Second Reflection

I think that the idea that the Writing Center is some kind of “fix-it” shop can probably still be found in USI student’s perspectives. I have asked some of my friends about what they think about the writing and their responses are either that they do not really know what the center does or that it is where they would bring their writing assignments for error checks. Also, during my 2 sessions of observation, almost all the students who came to the center asked for help with their grammar. I was even more shocked when what the tutor did was pointing out where the mistakes were and corrected them into what. It is a contrast to what North regarded the center as a “student-oriented” place to produce better writer not better writing (38). Moreover, when a friend of mine who is not a native user of English got her writing assignment checked for grammatical and punctuation mistakes the same way, I asked what she thought about it. Though she did not know what wrong with her sentence structure or word use, she admitted that correcting this way was fast and good. That friend of mine visited the center twice with the same purpose: to check her grammatical structure and punctuation. Because she had not been told why any particular word use was wrong, she went on to repeat the same mistake. Having seen this, I wonder how many students experience the same problem as my friend, how the writing center is to produce better writers, and whether there is any other better approach to deal with such situation.

Interpersonal relationship, as Murphy has stated, also plays part in determining the success of tutors in helping the writing students. She has mentioned many sources that compared tutoring process to that of counseling and psychotherapy, in which students are those who experience “writer’s block” or “anxiety associated with the process of producing writing that will be evaluated by others” (97). We tutor need to show them that we are, like a therapist or counselor, interested to help them, that we are, with “emphatic understanding”, are more than willing to get them overcome those writing sickness (97).

I think interpersonal relationship between tutors and students involves a lot of things and evolves throughout their interaction with one another. First, it is formed once students decide to step in the writing center and they should be awarded with warm greeting from the center itself. However, there is some time when the writing center at USI does not have someone to make students feel warm at first meeting. This might not be a big deal but I personally think that, though minor the problem is, it should not be overlooked because some students probably feel reluctant and choose not to approach the center having seen the unfriendly atmosphere inside. After that, interpersonal relationship is enriched while tutor and student sit and discuss together. It is said that “The person (whether a counselor, therapist, or teacher) who is better able to communicate warmth, genuineness, and accurate empathy is more effective in interpersonal relationships no matter what the goal of the interaction” (Truax and Carkhuff, qtd in Murphy 97).

Additionally, I totally agree with Shaughnessy’s idea that writing tutors are the “students of their students” (qtd. In Dipardo 101). That is any form of tutorial should be “unilateral”. Some tutors might not be aware about that but they really are collecting valuable information from various students with different academic and social background. By acknowledging oneself that they know no more than the writers themselves, tutors would be able to see beyond the surface level of the problems. Moreover, writers would not feel inferior when seeking help. Such feeling can provoke them to open up more about their problems or opinions.

Finally, students should leave the center with the satisfaction that they have been helped. It might be hard especially when student does not collaborate with the writer at the first place. This might be the case when they feel that their tutor is dominant or superior, and that they are not given enough chance to voice out their point of view. If repeatedly happens, students might lose confidence in the writing center’s ability to help.

References:

North, Stephen. “The Idea of a Writing Center.” In Murphy and Sherwood, 32-46

Murphy, Christina. “Freud in the Writing Center: The Psychoanalytics of Tutoring Well.” In Murphy and Sherwood, 95-100

Dipardo, Anne. ‘ “Whispers of Coming and Going”: Lessons from Fannie’. In Murphy and Sherwood, 100-116