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Essay On Writing Tutors

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In the aftermath of the 2008 economic recession, cash-strapped universities have tried to balance their books by slashing programs perceived as “non-essential”. As a result, university programs and departments have been forced to justify their existence in order to protect themselves against further cuts. In the midst of this fight for funding, humanities programs, including the writing department, tend to bear the brunt of cuts. The value of writing programs has never been so disputed in the entire history of American education. In light of this new trend, the question of what exactly the writing program is has never been more pertinent. More specifically, we can ask what writing tutoring programs have to offer at increasingly …show more content…

This point will move in either direction based on the specific needs of my student. The more a student requires directive methods of instruction, the more the point will move closer to academic discourse, while the same holds true for non-directive methods and peer discourse. Changes in directiveness and non-directiveness are also changes in power; the more directive I become, the more I am using my power as a tutor, while the less directive I become, the more I act as a peer.
The tutor’s status as peer or authority evolves dynamically throughout the session as the needs of the student are addressed. One of my students quoted a large excerpt from the course readings, failing to realize that it’s conventional to paraphrase quotes instead. No amount of non-directive questioning would lead her to the right answer, because she simply didn’t have the requisite experience with academic discourse to generate this knowledge on her own. In this case, I had to directly inform her on the conventions of paraphrasing in order to improve her paper, not ask a series of futile, non-directive questions. Since I used my knowledge of academic discourse to directly tell her what to do, I moved the session closer to the academic, directive, and power-based side of the spectrum. I effectively intermediated between the discourse of academia and the discourse of my peer. Later in the session, I asked her if

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