Group items tagged

many discussions on the length of sessions see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=6568111 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=6575122 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=6617126 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=11080125 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=18668130 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19256382 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=23778331 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24509346 (continues here: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24509347)

Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society is a peer-reviewed, blind-refereed, online journal dedicated to exploring contemporary social, cultural, political and economic issues through a rhetorical lens. In addition to examining these subjects as found in written, oral and visual texts, we wish to provide a forum for calls to action in academia, education and national policy. Seeking to address current or presently unfolding issues, we publish short articles ranging from 2,000 to 2,500 words, the length of a conference paper. For sample topics please see our submission guidelines. Conference presentations on topics related to the journal's focus lend themselves particularly well to this publishing format. Authors who address the most current issues may find a lengthy submission and application process disadvantageous. We seek to overcome this issue through our shortened response time and by publishing individual articles as they are accepted. We also encourage conference-length multimedia submissions such as short documentaries, flash videos, slidecasts and podcasts. In order to foster dialogue, our journal features a Reader Response section in which both contributors and readers are welcome to discuss the publications' content in a public, digital space.

"As student populations in colleges and universities continue to diversify, composition programs do not always meet students' varying needs. English as a Second Language (ESL) students appear to fail mainstream writing courses at higher rates than their traditional counterparts, yet mainstreaming continues to be mandated, often due to budgetary constraints. Many programs offer multicultural writing courses, but these, too, are often ineffective for many students. Meanwhile, as Paul Kei Matsuda shows, there is a decided split between the disciplines of composition and ESL. Since ESL scholars have a much stronger history of working with diverse student populations than composition scholars do, this study aims to look to ESL scholarship, specifically to contrastive rhetoric, to explore more effective methods of teaching writing to students with varying needs. This case study takes an in-depth look at one student's journey writing across cultures. Ming, a Chinese immigrant who has been in the United States for approximately ten years, is a junior at the University of Rhode Island who struggles with writing. Over the course of one semester, three of her projects were studied in depth. Data include transcripts of audiotaped tutorial sessions in the URI Writing Center, Ming's assignments and papers, and the researcher's notes from interviews with Ming following the tutorial sessions. ^ The new contrastive rhetoric (Connor, Kaplan, Purves) insists that external factors such as culture, education, and media influence the rhetorical patterns writers use. Through a lens of contrastive rhetoric, it becomes clear that most of Ming's difficulties when writing stem from a lack of familiarity with the conventions of U.S. academic discourse or of what her reader expects from her text. The source of much of this is cultural. While Ming's experiences are not generalizable, an in-depth look at her experiences foregrounds some of the issues that contrastive rhetoric addresses, making th

a discussion of certification for writing centers see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=1053421 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=1052315 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=11014117 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=18679126 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19604379 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=21483331

"Post-secondary writing centers have struggled to produce substantial, credible, and sustainable evidence of their impact in the educational environment. The objective of this study was to develop a college-level writing self-efficacy scale that can be used across repeated sessions in a writing center, as self-efficacy has been identified as an important construct underlying successful writing and cognitive development. A 20-item instrument (PSWSES) was developed to evaluate writerly self-efficacy. 505 university students participated in the study. Results indicate that the PSWSES has high internal consistency and reliability across items and construct validity, which was supported through a correlation between tutor perceptions of client writerly self-efficacy and client self-ratings. Factor analysis revealed three factors: local and global writing process knowledge, physical reaction, and time/effort. Additionally, across repeated sessions, the clients' PSWSES scores appropriately showed an increase in overall writerly self-efficacy. Ultimately, this study offers a new paradigm for conceptualizing the daily work in which writing centers engage, and the PSWSES offers writing centers a meaningful quantitative program assessment avenue by (1) redirecting focus from actual competence indicators to perceived competence development and (2) allowing for replication, causality, and sustainability for program improvement. "

the first "Great Moments in Writing Lab History"; a report on "Comp-Lab Project" of York College, "where reduced classroom hours are systematically coordinated with a flexible schedule of autotutorial work in a writing laboratory"; a report from a WC on offering student support beyond auto-instruction; a report on computer-assisted instruction; mailing list

a report from Cs on materials development; a report from Cs on "Writing Lab Possibilities as the Small College/University; a discussion of staffing (undergrad, grad peers; professional; faculty; self-instruction) for materials-centered vs. student-centered labs (i.e. the difference between teaching more students with fewer staff vs. offering one-on-one support); a 4Cs report on "Setting up a Writing Lab";

A helpful guide to writing a proposal for a conference, posted on the website of the  National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing.

a discussion of a move from a stand-alone WC model to a learning commons

a discussion of placing peer tutors in writing classes (mentoring) see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19770331 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24437343 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24564475 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24599558

a discussion of concerns related to writing centers housed in open plan libraries see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=12628140 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=12882123 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=14868131 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=17025124

The present study aims to investigate the extent to which L2 learners' individual differences (field dependency and writing motivation) predict their retention of a teacher's written corrective feedback (CF) in the short and in the long run. Using Ellis's (2010) theoretical framework, the study examines the issue from cognitive and affective perspectives. Data was collected from 127 intermediate-level university students through written essays, a field-dependence/independence (FDI) questionnaire, and a writing motivation questionnaire, which were analyzed through t test, ANOVA, and multiple regression. The results reveal that there is a strong relationship between field independence (FI) style and the students' successful short-term and long-term retention of corrections in the subsequent writings. Writing motivation, however, influences the short-term retention of CF only.

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.

see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=18660171 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19177193 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19235338 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24517426

a discussion of writing centers authorized or required to provide plagiarism training for students found guilty of academic integrity violations see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19343360 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24521347 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24521402

a report on how one center has worked to generate student interest (and so gain departmental funding); a report on "Autotutor: A Branching Self-Instruction Program"; a report on achieving competency with basic writers; mailing list

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."

example syllabi available in the message thread see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=1142725 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19339339 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19083164 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=24549384

From Neal Lerner's July 2011 message to WCenter: Folks, the latest issue (July 2011) of the Journal of Writing Research includes a very impressive study by James Williams and Seiji Takaku of the relationship between college students' self-efficacy, help-seeking behaviors, writing center visits, and writing performance. Here's a link to a pdf of the study: http://www.jowr.org/articles/vol3_1/JoWR_2011_vol3_nr1_Williams_Takaku.pdf Here's a snippet to take to your dean: "The analysis showed that those students who frequently obtained writing center tutoring received higher grades in composition than those who did not, regardless of their ESL or native-English-speaker status. The frequency of writing center tutoring seemed to be especially valuable for the ESL students, who outperform their domestic cohorts, receiving significantly higher grades in composition."