Volume 22, Number 3 Promoting the exchange of voices and ideas in one-to-one teaching of writing November, 1997
...FROM THE EDITOR...
You’ve no doubt heard the aphorism that “To err is human, and to forgive is divine.” Well, I’ve erred, and I hope you’re feeling inclined toward the divine. Somehow, I managed to inadvertently delay Lisa Landolt’s Tutors’ Column until this issue. As will be evident when you read it, it should have been in the October issue, to be read aloud at a tutors’ staff meeting held at midnight in a dark room, on October
31. Perhaps you’ll save it for next year? Or perhaps some tutors will write a Part 2 for next year? Or think up a different ending to the tale? Or . . . ?
And then there’s Error #2. On page 4 is the correct institutional identification for Tracy Turner, whose article appeared in the September issue of the newsletter.
But, on a more positive note, this issue is filled to the brim with conference notices, job announcements, and insightful writing about working with international students, melding writing center theories, hiring staff, and writing successful proposals for writing centers.
• Muriel Harris, editor
...INSIDE...
International Students and the Writing Lab
• Bonnie Devet, Susan Burr, Jason Chan, Joshua Farrar, and Mary-Jane Ogawa 1
Expressionism and Social Constructionism in the Writing Center: How Do They Benefit Students?
• Mick Kennedy 5
Tutors’ Column: “A Vampire in the Writing Center”
• Lisa Landolt 9
Conference Calendar 9
Writing Center Ethics: “The Ethics of Choosing and Hiring Tutors (Part 1)
• Michael A. Pemberton 11
Proposing a Writing Center: Experts’ Advice
• Pat McQueeney 13
Our campus, like many others, has found that international students are becoming an ever-increasing proportion of the student body. As such, the Writing Lab, probably like many other labs across the country, is now working with more and more of these students from overseas, students seeking help with their essays and independent projects. The term “international student” is used here instead of the too general and misleading label “ESL.” Following the lead of Jocelyn Steer, I use the term “international student” to refer to clients who have taken and passed the TOEFL, thus demonstrating a knowledge of grammar rules although not necessarily knowledge of the rhetorical patterns of American English; “international student” also refers to a student already mainstreamed into academic courses, taking classes for grades, unlike the ESL student who may be enrolled in English classes specifically designed to “bring up” the skills of the non-native speaker; and finally, “international student” describes a student who may be in the states temporarily, expecting to return to his or her home country with a degree from an American college or university (Steer 4). Although this definition may seem pedantic and even limiting, our lab has found that more and more of our clients fit this category.
As a result, our lab has faced a philosophical problem. Since our lab is staffed exclusively with native speakers, we consultants have wondered, “Can we offer international students qualified assistance?” The answer to our philosophical doubts was provided by Irene Clark’s book for training consultants and running writing labs. As Clark has explained, a writing lab of-
The Writing Lab Newsletter, published in ten monthly issues from September to June by the Department of English, Purdue University, is a publication of the National Writing Centers Association, an NCTE Assembly, and is a member of the NCTE Information Exchange Agreement. ISSN 1040-3779. All Rights and Title reserved unless permission is granted by Purdue University. Material will not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.
Editor: Muriel Harris; Asst. to the Editor: Mary Jo Turley, English Dept., Purdue University, 1356 Heavilon, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1356 (765)494-7268. e-mail: [email protected]
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fers all students a non-threatening environment in which to practice ideas; and, certainly, what is a more suitable place for international students than a writing lab, especially since these students need to experiment with the English language at the academic level (73)?
Given the philosophical problem, what are some practical issues that we consultants have discovered when working with international students? Since we are struggling to serve this clientele, our lab felt we needed to do some self-examination to learn about our concerns and how to handle them. Taking a cue from Darlynn Fink’s work with her own tutors at Clarion University, I asked consultants to fill out a survey which posed only two questions: please identify the major problems you have encountered when working with international students; which problem do you consider the most “menacing” and why (Fink 14)? Results of the survey were analyzed by four of the lab’s consultants who, all together, have eleven years of tutoring experience. As they looked over the surveys, the consultants discovered seven major problems not usually addressed when consultants are being trained to work with international students.
What follows are the problems which the consultants discovered and how these experienced tutors have tried to solve them. The problems are presented, more or less, in the order they may occur as an international client enters a lab, signs in, and waits for help, clutching a draft.