| This outline of questions and answers condenses my
(Brian H. Langford’s) thoughts and responses to questionnaires completed
by instructors and Writing Center tutors at Eastern Illinois University
concerning tutoring groups participating in collaborative writing. This
outline acted as the script for my portion of a presentation at the National
Writing Center Association Convention in April, 1999, with Dr. Linda Calendrillo
and Anita Beaman. The outline has a twofold purpose here: 1) to serve as
a reference for those in attendance at the conference and others inquiring
about the nature of tutoring collaborative writing, and 2) to supplement
a group project entitled, Collaborative Learning: Working Towards a Common
Goal, for English 5011- Practicing Theory: Teaching, Technology and Textuality-
instructed by Dr. Randall Beebe. The practice of collaborative writing
takes place in business, the sciences and politics on a daily basis and
is practiced to a lesser extent by professionals in the fields of literature
and composition. Recently, many instructors of literature and composition
have introduced collaborative writing into the classroom. As a tutor and
future instructor, it became necessary for me to develop an approach to
helping groups in the Writing Center at EIU, and this approach will be
adapted in my future classrooms. |
| The Goal: Anita and Brian will convey what
roles tutors may assume and why/how different roles may be assumed in order
to promote successful collaborative writing. |
| Questions to ask ourselves: |
1. What are the students’ goals/expectations for
a conference?
All of the groups I have tutored were comprised
of freshman who had little to no collaborative writing experience. In fact,
most, however not all, of the students had not previously been in the WC
for one-on-one conferences. Because of their inexperience in groups and
with the WC, the students most often want to focus on the final written
product. The students most often expect the tutor to give them "the answer,"
to complete the paper. |
2. What are the instructor’s goals/expectations
for a conference?
According to our surveys of instructors, no
instructor holds the same goals/expectations for a group conference. The
various goals/expectations of a conference are:
-
for the tutor to aid weak writers
-
to have the tutor advise students how to put the work
together and avoid several different writing styles in the final draft
-
for the students to observe the behavior of a good group
member (the tutor)
-
for the tutor to aid students when the instructor is not
available
-
for the students to be "more forthright about their problems
in the process with a tutor than they would be with a teacher" (Calendrillo)
-
for the tutor "to facilitate and enhance the collaborative
process" (Spear), "Students would have a more focused Writing Center session
since multiple participants could focus to ask more coherent questions
of the tutor(s)" (Schnarre).
-
for the tutor to familiarize students with the format
of the assignment
-
for the tutor to aid in reducing the work load of the
instructor (this is not intended to be a negative comment towards the instructor)
|
3. What are the tutor’s goals/expectations for
a conference?
According to our surveys of tutors, tutors’
goals and expectations for group conferencing are fairly consistent (after
all, we were all trained by the same people). Most tutors originally expected
the writing task to be the focal point of the conference as it is in most
traditional one-on-one conferences. However, after several group conferences
and discussion in practicum, the tutors’ main goal became to increase the
effectiveness of group interaction in order to improve the final collaborative
product. |
4. What are the similarities/differences in students’,
instructors’ and tutor’s goals/expectations?
Although all three aggregates hope to improve
the written product, they disagree on how this may be achieved. Students
expect to focus on the writing task, while instructors and tutors understand
the need to concentrate on the process of collaboration surrounding the
writing task. |
5. What roles does the tutor fulfill to achieve the
varying goals/expectations?
Commonly, students’, instructors’ and tutors’
goals/expectations of conferences vary but can be fulfilled when the tutor
maneuvers between several general roles:
-
Advisor- As an advisor, the tutor delegates tasks not
sufficiently fulfilled and makes suggestions regarding the content/style
of the writing task.
-
Facilitator- As a facilitator, the tutor enables discussion
among group members.
-
Mediator- As a mediator, the tutor helps compromise arguments
and disagreements concerning students’ roles and the content/style of the
writing task.
-
Collaborator- As a collaborator, the tutor makes suggestions
for further research and serves as a model group member.
-
Cheerleader- As a cheerleader, the tutor encourages students
in order to fulfill the other roles of advisor, facilitator, mediator and
collaborator.
-
Comedian- As a comedian, the tutor relieves tensions and
intimidation due to group work or the presence of the tutor.
|
6. A. How does the tutor assume and maneuver between
these roles?
The tutor needs to scrutinize the group’s interactions
and observe the group’s current stage of the writing process in order to
determine accurately which role to fill while being flexible enough to
change direction at any time. Group conferences often move faster than
individual conferences due to groups’ abilities to cover more ground than
any one individual, and students will interpret the writing process faster
to lagging individuals better than the tutor. In other words, students
will revert to "kidspeak" in order to bring other group members up to speed.
The tutor maneuvers between roles according to the students’ cues and according
to the goals of an individual conference.
B. Considering the necessary versatility of the
tutor to assume different roles, how effective can the tutor be, or what
is an effective tutor?
The effectiveness of the tutor depends on the
tutor’s ability to judge quickly and accurately which role to fill and
also depends on the adaptive capabilities of individual groups. Each conference
will be different in terms of being more/less effective. |
7. Discuss my personal experience tutoring collaborative
writing.
-
What is my individual approach?
I ask what the assignment is and what the group
wants to work on just as I do in a traditional one-on-one conference. When
the group has one collaborative task, I ask if everybody has read the most
current draft. If yes- I quickly read/peruse it. If no- I ask a student
to read it to the group. After the reading, I solicit questions from the
group. If they have none or are unsure what to discuss, I ask questions
relating to what they previously stated they wanted to work on. It is also
important at this time to discover how the group has delegated individual
tasks/roles. Analyzing group dynamics is beneficial in order to settle
differences of opinion that could affect the final writing task since each
group member must eventually sign off on the final product. Enabling quieter
or silenced group members to contribute to discussion will aid the current
group and future collaborative efforts. Another important reason for becoming
aware of the group’s dynamics is to allow each member to utilize his/her
strengths in order to create the best paper possible. The only time I discuss
grammar with a group is if they are a comfortable group with few or no
contentions with one another or with the content of the paper. (I assume
group conflicts arise from a negative collaborative experience overall
or because of disagreements with the content of the paper.)
-
How is my approach affected by different stages of
the writing process, by different writing styles among group members, and/or
by the individual student’s ability to discuss the writing process?
Concerning my approach to different stages of the
writing process, refer to my answer under "What is my individual approach?"
Concerning my approach to varying writing styles among group members, sections
of the paper that are distracting, preventing understanding, are brought
to the group’s attention for possible revision. Concerning my approach
to an individual student’s ability to discuss the writing process, I encourage
and ask leading questions. I may revert momentarily to one-on-one questioning:
"What are the easy or dumb questions you don’t want to ask? Most likely,
everyone else has the same question." From my experience, the questions
are either not dumb or serve as preliminary questions leading to more crucial
inquiries. I answer questions only if other group members are unable. It
is important to allow group members to respond to group questions to help
them continue to discover their strengths. Often times, students will answer
correctly and/or be able to interpret my responses. Either way, the students’
abilities to discuss the writing process increase.
-
What problems have I encountered, and how have they
been resolved?
I have encountered relatively few problems because
I’ve been fortunate to work with well-adapted groups. (Other tutors have
not been so fortunate.) The major problem I encountered occurred in a two-member
group. Scott (names have been changed), having completed most of the research
and composition of the writing task, became openly offended when Mike began
submitting opinions for revision because he was in the presence of an "authority."
This situation was not too difficult to overcome, however, because I had
previously tutored Scott individually in the Writing Center, and I am one
of Mike’s soccer coaches. Because of my established rapport with each student,
we were able to divert our discussion to the collaborative process. As
it turned out, further research and, therefore, composition was required.
We re-delegated tasks for the remainder of the assignment so that they
were mutually agreeable to Scott and Mike. Mike’s role was to do the new
research and composition, and Scott’s role was to focus on revising the
for the final draft because he is the stronger writer.
-
What successes have I encountered?
Most of my successes have not directly concerned
the writing task. Writing improvement seems to stem from developing and
fine-tuning group interaction. Unlike in a one-on-one conference when the
paper is most often the focal point, the group conference most often focuses
on the process of collaboration; more specifically, the group conference
focuses on the students. In the example of Scott and Todd under "What problems
have I encountered, and how have they been resolved?", I was able to facilitate
and mediate a compromise. In other groups, I’ve been able to advise how
to cooperate to focus arguments in the writing task.
-
Speculate on the origin of these successes.
As I’ve said, I’ve been fortunate to work with cooperative
and well-adapted groups. My success stems from the students; however- if
I am to speculate on my role in these successes- success relates to being
a role-model of sorts. I am aware that students see me as the authority
and will more readily listen to what I have to say. Still, I focus the
ability to cooperate and adapt onto the students. On the few occasions
that I have helped define or have redefined students’ roles, students have
maintained their new roles more effectively and to the benefit of the group
and, ultimately, the writing task.
-
What changes will I make in the future tutoring collaborative
writing?
Since no group or conference has been the same in
my experience, I try to modify my tutoring style as often as I have a conference.
I will hopefully continue to improve my ability to read group dynamics
in order to facilitate beneficial discussion and positive experiences of
collaborative writing.
-
How have my personal goals/expectations of tutoring
collaborative writing changed according to my experience and research?
Quite simply, I originally hoped to improve the groups’
writing tasks; however, I now understand that tutoring groups most often
will focus on the collaborative process in order to improve writing tasks. |
