blog 13: Preliminary Research

My research plan is to investigate the "agenda setting". I want to research the factors that make a student confident enough to set the goals for the session and see how/if this "student empowerment leads to a successful session.

I want to see if and how tutors read their students' cues and how tutors respond to these cues.

So far, I've read three articles.

One is Diana Calhoun Bells' (et. al.) Lingustic Politeness and Peer Tutoring, which focuses on how tutors use both positive and negative politeness. This article purports that when tutors are establishing a peer relationship with students, they use positive politeness, such as using laughter, humor, exaggerating interest, sympathy, etc.

When tutors are in an authoritative role, they use negative strategies, which are meant to limit imposition on the student. These negative strategies include using hedges( I think,), being indirect, apologizing, etc.

The authors maintain that over subsequent sessions with the same students, tutors rely less on negative politeness and more on positive politeness.

I think I can use this article to help establish that the tutor's posture at the beginning of the session. If a tutor opens with positive politeness, perhaps he/she is attempting to establish a peer relationship. Would this attempt at leveling the position between tutor and student make students more confident to set the agenda themselves? Would a more authoritative posture intimidate students?

The second article " Case Study Response: Oh What a Difference a Dealine Makes-Or Does It?" by Joanne D. Andre suggests that even if a student is on a tight dealine when she comes to the writing center, a tutor should use the same five practices to guide them: remembering the student's writing context (assignment), allowing the student to identify concerns, working on student concerns as they are identified, pointing out serious problems, and offering a positive, reassuring environment.

Andre argues that these are the practices a tutor should use whether or not a student is in a time crunch.

I think this article could be especially useful when looking at who sets the agenda because tutors and students might struggle with competing agendas in these tense situations. It would be interesting to not how these struggles are resolved and to see whether sticking to the five practices result in student satisfaction at the end of the session.

The final article that I've read is "Scaffolding in the Writing Center: A Microanalysis of an Experienced Tutors Verbal and Non-Verbal Tutoring Strategies" by Isabelle Thompson.
This study looks at a couple of case studies to examine the scaffolding techniques used by tutors. It is especially useful because it speaks about the ways tutors both honor a student's agenda and attempts to serve the student beyond the needs that he/ she expressed.