sociocultural learning perspective, writing center pedagogy needs to continue reconsidering the needs and beliefs of ESL writers (Blau & Hall, 2002; Powers, 1993). The language issue in ESL writing is not a lower order concern in the writing, but more likely a primary concern for the writer. As also found in this study, when the broader contextual factors such as the focus of writing and writers' beliefs are taken into account, language knowledge and control are not just about linguistic correctness to ESL writer development. In striving to create better writers but not just better writing for any writers, it is crucial for writing centers to continue rethinking their staff training on the topic of language issues with their diverse multilingual clientele who speaks English as a second language."

"The UW-Madison Writing Center launched Another Word in the fall of 2009 to give the writing center community a space to talk (write) about writing. All posts are written by members of our Writing Center staff, by alumni of our Writing Center, or by invited friends from writing centers around the world." All posts are written by members of our Writing Center staff, by alumni of our Writing Center, or by invited friends from writing centers around the world. Another Word is copyrighted by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, and does not accept advertising. You can learn more about our writing center on our website."

This video is a general informational video about the Writing Center at Walden University where various members of the Writing Center talk about the online tutorial process from start to finish, including sends papers to tutors and providing feedback on papers.

"The Citation Project is a multi-institution research project responding to educators' concerns about plagiarism and the teaching of writing. Although much has been written on this topic and many have expressed concerns, little empirical data is available to describe what students are actually doing with their sources. At present, therefore, educators must make policy decisions and pedagogy based on anecdote, personal observation, media reports, and the claims of corporations that sell "solutions." The Citation Project begins the process of providing descriptive data. Our research team systematically studies randomly selected, source-based student papers from a range of different institutions. Our purpose is to describe how student writers use the sources they cite in their papers. With this information, educators will be able to make informed decisions about best practices for formulating plagiarism policies and for teaching rhetorically effective and ethically responsible methods of writing from sources. Preventing plagiarism is a desired outcome of our research, as the subtitle above indicates, but the Citation Project research suggests that students' knowing how to understand and synthesize complex, lengthy sources is essential to effective plagiarism prevention. If instructors know how shallowly students are engaging with their research source-and that is what the Citation Project research reveals-then they know what responsible pedagogy needs to address."

Saint Mary's University Writing Center blog has posts about tutoring, such as this one about asking questions as tutoring tools. 

"This website supports a presentation on the implications of big data on writing center studies for the 2014 IWCA/NCPTW conference in Orlando, Florida. Its aim is to use newly available big-data sets about global development and education to provoke new questions about the impacts of writing center work."

The Journal of Response to Writing is an international, peer-reviewed journal for writing theorists, researchers, and practitioners of Second and Foreign Language Instruction, Applied Linguistics, and Composition to make quality contributions to the study of response to writing.  While we value traditional forms of response, including marginal notes, face-to-face interactions, electronic feedback, self-reflection, and peer review, we also value and encourage the research of alternative response methods, purposes, and practices. The journal is open-access This journal responds to a growing need and interest for additional scholarly venues to publish articles about writing theory and response practices that allow for a cross-disciplinary discussion of response to writing. The focus on response is intentional since nearly all forms of writing benefit from response, and responding to writing is perhaps the most time-consuming responsibility of a writing teacher. Therefore, understanding the theory and best pedagogical practices for response can benefit the writer while maximizing a responder's effectiveness and efficiency. This journal is meant to fill these needs by crossing disciplinary divides and providing an additional publication venue for writing theory and response practice.

APA's website with FAQs about citing online publications in APA format.

Via CompPile: "This review-essay of Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch's Virtual Peer Review: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments focuses on virtual peer review (VPR) and its place in composition pedagogy. Breuch's two main points of interest are what is gained by immersing students in online learning, and what could the composition community lose during the transition. In six chapters, Breuch discusses these ideas respectively: 1) how to distinguish the differences between VPR and face-to-face peer review through the use of remediation, specifically with reference to three characteristics of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): time, space and interaction; 2) how these dimensions play out in virtual communication and instruction; 3) a more focused analysis of the 'tension' that arises when peer review is placed in the virtual world; 4) the challenges of the ownership of ideas in VPR; 5) other concerns raised about VPR; and 6) how VP can be used in the classroom and other writing contexts, the university Writing Center being one example. [Jennifer Maness] "

This is the syllabus of Dr. Rebecca Jackson for a course titled "TALKING (about) WRITING."

The University of Louisville Writing Center "Writing FAQs" website, with lists of questions about general writing, before beginning, drafting and revision, editing, citation, plagiarism, frequent questions for graduate students, and other relevant questions, with links to lengthy answers.

This open-access book, available on the WAC Clearninghouse, can be downloaded. Authors are Brock Haussamen with Amy Benjamin, Martha Kolln, Rebecca S. Wheeler, and members of NCTE's Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar. The book is described as follows: NCTE's Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar provides this much-needed resource for Kâ€"college teachers who wonder what to do about grammar-how to teach it, how to apply it, how to learn what they themselves were never taught. Grammar Alive! offers teachers ways to negotiate the often conflicting goals of testing, confident writing, the culturally inclusive classroom, and the teaching of Standard English while also honoring other varieties of English. This hands-on approach to grammar in the classroom includes numerous examples and practical vignettes describing real teachers' real classroom experiences with specific grammar lessons-including ESL issues-as well as a review of grammar basics.

Long introduction to the speaker (you could fast forward to about 12 minutes). Outlines different perspectives on grammar, with links to models of learning/acquisition. Could be useful for tutor-training: traditional focus on prescriptive grammar balanced by context/texture, collocation and emergent phenomenon; some practical ideas could be used by tutors.

The blog of the Miller Writing Center at Auburn University. includes entries about the tutors and advice on writing

Auburn University's writing center blog

Roosevelt University Writing Center's blog includes posts with advice and resources about writing

Suggests questions to consider when thinking about what data to collect. Is not specifically for writing centers, but can be helpful

The McDaniel Writing Center twitter serves to notify students of appointment openings and relevant college events. It also highlights information about specific tutors' unique skills and experiences, such as tech expertise.

SUNY Plattsburgh's Jonathon Martinez sits down with Tom Halford to chat about writing tutoring. Martinez talks about learning to speak English fluently as a child, and he explains why he wanted to become a writing tutor.

John Martinez's "Tutoing Podcast" was published in the Fall 2014 student journal Tutors.

Kyle Bell graduated from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in the spring of 2014. He has embarked on an accelerated B.A./M.A. TESOL from Stony Brook University. In "Multiliteracy Memes," Bell uses memes and PowerPoint to challenge common misconceptions about The Claude J. Clark Learning Center and about tutoring.

a discussion of the methods of determining the percentage of students served/sessions filled; thinking about what makes a "good" level of service