Literature Review:
Sara Cushing Weigle and Gayle Newton state that the role of a tutor plays is highly dependent upon context and is negotiated with every tutorial. In order for successful tutoring sessions, tutors have to find and provide a suitable role as a tutor and sometimes act as teacher in a way especially if the student is not familiar with a category such as grammar techniques etc… They also argue that specifies the contextual factors that influence this negotiation of the tutor role contributes to the perceived negotiation and how the negotiation of the tutor roles contributes to the perceived success of a tutoring sessions.
Successful roles can vary on how a particular session went. However, interactions within tutorial systems can affect each session based on variables such as gender personality and language background can affect interactions within tutorial systems, but these are only a few of the many potential variables that could influence how tutors and tutees perceive the tutor’s role. However, successful sessions varying based on sometimes the location of where the tutoring actually takes place.
Method
Over the course of about approximately four weeks, I have observed various session and various case studies used to investigate student/tutor pairs because I was interested in analyzing when there is an ESL student who sets the agenda and who takes the control of the coaching. When I had tutored students as a tutor some of the questions that I had considered when preparing my data were the following questions: Does the tutor use low order concerns with ESL students? Who takes control of the coaching and how that might affect both the student and the tutor? Does the student take control in the beginning of the session or does the tutor have to set the agenda? What is said by the tutor and what is said by the student? What did the student need to work on? How prepared is the student? Is there a balance between talking between the tutor and the student? What subject matter does the student need help in such as what kind of paper was it for such as an English class etc…?
The sessions were held about an hour long. The students that I have tutored were considered to be speakers who were not familiar with the English language. Out of my five sessions, I have documented various instances where I taken notice about where I the tutor had to take a little control of the session because the student did not know where to begin. I have had previous experience tutoring students and they came from various backgrounds where I have tutored people who were enrolled in developmental courses at Union County College. I was able to tutor five students for my research and I hope to prove that through my research that I indicate that in my research. Due to lack of a lot of cancelled appointments I was only able to tutor five people.1.1. Context for the studyTutors for the study were both undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a Peer Tutoring Writing Class held at Kean University. One of the course requirements was to tutor students enrolled in various courses such as an English composition class.ESL students were enrolled in either various sections of freshman composition. The course instructor had assigned asked each student to focus on a particular aspect that he or she wanted to focus on during designated times that the students have signed up for.Before the tutoring began, both the undergraduate and graduate students in the class took a test and had to pass it before moving forward to earn a certification in order to move forward and be able to collect data.To document and collect data tutors were to observe what happened in the section after the tutoring center and when it was time to observe other students in the writing center we were to have a checklist, and observation forms. Tutors/writing coaches were expected to keep a progress on how their sessions were going by writing on our blogs that each individual have created for class. Finally, at the end of the semester, each student was asked to write a paper summarizing his or her experience as tutors and the collections that each student was focusing on. Graduate students have to write a longer paper and undergraduate students have to write an eight-page paper and have sources to back up the data that he or she is collecting.
Data analysis
Janice is an ESL student who is studying Psychology here at Kean University. She hopes to become a teacher one day. Janice came into the tutoring center and she was late to begin with. I believe she was approximately ten minutes late. When she came in she was very enthusiastic. Janice had a paper to write based on how she felt in general about life and how has that incident affect her life. Janice paper was due in a couple of hours on that given day.
Janice spoke in an effective manner. She had an assignment sheet and she wanted the tutor to go over the paper such as proof read the paper. I looked at her paper and saw a
lot of problems in her paper such as grammatical errors all throughout the paper. After I had read the paper to her, I asked her could she read the paper out loud to me and she did. She was able to read the paper out loud but was not help to grasp the idea of the sentences in her paper. For example, the student had sort of an idea of what went on but her paper did not make any sense at all. From my understanding as I tutor I felt that she needed to get a grasp of when to write in present tense and when to shift to past tense. Not only did the student did not understand what was saying. I felt that she was being attentive to what I was saying because she was just in a rush to get the paper done.
Case # 2
Tommy who is enrolled in an English course came to the writing center with a goal in mind. Tommy was a very well received person. He came in with a paper that he wanted to revise. So we worked on that. Tommy who is an undergraduate student knew what he wanted and knew how to adjust his paper by referring back to the professors comments and tried to incorporate those ideas into the paper.
Tommy is an example of the student being in control of the session because one Tommy who is an ESl student came in with an assignment sheet stating the guidelines. Tommy read his paper out loud to me and while he was reading his paper out loud to me he was able to go back and forth to see what kind of comments the professor made to his or her paper which was excellent. Tommy was a student who was focus about his work. He was on time and he had told me that he had benefit a lot form the session because he pushed himself to see where he could elaborate more things in his paper.
Case 3
Sasha who is an ESL student enrolled in an English course came to the writing center course such as Business and Professional Writing Course came into the writing center without an assignment sheet. She just wanted someone to come in and proofread her assignment. The assignment sheet was to write an essay based on how she decided to come to Kean University and along with the assignment the student. She spoke very quietly in an effective manner where at times I felt like I had to led the student and guide the student in a way. For example, I felt like the students that students should come prepared with some sort of idea of what they need to do. However, even though I was a tutor at the instance, I had to encounter the students level of education and whether English was the students native language. I had to keep repeating myself to the sense to see if I understood what the tutor was saying, Sasha seemed like he was very apprehensive, because the bulk of the work was fallen upon me. Sasha was one of those students who kept asking “Is this right”. I felt that I did this best with that I could possibly with this student because one the student was looking at the tutor for comfort.
Case 4
Aliyah is a twenty five year old woman who is from Russia and she had lived in the United States for ten years. She was enrolled in ESL classes when she had enrolled at Union County College.
It is clear from the data that Aliyah came into the tutoring center with high expectations. She came into the writing center because she wanted to improve her paper because she had received a B on he rapper. She wanted to get an A on her paper.
After the brief discussion Aliyah sat down and provided details on what the assignment was. Her assignment was to write an essay on her experience of the Japanese culture and to go to a restaurant. Aliyah essay was on point and it was very focus and detailed. There were some grammar issues such as verb tense fragments, and some run-on sentences. She came prepared with her grammar book, a dictionary and a thesaurus. One sentence that she had was Americans shake hands when they meet the Japanese bow.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Final research plan
Statement: When there is an ESL Student who takes control of the coaching and how does that affect both the student and the tutor in an undergraduate writing center?Detailed statement of your research question?The key to tutoring ESL students - or anyone else - remains respecting the student, meeting their needs, and providing a solid structure for their lessons. I have found that using a set text, developing a known routine, and combining conversation, vocabulary and writing skills makes for a successful and satisfying experience. Sometimes people who are ESL students come to the writing center for the tutor to proofread their paper because many of them have trouble with sentence structure. Sometimes the tutor has to start off with maybe a question to get the student to work on their paper themselves. The tutor is there to support and encourage the students to do their best.
For example, in the essay by Judith Powers the author states that collaborative approaches that tutors use to good effect with native writers often fail when applied to ESL writers, who bring to the writing center different culture values, needs, rhetorical strategies, and attitudes toward the tutor-student relationship (pg 368 of Blummer and Barrnett). I agree with this statement because every relationship and situation differs because it depends on the individual as I hope to show through out my data. Sometimes the tutor has to set the agenda where at others times some students set the agenda themselves by coming into the writing center with a purpose.
One of the articles that I am using is “Are we encouraging patchwriting? Reconsidering the role of the pedagogical context in ESL student writers’ transgressive intertextuality by Ali R. Abasi and Nahal Akbari. This article speaks about how students have trouble meeting the needs of what Esl Students need. This research focuses on the range of cognitive and social reasons behinds ESL students’ transgressive textual appropriation.
Another article that I have found that is relevant to my research is an article Novice Tutors and their ESL tutees: This article speaks about three case studies of three /tutor and this research focuses on the negotiation of tutor roles over a semester as part of a course requirement for Matesol candidates. I will be comparing my results to this and it will be based on undergraduate students.
Another article that I have looked at is The writer center and second language writers by Jessica Williams and Carol Severino. A statement that I found from this article is that many writers want and expect their tutors to take an authoritative role or at least respond to the learners needs” (Williams, J).
However, I‘ve had the opportunity to tutor some wonderful students who have very high expectations. I feel that if the students could focus some more on their paper then he or she would benefit from the session. I admire their honesty and I appreciate those who have let me observe them while they were tutoring. However, in order to make my research more effective, I feel that I could tutor some more students and observe some more sessions. Thank you Dr. Chandler for guiding me in the right direction to start my paper. Thank you to Danny for letting me observes her sessions. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in this ongoing research.
For example, in the essay by Judith Powers the author states that collaborative approaches that tutors use to good effect with native writers often fail when applied to ESL writers, who bring to the writing center different culture values, needs, rhetorical strategies, and attitudes toward the tutor-student relationship (pg 368 of Blummer and Barrnett). I agree with this statement because every relationship and situation differs because it depends on the individual as I hope to show through out my data. Sometimes the tutor has to set the agenda where at others times some students set the agenda themselves by coming into the writing center with a purpose.
One of the articles that I am using is “Are we encouraging patchwriting? Reconsidering the role of the pedagogical context in ESL student writers’ transgressive intertextuality by Ali R. Abasi and Nahal Akbari. This article speaks about how students have trouble meeting the needs of what Esl Students need. This research focuses on the range of cognitive and social reasons behinds ESL students’ transgressive textual appropriation.
Another article that I have found that is relevant to my research is an article Novice Tutors and their ESL tutees: This article speaks about three case studies of three /tutor and this research focuses on the negotiation of tutor roles over a semester as part of a course requirement for Matesol candidates. I will be comparing my results to this and it will be based on undergraduate students.
Another article that I have looked at is The writer center and second language writers by Jessica Williams and Carol Severino. A statement that I found from this article is that many writers want and expect their tutors to take an authoritative role or at least respond to the learners needs” (Williams, J).
However, I‘ve had the opportunity to tutor some wonderful students who have very high expectations. I feel that if the students could focus some more on their paper then he or she would benefit from the session. I admire their honesty and I appreciate those who have let me observe them while they were tutoring. However, in order to make my research more effective, I feel that I could tutor some more students and observe some more sessions. Thank you Dr. Chandler for guiding me in the right direction to start my paper. Thank you to Danny for letting me observes her sessions. Thank you to everyone who has played a part in this ongoing research.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Blog # 17
Statement: When there is an ESL Student who takes control of the coaching and how does that affect both the student and the tutor in an undergraduate writing center?
Detailed statement of your research question?
The key to tutoring ESL students - or anyone else - remains respecting the student, meeting their needs, and providing a solid structure for their lessons. I have found that using a set text, developing a known routine, and combining conversation, vocabulary and writing skills makes for a successful and satisfying experience. Sometimes people who are ESL students come to the writing center for the tutor to proofread their paper because many of them have trouble with sentence structure. Sometimes the tutor has to start off with maybe a question to get the student to work on their paper themselves. The tutor is there to support and encourage the students to do their best.
List of the information you need to gather (or have gathered already).
Since many ESL students do not understand the English language, I would first have to see how the tutor and the student interact in the beginning of the session, the middle and at the end of the session. I would have to indicate whether the student is an ESL student and is English their second language. I would also have to note what kind of approach I am taking. I would also have to note whether the tutor grasp what the tutor is saying. I would also have to watch their body language such as how they come into the tutoring center and how their body language affected the session.
Patience is a necessary thing to have when tutoring. For example, out of the students that I have tutored two students came in with papers due a couple of hours later. It can take a while for a student to understand what a run on sentence is. I tutored a student the other day and when she came in we talked for roughly ten minutes and then we went through her paper together. It took at least seven times to grasp what a run on sentence was but at the end of the session the student was able to grasp what she need to work on. It can take a while for an ESL student to progress.
Communication is also a crucial in a tutoring center as well for both the student and the tutor. I try to speak in a clear effective manner with students.
Outline for paper:
Does the tutor use low order concerns with ESL students?
Who takes control of the coaching and how that might affect both the student and the tutor?
Does the student take control in the beginning of the session or does the tutor have to set the agenda?
What was said by the student and by the tutor?
What did the student need to work on?
How prepared is the student?
Is there a balance between taking between the tutor and the student?
Preliminary list of resources :
Judith Powers essay on ESL students
Articles from Science Direct
Novice tutors and their ESL tutees: Three case studies of tutor roles and perceptions of Tutorial Success by Sara Cushing Weigle and Gayle L. Nelson
Are we encouraging patchwriting? Reconsidering the role of the pedagogical context in ESL student writers’ transgresive intertextuality by Ali R. Abasi and Nahal Akbari
The Writing Center and second language writers by Jessica Williams and Carol Severino
Tutoring and revision: Second language writers in the writing center by Jessica Williams
Plan for gathering information
I feel that most of the research I have obtained will contribute a lot to my paper. I will continue researching and see if there is any additional information that I may have overlooked. I will need to gather so more information such as observing some more sections. I also need to narrow my sources because I need four sources as a reference so I need to pick the most useful articles for my paper. I would aslo need people to take accurate notes on me.
Detailed statement of your research question?
The key to tutoring ESL students - or anyone else - remains respecting the student, meeting their needs, and providing a solid structure for their lessons. I have found that using a set text, developing a known routine, and combining conversation, vocabulary and writing skills makes for a successful and satisfying experience. Sometimes people who are ESL students come to the writing center for the tutor to proofread their paper because many of them have trouble with sentence structure. Sometimes the tutor has to start off with maybe a question to get the student to work on their paper themselves. The tutor is there to support and encourage the students to do their best.
List of the information you need to gather (or have gathered already).
Since many ESL students do not understand the English language, I would first have to see how the tutor and the student interact in the beginning of the session, the middle and at the end of the session. I would have to indicate whether the student is an ESL student and is English their second language. I would also have to note what kind of approach I am taking. I would also have to note whether the tutor grasp what the tutor is saying. I would also have to watch their body language such as how they come into the tutoring center and how their body language affected the session.
Patience is a necessary thing to have when tutoring. For example, out of the students that I have tutored two students came in with papers due a couple of hours later. It can take a while for a student to understand what a run on sentence is. I tutored a student the other day and when she came in we talked for roughly ten minutes and then we went through her paper together. It took at least seven times to grasp what a run on sentence was but at the end of the session the student was able to grasp what she need to work on. It can take a while for an ESL student to progress.
Communication is also a crucial in a tutoring center as well for both the student and the tutor. I try to speak in a clear effective manner with students.
Outline for paper:
Does the tutor use low order concerns with ESL students?
Who takes control of the coaching and how that might affect both the student and the tutor?
Does the student take control in the beginning of the session or does the tutor have to set the agenda?
What was said by the student and by the tutor?
What did the student need to work on?
How prepared is the student?
Is there a balance between taking between the tutor and the student?
Preliminary list of resources :
Judith Powers essay on ESL students
Articles from Science Direct
Novice tutors and their ESL tutees: Three case studies of tutor roles and perceptions of Tutorial Success by Sara Cushing Weigle and Gayle L. Nelson
Are we encouraging patchwriting? Reconsidering the role of the pedagogical context in ESL student writers’ transgresive intertextuality by Ali R. Abasi and Nahal Akbari
The Writing Center and second language writers by Jessica Williams and Carol Severino
Tutoring and revision: Second language writers in the writing center by Jessica Williams
Plan for gathering information
I feel that most of the research I have obtained will contribute a lot to my paper. I will continue researching and see if there is any additional information that I may have overlooked. I will need to gather so more information such as observing some more sections. I also need to narrow my sources because I need four sources as a reference so I need to pick the most useful articles for my paper. I would aslo need people to take accurate notes on me.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Blog # 16
I feel that Monday night's class help me come to a better understanding of my paper in terms of the question that I will be focusing on and how to work with ESl students when he or she is struggle with grammar. The question that I am looking at in my observation is With an ESL student who takes control of the coaching and how that might affect both the student and the tutor. Wiht the sessions that I have had so far there are many things that have happened.
Student #1
Student came into the writing center and I introduced myself and she was anxious to see me. I could tell that she was ready to get started becasue she came into the writing center with a big smile on her face. The student was in a previous class of mine. She had pulled out her laptop and have showed me her paper right away. Since she had showed me her paper right away I asked her do she mind reading the assignment sheet. She had pulled out the assignment sheet and she had read what the assignment sheet had said. After that she was in hurry to work on the paper. Sometimes I felt like I could not get her to understand what I was saying becasue she was in a hurry to get her work done. After she read her paper outloud she was not able to catch what was wrong in the sentence, since she had no idea I had her read her paper sentence by sentence so she could her what was wrong more clearly. After several attemps at pointing out the problem I felt that she was getting the point becasue she had started realizing that she is the one who has to work on the paper. She wanted me to tell her what to write instead of working on the paper. Therefore, I am not sure how she did in the session but she did say that she was coming back. I feel that sometimes the tutor has to take control exspecially when the student is in very anxious and uptight. Therefore, I feel that if she was not in a hurry to get the paper done I felt that I could have been more helpful if she had more time.
After toginight's session, I realized that with Esl students the tutors need to have patience especially when dealing with ESL students. Sometimes a tutor might have to start using low indications and then work their way up to using high indications. Tutors and students should have an equal balance in who takes control but sometimes it depends on the student and the situation. Many students who are esl students have trouble sometimes comprehending the understanding of the english language. I learned that after tognight's c;lass we should keep the students name private.
Student #1
Student came into the writing center and I introduced myself and she was anxious to see me. I could tell that she was ready to get started becasue she came into the writing center with a big smile on her face. The student was in a previous class of mine. She had pulled out her laptop and have showed me her paper right away. Since she had showed me her paper right away I asked her do she mind reading the assignment sheet. She had pulled out the assignment sheet and she had read what the assignment sheet had said. After that she was in hurry to work on the paper. Sometimes I felt like I could not get her to understand what I was saying becasue she was in a hurry to get her work done. After she read her paper outloud she was not able to catch what was wrong in the sentence, since she had no idea I had her read her paper sentence by sentence so she could her what was wrong more clearly. After several attemps at pointing out the problem I felt that she was getting the point becasue she had started realizing that she is the one who has to work on the paper. She wanted me to tell her what to write instead of working on the paper. Therefore, I am not sure how she did in the session but she did say that she was coming back. I feel that sometimes the tutor has to take control exspecially when the student is in very anxious and uptight. Therefore, I feel that if she was not in a hurry to get the paper done I felt that I could have been more helpful if she had more time.
After toginight's session, I realized that with Esl students the tutors need to have patience especially when dealing with ESL students. Sometimes a tutor might have to start using low indications and then work their way up to using high indications. Tutors and students should have an equal balance in who takes control but sometimes it depends on the student and the situation. Many students who are esl students have trouble sometimes comprehending the understanding of the english language. I learned that after tognight's c;lass we should keep the students name private.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Blog # 15:
As I was observing on Wednesday, I was surprised to see how anxious students are when they are in a hurry to get their paper done especially when the paper is due like the next day or later on in the evening. I have had the chance to observe Danny and I feel that she has done an amazing job by being able to talk in two languages back and forth. However, I noticed that the role of a writing center tutor changes when an international students comes in for help with writing. Many ESL students who come into the writing center come from different backgrounds. For example, I have had the opportunity to tutor two students and they both had high expectations of the tutor because the tutor was a native speaker of the English language. Although I am a speaker of the native language I still have trouble comprehending the English language. The first student who had came in was very excited as she came in because she was eagered to get started on her paper. However, I found it easy to work with the individual in the beginning because she had an assignment sheet. The assignment sheet looked liked it was clear and that she understood what was going on. So after the student took out the sheet she had showed me her paper. Since she had showed me her paper I asked her could she read it to me and she was willing to read the paper to me which was a good thing. She read the paper aloud and she was not able to hear what was wrong in the paper. So I tried to go sentence by sentence so the student could get a better understanding and that method worked for her. I felt that she was in a panic to understand everything becasue the paper was due the next day.
The second student that I have observed was also a native speaker. He came in and he was excited about coming in as well but at the same time the expression on his face was that he was worried about making his paper so perfect. He was trying to squeeze everything in at one time. He also need help with grammar. The words was in the wrong order of the sentence. Since the student was very soft spoken I tried repeating what he was saying. As I was repeating what he was saying he was nodding in argreement. The one thing that I was upset about was that he did not have an assignment sheet so he had to rely off of his memory. I understand students who come into the writing center needs help but sometimes students question the tutor a lot by saying "Is this the right way to say it". Since he kept asking this question I have asked him was there a specfic kind of resume that he had to write. Both of the students felt comfortable in the writing center in the sense that they both nodded a lot. I think maybe if the assignment was not due the next day that they might not have been in a rush.
The second student that I have observed was also a native speaker. He came in and he was excited about coming in as well but at the same time the expression on his face was that he was worried about making his paper so perfect. He was trying to squeeze everything in at one time. He also need help with grammar. The words was in the wrong order of the sentence. Since the student was very soft spoken I tried repeating what he was saying. As I was repeating what he was saying he was nodding in argreement. The one thing that I was upset about was that he did not have an assignment sheet so he had to rely off of his memory. I understand students who come into the writing center needs help but sometimes students question the tutor a lot by saying "Is this the right way to say it". Since he kept asking this question I have asked him was there a specfic kind of resume that he had to write. Both of the students felt comfortable in the writing center in the sense that they both nodded a lot. I think maybe if the assignment was not due the next day that they might not have been in a rush.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Blog # 14
As I was observing many sessions, I have noticed a lot of things that go on during my session especially when tutoring students who are ESL students. When ESL students come into a writing session it seems to me that he or she is looking for the tutor to do all of the work. For example, in general students who undergo training to work at a Writing Center are often introduced first to the collaborative method of tutoring.
In Power's essay the author draws a conversation about the strategies to approach ESL students. Although she begins with the usual Socratic methods that many tutors use with most students , she later talks about the element of the "Need of Intervention". Powers then discusses the differences in ESL students and the possibility to move away from Socratic methods to more of a
diclactic approach. In order to analyze how this method truly fails with ESL students, I would have to ask myself the following questions:
In Power's essay the author draws a conversation about the strategies to approach ESL students. Although she begins with the usual Socratic methods that many tutors use with most students , she later talks about the element of the "Need of Intervention". Powers then discusses the differences in ESL students and the possibility to move away from Socratic methods to more of a
diclactic approach. In order to analyze how this method truly fails with ESL students, I would have to ask myself the following questions:
- Does the tutor use low order concerns so the students.
- Who takes control of the coaching and how that might affect both the student and the tutor.
I am not sure wheter I will be able to observe everything in my tutoring sessions because fiorst of all it depends on the individual. Every indivual responds to things differently.
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