According to this study, the writing center and peer-tutor model showed how valuable collaborative learning in the writing center is to both peer-reader and peer-writer students. Respondents of the study asserted that they developed:

• a new relationship with writing,

• analytical power, 

• a listening presence,

• skills, values, and abilities vital in their professions,

• skills, values, and abilities vital in families and in relationships,

• earned confidence in themselves,

• and a deeper understanding of and commitment to collaborative learning (14)

This document contains student feedback about the writing center experience. "Tutors" at WCC are called peer-readers, and the writing center emphasizes the fact that they are readers, not tutors. 

Because readers are also students, the writing center is way less hierarchial than the traditional teacher-student classroom, and less hierarchical than the typical tutor and tutee dynamic. 

Writing center conversations are... conversational. Peer Readers are trained to approach students with phrases like:

• What brings you to the writing center today?

• What are you working on?

• What do you really like about this paper or assignment? What are you struggling with?

• Do you want some toast? :)

This document shows how the peer reader and peer writer relationship is not the traditional "how can I help you?" dynamic. Instead, words are carefully chosen to create a discourse that centers around the paper and the wellness of the individual rather than the "quality" of the paper. The reader enters the conversation as a collaborator, not an evaluator.   

A reflection on this reading from when I was a peer-reader:

"Last night, Angie and I talked about how making a plan with a student can help direct the rest of your session and help make the interaction positive and equal. One quote that I highlighted was on page 34, where Bruce states, "By collaboratively setting goals and creating a visual representation of them at the beginning of a session, the expectations for the conference will be clear and shared." Not only does making a collaborative plan create a common ground between the reader and writer, but it also creates intimacy and trust. "

This reading gave me an actionable tutorial on how to approach a writing center session and how to frame the session so that the student knows this is a collaborative learning experience. Again, having the student recognize the peer reader as a collaborator and not an evaluator creates a writing environment that gives space to the writer's perspective, voice, and language. 

The handout was at the (literally physical) center of the writing center. Peer readers and student writers alike became extremely familiar. For most of our sessions, we would sit down and have this handout between ourselves and the student we were working with. My favorite thing about this handout is how it reframes the parts of a rhetorical situation into questions. Since definitions for these terms can be confusing, these questions instead focus on the application of rhetorical situation constituents on the student work.

"The author's ability to explain the diverse backgrounds of "ESL students" really emphasized the idea of identity intersectionality in the context of language. One tip from the reading that stood out to me was on page 10 when the author talked about audience awareness. Especially in the case of international students, the English learner has often been through "English Class" in their home country where the focus was on vocabulary and grammar. So, while those skills may be strong, "international students do not automatically consider audience issues, viewing the only possible audience as an evaluator or some kind, with the purpose of writing being only to display proficiency in English" (Leki 10). This section reminded me of our rhetoric handout and helped clarify its need in the writing center environment. 

2. As I read this essay, I was thinking of the students I've worked with at the writing center and reflected on where they might fit into these loose categories. This individualized approach to writing with L2 students is highly applicable to our writing center and the international students and students who immigrated to the US during high school. I think it's essential to see students as more complicated and dynamic than demeaned "un-proficient English speakers."