Secondary Observations
One of the many compelling motivations to attend La Guardia, for me, has been the wonderfully diverse environment we get to share with students and professors alike. With this in mind, how should we attend to the needs of our fellow students who are at the beginnings of their journey with the English language and who turn to us at the writing center for a second opinion? Today, as I sat in for my second observation at the writing center I had the opportunity to make note of this process. The student arrives, we exchange brief introductions, and we all take a seat. The student informs the tutor that her assignment was a summary of a movie and she was encouraged to make connections to self in her written response. She also informs tutor that she is in need of grammatical corrections. The tutor, who is displaying excellent body language, proceeds to address grammatical challenges line by line for the balance of the conference. If grammar is a lower order concern for both native speakers and ESL students then was this last meeting time well spent? According to our classroom discussions the primary target strategy is to address higher order concerns of structure instead of grammar. It could be we lapse into the pitfalls of grammar check by donning the "correcting errors" hat which in turn becomes the "being an expert hat" and eventually completes the cycle with "usurping ownership" of the paper as explained by McAndrew & Reigstad (Tutoring Writing, 17,19). Both tutor and student meant well although when a student seeks out support she is basically asking for help. If we can not help them in building a stronger paper then we are hurting them.
This is the kind of thing I've been thinking about a lot lately. On the one hand, we have what's in our books and what we've discussed in class. It makes perfect sense to me that its much more important to have good ideas, presented well, in a logically structured essay.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes sense to me that the best way to improve written grammar is to read a lot.
But on the other hand, when a tutee comes in with a focus on grammar, with a paper marked up for grammar, I think I would tend to want to give them what they want.
And if I was a student, writing in a language that I wasn't 100% confident in, I know I would want that kind of help too.
I'm trying to be mindful of what we're learning in class. I don't want to discourage a writer because of a focus on lower order concerns. But I also don't want to discourage them by sending them away with a paper they don't feel confident about.
I think there has to be a balance between the two.
Thanks Sean. I liked your play today. It was both informative and had nice dialogue flow. As for the LOC's verses HOC's it has been my experience that the majority of professors I have had at La Guardia give more weight to HOC's. When I attended another pricey private university I noticed they did the same. Has that been your experience? Someone in class today was writing about how discouraged a young man left her observations at the writing center because the tutor marked up his writing with LOC's. I don't want to be that tutor. I might make a general comment about excessive LOC's but I wouldn't harp on it. My personal thoughts on writing are that it is intimate and personal even when the topics aren't because people hold their research and opinions dear.
DeleteThe question you raised is one I often ask myself when imagining the different circumstances I may encounter in the future. It's amazing to think how impactful our "second opinion" may resonate with students who seek our assistance. It wasn't that long ago that I was in a similar position seeking the same. Receiving 'that' other perspective had a strong impact on my overall development as a writer, one I'm truly grateful for.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would say in regards to dealing with students who are at the beginnings of their journey with the English language is understanding their situation carefully, not just what's brought to attention. Obviously the main goal is to assist with their writing, but understanding the complexity of their situation may help even more. During a recent tutoring visit I gained a comprehensive understanding of how important dissecting a student's situation could be. The student had stated on her sign-in sheet, "fix essay", yet the majority of the session (2/3) was spent with the tutor having to explain the assignment instructions to the student. This in tale completely threw HOC's and LOC's out of the equation as for the student had to grasp what exactly the assignment was asking before proceeding. This student, being somewhat new to learning English had a major misunderstanding with the assignment instructions and if it wasn't for the tutor being mindful of her specific case, she could've simply proceeded to just evaluating the essay without referring to the assignment instructions. It's something that I'll always keep in mind if faced with a similar situation.
That is a great point Rajiv. Under these circumstances asking to see the assignment is crucial! Generally speaking this applies to both native and non native speakers. Sometimes we get carried away with the research and are so moved by all the reading that our pursuit of importing facts gets out of hand and our thesis begins to lose clarity all the while being a native speaker! Thanks for posting.
ReplyDelete